Analyzing the quality of the engineering course's management using information processing based on multivariate statistics: A case study under the professors' perspectives

Abstract

Processes and evaluation methods are gaining prominence in the social and educational contexts. In this context, it is proposed to contribute to the improvement of the higher education quality, through the analysis of information obtained in six engineering courses offered by the Federal University of Ceará. The study seeks to strengthen the interface among data analysis methods typically used of engineering contexts in order to allow the analysis of the relationship between academic management processes of engineering courses and outcomes from external evaluations. This discussion aims to propose a mathematical model to support the academic management, based on multivariate analysis (MVA) and data processing, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The instrument created aims to identify professors' point of view about the management practices developed in their academic courses where they work. The application of the reliability tests revealed the suitability of the sample for the application of PCA. In the PCA application, we observed the formation of three responses' clusters, that has been well characterized by the similarity of their factor loadings that are related to students' academic education, academic formation processes and institutional environment. It should stand out even that the application of MVA showed strong evidence for a relationship among the methods of management in higher education, through the manifestation of latent variables in order to define a mathematical model based on MVA academic management support.

Developing an Instrument for Assessment of Academic Management in Engineering Courses

“…1) α de Cronbach: é um índice que visa garantir a confiabilidade dos dados a partir da medida de sua consistência interna [6], [9], [28]. Para o conjunto de dados coletados, o α de Cronbach apresentou valor igual a 0,9285, garantindo uma boa distribuição estatística dos dados em torno da média, ou seja, os respondentes seguiram uma mesma linha de raciocínio ao responder a enquete.…”

“…Contudo, este estudo busca contribuir para a análise do contexto educacional sob o viés quantitativo, sintonizando-se ao que vem ocorrendo com o desenvolvimento da chamada Educametria (do inglês Educametrics) [6], [8], [9].…”

Validation of the academic management evaluation instrument based on principal component analysis for engineering and technological courses

“…As noted, it was developed an instrument in the form of a poll, that containing 15 statements to obtain the informa-tion that were quantified (numerical data) (Nunes, et al, 2013) and (Nunes, et al, 2015).…”

“…The UFC's statute point out some directions that must be followed by the managers of the institution regarding the improvement of the quality in higher education. These statements had been previously presented in Nunes, et al (2013) and Nunes, et al (2015). Thus, we sought to investigate the applicability of Principal Components Analysis to achieve educational indicators for management courses and vocational formation in engineering, technology and related areas at Federal University of Ceará, based on the results of these indicators the coordination can manage the processes regarding better practices for the stutend formation.…”

“…Generally, education management has been studied subjectively, mainly by evaluating its qualitative aspects. However, this study seeks to contribute to the analysis of the educational context under a quantitative point of view regarding qualitative inferences, according to the researches that have been developed recently in a field called "Educametrics" (Silva, et al, 2012), (Vasconcelos et al, 2013), (Nunes, et al, 2013) and (Nunes, et al, 2015).…”