Management consultant William Edwards Deming is famous for his contributions to quality design and for his management theories. After writing several books (impressively one at age 86 and one at 93), he founded The Deming Institute. One of the flagship quotes of the Institute is a potent reminder of continuous improvement:
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.
Over the years I sporadically encounter Deming’s work – and it always reminds me that course design is never done. There is never a perfect course. Perfection is not a final state but rather the journey.
This semester I am teaching a (new-to-me) course for the first time. And as you might expect, there are some speed bumps. It took a few weeks to find a proper cadence. I was constantly trying new things, making subtle (and not-so-subtle) changes to the course. I observed students struggling to submit work.
And every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.
So we had a candid conversation a few weeks into the class. Campfire style. We put away our devices (I teach in a computer lab), gathered around a big conference table, and talked about what was going on. I was ecstatic that the students were unafraid to open up about challenges (with the material and also about other challenges outside of school). We agreed on some fundamental changes to the course (allocating more time for in-class work).
After a few more weeks, there was some improvement but failure to submit work was still a chronic problem. I couldn’t understand it – I thought we had collectively worked to design a more supportive framework. Why was there still a failure to launch when students had projects to submit?
What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.
The Heath brothers (Chip and Dan from Standford and Duke, respectively) have authored a number of books. One of the books, Switch is a wonderful examination of the resistance to change. I think we all channel our inner Heath brothers when looking at quiz questions; if the majority of students get a question wrong, either we did not cover the content well in class or the question is designed poorly. Easy fix. But what do I do with the signals emitted from failure to submit work? My first reaction is to shed the blame off myself and my course design and put it on the students. After all, they are the ones not submitting work – I’m doing a stellar job of delivering the content!
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.
My course design isn’t perfect. But after taking a deep breath, I can admit that my class is organic; it twists, grows, and wants to thrive.
I just need to look for the signals and help it along.
One last thought about the journey of perfection and looking for the signals – Inside Higher Ed just published a piece that is worth looking at. What Students Want (and Don’t) From Their Professors is insightful reporting from the Student Voice survey that “reveals perceived barriers to academic success and the top actions students think professors should take”. Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets – and this survey is a brilliant peek into ways to improve the system.
