The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action. (Henry Spencer)Globalization and technological advancements are some of the key driving forces of the future. It is clear that our students have to be prepared to face these challenges. Many scholars, such as Henry Spencer, believe that the main purpose of education is not transferring knowledge to students, but having the ability to use knowledge and implement it is an important skill that students should learn in order to succeed in their future career life. Bennett (2013) stated that students often memorize educational materials and acquire inert knowledge in traditional forms of education. Such knowledge can be used in instructional settings but cannot be transferred into complex problems of working life. Nowadays, people need a range of abilities in professional work. Employers expect that their employees possess not only a good command of relevant knowledge but also ability to use knowledge and a series of soft skills such as communication, cooperation, teamwork, and time management. These requirements indicate that educational institutions should produce experts for working life of the future. Hence, changes should be created in learning goals, educational practices, and educational assessment in order to improve students’ learning. Learning goals of a course or ideals of a course should be clearly identified. According to Allan (2006), learning goals are classified into subject-based, personal transferable and generic academic outcomes. “The subject-based outcomes are discipline specific, whereas the personal transferable and the generic academic outcomes include widely applicable skills such as critical thinking, using of information, teamwork, and communications skills” (Allan, 2006, P. 93). It would seem that outcome-based education can help students to obtain a set of interrelated attitudes, essential skills and knowledge. Many instructional designers emphasize on instructional alignment. It refers to alignment between the objectives of a course, teaching methods and the methods for assessing students’ performance. Hence, teachers should use teaching techniques and activities in their classroom in order to help their students to enhance their higher order thinking skills such as problem solving, reasoning, and critical thinking skills. Moreover, they should be more authentic in their assessments. They should use educational assessment to raise students’ achievement. They should create a more positive relationship with their students and help them to understand clearly what they should learn and how to learn (Fenwick & Parsons, 2000).
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