ÆXcel's iOBE Talk at the University of Nottingham Malaysia
Friday, August 28, 2026
I had the pleasure of conducting an online workshop this morning titled "iOBE: Introduction, Usage and Benefits" for the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FOSE) at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, representing the Centre for Academic Excellence (ÆXcel) at i-CATS University College, Kuching, Sarawak.
I would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Bee Yean Low, Chair of the FOSE Accreditation and Quality Assurance Working Group and Programme Director of BPharm (Hons) at the School of Pharmacy, for the kind invitation and for coordinating the session.
The workshop was structured in two parts. The first hour focused on the conceptual foundations — the context and challenges of implementing Outcome-Based Education (OBE), how student outcomes are typically evaluated, the limitations of conventional approaches, and how iOBE addresses these challenges through compact, detailed outcomes visuals such as box plots and population charts. I also shared the mathematical framework behind the software, covering how assessment marks are converted into course outcomes and programme outcomes through flexible mapping.
The second hour was practical. I demonstrated iOBE on real course data, showing how the software computes and visualises outcomes at both the course level and the programme level. Participants saw how iOBE generates assessment-level outcomes, course outcomes with box plots and population charts, programme outcomes aggregated from multiple courses, and iCGPA spiderweb charts for individual students. I also demonstrated how iOBE can be used to assess specific skills such as problem-solving through the 3-Step Approach.
The participants came from a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels. Many were encountering iOBE for the first time, while a smaller group had some prior awareness of the software. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of the lecturers at the faculty had previously used iOBE for her programme at another university and had introduced it to her colleagues at UNM. It was gratifying to hear of this firsthand experience, and it reinforced the value of the software being adopted across different institutions.
It was encouraging to introduce iOBE to a new audience and to see the interest in how it can support their OBE assessment and accreditation needs.
Thank you once again to Assoc. Prof. Bee Yean Low and the Faculty of Science and Engineering at UNM for the opportunity.
