hi shape-univ,

(1) monograph: next lecture 12.40 Tues 24.05.2011

self-explanatory.

(2) failed outcome of learning outcomes policies in WA and SA

[negatywne efekty tzw. ,,efektów kształcenia" w AZ i RPA]

!{self-explanatory}

There is apparently a new RPIII law (ustawa) that replaces the requirement for university education to be "standards-based" to making it based on "efekty kształcenia". This was discussed in Rada Wydzial. If i understood correctly, one person from WFAiIS is on the national committee that is trying to define what this really means, and my understanding is that he said that at the moment it's not really clear what it means or if it does mean something. One or two people at Rada Wydzial tried to convince us to take "efekty kształcenia" seriously, and at one point one of them said that the main problem is that the English original "learning outcomes", was wrongly translated (or difficult to translate) into Polish because of the ambiguity in words about teaching vs learning.

i was given less than 24 hours to define the "learning outcomes" required of the Size of the Universe monograph course, so despite the ambiguity about what this means, i've proposed some definitions.

i've put this on our foswiki - please anyone feel free to correct it (though probably only the version i already sent by email will count officially for 2011/2012): http://cosmo.astro.umk.pl/Cosmo/MonographCosmoOpisSizeUniverse20112012

But does "learning outcomes" = "outcome-based eduction" = OBE or ,,efekty ksztalczenie" really have a good definition other than "teach better" ?

* Western Australia (where SKA will probably be built) dropped OBE in 2007 after massive opposition by teachers and parents: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1831572.htm

* South Africa (where SKA will be if it's not in WA) dropped OBE in 2010: http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/editorials/article538849.ece/OBEs-cost-to...

There seems to be a Pauli exclusion principle between OBE and SKA, since both WA and SA (RPA in Polish) rejected OBE. :P

But seriously, the best peer-reviewed article about OBE suggests that it's not just WFAiIS/UMK that is not sure what OBE is, but the worldwide, English-speaking internet-connected community is not quite sure what OBE is either, and there don't (yet) seem to be any countries where OBE has been a success: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcome-based_education

Hence, my summary: the experimental outcome of "learning outcomes" policies in education seems to have been negative in the countries where we know the results. The official aim is that students must get positive results, but the programs that have been tried got negative results...

pozdr boud