Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) Higher Education Development Project (HEDP) Modernizing Teaching and Learning Outcome Based Education (OBE) and Student Centered Learning (SCL) Plan Revised October 2016 Prepared by: Ahmad Jawed Samsor Acronyms: MoHE Ministry of Higher Education HEDP Higher Education Development Program PDC Professional Development Center GoA Government of Afghanistan OBE-SCL Outcome Based Education/Student Centered Learning GPA Grade Point Average FGD Focus Group Discussion QA&C Quality Assurance and Certification SIDP Strategic Institutional Development Plan IQUA Internal Quality Assurance Unit DLI Disbursement Linked Indicator CMS Course Management System TPD Teacher Professional Development Table of Contents Background ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Vision:............................................................................................................................................................ 1 Mission: ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Objectives: .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Deliverables: ................................................................................................................................................. 2 Before Jumping Into Solutions ...................................................................................................................... 3 First Things First ............................................................................................................................................ 3 What needs to be done next? ....................................................................................................................... 3 Approach: ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 1. Capacity Building Through University and Professional Institutes Partnerships: ............................. 4 A. Selection of Trainees: .................................................................................................................... 5 B. Types of Training: .......................................................................................................................... 5 C. Objectives of the Training: ............................................................................................................ 6 2. OBE-SCL Practice: .............................................................................................................................. 6 3. OBE-SCL Conference/Symposium: .................................................................................................... 7 4. Participation in Regional and International Conferences: ................................................................ 7 5. Establishing Professional Development Centers (PDCs) or Institutionalizing OBE-SCL: ........... Error! Bookmark not defined. A. Structure ........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. B. Function or Term of Reference of the PDC .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. C. Reporting........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. D. Office Space ................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. E. Curriculum (Training Certificate and Competency Exam): ............ Error! Bookmark not defined. 6. Establishment of Advisory Committee (Long Term): ...................................................................... 17 7. Student Engagement and Student Evaluation Surveys: ................................................................. 17 8. Integration with Quality Assurance, Research, Scholarships and SIDP: ......................................... 18 9. E-Learning ....................................................................................................................................... 19 10. Meeting the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) for 2016-2017 ........................................... 19 11. OBE-SCL Task Force: .................................................................................................................... 20 Objectives: .......................................................................................................................................... 20 Task Force Structure and Selection Criteria: ....................................................................................... 20 Reporting............................................................................................................................................. 21 12. Regulatory Framework and Policy Level Changes: ..................................................................... 21 Implementation Plan: ................................................................................................................................. 22 Monitoring Mechanisms: ............................................................................................................................ 25 Improving Coordination to Avoid Duplication: ........................................................................................... 26 References: ................................................................................................................................................. 27 Annexes: ...................................................................................................................................................... 28 Annex A: Baseline of OBE-SCL ................................................................................................................. 28 Method of carrying out the Baseline .................................................................................................. 30 Scope of Baseline ................................................................................................................................ 30 Timeline for Baseline: ......................................................................................................................... 31 Annex B: .................................................................................................................................................. 32 Annex C: OBE-SCL Champions ToR.......................................................................................................... 34 Background Higher Education is a major driver of economic development and the imperatives for countries to upscale employment skills demands for quality teaching and learning within higher educational institutes. Universities want to be recognized as providers of good quality education, ensure their reputation and wants to demonstrate their performance by responding to student’s demands by assuring them that their education will lead to good jobs and will give them the skills needed for a successful person in the society. In post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan, where many teachers still follow traditional teacher- centered pedagogy approaches, struggles to adapt to the modern teaching and learning approaches. The Government of Afghanistan (GoA) by recognizing the strategic importance of human capital in the modern global knowledge economy, and its direct impact on the economic development, has placed higher education as one of its priority. The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) is aware of the fact that higher education is becoming more internationalized and its role in contributing to new areas (such as evidence- based policy making, innovation, local and regional development) and to produce appropriately skilled workforce that can respond to the challenges of the 21st century is growing. The quality of teaching matters the most in higher education, MoHE has therefore taken a series of initiatives including short-term and long-term training for teacher of public universities on Outcome- Based Education, Student-Centered Learning, and the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for improved pedagogy and student-teacher interaction. In order to foster a climate conducive to the recognition of teaching quality as a priority in public universities, and to employ innovative evaluation instrument so that the impact on the quality of learning outcomes could be measured, MoHE has laid out a strategy that will pave ways for the implementation of modern teaching and learning approaches in public universities. Vision: To modernize teaching and learning in higher education of Afghanistan by promoting and institutionalizing outcome based education and student centered learning. Mission: 1,500 full time academic staff trained in, and practicing, outcome-based education and student centered learning by 2022 Objectives: The objectives of OBE-SCL component are: Promote and institutionalize OBE and SCL in higher education Train full time academic staff outcome-based education and student centered learning Collect data on practice of OBE and SCL and recommend changes for improvement Enable professional development centers (PDCs) in public universities 1 | P a g e Outcome Based