1. [Year]
Name of the College
Name of the Student
[ OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION
AND CURRICULUM REVIEW]

2. 2
OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION AND CURRICULUM REVIEW
Outcome Based Education Model
The aim of education is to create an environment that facilitates teaching and learning as well as
bringing a considerable change in the learner making him more skilled and knowledgeable. The
core of teaching and learning is planning teaching events and strategies in order to determine the
competence of the learner. If there is an ambiguity about the learning outcomes that are desired
then this results in faulty knowledge and skills. In order to fulfill the needs of the learners it is
essential to repeatedly adjust or revise the education policies and practices.
The outcome based learning is preferred internationally in order to promote the renewal of
education and is implemented in many countries like America, Canada and New Zealand.
Nevertheless, according to Claassen (1998) OBE has faced intense criticism from the opponents.
OBE is considered to be a philosophy rather than a practice. Many states emphasize outcomes
that the schools are probable to accomplish,; however, a few of them have altered their rules to
match the notion that education must be outcome based and not on the duration of the school
year. Mentioned below are some of the models that present various approaches to Outcome-
based learning.
The Johnson City Model:
The Johnson City Model is a well established model used in Johnson City, New York (Vickery,
1990). This program, also known as Outcomes-Driven Developmental Model (ODDM), was
initiated in early 70s by John Champlain. Formerly, the program was expressed as the mastery

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learning program. According to the ex-superintendent Al Mamary, the major discrepancy
between mastery learning model and ODDM is that the ODDM stresses importance upon the
role of students in learning where as in mastery learning model the teacher is responsible for
students’ learning. According to Brandt (1994), in ODDM the students are made aware of the
outcomes and responsibilities expected from them in order to accomplish them. It also is said to
have a powerful philosophical, psychological and technical base.
The High Success Network
Bill Spady and his associate are known to build one of the famous model of Outcome Based
Education at High Success Network. Bill Spady has given four doctrines to illustrate OBE:
 Having a clear focus that provides a sense of purpose to the students as well as the
teachers
 Initiating with outcomes while planning the curriculum and while instructing the students
are taught to display the outcomes.
 All students are expected to learn well; however, not in the same manner or same day.
 Students are given the liberty to display their learning in various ways; known as ‘grading
in pencil’ by Spady.
In order to differentiate mastery learning model with OBE Spady and Kit Marshall (1991) have
categorized OBE model. They clarify that the Mastery learning makes sure that more pupils
learn well; however, is applied to any content whereas OBE integrates Mastery learning

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principles and is also concerned with what content does the student learn and why is he made to
do so.
They use the term OBE for programs where outcomes are related to becoming an expert of the
subject matter; for instance, Math, Science, English etc (Spady and Marshall, 1991). Spady and
Marshall support transformational OBE where the outcomes come from a vigilant analysis of
what a student will be able to do in order to do well in the future. These outcomes are the
‘performance roles’ like becoming a problem solver or a teacher (Spady, 1994)
The McREL Model
The performance assessment system developed by Bob Marzano and his colleagues at
Midcontinent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) is an OBE model that many have
found useful. This model engages writing tasks that exclusively include various elements of
different outcomes in one task (Marzano, Pickering, and McTighe 1993). The Marzano model
provides a suitable way of assessing the transitional outcomes adopted by many educators.
This OBE model engages not only the teachers and students but also the parents and citizen in
order to establish the outcomes that are likely to be demonstrated by the pupils. The outcomes
can be traditional related to the subject matter or comprise of other outcomes like, developing
communication skills or performing innovative life roles.
Only after the establishment of the outcomes the curriculum can be designed to provide students
with the skills and knowledge needed to display these outcomes. Sometimes, the outcomes can
only be assessed by performance assessment; therefore the grading policies are to be analyzed
and altered accordingly.

