How LOCF can empower 21st Century's skills learning in Higher Education

 

The ultimate aim of Higher Education is to produce a skilled workforce with global competencies who can contribute to face the challenges of a dynamic global economy. So, with the changes in the needs of the global economy, it becomes necessary to reform the education practices of Higher Education to ensure growth of the nation and the world. Curriculum is the backbone of the academic system, so to make the students attain 21st Century Education skills, the revision of Curriculum has become the need of the hour to foster quality Higher Education. UGC, has issued a “Quality Mandate” book that emphasizes the designing of outcomes-oriented academic practices that can ensure the holistic development of students. The Learning Outcomes-based Curriculum Framework (LOCF) is a pioneer initiative of UGC that empowers student-centric learning in Higher Education by including various field works, lab tasks, brainstorming, discussions and many creative components that can relate academic knowledge to real life experiences.
Now Let’s Understand LOCF in detail:

The LOCF approach “makes the student an active learner; the teacher a good facilitator and together they lay the foundation for lifelong learning”. “The idea behind LOCF is to decide the desired outcome within the framework of the current Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and then design the curriculum to obtain these outcomes. The outcomes will be determined in terms of skills, knowledge, understanding, employability, graduate attributes, attitudes, values, etc., gained by students upon the completion of the course,” said by UGC.

Its main focus is to make the expectations from students clear in terms of their knowledge, understanding and application skills by the end of their programme and the degree should be awarded on the basis of competencies achieved. LOCF specifies that the Curriculum of a program should be planned and designed considering the formulated graduate attributes, qualification descriptors, programme learning outcomes and course learning outcomes that are supposed to be demonstrated by the graduates and builds the accountability of program in terms of learning standards and outputs among prospective students and parents.

These outcomes are developed to promote flexibility, mobility and global competitiveness in learners.

Graduate Attributes:

The graduate attributes are the outcomes that reflect the expected competencies including knowledge, skills, attitudes and values from the graduates of Higher Education Institutes. These capabilities ensure to prepare youth with globally compatible skills and a responsible citizen of society. LOCF is based on the concept that every student has unique needs and interests. So, his learning should also be unique in terms of disciplinary and generic horizons. Following are the important generic attributes that ensure holistic learning of students from a program.

1

Disciplinary knowledge

Capable of demonstrating comprehensive knowledge and understanding of one or more disciplines that form a part of an undergraduate programme of study.

2

Communication Skills

Ability to express thoughts and ideas effectively in writing and orally; Communicate with others using appropriate media; confidently share one’s views and express herself/himself; demonstrate the ability to listen carefully, read and write analytically, and present complex information in a clear and concise manner to different groups.

3

Critical thinking

Capability to apply analytic thought to a body of knowledge; analyse and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims, beliefs on the basis of empirical evidence; identify relevant assumptions or implications; formulate coherent arguments; critically evaluate practices, policies and theories by following scientific approach to knowledge development.

4

Problem solving

Capacity to extrapolate from what one has learned and apply their competencies to solve different kinds of non-familiar problems, rather than replicate curriculum content knowledge; and apply one’s learning to real life situations.

5

Analytical reasoning

Ability to evaluate the reliability and relevance of evidence; identify logical flaws and holes in the arguments of others; analyse and synthesise data from a variety of sources; draw valid conclusions and support them with evidence and examples, and addressing opposing viewpoints.

6

Problem solving

Capacity to extrapolate from what one has learned and apply their competencies to solve different kinds of non-familiar problems, rather than replicate curriculum content knowledge; and apply one’s learning to real life situations.

7

Analytical reasoning

Ability to evaluate the reliability and relevance of evidence; identify logical flaws and holes in the arguments of others; analyse and synthesise data from a variety of sources; draw valid conclusions and support them with evidence and examples, and address opposing viewpoints.

8

Research-related skills

A sense of inquiry and capability for asking relevant/ appropriate questions, problematizing, synthesising and articulating; Ability to recognise cause-and-effect relationships, define problems, formulate hypotheses, test hypotheses, analyse, interpret and draw conclusions from data, establish hypotheses, predict cause-and-effect relationships; ability to plan, execute and report the results of an experiment or investigation.

9

Cooperation/Teamwork:

Ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams; facilitate cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group, and act together as a group or a team in the interests of a common cause and work efficiently as a member of a team.

