Faculty Staff of Nile University of Nigeria (NUN), have been charged to adopt and deploy Outcome Based Education (OBE) as a teaching technique for continuous improvement when imparting knowledge to students in their classrooms.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) of Nile University, Prof. Dileep M. Kumar, gave this charge to the staff members during a 2-day academic seminar and learning series on “Effective Teaching, Learning, and Assessment,” organized by the Academic Quality Assurance and the Research and Innovations Units of the Institution.
The Vice-Chancellor of Nile University, Professor Dilli Dogo, was represented at the two-day learning series by the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, Professor Moussa Mahamat Boukar. Also in attendance was the Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Ebele Amali, as well as the Deans of the various faculties, Heads of Departments (HODs), and faculty members of the institution.
In his opening address, Prof. Moussa Mahamat Boukar the representative of the Vice Chancellor, stated that the Academic Seminar would be the first of a series of monthly seminars put on by the university to help all of the academic staff learn more by giving them access to easy-to-use tools for research and teaching in the school.
Teaching on the first day, Prof. Dileep Kumar, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Nile University, talked about how important and necessary it is to use the Outcome-Based Education (OBE) method for teaching, learning, and assessments in the classroom. He said, “Outcome-based education (OBE) focuses on what students can do after they are taught.” Prof. Kumar added that the OBE method is used so that students are better prepared for life after school.
He further stated that the OBE is not a new idea in practice as it has been used since the Washington Accord of 1989, up until 2012 when the European Union (EU) proposed a shift in education to focus on outcomes. This, he said, fits with the way multinational companies all over the world look at qualifications for recruitment.
Prof. Kumar also talked about the importance of Bloom’s Taxonomy, assessment, and rubrics. He called it “a system of classification” that is used to define and separate the different levels of human thinking, learning, and understanding that should be covered by the learning objectives in a curriculum.
Other academic experts and published researchers from the institution, including Dr. Adekunle Adeleke, Prof. Chukwuma Ogbaga, and Mr. Paul Terhemba Iorember, also taught in the 2-day academic learning series.
The experts talked about the basics of Publishing in Top Tier Journals, the Global Metrics for University Visibility and Ranking for Quality Research Output, as well as the Practical Approach to the Use of Academic Databases and Metrics for Assessing Research Quality and Scholarly Reputation.
