Using the deming cycle for continuous improvement in engineering education

Abstract

As engineering programs refine assessment plans based on ABET accreditation requirements, there are many lessons to be learned from the successes and failures of industrial quality improvement movements. In 1997 as we were developing new undergraduate engineering programs we chose to use the Deming Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of continuous improvement as our model for program assessment. This paper reviews the assessment system we put in place for continuous improvement, results obtained over the last ten years, and challenges of maintaining a culture of continuous improvement. Our model involves assessment and continuous improvement at four distinct levels. First, at the constituent level, we have a set of processes for evaluating how well we are identifying our constituents, listening to them, and responding to their inputs. Second, at the program level, our processes identify needs for new educational programs, determines the objectives of these programs and evaluates our success at achieving those outcomes. Over the last 10 years, these processes have resulted in the creation of four new programs and the phase out or modification of others. Third, at the curriculum level, we have processes to improve the curriculum to better achieve program objectives. We will describe how these processes have led to various corrective and preventative actions and the results of those actions. Finally, at the course level, we have processes to encourage annual improvements in individual courses and to obtain data from individual courses for use in the assessment of program educational outcomes. By linking these levels together we have been able to reduce the faculty workload involved in assessment activities while maintaining a high degree of faculty involvement. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2008.