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The Twelve Roles of a Doctor:
The Dundee Curriculum is based on the twelve roles or outcomes of a doctor and is essential for
students to progress and achieve the identified outcomes. These outcomes characterize a
competency of doctor (Gmc-uk.org, 2015).
1. A competent doctor has the capability to take a complete, pertinent history of the patient-
both medically and socially related. Also he is able to carry out a thorough physical
examination of the patient. He is capable of assessing the abilities of the patient and
makes him the part of decisions that he takes and provides support through relevant
advices, explanations and assurances.
2. A competent doctor is able to comprehend the evaluations made from the medical, social
history and the examinations performed with the patient. This is important in order to
formulate the differential diagnosis and structure the investigations. Through these
investigations the probable diagnosis and a plan of treatment and discharge is chalked out
by the doctor.
3. A doctor needs to set up a drug history and recommend a suitable drug therapy to the
patient. He or she has to be aware of the adverse reactions that may be caused by the drug
and provide awareness to the patient regarding the drug. He also has to acknowledge the
fact that the patient may be using an alternative therapy or a complementary medicine.
4. The performance of variety of diagnosis and medical therapies is an essential part of his
job. A doctor should also display accurate practice in every aspect of these processes.
5. A competent doctor not only has to have excellent oral and written communication skills
but also be able to deal with issues electronically and through telephone. He is required to

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make effective communication with the patients, patients’ relative, colleagues and the
general public.
6. A doctor is required to identify the immediate emergency situations and deal with these
sensitive issues with required recovery procedures.
7. Maintaining a correct and complete clinical record is essential for a doctor so that he can
compute this information successfully whenever it is required. While dealing with this
information he is bound to lay importance to the confidentiality of the information.
8. The fundamentals of clinical and social sciences that strengthen the medical practice are
well comprehended by a capable doctor. He is not only able to give details of the
structure of the bodily disease but also provide the appropriate treatment for it.
9. The psychological and social theories related to health and disease and the factors behind
them that may influence an illness or its treatment should be comprehended by a good
doctor. He must be responsive towards the behavioral change of the patient during the
course of treatment, the compliance shown by the patient and the ability to adapt to the
major changes of a patient’s life.
10. A competent doctor is able to converse about the fundamental principles of health
improvement that include various determinants like inequalities and surveillance. The
health service policies and guidelines should be acknowledged and applied by him in his
practice so that he is aware of the individual and community factors affecting health.
11. The doctor can critically analyze the studies from medical literature and implement these
evaluations in his practice. He should be capable to form research question and design
relevant studies to answer these queries following the ethical guidelines.

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12. A good doctor is able to reflect repeatedly on his learning and acknowledges his limits
and professional growth. He not only seeks help and feedback when needed but is also
able to offer expert advice and take up different roles in the organization he is part of.
PMDC Curriculum and Outcome Based Learning
Curriculum of a subject provides a judgment about the intellectual development of a state and
development of a nation. The world today has turned into a global village where new doctrines
are arising every day. It is; therefore, the dire demand of the time to repeatedly analyze and
update the curriculum according to the fresh developments in different fields.
Curriculum can be categorized broadly in to two types, prescriptive and outcome based. The
prescriptive curriculum stresses importance on teaching without or with minimal integration with
other subjects. This type of education is teacher centered and revolves around cramming of facts
and knowledge. Conversely, outcome based curriculum is clarifies the goals of education and the
means through which these goals can be accomplished. This type of education is students
centered and allow integration with other subjects. No curriculum is said to be completely
outcome based or prescriptive (Kern, 1998). In prescriptive curriculum the outcome may be
clarified and based on the level of prescription and absorption, whereas in outcome based
curriculum little prescription may also be required.

