The Education Gazette - Insights on the use of technology in OBE Assessments

The Use of Technology in Assessment is Yet to be Practiced Widely. How Does Green University Ensure Assessing OBE Through the Use of Technology? Prof. Dr. ASM Shihavuddin has shared his insights with us on this.

Prof. Dr. ASM Shihavuddin completed his PhD at the University of Girona and is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) at Green University of Bangladesh. He is also serving as the Director of the Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (CETL) and the Center for Research Innovation Transformation (CRIT) at the university. Previously, he worked as the Chairman of the EEE department at both Green University and Presidency University.

Interviewed on: April 08, 2026

Good morning, sir. The concept of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) is relatively new in our current academic landscape. Given your extensive experience in the teaching profession, where do you perceive the fundamental differences between the OBE framework and the traditional methods previously utilized?

I believe the difference is primarily structural. In the traditional method, we provided delivery and simply assumed students would achieve certain skills. In OBE, however, we perform a linear mapping. We align our activities and course development so that specific skills are "inbuilt" within the students. This shift significantly increases the probability of achieving our desired educational outcomes.

Although educational institutions across Bangladesh follow a uniform curriculum, a significant qualitative gap often exists between urban and rural institutions. This imbalance makes it difficult to implement OBE consistently on a national scale. What specific initiatives do you believe are necessary to bridge this discrepancy?

I suggest a technology-based inclusion system. First, we need to develop online training modules with multiple levels (Level 1, Level 2, etc.) that teachers in remote areas can complete at their own pace. This ensures a consistent level of knowledge regardless of location. Secondly, since OBE record-keeping is complex, we need a national-level structured software or app. If all schools and universities have access to an intuitive digital sub-domain to organize their materials, we can ensure large-scale implementation and minimize the existing institutional divisions.

Higher education is traditionally viewed as an environment for the open pursuit of knowledge, unlike the more structured boundaries found in schools or colleges. Do you believe that by adopting the OBE process, universities risk narrowing the open-ended nature of academic exploration?

Yes, there is a possibility. It is similar to a structured garden where every plant follows the same shape; while it ensures everyone reaches a baseline skill set, the opportunity for a student to become exceptionally unique might diminish. However, if we design the OBE system to include space for open-ended and creative angles, I believe we can provide the necessary room for that individual growth.

To ensure the effectiveness of OBE, Green University utilizes a CO-PO (Course Outcome - Program Outcome) mapping system, of which you are one of the primary designers. Could you share the story and the motivation behind the creation of this system?

Yes, the project originated from a departmental meeting where there was some confusion regarding how to practically measure the alignment between Course Outcomes (CO) and Program Outcomes (PO). To clarify this for my senior colleagues, I developed an initial demonstration in Excel, using logic, numerical data, and graphical illustrations to make the concept visual. Over the next five to six months, working alongside my colleague Ashiful Haque, who is now at BUBT, we built a robust system that transformed our assessment process. This allowed us to align assessments with OBE targets, maintain precise records, and generate visualized reports for both individual students and entire cohorts. Through continuous feedback, the system has matured into a tool that allows us to perform comprehensive batch-wide assessments.

The current mapping system is quite labor-intensive, requiring faculty members to spend significant time manually inputting data after semester finals. Is there a viable way to fully automate this entire process?

Automation is certainly possible for many stages of the process. While grading individual scripts still requires human input, we can automate the creation of course profiles from central listings, the formulation of questions from banks, and the initial population of CO-PO files. The current workload is high because grade submission and CO-PO mapping are separate tasks. By integrating a CO-PO portal directly into the grade submission system, we could significantly streamline the process. We are already working on using baseline data to automate the drafting of reports and meeting minutes. In the future, I believe we can even use AI to propose curriculum updates or redesign courses based on graduate requirements. However, I maintain that while AI and automation should handle the initial drafting, the final system must always be refined through the intervention of human experts.

With the rapid advancement and widespread integration of Artificial Intelligence, do you see a possibility, or have any existing plans, to replace this manual mapping process with an AI-driven solution?

I believe it is entirely possible. Currently, my efforts have been largely rule-based, which isn't always the most accurate. However, if we had a centralized system, we could train a smart system using real-world data from various universities and schools already practicing this. By moving toward automated, data-driven learning, the system would become much more accurate and better representative of human perception. Transitioning in this direction would reduce the stress on faculty, which in turn would improve their interest and overall adaptability to the system.

For those who are not yet familiar with the principles of Outcome-Based Education, could you provide a concise overview of the concept or perhaps share a personal experience that illustrates its impact?

To put it simply, consider the example of a swimming course. Instead of focusing on how I will teach, I define exactly what you will be able to do by the end, such as the backstroke, floating, or holding your breath. These are the "outcomes." If you can perform these tasks after the course, it was effective; if not, the outcome wasn't achieved. This allows us to measure effectiveness linearly. In OBE, once those targets are defined, we organize all curriculum and activities to ensure every student reaches that specific standard. In traditional education, we teach the content, but the specific skills a student will master are often left undefined. While students still learn, the lack of clear definitions makes it impossible to measure the actual effectiveness of the course in a structured way.

Thank you so much for your time, sir.

Thank you.

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