Improving the process of education: Total quality management for the college classroom

This article's purpose is to improve the effectiveness of classroom teaching by proposing a specific program for continuous improvement toward instructional excellence. Total quality management (TQM) is a systematic approach which utilizes four main elements: quality defined by the customer, top leadership responsibility for quality improvement, increased quality through systematic analysis of work processes, and quality improvement by continuous effort conducted throughout the organization. A strategy for continuous classroom improvement is developed through an examination of various definitions of quality and a comparative analysis of dimensions of quality, service quality, and effective teaching which aims to inspire and give direction.James P. Gilbert is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at The University of Georgia. He received his MBA from Western Illinois University and Ph.D. from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research interests include: total quality management methods, service management systems, and Japanese management techniques. Kay Keck is Director of Graduate Programs at The University of Georgia and teaches the first-year marketing course for MBA students. She obtained an MBA from the University of Kansas, and Ph.D. in Management Science from The University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests center around sales management, services marketing, and applications of TQM in both sales and higher education. Ronald D. Simpson is Director of the Office of Instructional Development at The University of Georgia, where he also is professor of Higher Education and Science Education. He holds degrees from The University of Tennessee and The University of Georgia.     

素质教育背景下课堂教学观念的转变

通过对传统教学观的审视，揭示了不利于学生个人发展的种种弊端，从教学观，师生观及知识观等方面，阐述了现代课堂教学中教学观念转变的重要性，着重阐述了在教学过程中应实施以人为本，以学生为中心，以创新为主的教学观念，以及实现这些教学观念的策略。     

Total quality management in higher education: Myths and realities

Summary This paper has addressed a number of issues inherent in the adoption of the principles of TQM by the HE sector. It has not set out to provide all the answers but has intended to stimulate discussion and to suggest possible approaches. Where applicable, it has used South Bank University’s experience as a case study. Issues have been addressed in terms of popular misconceptions in TQM along with suggested approaches thought to be more realistic. The conclusion is that TQM has much to offer HE but that it is not just a case of translating BS5750 from a product-based to a service-based system. Sensible application of TQM principles in HE in order to show a realistic improvement will take time, commitment and considerable investment by top management. In my view the starting point should be a better understanding of customer needs, which can then be addressed through a process of service quality improvement which permeates the organisational structure. The author draws attention to the fact that certain aspects of this paper have changed in the period since it was delivered (August 1994).     

A coaching partnership: resource teachers and classroom teachers teaching collaboratively in regular classrooms

The purpose of this study was to determine how resource teachers (n = 13) and classroom teachers (n = 12) experience a coaching partnership, in which both teachers work in the regular classroom to support students with special educational needs. The focus of the partnerships was to build classroom teacher capacity around inclusionary practices. Classroom teachers and resource teachers completed questionnaires about the partnerships and their impact. Results indicated that both groups of teachers found the partnerships to be valuable. The partnerships were supported by coaching principles, as well as relationship, attitudes, understanding of students, and time spent together. Benefits of the model included increased support for students; increased learning for students; learning of different approaches, for classroom teachers and resource teachers; shared responsibility for students, between classroom and resource teachers; feeling more valued, for resource teachers; and seeing a model of collaboration, for students, teachers and the community.     

The elusive quarry: Total quality in higher education

The paper has a conceptual nature, and will depart from the literatures on performance management in general and public management in particular and confront them with the literature on higher education studies. Higher education mirrors the developments of other sectors, such as the increasing interest in performance measurement and the continuous enlargement of the basis for performance measurement, from financial, operational, and stakeholders’ towards developmental perspectives. The paper states some developments in performance management in higher education, and argues that it might be moving towards performance governance, as observed with other public services. The originality of the paper rests on an analysis of the developments in higher education in light of developments in organisational performance in general, and in the public sector in particular. It thus presents a hypothesis for further empirical testing.     

实施素质教育 改革教学方式——一次英语课教学探析

根据素质教育的要求,中学英语课堂教学方式必须改革。文章探讨了改革的一种模式,即复习－介绍和导入－阅读指导－巩固四步骤。     

Drugs in the classroom: A historical approach to drug education

This article suggests various techniques and strategies for integrating historical research methods into the drug education classroom. While most criminal justice programs offer courses on drug education, instruction has typically concentrated on policy issues. With little historical perspective on the roots of the drug problem, students are too often left with a one-dimensional perspective: that all illegal drug use should be criminalized. Like many recent historical events, the roots of the drug problem remain a distant abstraction to the current generation of criminal justice students. A historical approach to this subject using historiographic methods can lead to a better understanding of the cyclic nature of the U. S. drug problem and policies over the past century.     

