[The following article appears in the May 1994 edition of
_TQM_in_Higher_Education_, pages 6-8.]

          TQM IN THE CLASSROOM: CONVERTING A COURSE TO QUALITY
                                    
                            [by] Jean Lamkin

     I made the switch. I'd wanted to implement TQM ideas and
techniques in a graduate course I was teaching. But the thought of
starting from zero and re-writing an entire semester of lectures
seemed too much like "re-inventing the wheel." A little creativity
and planning and it didn't take me long to change a traditional
course into a quality event.

     First, I added a pre-course assessment component. At the
start of each course, I find out where the students are with
respect to their knowledge of the material and what they expect to
learn.  

     I have the students self-assess their knowledge of the
material on a scale of 0-5. I ask them to rate their knowledge as
"0" if all they can do is spell the class name, and up to "5" if
they have considerable experience but little formal or theoretical
education on the subject. I ask them to write that number on a
Post-It note. (No  names, please.)  

     The students place their Post-It notes on the board where
I've drawn a baseline and marked it with the numbers 0-5. By
placing their notes one above the other like a stack of blocks, 
the students create a histogram.  

     Then I compute the mathematical average, which gives me an
estimate of where to start the class. By re-doing this exercise at
the beginning of the last class, I can show the students how much
they've learned.  

Check With Your Customers

     Besides just a grade, I need to know what the students want
to get out of the course. Using another Post-It note, I have the
students write their expectations and put them on the board.  

     I then ask several students to silently group the notes with
similar themes, thus creating an affinity diagram. When they've
finished, I invite the rest of the group to examine the diagram
and make changes.  

     The completed diagram of the expectations is now ready to  
be incorporated in my planning and used in determining course
assignments. If four students expect to learn how to understand
Shakespeare, I can assign them a project which focuses on that
topic.  

     Next, I have the class rank the topics they expect to cover
using the nominal group technique. Of all of their expectations, I
want to find out which are the most important to them. The results
guide my planning and assignments even further. I save the results
and display them at the last class meeting where I have the
students discuss how their expectations have been met.  

Increase the Dialogue

     As the class proceeds, I decrease my own talking and increase
student discussion. I listen more. I provide more opportunities
for students to express their opinions and ideas.  

     One method I use for getting input is to draw a "Parking Lot"
on the board. The parking lot is a one-yard, square box divided
into four smaller boxes.  

     I label the boxes Ideas, Comments, Questions, and Other. I
place a pad of Post-It notes on the chalk tray and tell the
students to feel free to make comments as they see fit.  

     When I see a note on the parking lot, I check it out and
respond as appropriate. It may be a serious request such as
"Please give us copies of the article you quoted," or as
lighthearted as "Thanks for an interesting lecture today."  

Explain Your Expectations

     William Glasser, in his book The Quality School Teacher,
advises that I should make it clear who I am, what I stand for,
what I will ask students to do, what I won't ask them to do, what
I'll do for students, and what I won't do for them.  

     I explain the concepts of quality and how I will apply them.
As an illustration, I assign one student to mark a graph that's
hung by the door with the number of students actually in their
seats and ready to begin class on time. I do it at each class
meeting and notice the results.  

     I also have the students keep a personal attendance graph.
This is convincing evidence that I expect people to be on time,
every time.  

Plan Together

     Since the students already know their peers' level of
knowledge and expectations, they can contribute to the planning. I
ask how their expectations can be met and sometimes use a "cause
and effect" diagram as the planning tool.  

     If we're to meet the Shakespeare expectation, what activities
could occur to ensure that this will happen? What people,
equipment, environment, processes, and materials would be needed?
Flowcharts, affinity diagrams, and force field analysis tools  
could all be helpful in deciding how to meet expectations.  

Replace the Old

     I constantly look at my old lecture notes to see where I can
replace my lectures with a student panel, debate, role play, team
reports, or data gathering.  

     Rather than talk about the question of whether or not
Shakespeare really was the author of the plays, I have students do
research and use a quality tool to report their findings.  

     To determine which play is the most popular, they might find
out how many times during the past year all of the plays were
performed and graph the results. Students could use a Pareto
diagram to categorize the themes and graph the results.  

Find Opportunities For Team Work  

     Rather than just lecturing, I prefer to let the students
debate each other on major points. They'll challenge each other's
position, learn from the dialogue, and be thoroughly engaged in
the learning process.  

     Every time I assign a paper, we talk about quality benchmarks
for that assignment. We develop the grading criteria based upon
the established expectations. I make it clear that I expect all
papers to meet the quality standard. After the students have
turned in the assignments, they trade papers and critique each
other's ideas.  

     Although it's not always easy, I try to reduce my lecturing
to 25% of the time. I believe that lectures should cover material
which hasn't surfaced in the class discussions.  

     Because of this, the responsibility for learning shifts from
me to them. They're far more engaged in the process and interested
in the outcomes. And I continue to be amazed at how meaningful
work becomes when students contribute and share rather than just
show up, occupy a seat, and take notes.  

Evaluate Continuously With a Goal of Improvement  

     At least once in each class, I ask the students to evaluate
my work, their work, and the class's progress. When deciding how
to grade performance, I work to build meaning into the assessment
and make it relevant to the course objectives.  

     I ask the students to state the most important learning they
gained or what I should review in our next meeting. I have each of
them write a one sentence "memo" concerning a question they find
confusing. I ask for a brief "fan letter" with a statement of what
I did that worked and what needs to be changed. Periodically, I
ask them to rate the class on a scale of 1-10, and then I graph
the results.  

     I encourage students to keep a record of their self-
assessment graphs. These data can include how they studied for
class, how well they were prepared, how much effort they put into
the session, and how well they believe their work contributed
toward reaching expectations.  

     All of my assignments are aligned with the class goals and
expectations as well as being meaningful. Far too many students
memorize facts but really never learn anything.  

     Five years ago I stopped giving formal, objective tests. It's
much more valuable, in my experience, for students to be involved
in rating the progress of their work than for me to tell them what
I think.  

     They can fool me in so many ways. I never know how much
effort someone has put into studying or how much information s/he
will retain a week after the class has ended. However, when
students evaluate their own work, there's no way to deceive the
evaluator.  

     I also try to assign projects which will build new skills.
Rather than wait until the assignment is completed, I get involved
up front as a "coach" to ensure that the final product will be a
quality result.  

     The old lectures are the backbone of my new, quality course.
I add preassessment, student responsibility, and self-evaluation
to the traditional program. More importantly, I've taken myself
out of the center of the course and placed the focus on the
students. What they learn in the class depends more on their
performance, than on mine.  

     For more information, contact: Jean Lamkin, President, Park
Institute Ltd., P.O. Box 11094, Norfolk, VA 23517; Ph:
804/640-0415. 

[For for information or to subscribe to TQMHE, contact:
TQM in Higher Education
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Phone: 608-246-3591 or 800-433-0499.]