Resources
Straight answers to common OBE questions.
Concise answers, grouped by what you need to know.
Understanding OBE
For leaders and anyone new to OBE
Outcome-based education (OBE) designs a program backwards from what graduates should be able to do, then aligns teaching and assessment so the institution can show, with evidence, whether learners achieved it.
Read about OBEA content-based curriculum starts from topics to cover; OBE starts from capabilities to demonstrate. A completed syllabus shows what was taught. Assessed work shows what learners achieved.
CHED Memorandum Order No. 46, s. 2012 sets an outcomes-based and typology-based approach to quality assurance, and CMO No. 37, s. 2012 applies OBE to engineering programs. Check current CHED issuances and your program’s PSG for exact requirements.
CHED’s OBE policies, explainedCMO 46, s. 2012 is the policy: quality is what graduates can actually do. CMO 37, s. 2012 applies OBE to engineering programs in six repeating steps. The 2014 CHED Handbook is the playbook: it shows faculty how to cascade outcomes and keep every course aligned.
See the infographicsEveryone has a part. Faculty interpret task results, chairs and deans review gaps across courses, the VPAA or QA office sets standards and priorities, and leadership sustains capacity. Adapt these roles to local governance.
See the review modelOutcomes and alignment
For faculty and curriculum designers
Program educational objectives (PEOs) describe what graduates achieve a few years after graduation. Program outcomes (POs) describe capabilities at graduation. Course outcomes (COs) describe what a learner can do by the end of one course.
Explore the frameworkFour to six is a practical range for most courses: enough to describe the course, few enough to assess well. Your institution’s policy takes precedence.
No. Map a CO to a PO only where the course genuinely develops that capability and an assessment produces evidence for it. Over-mapping makes the matrix look complete but weakens what it can tell you.
Try the mapping exampleThey describe something internal that cannot be observed directly. Verbs such as explain, calculate, analyze or justify point to a performance two assessors could agree on.
See before-and-after examplesAssessment and attainment
For faculty, chairs and QA teams
The threshold is the score a student needs on a course outcome to count as having attained it (for example 50%). The target is the share of students you aim to reach that threshold (for example 60%).
Try the attainment exampleDirect evidence is assessed student work: exams, projects, lab reports scored against criteria. Indirect evidence reports perceptions, such as a course exit survey where students rate their own achievement of each outcome.
No. Methods, thresholds, weights and levels vary. The calculator on this site follows the method documented in OBE Studio’s sample course file and is illustrative; always use your institution’s approved policy.
It means a documented response to evidence: the gap found, the action taken, who owns it and whether reassessment showed an effect. Collecting results without a recorded response does not close the loop.
Using OBE Studio
For teams evaluating the platform
It supports defining course outcomes, mapping them to POs, PSOs or ABET student outcomes, planning assessments (including question papers with OR and ‘any N’ choices), entering or uploading marks, computing CO and PO attainment and spotting outcomes or students that need attention.
See it in actionNo. Accreditation decisions are made by accrediting bodies against their own criteria. A platform can help organise evidence; academic judgement, sound mappings and genuine improvement remain the institution’s work.
Yes. The screens shown on this site include a configurable attainment scale and per-outcome thresholds and targets. Confirm specific configuration needs with the OBE Studio team during a demo.
Get startedUse Claim Free Access to create a free OBE Studio account on the product’s own sign-up page, then set up a course and its outcomes.
Claim Free AccessThe targets screen shows an optional indirect assessment setting that blends students’ self-ratings per course outcome into final attainment. The sample course file uses 80% direct and 20% indirect.
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