6P2 Culture of Quality

• Developing an infrastructure and providing resources to support a culture of quality
• Ensuring continuous quality improvement is making an evident and widely understood impact on institutional culture and operations (5.D.1)
• Ensuring the institution learns from its experiences with CQI initiatives (5.D.2)
• Reviewing, reaffirming, and understanding the role and vitality of the AQIP Pathway within the institution

Developing an Infrastructure and Providing Resources to Support a Culture of Quality

To support Southeast Tech’s Culture of Quality, the Institute has developed an Academic Quality Improvement Program Framework that provides structure, yet flexibility, to our continuous quality initiatives (Figure 6P2.1):

Southeast Tech Council and Board:  Southeast Tech’s Mission and Vision encapsulates the Institutional AQIP Framework. From that mission and vision and based on the strategic plan, the Southeast Tech Council establishes the overall direction of the Institute and sets key performance indicators (KPI’s) with Southeast Tech administration.  It is the Council’s responsibility to review and make recommendations for: 

• Institutional Strategic Goals;
• Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Targets; 
• Institutional Strategic Plan;
• Progress Toward KPI and Strategic Goals.  

Council recommendations are then presented to the Board, which revises recommendations as needed and officially adopts the overall Institute direction. 

Southeast Tech Administration:  Institutional administration– the next layer in the framework– sets the direction of the Institute on an annual basis in order to meet the strategic plan, KPI, and the overall direction set by the Southeast Tech Council and Board.  The administration works directly with Southeast Tech programs and departments to set program and department targets and assessments that are tied to the strategic goals and KPI. Administration has the responsibility to direct the AQIP process by:

• Initiating and Implementing the Strategic Planning Process (4P2);
• Initiating and Implementing the Annual Planning Process (4P2);
• Initiating and Implementing Institutional-Level Action Projects to Meet the strategic plan (6R1);
• Assisting Programs and Departments in the Development and Completion of Targets and Assessments (4P3).

Department and Program Teams: Department and program teams meet at least once a month, if not more.  These teams work with their direct supervisor to set targets and implement actions specifically for the improvement of their assigned areas.  The direct supervisor assures that these actions are consistent with the Institutional mission, vision, and strategic plan.  Team initiatives are shared with the Southeast Tech Administrative Team and are documented in the Planning and Assessments Database.

Program Teams:  Southeast Tech program teams provide the structure for all programs, courses, curriculum, and course delivery, as well as recommendations for equipment, facilities, and other budget decisions as they relate to that program. 

Department Teams:  Department teams operate in a manner similar to program teams, assuring that Southeast Tech services and operations are meeting the needs of its stakeholders. Department teams are developed around specific Institutional or student needs (such as Information Technology, Student Success, and Business Office) and are assigned the task of meeting these operational or student support needs.  

AQIP Futures Team:  The Futures Team functions as the primary coordinating entity for Southeast Tech’s AQIP processes. The team monitors, oversees, and communicates AQIP Institutional information and data to other teams and committees and makes planning/action/improvement recommendations to Administration based on stakeholder input from these teams and committees. 

The Futures Team serves as the “big picture” conduit for initiatives and projects taking place throughout the Institute.  To assure that the team has broad membership and can maintain alignment with the other AQIP teams, at least one member of the Futures Team also serves on a corresponding AQIP Team.  The Futures Team also includes representatives from every building as well as representatives from staff, faculty and administration.

The team monitors, oversees and communicates the Southeast Tech AQIP process by:

• Coordinating AQIP Institutional Information and Data Management Processes;
• Recommending to Administration Future Institutional Changes;
• Overseeing and Connecting the Southeast Tech AQIP Teams.

As part of its monthly meetings, Futures Team members provide information on what the various AQIP teams are doing in terms of their quality initiatives.  To accomplish this, Futures Team members are assigned specific AQIP teams to monitor and coordinate progress reports.  The Futures Team assures that initiatives are directly related to the strategic plan and are consistent with other initiatives and the mission and vision of the Institute. 

The AQIP Futures Team oversees the following five Southeast Tech AQIP teams:

External Stakeholder Relationships Team (ESR): With Southeast Tech’s mission of educating for employment, external stakeholder relationships are key to the Institute’s ability to meet its mission. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the External Stakeholder Relationships Team to assure that Southeast Tech is building ties that assure the Institute is providing industry with the appropriate programs and services by:

• Monitoring External Stakeholder Relationships and Satisfaction;
• Developing, Implementing, and Recommending Relationship-Building Initiatives. 

Celebrating Learning Team (CLT): Student learning is key to the mission of the Institute.  Therefore, the Institute recognizes that assuring that learning is taking place and meeting student needs is critical.  The Celebrating Learning Team assists program faculty and Southeast Tech departments with developing, analyzing and completing student learning and team assessments and targets. Team members serve as coaches to assigned programs and departments, ensuring that every program and department has expert assistance with completing their assessments and targets.  The team also develops and monitors Institutional assessments.  The Celebrating Learning Team helps assure this by:

• Communicating Student Learning Assessment Outcomes to Stakeholders;
• Assisting Programs/Departments in Developing and Completing Assessments and Targets;
• Monitoring Program/Department Assessments/Targets and Developing Institutional Reports;
• Developing and Implementing Institutional-Level Student Learning Assessments;
• Providing Training Assistance on Assessment and Related Areas.

Education Design and Delivery Team (EDD):  Improving how we educate students and provide them with the academic knowledge necessary for their respective programs requires that the Institution analyze, revise and adjust how it instructs and delivers education. The Education Design and Delivery Team concerns itself with Institutional-level academic program design and delivery, with particular emphasis on technology as it impacts learning. The team chooses specific areas to improve, such as the Institute’s online delivery processes, and then researches and implements best practices as they relate to the Institute. It is the responsibility of the Education Design and Delivery Team to fulfill this responsibility by:

• Monitoring Student Academic Outcomes;
• Developing, Implementing, and Recommending Institutional-Level Program Design and Delivery Methods.

