IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PEDAGOGY THROUGH DMAIC PRINCIPLE

Arvie E. Vargas
Jerome R. Fernandez

An undergraduate thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Industrial

Engineering and Technology, College of Engineering and Information Technology,
Cavite State University, Indang, Cavite in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering with Contribution No. _____
Prepared under the supervision of ______.

INTRODUCTION

Education is perceived as the pillar of a nation’s development. However, to

acquire a strong foundation that can support genuine development, quality pedagogy is

required, and achieving it still remains a problem today. According to an article published

by Janella Paris (2019), the Philippines ranked the lowest in reading comprehension,

math, and science in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Moreover, the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic brought havoc to 1.2

billion learners around the world (UNESCO, 2020). And with this, students, teachers,

and curriculum makers are forced to adopt a new platform of learning (Crawford et.al,

2020), which poses a greater challenge in the quality of pedagogy especially to the

higher education institutions (Bao, 2020).

Due to these transpiring problems, the researchers aim to locate the factors that

affect the quality of pedagogy and improve or develop a system that centralizes in

enhancing its quality. In numerous instances, the notion of quality usually pertains to

businesses and industry, and it is often viewed as an industry’s lifeline. Nevertheless,

the case is still the same for educational institutions, whereby students are considered
as raw materials that can be converted into a product—graduates, to meet the

expectations of the customers—industry (Akash et.al, 2016).

There are numerous factors that affect the quality of pedagogy that needs to be

considered, as stated by the Education Review Office (2017), some of these factors are;

poor quality services, unsafe learning environment, and improper teaching practice. In

line with this is the study of Barrett et.al (2019), which states that features of the school

building—such as; temperature, natural light, and air quality, affect the total quality of the

learning environment. Furthermore, according to Ainin (2015), most individuals,

specifically students, are highly susceptible to environmental and cognitive distractors

that can disrupt performances in school. Nonetheless, there are also studies that

suggest that the decrease of pedagogical quality arises from poverty and lack of budget

towards educational sectors, however, to put a solution to those problems, a more

sophisticated problem-solving approach is required.

And now, to improve the quality of pedagogy whilst taking all the factors into

consideration, the researchers decided to pursue a research endeavor entitled

“Improving the Quality of Pedagogy Through DMAIC Principle”, the objective of this

study is to enhance the quality of pedagogy through an Industrial Engineering principle,

referred as DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control). The DMAIC principle is

a globally distinguished quality strategy tool that intends to use a data-driven approach

to improve processes (Kaja Bantha et.al, 2016). According to Muhammad Ridwan

(2019), DMAIC consists of five phases—Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and

Control. Define for locating an existing problem/s. Measure, for measuring current

performance. Analyze, for analyzing the system and locating root causes. Improve, for

improving the process. And lastly, Control, for monitoring corrective actions.
Statement of the Problem

The study will delve on evaluating and creating a system that improves the quality of

pedagogy in Cavite State University—Indang.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of;

a. Year level

b. Subjects enrolled?

2. What are the factors that contribute to the quality of pedagogy in terms of;

a. Faculty

b. Environment

c. Psychological factors?

3. What are the most occurring factors that contribute to the quality of pedagogy?

4. How good is the quality of current pedagogy in terms of;

a. Students’ academic performance

b. Student satisfaction

c. Learning Retention?

5. What are the root causes that greatly contributes to the quality of pedagogy?

6. How to develop a feasible system that improves the quality of pedagogy?

7. How to control and monitor the stability of the system?

Objectives of the Study

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate and create a system that

improves the quality of pedagogy in Cavite State University—Indang.

Specifically, this study aims to:

1. Determine the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of;’]]]

a. Year level
b. Subjects Enrolled

2. Determine the factors that affect the quality of pedagogy in terms of;

a. Faculty

b. Class environment

c. Psychological factors

3. Identify the most occurring factors that contribute to the quality of pedagogy.

4. Measure the quality of current pedagogy in terms of;

a. Students’ academic performance

b. Student satisfaction

c. Learning retention

5. Analyze the root causes that greatly affects the quality of pedagogy.

6. Develop a feasible system that enhances the quality of pedagogy.

7. Control and monitor the stability of the system.

Significance of the Study

The research will prove to be beneficial to students as the study delves on

increasing the quality of pedagogy that can immensely improve students’ knowledge and

skills.

The research could also be valuable to curriculum makers as it provides them

with concrete knowledge from where they can base on in making appropriate curriculum

guidelines that will improve the education system and increase its efficiency for proper

and feasible learning.

The research and its findings may also benefit teachers as it gives them

thorough understanding of factors that affect students’ learning quality—as well as its
root causes, and adapt their teaching methods to what might give the student the most

ease and efficiency in learning.

Lastly, future researchers will also benefit in the findings of the study by

researching further information about the factors that affect the quality of pedagogy, and

by developing a more efficient and feasible system to enhance the quality of pedagogy

than what is already presented in the research.

Time and Place of the Study

The study will be conducted at Cavite State University—Indang campus, in the

first and second semesters of the 2020-2021 academic year until the first semester of

academic year 2021-2022, from November 2020 to _____ 2022.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study will focus on evaluating the factors that affect the quality of pedagogy

and creating a system that improves its quality through the DMAIC principle. However,

due to the constraints (such as; limited transportation, limited face-to-face interactions,

and unavailability of face-to-face classes) brought by the pandemic. The respondents for

the study will only cater Industrial Engineering Students studying at Cavite State

University—Indang Campus, and collection of data will be done through online surveys.

Moreover, the researchers will also utilize Stratified Sampling Technique (whereby the

researchers will divide the population into separate groups—strata) and Slovin’s formula,

with this, the total population of Industrial Engineering Students to be tested will be
reduced from 305 to 173. And the total of 173 will be allocated to; 65 first years, 38

second years, 39 third years, five fourth years, and 26 fifth years.

Definition of Terms

COVID-19 – also known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

(SARS-CoV-2), it is a kind of common virus that causes an infection in your nose,

sinuses, or upper throat.

DMAIC - is a globally distinguished quality strategy tool that intends to use a

data-driven approach to improve processes

Pandemic - an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area

(such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of

the population

Pedagogy - is a term that refers to the method of how teachers teach, in theory

and in practice. Pedagogy is formed by an educator’s teaching beliefs and concerns the

interplay between culture and different ways to learn.

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – is an international

assessment that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science

literacy every three years.

Quality - The standard of something as measured against other things of a

similar kind.

Root Cause - is defined as a factor that caused a nonconformance and should

be permanently eliminated through process improvement.

Slovin’s formula – is a formula used in determining the number of sample from

a population.

Stratified random Sampling – is a sampling technique that divides the

population into separate groups called strata.

Conceptual Framework

The study will dwell on utilizing the DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-

Control) Model which aims to improvise a process and identify root causes in a data-

driven approach (Kaja Bantha et.al, 2016). The DMAIC framework contains five phases

—Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. In the first phase—Define, the

researchers will define the factors and the most occurring factor/s that affect/s the quality

of pedagogy. Second, in the measure phase, the researchers will aim to measure the

quality of the current pedagogy. Followed by the third phase—Analyze, which strives to

analyze the root causes that greatly affects the quality of pedagogy in Cavite State

University. Next is the Improve stage, which will aim on improving the current system or

create a new feasible system that enhances the pedagogical quality. And lastly, control

phase, which seeks to monitor and control the stability of the system that will be

implemented.
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the
Study

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