Outcomes Based Education

Outcomes-based education is learner-centred. Curriculum design based on outcomes allows instructors to measure what students are able to do at the end of the course. The three main concerns of outcomes-based education are alignment, threading, and laddering of the curriculum elements (outcomes, assessment, skills, concepts/issues, learning activities).

Alignment:

Refers to the process of ensuring that each element of your curriculum fits together (e.g. a course outcome states that a student will be able to critically assess the composition of a song, and the assessment is an oral presentation to the class on the lyrical structure).

Misalignment:

Occurs when curriculum elements do not match (e.g. a course outcome states that a student will be able to critically assess the composition of a song but the assessment is a fill-in-the blank test).

Laddering:

Also called leveling, refers to the progressive complexity of the curriculum elements as students move through the program (e.g. a 4th year course will have a higher degree of complexity than a 1st year course, and the curriculum elements should step-up each year).

Threading:

Refers to core curriculum elements being woven throughout several courses (e.g. information fluency might be threaded through all 1st year courses in a program; it would then be laddered up for 2nd year and threaded through 2nd year courses as well).

Outcomes-Based Curriculum Design

The outcomes-based design process begins at the end with the intended outcomes and works backwards towards the learning activities. This process is also called Backwards Design.

Learning Activities

What activities will impart the needed knowledge and skills to students?

Concepts/Issues

What concepts and issues must students understand to demonstrate the intended outcome?

Skills

What skills must the student master to demonstrate the intended outcome?

Assessment

What will students do in this course to demonstrate evidence of the outcome?

Intended Outcomes

What do students need to be able to do “out there” for which this course will prepare them?

Concepts: main ideas or themes that make up a course of study
Issues: potential dilemmas or problems

Outcomes-Based Curriculum Design Graphic/Source

Steihl, R. & Lewchuck, L. (2008). The Outcomes Primer: reconstructing the college curriculum. Covallis, Oregon: The Learning Organization.

Curriculum Elements Sheet

A Curriculum Elements Sheet (CE Sheet) is used to plan the curriculum for courses and programs at Red Deer Polytechnic. For a blank version of this document, on the RDP Forms webpage, search for “Curriculum Elements and Outcomes.”