ABSTRACT
For some years, universities and academics have been under significant pressure from industries and governments to provide educational experiences that enable graduates to have an outward focus and the ability to apply the knowledge and skills that they have developed to a wide range of jobs in their future careers. The emphasis on work-readiness of graduates is supported by a shift in focus from content-based learning to an outcome-based education, which is often referred to as a “paradigm shift” in higher education. Paradigms, as described by Guba and Lincoln. While writing learning outcomes may have come under fire at times as representative of some progressivist educational fad, it actually poses very little threat and a great deal of benefit for more conservative educators. In higher education, there is an expectation that a student will pursue increasingly complex learning and therefore will be able to function at a higher cognitive level as they progress through their course.