如何在课堂教学中渗入心理素质教育新探

课堂教学是素质教育的主渠道，心理教育是素质教育的重要组成部分，课堂教学中渗入心理教育，必须以人为本，把心理教育列入课堂教学目标，提高老师心理素质，在课堂教学中遵循心理教育原则，建立愉快的教学环境，促进学生心理素质提高。     

Total quality management in higher education: Panacea or placebo?

Total Quality Management is a concept that has permeated the thinking of many higher education managers very quickly within the past five years. It is a product of the market ideologies of the 1980s and the managerialism which accompanied them. Nevertheless, despite the special features of higher education as a set of activities based on the creation and dissemination of knowledge and understanding, the paper argues, largely by reference to the subsequent articles, that the main themes of TQM, continuous quality improvement, consistency of quality, staff (and student) participation, meeting customer needs, coordination, and management procedures which detect poor quality and stimulate good, all have a significant contribution to make to the development of efficient and effective mass higher education systems and institutions, whether or not they are explicitly market oriented.     

如何提高高职体育课堂教学质量

在高职的体育学院之中,对于学生的培养目标在于通过对学生的教育进而使得其能够在体育活动中,掌握相关的体育知识、技巧以及相关运动技能。同时,也能在日常的体育活动课程中,通过锻炼实现其体质的提高,进而养成自觉锻炼意识与习惯,在这样的学习要求中结合自身的实际身体状况,明确自己身体条件、健康状况以及运动负荷情况进而实现对于体育活动的自我调节,在符合相关体育锻炼的要求的情况下,实现体育锻炼的目标达到。在本文中,结合以上的发展目标对于体育教师的发展目标以及所应采取的措施进行分析与归纳。     

Stability and patterns of classroom quality in German early childhood education and care

Many education systems worldwide have dedicated a significant amount of resources to improve quality levels in early childhood education and care. Research can contribute to this goal by providing information about conditions of high-quality education and care and reasons for changes in the quality provided to children. This study therefore analyzes the stability of educational quality and patterns of dependency of process quality on possibly determining context factors over a period of 3 consecutive school years to detect mechanisms of change and patterns of quality. Longitudinal data of a field study with annual assessments in 97 German classrooms were analyzed via growth curve analyses using Bayesian estimation. The analyses revealed an increase in process quality provided in the classrooms. Classroom composition characteristics showed strongest relations to status and change of process quality; allocated resources and characteristics of the professional staff were less strongly related.     

Fashion in the classroom III: Effects of instructor attire and immediacy in natural classroom interactions

This is the third of three studies using complementary designs to investigate the effects of teacher attire on student perceptions of instructors and instruction in contemporary college classrooms. In line with Studies One and Two, modest effects of attire on perceptions of extroversion and competence were found; however, previous conclusions that instructor attire has little meaningful, predictable effect on ratings of attributes related to either approachability or credibility were reinforced. Student judgements of such attributes were influenced far more by teacher use of immediacy behaviors than by attire. In particular, positive effects resulting from teachers’ choice of formal professional attire were not supported.

This is the final study in a three‐part series designed to investigate the implications of instructor attire in the contemporary college classroom. Interest in this topic was sparked by collegial conversations regarding advice for new teaching assistants: What can they do to enhance credibility, approachability, and teacher evaluations? Does what they wear make a difference?     

Family-school partnership in the Spanish education system

Abstract

The benefits of positive, active relationships between families, schools, and the community (not only in the academic outcomes of the children, but also in the family’s and school’s wellbeing) have, up to now, had plenty of supportive evidence. Nevertheless, experience shows that there are many difficulties involved in making participation a reality. Education regulation acknowledges the importance of family participation at school, but neither implementation methods nor the concept of participation are clearly defined. Spanish initial teacher education curriculum programmes include, only in a marginal form, competences and skills that would prepare teachers to become involved in a collaborative relationship with families and the community. This article addresses the training of professionals in education from the perspective of the competences, skills, and knowledge demanded to engage in collaborative work with families and the community. It was conducted through a comparative analysis of the curriculum programmes of Spanish Universities, with a special focus on curriculum content and competences, and on the formal organisation of the initial training of pre-service teachers.     

影响成人高等教育质量的因素分析及对策

影响成人高等教育质量的因素是多方面、多层次的,本文主要从社会制度、教育体制及“人”的视角入手,分析导致成人高等教育质量下降的主要原因,并寻求应对之策。