European Journal of Scientific Research (ISSN: 1450 ... - EuroJournals

© European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol 7, No 5, 2005
Improvements in the admissions process can help to improve and stabilize enrollment.
Students and their parents require a great deal of attention during the application process.
Questions regarding financing, housing and academic guidance must be answered
quickly and correctly. If staff do not view their roles as that of information providers, this
can have a deleterious effect on recruitment and enrollment efforts since staff members
operate as the first line of contact for an institution. To see how efficiently information is
being handled, including mail and phone inquiries, a team could conduct a process
analysis. They might identify which processes have a negative impact or are inefficient
and redesign them. After experiencing a downturn in the conversion of inquiries to
applications, staffs were still complaining about having to dispense information to
applicants and their parents. Often the phone was not answered in a timely manner. Mail
was left unopened and unsorted. This large public university decided to conduct an audit
of current job descriptions. They analyzed the steps used to process applicants and
available data to explain downturns. They reviewed the successful efforts of peer
institutions. Job descriptions were rewritten to require performance criteria in areas of
public relations and customer service. Then, they communicated the availability of new
positions and designed training for those who aspired to these new customer service
positions. The result was improved public relations and student services. An increase in
the number of inquiries and applicants improved job performance, opportunity for
professional development.
TQM AND THE LEARNING PROCESS
EMU should not only emphasize what is taught, but also how it is taught. To provide a
better instructional environment, a pilot classroom must have constructed the IBM-TQ
Teaching Theater, an electronically aided instructional environment. The theater includes
20 personal computers, linked to each other and to the instructor’s computer. The facility
supports multiple software applications including shared graphics. Word processing and
group decision-making software, as well as software developed explicitly to support class
note taking and feedback processes. Two large projection screens display information
generated by the students. The classroom is also fully equipped as a teleconferencing
facility linking learners to real life experiences that can range from the corporate
boardroom to the shop floor of a factory. Classroom capacity is 40 students, each pair
sharing a computer that is set up to recognize each student’s input. Classes conducted in
this environment range from English literature, art and history to engineering information
systems and measurement for quality. The pedagogical approaches used in the classroom
can be applied in many disciplines. In addition, the university has found that the teaching
theater offers several advantages:
Equal opportunity for student involvement in ongoing classroom activities, irrespective
of learning and communication styles;
Multi-directional communication and feedback among students. Between professors and
between students and professors; and
A dramatic reduction in cycle time for all processes, enabling more and varied learning
and feedback activities in any given class.
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