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Guide · Step 3 of 10

Understanding OBE

Every assessment, traced back to your mission.

Institutional intent cascades into program and course outcomes; assessment shows whether they are achieved, and the results drive improvement.

The outcome chain

Every assessment maps to an outcome. Every outcome maps to institutional intent.

The architecture is straightforward. The real work is keeping the alignment visible across many programs and courses.
Institution
  1. Vision
  2. Mission
Program
  1. PEO 1, PEO 2, PEO 3
  2. PO 1, PO 2 … PO nalso called PLOs
Course
  1. Course A: CLO 1, CLO 2 … CLO n
  2. Course A: Assessment 1, Assessment 2 … Assessment nEvery assessment is tagged with COs and cognitive levels

Vision → PEOs → PLOs → CLOs → Assessment: every assessment maps to outcomes.

Adapted from the OBE workshop deck. Reference: CHED OBE framework. Labels vary slightly between program PSGs.

Key terms

What each layer means

InstitutionVision & mission
The institution’s long-term direction and purpose, including the graduate attributes it commits to.
ProgramPEOs
Program educational objectives describe what graduates achieve a few years after graduation, where the program’s PSG uses them.
ProgramPOs / PLOs
Program outcomes describe the capabilities every graduate should demonstrate at graduation.
ProgramPSOs
Program-specific outcomes add discipline-specific capabilities to the common program outcomes, where used.
CourseCOs / CLOs
Course outcomes state what a learner can do by the end of a particular course.
CourseAssessment
Tasks and criteria that reveal learning. Each task is tagged to the course outcomes and cognitive levels it measures.

Not every program’s policies, standards and guidelines (PSG) use identical labels. Use the terms your program’s PSG and accrediting body specify.

Line of sight

A visible line from mission to assessed work.

Every assessment should have a clear place in the learning design, traceable through course, program and institution.
  1. InstitutionMission and graduate attributes
  2. ProgramCapabilities expected at graduation
  3. CourseOutcomes the course develops
  4. AssessmentTasks and criteria that reveal learning

Program educational objectives describe later graduate achievements, where the PSG uses them.

Adapted from the OBE workshop deck. Reference: CHED OBE Handbook (2014).

Alignment

Outcomes cascade down; every course stays aligned

CHED’s 2014 OBE Handbook describes two movements. Outcomes flow from the institution to each program and then to each course. Within every course, the outcomes, the learning tasks and the assessments must agree with one another.

Map a course outcome to a program outcome only where the course genuinely develops it. Mapping everything to everything makes a matrix look complete but tells reviewers nothing.

Try the CO–PO mapping example

Within one course

  1. Outcomes
  2. Learning tasks
  3. Assessment
If a task does not produce evidence for any outcome, ask why it is there. If an outcome has no task, it cannot be shown to be attained.
OBE Studio CO–PO mapping matrix: five course outcomes against ten program outcomes, each cell rated 1 low, 2 medium or 3 high, with an average strength row.
Alignment made visible in OBE Studio’s CO–PO matrix.

The framework in policy

CMO 37: promise outcomes, then prove them.

For engineering programs, CHED sets the framework out as six steps that repeat as a cycle.
All CHED OBE policies, explained
  1. 01Mission & visionSet direction
  2. 02Program objectivesSet direction
  3. 03Program outcomesDesign
  4. 04Curriculum mappingDesign
  5. 05Teaching & learningDeliver & check
  6. 06Assessment & evaluationDeliver & check
Continuous quality improvement: results feed the next cycle

Evidence

One record. The whole story.

The curriculum, assessment and improvement records should tell the same story, from the approved outcome to the action that followed.
The record we need
  1. Approved outcome and version
  2. Task, rubric and assessed work
  3. Result, feedback and improvement action
What academic teams gain
  • Faculty can locate the learning gap.
  • Chairs can compare patterns.
  • Leaders can review the response.

A shared record reduces repeated compilation and supports academic judgement.

Adapted from the OBE workshop deck. Reference: CHED OBE Handbook (2014); recommended evidence record.

Continue the guide

Turn this into practice today.

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