Use of-it-in-quality-management-case-of-technical-edn-2009

Use of IT in Quality

Management :

Opportunities and Challenges

in Technical Education

Dr S G Deshmukh Director, ABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management Gwalior deshmukh.sg@gmail.com

Based on the talk given at National Workshop on Quality Management in Technical Education 7 March 2009 at MITS Gwalior

Opening quote….

“Quality in higher education has been a matter of importance, concern and priority at regional, national and international levels especially in the recent past”.

Cathamparampil et al.(2005)

Quality…

Quality – derived from Latin “qualis” meaning “what kind of”

Wide variety of meanings and connotations attached to it

Different things to different people !

Quality as (Harvey & Knight, 1996)

Exceptional

Perfection(Consistency)

Fitness for purpose

Value for money

Transformative

Key points of the presentation

Imperatives for quality

Basic Principles of QM

Management by Measurement

QA through Accreditation

Continuous Improvement

Involvement of stakeholders

Implications and Role of IT

Challenges

End thoughts

Imperatives ..

Globalization : Borderless World of accelerating multi-dimensional change

Quality of services(WTO, Washington accord), and Shift to knowledge economy

Expectations of student community, and industry

Changing face of technology : Revolutions in Information Technology (IT)

Engineering Education System

MUST translate these challenges

through a Quality response

Imperative 1: Globalization of

Education

Globalization refers to the increasing flow of technology, finance, trade, knowledge, values and ideas across the borders(Knight & Wit, 1997)

It has multidimensional impact on the system of education.

It has underlined the need for reforms in the educational system with particular reference to wider utilization of IT giving productivity and quality dimension and emphasis on its R&D activities.

Imperative 2 : Expectations of

Student community and Industry

Bombarded with technological gadgets (Mobile, web, laptop etc.)

Low retention span

Teacher as a facilitator/coach

Dynamic requirements of industry

Gap between what is taught and what is required

Engineering Curriculum

Too much theoretical content

Compartmentalized approach

Lacks preparing student for problem solving skills

Gap between knowledge and skills

Not industrially relevant

IT is making world flatter !

(Thanks to Friedman)

Outsourcing dominated paradigm

Team work and leadership assumes new meaning

Geography has become history: Time and distance are no longer the important variables

Mobile dense and multimedia rich environment has accelerated digital environment.

Connectivity has made the global village possible

Working on-line, flexi-time, tele/videoconferencing, and continuous learning are changing the traditional notions of how work gets done.

Internet is changing the way we communicate with –suppliers, customers, potential and current employees by way of 2-way communications !

SMS driven communication

What is the QM Philosophy ?

Tenet 1 : Customers are vital to the operation of the organization. Without customers, there is no business, and without business, there is no organization (Deming ,1986).

Students as

Customer Product Knowledge carrier Co-producer !

Tenet 2 : Management needs to listen to nontraditional

sources of information in order to institute quality, People want to do quality work and that they would do it if

managers would listen to them and create a workplace based on their ideas (Deming, 1986).

Role of feedback vis-à-vis information systems

Principle 1 : Management by

Measurement Indicators of quality

a) Teacher / student ratio ; academic staff / non-academic staff ratio

b) Quality of outcome: student, research, technology transfers etc.

Statistics related to students :Attendance, Grades

Statistics related to faculty : teaching load, number of papers published, ,

% increase in results , % reduction in absenteeism

Shift from Efficiency to Effectiveness through measurement

Remarks.. Efficiency : may relate to Quality of

institution

May relate to utilization of resources

Effectiveness : may relate to Quality of Education per se !

May relate to quality of outcomes 1

Role of IT is vital both in Efficiency and Effectiveness IT as a tool for streamlining processes

IT for bringing in transparency and objectivity

Various IT initiatives- Enterprise wide information systems, e-learning etc.

Focus on Prevention rather than inspection

Design in quality rather than inspection in quality

For each problem or failure there is a root cause, causes are preventable , and prevention is cheaper !

students being transformed and matured by the institute experience, which is evidenced by their critical ability to think, doubt and question; and

student performance as measured operationally by students passing their subject/modules.

Attributes desired in Review

fairness, for lack of which the effectiveness of the review process can be hampered;

comprehensiveness because the exclusive focus on one or only a few aspects of a programme could have a negative impact on other programmes;

. timeliness, which means that programmes have to be reviewed regularly.

objectivity, to be built in as far as humanly possible.Webster in Barak and Breier (1990) defines it as “emphasising the nature of reality as it is apart from personal reflections or feelings”;

credibility, which means that the review should be regarded as fair, objective and

reasonable;

. utility because lecturers and students like to know that their efforts would be

worthwhile.

Transformation from an elite education system to mass education system (Note number of IITs/IIMs/IISERs/IIITs coming up along with increase in private institutions)

Use of IT: Enterprise wide information

systems

Software to connect various modules such as : Admission, Student Information System, Examination, HR, Finance,, Procurement etc.

