Benchmarking higher education programs through alignment analysis based on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy

A constantly improving model for universities readiness in the application of e-learning practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative approach

The sudden outbreak of a lethal virus known as the COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted e-learning systems worldwide. That forced instructors and faculty members around the world to try the existing instructional platforms in an attempt to shift toward an effective unprecedented learning system. The present study concentrated on enhancing a specific e-learning system experienced for the first time at the University of Tehran (UT) that faced several difficulties in the development process due to the lack of required readiness in diverse aspects. As a phenomenological approach bordered with a descriptive-interpretive framework, the study targets a group of 2000 faculty members at 35 diverse departments of the UT. Data have gathered from 603 faculty members using voice calls, video calls, and emails and then analyzed and diverged into four fundamental segments: sociocultural readiness, pedagogical readiness, organizational readiness, and technological readiness (SCPOT-R). Our findings indicated some remarkable results that underline the significance and high priority of virtual and electronic learning methods since the expansion of COVID-19 and following physical restrictions.

A literature review on total quality management (models, frameworks, and tools and techniques) in higher education

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of total quality management (TQM) models, frameworks, and tools and techniques in higher education (HE) over the last thirty years from 1991 till 2020, based on a literature review

Design/methodology/approach

30 articles from 52 journals were used to perform this detailed literature review. For the detailed analysis, the focus was only on articles related to TQM in higher education and specifically related to models, frameworks and tools and techniques. The study has investigated the growth of research articles, research streams, research methodologies, models and frameworks in the higher education sector and tools and techniques related to those.

Findings

This review addresses the progress and gaps in the application of TQM in HE, including the shift in global research in this area from the USA and Europe to Asia in recent years. The articles have been classified into four research methodologies and two research streams which have been reviewed in detail. The findings include reasons for multiple models/frameworks in HE proposed by researchers over the years and the importance of tools and techniques used in TQM implementation.

Originality/value

This study, which tries to bring a perspective to the main trends in TQM application to higher education wrt models, frameworks, tools and techniques over the last thirty years, is expected to add to the body of knowledge in this area and help future researchers to focus on the relevant areas identified in this paper.

Enhancing student engagement through heterogeneous pedagogical approaches: action research in a university level course in Saudi Arabia

Purpose

Previous studies have mainly discussed the impact of student engagement on different facets of academic performance. Research on the approaches to promote student engagement in a classroom setting (i.e., micro-level practices) is relatively sparse. This paper provides a framework for enhancing student engagement in a university undergraduate classroom setting.

Design/methodology/approach

This study builds on action research. At the core of this approach is making interventions through a set of pedagogical approaches, derived from the literature. The impact of these interventions was measured, followed by reflections on the outcomes and developing a future improvement strategy.

Findings

Student engagement can be enhanced by using heterogeneous pedagogical approaches that positively influence student performance. Further, the use of mixed pedagogical approaches helps students and teachers acquire meta-cognitive knowledge (i.e., knowledge of their learning preferences) and sets the direction for learning.

Research limitations/implications

The key contribution of this study is providing a student engagement framework applicable in a sophomore-level classroom setting. The framework discusses a set of techniques, their theoretical underpinnings, the course of their execution and the challenges faced in this process. The framework can be used to guide enhancing student engagement.

Originality/value

Contrary to the macro-level measures, research on micro-level measures for promoting student engagement approaches is scarce. This study discusses not only different strategies but also details the dynamic course of their deployment. The study, therefore, is unique in its contribution.

Benchmarking company performance from economic and environmental perspectives

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to measuring the performance of motor vehicle manufacturers (MVMs) from economic and environmental (E&E) perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Eight measures are identified for benchmarking the performance from E&E perspectives. A new company performance index IMVM is constructed to quantitatively generate the historical data of MVMs’ company performance. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models are built to generate the forecast data of the IMVM. The minimum Akaike information criteria value is used to identify the model of the best fit. Forecast accuracy of the ARIMA models is tested by the mean absolute percentage error.

Findings

The construction of the index IMVM is benchmarked against three frameworks by six benchmark metrics. The IMVM satisfies all of its applicable metrics while the three frameworks are incapable to satisfy their applicable metrics. Out of 15, 4 MVMs are excluded for benchmarking future performance due to their non-stationary time series data. Based on the forecast IMVM data, GM is the best performer among the 15 samples in the FY2018.

Originality/value

This research highlights the environmental perspective during vehicles’ production. The development of this approach is based on publicly available data and transparent about the methods it used. The data out of the approach can benefit stakeholders with insights by benchmarking the historical performance of MVMs as well as their future performance.