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Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) protects the public interest related to health by
making sure that the medical education in Pakistan meets the minimum requirements to be
categorized as a safe professional practicing. In order to do so PMDC gives guidelines on
medical curriculum that is followed by the medical universities. However, the universities have
the liberty to adjust the curriculum unless they conform to the principles of the PMDC document.
This curriculum followed by most of the medical universities in the country is largely
prescriptive in nature (Pmdc.org.pk, 2015). For instance, the BDS curriculum is a divided in four
academic years and further in 3 to 4 different disciplines that are not integrated. The curriculum
lists the subjects and topics that are to be taught each year in every discipline. The document
nowhere mentions the methods of teaching or the relevant resources. Both the PMDC and
outcome based curriculum provide results related to the predetermined curriculum and content.
The medical colleges following PMDC curriculum have outcomes but the nature of product is
not specified.
Deficiencies and Suggestions
Currently in Pakistan the curriculum followed by the medical and dental Sciences are largely
prescriptive and vague which has led into teacher centered medical education. It emphasizes on
rote learning and didactic approach towards education. As a result, we have medical professional
with cognitive competencies of low grades (Teaching.uncc.edu, 2015). Pakistan Medical and
Dental Council (PMDC) have not laid importance to skill based learning; therefore, no
surprisingly we witness incidence due to carelessness and incompetency of the medical people.
Throughout the world there have been movements to support the outcome-based education
model which has lead to improvement of the healthcare services (Khan et al., 2012).

9. 9
As far as the learning outcome models are concerned the work by University of Dundee is well
known. The approach provides a three circle model and twelve outcomes or roles of a doctor.
The international curriculum at present is mainly based on such outcome based models.
The challenge Pakistan Medical and Dental Council PMDC faces are to come up with the
standard of education followed across the world. The University of Health Sciences has made
sure that all the required changes are suitable to our culture, society and geographical context.
Consequently, rather than implementing a western model the University of Health Sciences UHS
has gone on board to develop its own outcomes for the four year BDS program. Therefore 15
graduate outcomes have been explained as traits necessary for all graduates in the four year plan.
Comparing it with the outcome based learning, the outcomes developed by the University of
Health Sciences UHS have many commonalities and this seems to an initiative taken by UHS.
However, the regional elaboration depending on the strong and weak points of our healthcare
department and existing gap in health professional competencies needs to be focused on. In the
next stage the gap can be filled by developing (or revising) a core syllabus for each discipline on
the basis of the concluding outcomes of the program. Also the vertical and horizontal integration
of the subjects has to be the focal point in order to produce the desired results.
References:
Brandt, R. (1994). On Creating an Environment Where All Students Learn: A Conversation with
Al Mamary. Educational Leadership, 5(51), pp.18-23.

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CLAASSEN, C. (1998). utcomes - based education: some insights from comp lexity theory. outh
African Journal of Higher Education, 2(12), pp.34-40.
Gmc-uk.org, (2015). GMC | Tomorrow's Doctors. [online] Available at: http://www.gmc-
uk.org/education/undergraduate/tomorrows_doctors.asp [Accessed 1 Jul. 2015].
Kern, D. (1998). Curriculum development for medical education: a six step approach. Baltimore
MD: John Hopkins University Press, p.178.
Khan, J., Tabassum, S., Mukhtar, O. and Iqbal, M. (2012). Developing the outcomes of a
baccalaureate of dental surgery programme. 3(22).
Marzano, R., Pickering, D. and McTighe, J. (1993). Assessing student outcomes: Performance
assessment using the Dimensions of Learning model. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Pmdc.org.pk, (2015). Pakistan Medical & Dental Council. [online] Available at:
http://www.pmdc.org.pk/ [Accessed 1 Jul. 2015].
Spady, W. (1994). Choosing Outcomes of Significance. Educational Leadership, 5(51), pp.18-
23.
Spady, W. and Marshall, K. (1991). Beyond Traditional Outcome-Based Education. Educational
Leadership, 2(49), pp.67-72.
Teaching.uncc.edu, (2015). Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives | The Center for
Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte. [online] Available at:
http://teaching.uncc.edu/learning-resources/articles-books/best-practice/goals-objectives/blooms-
educational-objectives [Accessed 1 Jul. 2015].
Vickery, T. (1990). ODDM: A Workable Model for Total School Improvement. Educational
Leadership, 7(47), pp.67-71.