History & Evolution
Industries and employers with constant lookout of capable and skilled graduates, usually struggle to get the right candidate for the right job. Consecutively, to sustain explicit delivery of quality education, benchmarked with international level standards and portfolios, Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), other endorsed educational supremacies and their educational subsidiaries have been on persistent struggle to mark the anticipated requirements.
Amid to fulfill and attain the targeted institutional vision, mission, objectives and values, Outcome Based Educational Systems (OBES) have always been facing critical challenges to strictly evaluate the progress of such essentials, specifically through an evident, structured, measurable or calculated terminology. In addition, dynamics to track the success or failure of all involved entities and processes such as the academic programs, courses and students have also been a continuous confrontation.
Looking at these aspects, the academician Dr. Biju Theruvil Sayed (Ph.D.), by profession a senior academician in information technology, with over 25 years of academic experience specifically in American and British education, followed by research of several years developed and formed a unique methodology to efficiently address the issue and to ultimately enhance the quality of education. The methodology was thereby patented. The research patent follows a methodological calculated approach to evidently measure the attainment of core attributes such as graduate attributes, program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes applicable in any OBES.
The methodology simultaneously prepares to fill in the gaps, thereby enhancing the scope of educational delivery, reflecting the factual evaluation of institutional strategies. The outcome of the methodology provides strengths and weaknesses of all associated entities, not limited to, including students, courses, academic programs, and would reflect upon higher level strategies such as the institutional vision & mission.
These attributes would thereby successively facilitate the higher educational bodies, institutions, universities, colleges, industries, employers and other stakeholders to conveniently forefront the decision-making processes and further enhance the quality of education. In order to effectively realize the patented methodology, it became mandatory to develop an appropriate software tool and this obligation successfully lead to the evolution of the software “Learning Outcomes Blaze”.
Learning Outcomes Blaze - A Paradigm
The software follows an authentic digital statistical and measurable technique, using formal assessment grades. It uses the grades received in assessments to measure the delivery and attainment of these attributes. With advanced systems and technological measures in place the software hubs to track every individual student’s performance through course assessments. Student’s performance, through every course is trailed via received grades in the assessments.
More specifically, with well-established and accurately defined data entry modules followed by authentic assessments, the software system produces reckonable statistics to:
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Calculate the amount of graduate attributes, program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes delivered as well attained, in every course, for every individual student and collectively for a group of students registered in the course.
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Evidently finds out the correlation on how the delivered and attainment statistics fulfils the institutional strategic initiatives such as it’s vision, mission, objectives and core values.
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Identify the strengths and weaknesses of an individual student, based on his/her performance throughout the academic program.
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Support the review and development of courses and academic programs.
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At a strategic level affirms the institutional quality assurance (QA) processes, specifically in students learning via course work modules.
Introduction
The success of any higher educational institutional system evidently depends upon its infrastructure, resources, facilities, quality of education pinned and aimed to impact its intended outcomes. Such outcomes are directly linked to its potentials in the form of vision, mission, objectives and core values.
The delivery of such outcomes are solely measured through its core attributes termed as graduate attributes, program learning outcomes and course learning outcomes. These core attributes are designed to meet the institutional expectations over a long run. Though there have been various studies on the efficacy and delivery of these core attributes, it has been too complex to evidently measure the true value of its attainment through patented, structured, measurable and calculated terminologies.
In order to fulfil this lapse, the software “Learning Outcomes Blaze” follows a unique and logical patented methodology to technically measure the delivery and attainment of these core attributes. The technique uses an established numerical and calculated grounds to evaluate the institutional efficacy, through valid assessments. Need to mention, it intensely allows to fill in the lapsed gaps that occur at most of the educational institutions throughout the globe. Furthermore, the benefit of this unique software is aimed to authenticate and seriously enhance the quality of delivered outcomes, to reflect the true evaluation of institutional strategies.
The developed automated system is rationally intended to produce incredible effectiveness to the development of an academic program, throughout the educational processes. In addition, the software helps to systematically determine the strengths and weaknesses of each student, course and academic programs, thereby proposing to effectively build on academic programs to overcome its failures and sustain efficacy to meet the institutional expectations.
Conceptual & Logical Framework
Objectives
Along with natural resources, capital formation, technological progress, to sustain continuous growth and impacted development, the value of human capital which includes education and medical development, plays a dynamic and binding role towards the nations growth in all aspects. Consecutively, developed, capable and skilled human capital ensures maximum productivity and yields the best of all supporting elements such as technological process, capital formation, natural resources to reflect the ultimate impact through social, political and economic forums, thereby carrying forward the national development.
Such accomplishments are possible only if the right and the best possible knowledge and skills are inoculated within the human capitals, which directly infers the need of meaningful quality education. Hence with the value and importance of quality education across the globe, being considered as an obligatory requirement for any evolving community, the objectives of this system is to seamlessly inspire and raise the standards of educational programs as well the quality standards of HEI’s, specifically standing on the outcome based educational platforms, to deliver the expected eminent upshots.
Our developed system basically uses convoluted and sophisticated scientific calculations to measure the probability of attainment of institutional attributes as well its outcomes, applicable to fit the educational patterns of HEI’s at international level, across the globe
Academic Scientific & Innovative Significance
From an academic point of view, the system is too exciting, since the outcomes of it leads to detect the flaws, identify the key areas of improvements both in the courses as well the academic programs, identify the strengths & weaknesses of the key stakeholder i.e. students, raise the standards and quality of education at HEI’s, much needed to develop the human capital. Systems methodology is based on a filed patent titled “Computational Methodology Towards Attainment of Graduate Attributes and Program Learning Outcomes in an Outcome Based Educational System”, that demonstrates and implements a unique refined computational methodology, towards attainment of these core attributes.
Hence from the scientific and innovative aspect, the system involves a unique methodology to keep track of measurable outcomes. The application of system simultaneously leads to the expected quality of education, which is much needed to develop any HEI, its community or the nation as a whole, in this competitive and challenging ecosphere.
Expected Economic Impacts
HEI’s worldwide are facing serious challenges towards attaining the core institutional attributes such as the learning outcomes and graduate attributes, delivered and reflected through academic courses and programs. Though there are various indirect methods, where the attributes and outcomes are assumed to be achieved through feedback from various institutional related stakeholders, such as instructors, students, management, community and employers, but those methods could not produce measurable statistics as required or expected.
The proposed system inspires through quantitative as well qualitative measures and identifies the probability of attainment of mentioned attributes, through scientific intrusions based on grades received from formal assessments. The system will help the HEI’s to identify key challenges related to quality of education in a more effective way. The outcomes of this system will provide necessary measurable feedback, which is much vital to further revamp and re-assess the course contents for the next delivery, within the institutional framework. This methodology is targeted to effectively help the institution with information required for further development within a course and an academic program. Similarly, after the delivery of the whole program, the institution would be able to identify those serious challenges that need to be looked into, towards further development or review of the courses or an academic program.
Followed by its application, from an economical viewpoint, the system will support to:
1. Produce capable graduates thereby saving on the nationals seeking employment.
2. Improve and benchmark the quality of education, thus attracting foreign investments.
3. Build on self-support strategies thereby saving on external consultancy or external support.
4. Produce better services to raise the standards of community and nation, with the support of developed and capable human capital, sustained through quality education.