Advantages: Streamlining of processes, objectivity, transparency and accountability

Example: In-house developed solution at IITD

Campus Connect : An institutional Resource Planning System

IBM Lotus® Symphony : Set of intuitive easy-to-use applications for creating, editing & sharing documents/spreadsheets and presentation.

“IT Thinking" Paradigm

Everything is a process

All processes have inherent variability

Data is used to understand the variability and drive process improvement decisions

Unless you document, you cannot improve:

Documentation facilitated by IT

IT

capability Meaning Example

Transactional IT can transform

unstructured processes

into routine transactions.

Employee records, (faculty., staff etc.) can

be structured

Automatical IT can replace or reduce

human labor in a routine

process

Preparation of attendance reports,

preparation of defaulters reports etc.,

goods inspection report etc.

Analytical IT can bring complex

analytical methods to

bear on a process

Calculations of CGPA, student

/teacher evaluation using multi-

attribute decision making models

Informational IT can bring vast

amounts of detailed

information into process,

Data on extensive profile of students,

faculty , staff

Sequential IT can enable changes in

the sequence tasks in a

process often allowing

multiple tasks to be

worked on

simultaneously.

Various steps required for checking

credentials of a candidate for

admission process, placement related

procedure etc.

Tracking IT allows the detailed

tracking of task status,

inputs, and outputs

Tracking the status of a particular

purchase order., tracking inventory of

an item ,use of consumables, use of other

financial resources.

Principle 2 : Quality Assurance

To make quality the defining element of higher education in India through a combination of self and external quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance initiatives.

Regulatory System – UGC, State Governments, Affiliating Universities

Built-in regulatory controls through

- Assessment and Accreditation NAAC (General Education); NBA (Technical Education)

2

QA through Accreditation Model

To ensure that existing systems are continually improved and reviewed for improvement Accreditation is formal or public declaration that the technical

programmes complies with a set of previously established standards by the apex body in technical education (AICTE) by assuring the quality and entrusted the work to NBA

It is a structured assessment of compliance to the accreditation standard

It provides an opportunity to acknowledge quality in educational systems

It intends to guarantee quality and public accountability in the educational system, encouraging trust in students, parents, employers, education administration and society in general.

It stimulates the academic environment for promotion of quality of teaching-learning and research

It encourages self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations.

Sn Criteria Affiliated College

1 Curricular Aspects 100

2 Teaching-learning and evaluation 350

3 Research, consultancy and extension

150

4 Infrastructure and learning resources

100

5 Student Support and progression 100

6 Governance & Leadership 150

7 Innovative Practices 50

Total 1000

Accreditation model (NAAC)

9

Use of IT in Accreditation model Teaching-learning & Evaluation

IT interventions: use of web, internet,, on-line student evaluation forms, on-line quiz, faculty web page , on-line learning management systems

National initiative such as NPTEL Infrastructure and learning resources

IT devices such as interactive boards, multi-media aids,

Student Support and progression

On-line counseling service : Ex: IITD’s Board of Student Welfare

Innovative Practices For teaching, evaluation and student involvement

Use of IT :Teaching-and-learning

Learning Management System

Deployed at IITD

For Faculty: uploading of lecture notes, ppts, on-line evaluation (test/quiz etc).

For Students: Notice board, discussion forum, feedback on performance

For Administration: Attendance, grade record, monitoring of progress

Use of IT :Teaching-and-learning

www.Moodle.org

An open source course management initiative for Learning Management System or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) by which rich web content can be developed and shared across wider community base.

As a tool to deliver contents or to connect to larger collaborative community

Used by over 2 million teachers in running 50 thousands courses

USE OF IT: NPTEL Web enabled curriculum The main objective of NPTEL program is to enhance the quality of

engineering education in the country by developing curriculum based video and web courses. This is being carried out by seven IITs and IISc Bangalore as a collaborative project.

In the first phase of the project, supplementary content for 129 web courses in engineering/science and humanities have been developed. Five major engineering disciplines have been covered in this project so far (NPTEL Phase I) at the undergraduate (B.E./B.Tech) level. Civil Engineering Computer Science and Engineering Electrical Engineering Electronics and Communication Engineering Mechanical Engineering

http://nptel.iitm.ac.in http://www.youtube.com/iit

Useful web addresses

Address About

http://www.cec-lor.edu.in Learning Object Repositories

http://www.cec-econtent.edu.in E-content

http://www.cec-vod.edu.in Video on demand

http://www.cdeep.iitb.ac.in/solo Live webcast courses from IIT Bombay

http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in NPTEL

http://www.sakshat.com MHRD’s educational portal

Principle 3: Continuous Improvement

Case of Engineering Education Excellence

Model

Enables to assess quality efforts on a variety of factors

Supports a template for improvement

Encourages Self-assessment, Peer-assessment

Enables “Management-by-Measurement”

Acts as a platform for “Best Practices” and Benchmarking

Academic

Processes 100

(10 %)

Top Mgmt Commitmt & Leadership

100 (10 %)

