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International Journal of OBE

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International Journal of OBE

About The International OBE Journal

Hundreds of governments, accreditation bodies, universities, and education systems across the world are using Outcome-Based Education (OBE) as the rationale and focus of their quality improvement efforts. Among these numerous bodies there is no authentic, consistent understanding of what OBE means, how it can be properly implemented, or what its potentials are.  Consequently, the term OBE has become a popular label or slogan used to justify just about any kind of educational improvement initiative, whether real change or improvement results or not.

The International Journal of Outcome-Based Education has been established to address and redress this unfortunate state of confusion by providing the global education community with the most credible, insightful, coherent knowledge and research possible about OBE.  We are dedicated to encouraging and advancing rigorous analyses, cutting-edge research, authentic applications, and visionary theories that address and amplify OBE’s grounding tenets and their evolving applications.  These tenets were systematically derived from several key elements in Benjamin Bloom’s 1968 Mastery Learning model of classroom instruction and formulated into a coherent, system-focused framework by the Network for Outcome-Based Schools in 1980.

This integrated framework of Purposes, Premises, and operating Principles is often called OBE’s “Success for All” Philosophy, or Paradigm. For the past four decades this Paradigm has defined OBE, inspired major OBE books and articles by William Spady and others, grounded countless OBE presentations and workshops across the world, guided OBE’s transformational vision and evolution, and withstood critical examination of its applications in all program areas and levels of education. Please note: When implemented authentically, this Paradigm transforms and elevates the meaning of Outcomes and their attainment, understandings of learner potential, and the structuring of learning systems far beyond the conventions, norms, and time-based limitations of accepted academic practice.

The International Journal of Outcome-Based Education is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed journal published by the School of Social and Sciences and Education of the Mapúa University, Philippines. Please see the journal’s Aims and Scope for more information about its focus and peer-review policy.

The International Journal of Outcome-Based Education has English as its official language and only publishes manuscripts in English.

The International Journal of Outcome-Based Education accepts the following types of articles: original articles and book reviews. Instructions to authors apply only to the submission of articles, not to book reviews. Book reviews are solicited, although the editorial office is open to suggestions and inquiries.

Aims and Scope

IN4OBE was formed to provide the most advanced information and assistance on implementing authentic Outcome-Based Education to the world community.  This cutting-edge work represents our accumulated wisdom and expertise gained from five decades of visionary OBE leadership, design, training, and evaluation in learning systems of all kinds and levels on five continents.  During this period our vision for how OBE’s can elevate humanity’s future has taken form, resulting in a transformational change in educational thinking and practice.  We have learned that Implementing Authentic OBE requires sustained attention to, and careful application of, eight implementation essentials:

Most OBE policies and practices across the world reflect serious misunderstandings of the authentic meaning and application of the concept and its implications. Our foundational work explicitly spells out what it means to Base Education on Outcomes, especially when those Outcomes relate to the full range of learner potentials and qualities that contribute significantly to life fulfillment.  This expansive approach to learning is embodied in many familiar learning models outside formal education and has sparked a great evolution and revolutions in OBE designs and models within the system as well.

OBE is much more than a learning model or instructional technique that can simply be delegated to instructors. Doing OBE Right requires deep change in almost every aspect of a system’s organizing principles and operations. Making systemic change happen requires committed, informed, insightful leadership, not just administrative directives or management demands. This hands-on component of our work spells out the many organizational elements that leaders must address, build support for, and change, and it develops the relevant orientations and strategies they will need to accomplish these ends.
OBE represents a fundamental departure from long-established, familiar ways of educating children and young adults. That departure involves values, beliefs, assumptions, goals, priorities, professional identities, organizational structures and practices that constitute both the ‘craft’ of educating and the ‘culture’ in which the process of educating plays out. The significance and details of this departure will be welcomed by some and resisted by others, but in all cases it requires active engagement of all constituents in the philosophical, substantive, and technical aspects of what an authentic approach to OBE entails. This component spells out both the substance and strategies of preparing all parties with the understandings and tools essential to a sound and successful implementation process.
Outcomes represent the ultimate purpose for which an extended learning process exists, They are both culminating demonstrations of that purpose, and they need to endure far beyond the learning experiences themselves – into the future and into life. To be both credible and relevant, Outcomes must also have an explicit and sound rationale from which they are explicitly derived and than carefully defined in clear, descriptive words. – not numbers. This critical component of an OBE model requires strong language and analytical skills, which then also apply to how and when the Outcomes are to be addressed and integrated in designing learning experiences that, In turn, encourage and support their accomplishment and ongoing application.
Outcomes – culminating demonstrations of learning – take many forms, ranging from very simple skills to increasingly complex configurations of knowledge and abilities. The latter are called role performances, or performance roles, that are the essential components of virtually all life roles. These future-focused life-performance abilities are represented in a variety of versatile and compelling formats and have defined the ever-evolving cutting-edge of OBE designs and learning experiences for the past three decades. Once well understood and defined, they can be effectively applied from the earliest primary grades to advanced professional preparation programs, thereby adding vision, cohesion, and consistency to the entire learning system.
The knowledge and skills students develop during their formal education is a small fraction of what they will have to learn throughout their lifetimes. Therefore, the most critical abilities they can develop and sustain while in the system are the drive, skills, and resourcefulness to be a self-directed learner. While appealing on its face, most curricula and degree programs are so filled with required learning and assignments impede rather than foster this essential capacity. In effect, they require student compliance more than they encourage self-direction, self-exploration, and genuine empowerment. This component highlights Outcomes, instruction, and learning processes that directly foster and embody these critical abilities and attributes.
As OBE’s ultimate mission has deepened and transformed over the decades, so have the Outcome frameworks educators have used to elevate the quality and qualities of their graduates. Key among them is an emphasis on professionalism that embodies and reflects qualities of genuine professionals – qualities of service and integrity that engender trust and reinforce expertise. This component explains how these qualities can be fostered and modeled within the institution and the cultural norms it creates, consistently advocates and upholds. Using a framework called the Total Professional to develop Outcomes that directly emphasize these significant qualities, institutions can design and align their key areas of study and learning experiences with those Outcomes and consistently incorporate them into the essential content and competences of any program.
OBE’s ‘First Principle’ is Clarity of Focus on Outcomes of Significance, and it’s key sub-principle is Alignment – that every component of the instructional system directly match, embody, and align with those Outcomes. It is here that most efforts at Implementing Authentic OBE fall short. Very simply: conventional systems of testing, grading, and assessing quality learning and performance are profoundly out of alignment with the Outcomes they attempt to ‘measure’ and record. This critical component addresses those many unrecognized weaknesses and offers sound methods for designing and implementing assessments that authentically assess and validate the quality and depth of student learning and performance.

