Roadmap for the Oecd Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (ahelo) Feasibility Study

Background context 2 AHELO goals and challenges 2 Strategic goals 2 Challenges to address in AHELO 3 Why the OECD? 3 The AHELO approach and its rationale 4 A multi-dimensional definition of quality 4 HEIs as units of analysis 5 A target population of students at the end of their undergraduate degree 6 Reporting at institutional level to permit a wide substantive coverage with limited response burden 6 The AHELO feasibility study 6 Expected outcomes 6 Several strands of work reflecting several aspects of quality 7 Maximising insight from a broad geographic and linguistic coverage in a manageable way 9 Countries involved 9 A transparent and collaborative process 10 A cooperative funding mechanism 11 Proposed activities in the different strands of work 12 Four strands of work 12 Main activities for field-testing of assessment and survey instruments 15 2 The purpose of this paper is to describe the roadmap for work to be undertaken as part of the Feasibility Study for an OECD Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO). Detailed planning for the AHELO feasibility study started in May 2008 and a first version of the roadmap was published in July 2008. This revised version of the roadmap reflects current thinking and will be expanded and updated over time as the feasibility study unfolds.