Use Of Qfd In The Assessment Of Course Activities For Learning Outcomes

This paper describes the principles of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) used in the assessment of various student activities pursued during both classroom and laboratory instruction. Twenty two different types of student activities were analyzed for their contribution toward fulfillment of thirty learning outcomes. Some of the learning outcomes considered in the presented analysis were identified by Engineering Technology faculty for program assessment purposes. Additionally, there are also other outcomes that were considered by both faculty and members of the Engineering Technology Industrial Advisory Board during the development stage of the program assessment process. In two senior level courses dealing with subjects of engineering design and manufacturing processes, each type of student activity was also assessed in terms of its level according to Bloom’s taxonomy. Various assessment methods and observation are utilized in these courses to evaluate students’ performance. Design projects, concept generation, individual formal presentations, information search and forensic studies proved to be the most universal activities, developing a wide range of professional skills. After the initial analysis, for the purpose of feasibility of the assessment process, this large number of skills was reduced to a manageable number and grouped into ten learning outcomes. The ten outcomes became the subject of the formally accepted assessment process for Engineering Technology programs at CCSU.