Earning Criteria

• WRITTEN & SPOKEN COMMUNICATION - Studied 13 customer service-related vocabulary sets in order to articulate ideas, thoughts, and information more precisely and clearly; Wrote business letters, research papers, emails, essays, and memos with attention to grammar and punctuation; Gave PowerPoint presentations on various topics to the class.
• INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION - Engaged in listening-based role-play scenarios (with, for instance, “angry,” “impatient,” “demanding,” and “unresponsive” customers); Participated in instructor-led discussion sessions on different cultures and perspectives and how they require different customer-service approaches; Interacted with classmates from a wide range of backgrounds and developed respect and understanding for those from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
• TEAMWORK - Worked with classmates in randomly assigned teams for various projects; Provided constructive feedback to other students; Studied personality and behavior types and engaged in scenario role-playing to analyze client/worker interactions; Made team decisions around class rewards.
• CRITICAL THINKING - Participated in class discussions that analyzed multiple perspectives in fictional client service scenarios; Completed a “Using Data to Make Business Decisions” section with practice applications for the insurance, healthcare, retail, and hospitality industries; Data entry exercises included accuracy checks, and data validation.
• PROBLEM-SOLVING - Studied and performed the “Problem-Solving Process” of identifying the problem, analyzing the situation, exploring solutions, implementing the solution, and following up. Practiced “Service Breakdown and Recovery” exercises in which students must fix the service problem and exceed expectations to restore customer satisfaction. Engaged in a “make it right” exercise at the end of each course section in which students must figure out how to solve a customer’s fictional problem.
• RESPONSIBILITY & PROFESSIONALISM - Required to show up on time each day; Followed a schedule of twice-daily typing modules and weekly evaluations, reinforcing the importance of consistency for performance improvement; Responsible for making four calls per day to the classroom customer service center to initiate role-playing exercises; Maintained own cubicle with computer, phone, etc.; Signed on- and off computer each day; Adhered to standards of professionalism laid out by the instructor.
• LEARNING & ADAPTABILITY - Conducted a self-assessment exercise and wrote a paper on personal strengths and weaknesses; Presented assignments to classmates and received feedback for future improvements; Participated in discussions on classroom activities considering “How might we do this differently in the future and how might that give us a different result?”; In the final project, students reflect on what they have learned and how they will take it into the workplace.
• CREATIVITY - Developed a set of festivities to be offered by a fictional company; Created a flier to promote the holiday festivities; Came up with and called in numerous mock customer service scenarios to the classroom customer service line (for other students to respond to); Developed a new business idea with an accompanying customer loyalty rewards program; Prepared a flier on why others should enroll in the Customer Service class.
• DIGITAL LITERACY - Engaged in projects using the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Access, and Publisher); Used Thomson Southwestern computer programs for data entry & keyboarding; Kept and used confidential passwords for all programs used in class; Completed all tests via computer.
• MOTIVATION & INITIATIVE - Students are given an opportunity to take ownership of a fictional company in which they are the owner and are responsible for building employee morale by coming up with holiday festivities and communicating them to their employees.