e:\doc\web\98\04\pbeobe.txt Date sent: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 10:34:23 -0500 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: "Lynn M Stuter" (by way of Fred Battey ) Subject: William Spady Bob and Barb, I'm flat on my back—back problems—My daughter is doing my E-Mail for me. Wish I'd known that you were trying to link OBE and PBE. The following quotes are from a seminar Spady did in 1992— OBE is education based on outcomes. PBE is OBE but with more emphasis on the performance of outcomes—i.e., the assessment. " First, an outcome is a demonstration of learning that occurs at the END of a learning experience. It is a result of learning and an actual visible, observable demonstration of three things: knowledge, combined with competence, combined with something my colleagues and I call "orientations"­­the attitudinal, affective, motivational, and relational elements that also make up a performance. Further, this demonstration happens in a real live setting, and is, therefore, influenced and defined by the elements and factors that make up that setting, situation, or context." end quote " 1) an outcome is, in fact, a CULMINATING DEMONSTRATION of the entire range of learning experiences and capabilities that underlie it, and 2) it occurs in a PERFORMANCE CONTEXT that directly influences what it is and how it is carried out." end quote "Second, the term "BASED" maens to define, direct, derive, determine, focus, and organize what we do according to the substance and nature of the learning result that we want to have happen at the end. In other words, to BASE things on outcomes we would start at the end point­­with our INTENDE OUTCOME­­and define, derive, develop, and organize all of our curriculum designing and instructional planning, teaching, assessing, and advancement of students on that desired demonstration." end quote "So, when we put these two words together, the term Outcome–Based implies that we will design and organize everything we do directly around the intended learning demonstration we want to see at the end." end quote "Outcome–Based also means " Success–Based," and it directly implies that the bellcurve thinking, quotas, and comparative grading distributions and standard systems have to be abandoned in favor of what is widely known as "criterion–based" systems." end quote I hope this is of some help to you. Sincerely, Monica L. Stuter (subbing for Lynn Stuter) From: "Bob & Barbara Tennison" To: "Fred Battey" Subject: Bill Spady Date sent: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 22:57:56 -0800 Well folks I have been playing on the net "again" and I ran across the most interesting information and thought I would share it with you. As most of you know, we are being told by our school administrators that we are no longer doing OBE or that OBE is finished. I have looked for a connection between Spady's OBE and Performance and/or Standards Based education for awhile but was unable to connect OBE with Performance Based Education until tonight. I now have my connection and it came from the strangest place. I connected it off a site out of South Africa that connected me with the UW site in the U.S. - go figure >From the University of Wisconsin--- UW Learning Innovations (by Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, March 3, 1997) THE PROCESS Performance Based Education This design strategy emphasizes developing course outcomes that challenge a student to demonstrate a measurable understanding of the course objectives. These outcomes are built to provide an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to real-life situations. Key Premises * all students can learn and succeed * success breeds success *course design and instructors control the conditions of success Performance-Based Outcomes enable us to tell what a student: * knows * is able to do * can apply to real-life situations Outcomes of Significance consist of: verbs of significance + knowledge and skills of significance + real-life situations of significance @ adapted from the work of William Spady ************************************* On November 3 - 5, 1997, by invitation of the Western Cape Department of Education, Bill Spady held a seminar in Cape Town, South Africa to promote his OBE programs and whilst there he made a tour of the continent, stopping in several cities including Gauteng, Worchester and others. A few statements from his Gauteng, South Africa seminar: BS: "No resources -- no outcomes!" (that's what Oregon legislators were told and why they say they voted for OBE. They claim that they didn't have the funding so they assumed it couldn't be implemented. Guess the last laughs on them, although when they had the opportunity to correct their error by repealing the ACT in 1995, they simply strengthened and clarified it for dear Norma) BS: "We need highly qualified dedicated teachers for OBE to work in South Africa. Training must begin with top management in Education. People always tend to blame the teachers for things going wrong -- they are the last people to blame." [and I couldn't agree with him more, although there are a few exceptions. I blame the administrators who push this program down the teacher's throat and then threaten to fire them if they don't go along with the program.] BS: South African OBE is 'Transformational OBE' and not ordinary OBE." [what, pray tell is "ordinary" OBE?] BS: "I'm not aware of OBE being used in classrooms with more than 32 learners. I'm not sure how it's going to work in bigger classes." [it's not working in classes with 15 learners, so my guess is, it isn't going to work any better in bigger classes either, DUH, did this man fall off the turnip truck yesterday?] BS: "There are far too many critical outcomes in South Africa. Keep it simple. The fewer outcomes the better the chance of success." [he should have made that statement in Pennsylvania when they attempted to implement OBE with 53 learner outcomes and dozens of re-writes, but then again, we can't find even one learner outcome of any relevance in Cottage Grove and it isn't working here either. So much for keeping it simple] (spoken at General Smuts High School, Gauteng Department of Education, South Africa, 20 November 1997) ******************* Don't you often wonder if this man does any follow up on his program. Seems to me that he just trapes around the world, er I mean globe (I keep forgetting to be PC, sorry) pontificating about his "wonderful" program while collecting huge amounts of money from "the village"and then leaves. In his wake can be found threatened teachers, angry parents and confused students. But does he care, nooooo, the man is making millions selling his snake oil to an un-suspecting public and I would guess he's laughing all the way to the bank --- in Switzerland. Barbara (BET) Bob & Barbara Tennison 78612 Halderman Rd. Cottage Grove, OR 97424 (541)942-0703 http://www.jb.com/~btennison