10

Scientific reasoning

Ability to analyse, interpret and draw conclusions from quantitative/qualitative data; and critically evaluate ideas, evidence and experiences from an open-minded and reasoned perspective.

11

Reflective thinking

Critical sensibility to lived experiences, with self-awareness and reflexivity of both self and society.

12

Information/digital literacy

Capability to use ICT in a variety of learning situations, demonstrate ability to access, evaluate, and use a variety of relevant information sources; and use appropriate software for analysis of data.

13

Self-directed learning

Ability to work independently, identify appropriate resources required for a project, and manage a project through to completion

14

Multicultural competence

Possess knowledge of the values and beliefs of multiple cultures and a global perspective; and capability to effectively engage in a multicultural society and interact respectfully with diverse groups.

15

Moral and ethical awareness/reasoning:

Ability to embrace moral/ethical values in conducting one’s life, formulate a position/argument about an ethical issue from multiple perspectives, and use ethical practices in all work. Capable of demonstrating the ability to identify ethical issues related to one’s work, avoid unethical behavior such as fabrication, falsification or misrepresentation of data or committing plagiarism, not adhering to intellectual property rights; appreciating environmental and sustainability issues; and adopting objective, unbiased and truthful actions in all aspects of work.

16

Leadership readiness/qualities

Capability for mapping out the tasks of a team or an organization, and setting direction, formulating an inspiring vision, building a team who can help achieve the vision, motivating and inspiring team members to engage with that vision, and using management skills to guide people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way.

17

Lifelong learning

Ability to acquire knowledge and skills, including ‘learning how to learn’, that are necessary for participating in learning activities throughout life, through self-paced and self-directed learning aimed at personal development, meeting economic, social and cultural objectives, and adapting to changing trades and demands of work place through knowledge/skill development/reskilling.

Qualification descriptors for a Bachelor’s Degree programme:

A qualification descriptor indicates the wide-range of outcomes expected for the award of a Bachelor's degree in any discipline. These descriptors gauge the disciplinary as well as generic skills demonstrated by students in their academic landscape. The graduate young generation are expected to accomplish following learning outcomes according to UGC recommendations:

Programme learning outcomes

Program refers to the whole study scheme followed by students in their graduation journey. Program learning outcomes reflect the vivid results that are aligned with relevant qualification descriptors and which the students are required to demonstrate for the successful accomplishment of certificate/diploma/degree. Program learning outcomes include the knowledge and skills required to prepare students for higher study, successful employment and social responsibility.

Course learning outcomes

The programme learning outcomes are achieved when the students acquire the learning of selected courses. Course learning outcomes are aligned with program learning outcomes and are the learning results of individual disciplinary or interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary courses. Mapping between course outcomes is done with Program outcomes to present the level of accomplishment of Program outcomes.

The table given below, shows the structure of the mapping matrix of Program learning outcomes and Course learning outcomes.

Teaching - learning process
The outcomes-based education framework demands the student-centric teaching-learning practices that can ensure that students will attain the pre-established outcomes in the course of their learning. So it has become important to tailor the pedagogy for the acquisition of knowledge and skills of the learners. Practical teaching approaches such as field-based learning, project work, brainstorming sessions, internship etc. that can support the bridging between theory and its applications are appreciated.
Assessment methods
Formative assessment is encouraged under the framework outcome-based learning. The performance of students in all academic activities including; closed-book and open-book tests; problem-based assignments; practical assignment laboratory reports; observation of practical skills; individual project reports (case-study reports); team project reports; oral presentations, including seminar presentation; viva voce interviews; etc. is mapped with the predefined learning outcomes to judge the level of accomplishment of the outcomes.
Learning outcome-based curriculum framework is one of the significant academic reforms offered by UGC to elevate the quality of teaching and research in Higher Education Institutes. iCloud offers best-in class cloud-based services to automate the Higher Education Institutes and bring the best of education practices with a couple of clicks only. We commit to bring the digital revolution in the Education sector with our cutting-edge products and managed services. Our break-through utilities including OBE supported Learning management systems empower student-centric education to improve the learning environment and make the best utilization of academic resources. Our smart features digitize the outcomes designing and mapping with all the imperative academic components to ease the flawless implementation of Outcome based Education.

Source from: https://www.apsense.com/article/how-locf-can-empower-21st-centurys-skills-learning-in-higher-education.html