TQM and collaborative learning: a perfect match

Total quality management has long been considered a philosophy of management and leadership in industry. Because educators are becoming increasingly concerned with various methods of teaching, TQM principles are also finding their way into the classroom. These principles advocate empowering students to learn by directing them to take a more active part in the learning process. Perhaps one of the most interesting areas for TQM in an educational setting is its use with collaborative learning. Proper leadership and management within student peer groups are essential for successful collaboration, and many TQM group concepts can be applied to the student groups to achieve this. This paper describes the author's experiences with TQM and collaborative learning in the classroom. Various team and motivational techniques are discussed as well as the results from combining these two different philosophies of teaching.