Peer Review and Ethics

The Journal of Outcome-Based Education is committed to the highest standards of peer-review integrity and quality. Each submission is initially screened by the editor-in-chief for its suitability to the journal. Once assessed, the paper is subjected to a double-blind review by independent, anonymous expert referees. Read information on what to expect during peer review. Authors are also asked to read the journal’s guidance on publication ethics.

3.1.What to expect during peer review

3.2. Publication ethics

3.3. Content, technical and language screening by the Editor-in-Chief

3.4.Double blind review by members of the Editorial Board or reviewers

3.5. Revision/s by the author (if required)

3.6. Editorial decision by the Editor-in-Chief or Editor-in-Charge

Publication Frequency and Publication Fees

The Journal of Outcome-Based Education is published twice a year in June and December. Its first issue shall be published in December 2021. The journal does not collect any registration fee or article publishing charge.

Ethics Statement

The statement of ethics for the Journal of Outcome-Based Education published by the School of Social and Sciences and Education of the Mapúa University, Philippines, was adapted from the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and covers the code of ethics for the editor-in-chief, editorial board members, reviewers and authors.
  1. Actively contribute to the enrichment of the journal.
  2. Act as ambassadors for the journal.
  3. Continuously support and promote the journal.
  4. Review any work assigned to them.
  1. Ensure only new and original work is submitted.
  2. Ensure that work has not been previously published in other journals.
  3. Submit articles that are not being reviewed or considered by the journal and other journals simultaneously.
  4. Publish their work elsewhere only after receiving a formal rejection from the journal or if their request to withdraw their work is officially accepted by the journal.
  5. Inform the Editor-in-Chief or the publisher of any inaccuracy of data in their published work so that correction or retraction of article can be done.
  6. Make significant contributions and be held accountable for any shortcoming in their work.
  1. Disclose any competing interest before agreeing to review a submission.
  2. Refuse to review any submission due to a conflict of interest or inadequate knowledge.
  3. Review all submissions objectively, fairly and professionally.
  4. Reveal any ethical misconduct encountered while reviewing to the Chief Editor for further action.
  5. Ensure the originality of a submission and be alert to any plagiarism and redundant publication.
  6. Must not discuss the content of the submission without permission.
  7. Adhere to the time allocated for the review process. Requests for extension to review the submission is at the discretion of the Chief Editor.
  1. Evaluate manuscripts fairly and solely on their intellectual merit.
  2. Ensure confidentiality of manuscripts and not disclose any information regarding manuscripts to anyone other than the people involved in the publishing process.
  3. Decide when and which articles are to be published.
  4. Actively seek the views of board members, reviewers and authors on how to improve visibility of the journal.
  5. Provide clear and specific instructions to potential contributors on the submission process and what is expected of the authors.
  6. Ensure appropriate reviewers are selected for the review process.

Authors must submit original work that has not been published or being considered elsewhere. Authors must ensure that the paper has not been plagiarized, in parts or in whole. Appropriate software may be used by the editorial board to check for similarities of submitted manuscripts with existing literature. Inclusion of fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable. Work and/or words from other publications must be appropriately cited or quoted using the adopted citation and reference guides.

Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. The methods used in the work should be clearly described so that the findings can be replicated and confirmed by other researchers.

A statement on conflict of interest must be included in the manuscript if authors receive any support that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. 

Names of authors listed on paper should only be those who made a significant contribution to the paper. Only those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the work must be acknowledged or listed as contributors. It is the duty of the corresponding author to ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper.  All co-authors must approve the final version of the paper and agree to the version of the paper before submission.

Authors should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. A similar manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal concurrently as this constitutes as unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
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