Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Linda M. Howard
Committee Member
Marian Gibney
Committee Member
Delores M. Smiley
Keywords
Caribbean, committees, data collection, development, enrollment, evaluation, Evangelism, formative committees, full scholarships, implementation, literature review, marketing, marketing plan, organizational implications, problem solving, program development, research, student enrollment, summative committees, survey instruments, validation, Windward Islands School of Evangelism, WISE
Abstract
The problem under investigation was the low enrollment at the Windward Islands School of Evangelism (WISE), although WISE offers full scholarship to all applicants who are accepted. After 21 years of existence in the Caribbean, and offering a program with assistance that no other institution in the region offers, the student enrollment at WISE ought to be higher than what it has been. The purpose of this project was to develop a marketing plan that will render assistance to the alleviation of the problem of low student enrollment at WISE.
Five research questions guided this Applied Dissertation. First, "What are the factors that contribute to low student enrollment at WISE?" Second, "What are the organizational implications of continued low student enrollment?" Third, "What should be the content of a marketing plan?" Fourth, "What are the appropriate procedures in implementing a marketing plan?" Fifth, "What are the appropriate elements in evaluating a marketing plan?"
This project used the development problem solving methodology to design a marketing plan for implementation at WISE. There were nine procedures in this process. The procedures included (a) a comprehensive literature review; (b) drafting of survey instruments; (c) formation of a formative committee and a summative committee; (d) revising, validating and administering the survey instruments; (e) the collection of data and development of the criteria for the marketing plan; (f) review of criteria by committees; (g) drafting of the marketing plan; (h) revision of the plan; and (i) the presentation of the marketing plan to the director of WISE.
The literature review along with the data from the survey instruments will form the basis for responding to and addressing the research questions. Both the formative and summative committees will render guidance through reviewing, commenting and validating the entire process.