A Learning Outcome Inspired Survey Instrument for Assessing the Quality of Continuous Improvement Cycle

Abstract

Measuring the effectiveness of a continuous quality improvement cycle in education is a cumbersome and sophisticated process. This article contributes a comprehensive self-assessment instrument for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of all phases of a continuous quality improvement cycle, including planning, data collection, analysis and reporting, and implementation of improvements. To this end, a four round Delphi study soliciting a total of 23 program quality experts from four universities was conducted. The produced survey instrument contains a total of 50 questions. The instrument may be used by quality experts in education to judge the quality of their continuous quality improvement cycle that endeavours to assess the attainment of learning outcomes in various undergraduate educational programs. Moreover, the instrument could be exploited to infer relevant user and system requirements and guide the development of an automated self-assessment tool aimed at identifying the shortcomings in educational continuous quality improvement cycles.