Student Success Team (SST): Students must be ready to learn.  The Student Success Team’s goal is to help remove student barriers and meet student needs so that learning can occur.  Southeast Tech believes in intrusive advising, continuously striving to solve student issues and concerns before they can impact student academic performance. Through the use of software, tools and programs such as the Southeast Tech Cares Alert System, the Student Success Seminar and Academic Recovery courses, JumpStart, and many others, the Student Success Team develops processes that integrate these tools and create additional tools to meet student needs. The Student Success Team monitors student satisfaction and needs and recommends and implements strategies for improving the level of overall student support.  The Team meets these responsibilities by:

• Monitoring Student Satisfaction and Student Needs through Analysis of Direct and Indirect Measures Impacting Student Success;
• Developing, Implementing, and Recommending Institutional-Level Student Success and Satisfaction Improvements.

Campus Climate Team (CCT):  A healthy employee campus climate is critical to Institutional and student success.  The Campus Climate Team addresses concerns and implements actions related to Valuing Employees and improving the campus climate. The Campus Climate Team meets this challenge by:

• Monitoring Employee Campus Climate;
• Developing, Implementing, and Recommending Institutional-Level Employee Campus Climate Improvements.

Implementation and Communication Flow:  To assure that implementation follows a defined process, involves the appropriate approval process, and is communicated to stakeholders, Southeast Tech has established its Implementation and Communication Flow process. As indicated by the internal boxes within the framework, implementation and communication flow from the AQIP Teams to the AQIP Futures Team, then to Southeast Tech Administration, and finally to the Southeast Tech Council, providing for action projects to be developed at the level closest to the immediate need or opportunity for improvement.  Similarly, implementation and communications flow from Southeast Tech teams (program and department) to Southeast Tech administration and then to the Southeast Tech Council.  The implementation and communication can also flow down the framework as well.  By assuring that the appropriate representation on these key teams is established, as well as assuring that information and communications occur through an established process, the Institute is able to develop continuous quality improvement initiatives that meet the needs of the Institute and are consistent with each other.

Culture of Quality Resources:  As part of the Institutional continuous quality initiatives process, Southeast Tech defines the necessary resources to assure the success of the initiative and includes those resources as part of the initiative (see 6P1 ”Southeast Tech Deploying Actions Process”).  As for training on continuous quality, the Institute has found that hands-on training has been the most successful.  As stated in 6P1, Southeast Tech conducts annual strategy forums.  These strategy forums, which began in summer 2012, provide the Institute the opportunity to not only develop Institutional action projects that will help the Institute meet its strategic goals, but also to train employees on how to use continuous quality improvement tools that can help them improve their departments, programs, or work on other Institutional committees.  Additionally, Southeast Tech has rotated the facilitators for these strategy forums, which has provided more training for individuals who are interested in taking leadership roles in Southeast Tech’s quality initiatives.  These individuals serve as resources for other campus areas on how to effectively use these tools.  To further develop quality leaders, Southeast Tech has established non-administrative “chairs” and “co-chairs” as team leaders with administrators serving as team members and resources, allowing for more opportunities to build the Institute’s quality culture.  Initial training on the Institute’s quality culture is provided as part of the onboarding process (3P1).   

Reflection: AQIP teams hold summer retreats to review current actions and performance measures, compare results to targets, set future targets and actions, and reflect and revise team processes for future improvements.  All team actions, as well as information regarding targets and performance measures, are included in meeting minutes and in the Planning and Assessments database.

Ensuring Continuous Quality Improvement is Making an Evident and Widely Understood Impact on Institutional Culture and Operations (5.D.1)

It is the responsibility of the Futures and Administrative teams to assure that the Institute’s CQI process is making an evident and widely understood impact on the Institutional culture and operations.  The reporting by all teams/committees to the Futures Team assures that the Team is aware of all initiatives and their status from across campus. This provides the Futures Team with the necessary inputs to evaluate the Institute’s CQI efforts and develop a report to administration on the current state of Southeast Tech’s CQI efforts.  In turn, the Administrative Team then provides a similar report to the Council and Board, expressing the Institute’s move toward fulfillment of the strategic plan and quality improvements.  Finally, it is the responsibility of the Futures Team to assure the campus community and external stakeholders are aware of Southeast Tech’s accomplishments. These communications may include the Futures Team Annual Report, emails, Monthly Meeting presentations, Tech Times and President’s Report articles, and external stakeholder communications through Career Connections, press releases and Advisory Committee minutes (6P1) (5.D.1).

Ensuring the Institution Learns From Its Experiences With CQI Initiatives (5.D.2)

Reflection is the key to learning from CQI initiatives; therefore, reflection is part of the Deploying Actions Process (6P1) for every individual initiative.  To assure that teams/committees also reflect on the processes used within the team/committee, summer retreats are frequently used to not only set the course for the next academic year, but to reflect on the accomplishments and opportunities for improvement from the previous academic year.  The summer retreats have become an important process in assuring the continuation and effectiveness of the Institute’s quality efforts (5.D.2). 

Reviewing, Reaffirming, and Understanding the Role and Vitality of the AQIP Pathway Within the Institution

As teams/committees complete the reflection process and set their direction for the upcoming year, they are reaffirming the Institute’s commitment to and understanding of the role the AQIP pathway plays within the Institution.  As the Institute reflects on all of its accomplishments throughout this Systems Portfolio, a continued commitment to AQIP is maintained.