Outcomes-Based Teaching and Learning

The ultimate aim of education at the University is to nurture students into whole persons; students are expected to attain all the 7 Graduate Attributes (GAs) on graduation and continue to develop these attributes as they progress in their lives. Towards this end, Outcomes-Based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) has been fully implemented by the University. OBTL focuses not on what the teachers intend to teach, but rather on what the learners are able to do after their learning and graduation at the required standards.

At the course level, the Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs) and the Assessment Methods (AMs) are all constructively aligned with the Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), i.e. Constructive Alignment. At the programme level, there are also specific sets of Programme Intended Learning Outcomes (PILOs), as the aim of having students complete all courses within a programme is to ensure that they have achieved the PILOs, which are ultimately aligned to the GAs.

To implement OBTL effectively, the University has fully adopted Criterion-Referenced Assessment (CRA) with the use of assessment rubrics to help assess how well students have achieved the learning outcomes based on objective criteria. Each student's grade is independent of any other students, and there is no pre-set distribution of grades for assessment.

OBTL characterized with Constructive Alignment enables students to become active learners who would not only apply what they have learned into practice, but also reflect on that application for continuing improvement. To this end, our University promotes authentic assessment to help students contextualise their learning and to see how real-life conditions or situations affect their theorectical knowledge. By actively engaging in their chosen academic programmes and participating in meaningful co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, it is envisaged that our students will become the whole persons who can contribute to, and lead, our society.

For details, please visit: https://chtl.hkbu.edu.hk/teachers/obtl.html.