Outcome-Based Education in Open Distance Learning: A Study on Its Implementation Amidst the Pandemic

Abstract

The noble Malaysian Qualification Framework (MQF) has been established by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) to emphasise the obligation to apply Outcome-Based Education (OBE) for higher education in Malaysia, with the revised version of MQF introduced in the year 2019 to assure the quality of higher education continues to be on par with the current global demand. A year after the launching of the revised edition, the momentum of OBE implementation was interrupted by the unforeseen pandemic crisis, resulting in major disruptions for all higher education institutions. This study intended to explore how OBE has been implemented in a Higher Education Provider (HEP) that offers Open Distance Learning (ODL), as well as its challenges and quality improvement approaches when the implementation was impacted by the unprecedented event. The study applied a qualitative research design and adopted a purposive sampling method to select four participants to join a one-to-one semi-structured interview. Data collected were transcribed and analysed via ATLAS.ti software by using a thematic approach. The finding revealed that the ODL-HEP well-applied the updated version of the framework to achieve the ultimate goal of OBE. However, there were both positive and negative perspectives about OBE in higher education. In addition, four themes namely psychomotor domain, alternative assessment, learning outcomes achievement, and dropout of students were discovered in the OBE implementation challenges amidst the pandemic. The results for the continual quality improvement aspect also revealed five important themes to illustrate how the HEP responded to the challenges and change.