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IT helps in streamlining various processes in Technical Education. One can use ERP. Social media and web 2.0 tools to make teaching learning process an exciting one . This can be facilitated if one also adopts simple tenets of quality management.
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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 [email protected]
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
36
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 : [email protected]
Acknowledgement Prof N V Ratnalikar
Engineering Education Foundation, Pune
