July 27th 2012: Three teams totalling 8 students from the Quality Management course offered by the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies were selected to present the results of their course projects on quality in education at the Canadian Standards Association's First Annual National Academic Challenge in Quebec City in June 2012. The three projects were selected by a panel of five judges (Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Joanne Emeneau, and Diane Dobbins - all from the CME Dean's Office, Amy Faria, a Marketing and Consumer Studies M.Sc. student, and Dr. Anne Wilcock, a Professor in the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies and instructor of the Quality Management course) from all of the group projects done in the Winter 2012 semester. The three teams selected at the University level were invited to present their findings as guests of honour at the Canadian Standards Association conference which was attended by 650 standards developers and consultants from around the world.
Wanting to leave nothing to chance, the three winning groups made full use of expert coaching in presentation design and delivery couresty of Dale Lackeyram (Learning Commons) and Janet Wolstenholme (Centre for Open Learning and Educational Support).
The Students made impressive presentations at the plenary session and the winning presentation was selected by an electronic vote of the entire audience. The winning team of Craig Shorey, Laura Lester, and Patricia Filip presented a paper entitled; The Desirability of a Quality-of-Education Standard to Improve the Preformance of Teaching Assistants. Everyone, however, was a winner. The positive feedback from the conference delegates about the enthusiasm and professionalism of the Guelph students was overwhelming!
The competition was a pilot project for what CSA envisions as an annual national competition for student projects from any discipline on topics related to the social, economic, and environmental advantages of standardization. For information about next year's competition, please contact Anne Wilcock in the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies.
