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.

1. 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

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. Engineering Curriculum
 Too much theoretical content
 Compartmentalized approach
 Lacks preparing student for problem
solving skills
 Gap between knowledge and skills
 Not industrially relevant

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13.  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 !

14.  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.

15. 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.

16.  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.

17.  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)

18. 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.

19. “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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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.

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. Principle 4: Involvement of
stakeholders

33. 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

34. 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 !

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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)

39. 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.

40. 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

41. 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.

42. 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

43. 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”

44. 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

45. 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 !!

46. Thanks a lot for your patience …
My Coordinates :
deshmukh.sg@gmail.com
Acknowledgement
 Prof N V Ratnalikar
 Engineering Education Foundation, Pune