Faculty Resources

Developmt & Mgt. 50 (5 %)

Quality Policy & Strategy

50 (5 %)

Academic Resources

100 (10 %)

Faculty & Staff

Satisfaction 100 (10 %)

Students

Satisfaction 100

(10 %)

Impact on

Society

50 (5 %)

Academic Results 250 (25 %)

Placement

Results 100

(10 %)

Enablers 400 points (40%) Results 600 points (60%)

UPTU Academic Excellence Award Model Source: www.uptu.org

Criteria S 0-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

61-70

71-80

81-90

91-100

Leadership 100

B

Policy &

Strategy 50

B

Faculty

Resources 50

B

Academic

Resources 100

B

Processes 100

B

Faculty

satisfaction 100

B

Student

Satisfaction 100

B

Impact on

Society 50

B

Academic

Results 250

B

Placement

Results 100

Inst 1 Inst 2 B - Best

Score comparison

Principle 4: Involvement of

stakeholders

Web 2.0 Web 2.0 covers a broad range of new

online services, user-generated content, communities and social networking tools.

Examples :Blogger, Flickr, MySpace, YouTube ,

Wikipedia and the Godfather of web 2.0 - Google.

It is creation of far greater levels of interactivity, not just between users, or between users and the internet but between complementary online services through web services

33

E-learning 2.0 New way of thinking about e-learning inspired

by web 2.0

It emphasizes on social learning and use of social software such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and virtual worlds such as Second Life

Knowledge is socially constructed and construction takes place through conversations and interactions with others !

Remarks..

Both teachers and students construct knowledge collaboratively and the student is an active partner in this process.

Teacher as a guide rather than a sage on the stage !

Self-directed and life –long learning

Teacher's role not extinct but Distinct (Fr Rex Angelo, 2009)

Teaching as a reflective practice not a reflex practice

Involvement through Interactivity

Interactivity (WAP, Web Services, XML) being more recent in the IT evolution

Enables to understand customer (student and industry) better

Establishes long term relationships with all the stakeholders

Helps in understanding various features and add-ons by close interaction

Feedback through blogging

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Implication for Quality

Management: Connectivity !

Communication is anytime, anywhere via any device : Person-to-person, person-to-machine, machine-to-machine

Connecting to Information sources Connecting to Change Connecting to an ever-changing , far

reaching universe Connecting to new issues and trends Connecting to diverse resources Connecting to talent pipeline

Insights..

Shift from the perspective of knowledge giver/sender to the perspective of knowledge receiver/recipient

Emphasis on Learning !!!

People do not select medium BUT they adopt themselves to medium (Prof N Cho, Hanyang University, Korea, 2 Jan 2009 at IIITM Gwalior)

Challenges Educational administrators must become “data and information

savvy”. Typical popular surveys (such as India Today, Onlooker ) ranks

educational institutes on various parameters. For such ranking, it is necessary that internally, the institute must have a data cell and quality assurance cell whose responsibility is to promote use of quantified data for improvement.

It is important to employ statistical concepts for determining levels of accountability in education. Thus, procedures relevant to these should be setup for acquiring, recording, manipulating and analyzing data/information for reviewing and improvement. This will require sensitization and adequate training to educational administrators, faculty and other stakeholders.

The quantitative framework of education excellence model identifies some of the fundamental requirements and characteristics of the technical institutions.

The challenge is to identify various non-value addition processes and use IT to weed them out.

Challenges.. (contd.)

Procastrination concerning changes in engineering education...

Dangers of a top-down approach to force change - academics tend to be conservative concerning

their institution - they must be convinced of the need to change

- role of leadership - government, regulatory bodies , Professional societies, NGOs , institutions, etc ...

- academic staff ( and society in general ) show low awareness about the concerned issues

Challenges…

The quality philosophy is built around three basic ideas,:

to become customer driven instead of being self-focused,

to concentrate on the process rather than being preoccupied with results;

and to use employee’s thinking ability.

Educational institute need to deploy various IT based initiatives to realize this philosophy.

Insights..

Change of mind set

From bureaucratic to process oriented

From paper bound to paper less (or less paper !)

From command and control to empowerment and distributed decision making

Academia has to recognize the importance of flexibility

End Thoughts

Excellence : No excuse for waste and sloppiness, now that IT is a dominant technology

Smart use of technology : Innovation and adaptability

IT offers capabilities for Management by measurement

QA

Continuous improvement

Involvement of stakeholders

Challenge : People dimension

Aligned to customer needs

Sense of being “connected”

Feeling of “Global community”

Quest for Excellence

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fundamental duty of every citizen:

“ to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity “

Article 51 A of the Indian Constitution

Closing quotes..

It is not the strongest that survives

, nor the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change !

(Charles Darwin) IT offers an opportunity to change

this !!

Thanks a lot for your patience …

My Coordinates : deshmukh.sg@gmail.com

Acknowledgement Prof N V Ratnalikar

Engineering Education Foundation, Pune