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Quality enhancement plan
As an important part of our reaffirmation of accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Valdosta State University must develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), as described in Core Requirement 2.12:
A multi-year project designed to enhance undergraduate student learning at VSU, the QEP is to be specific to VSU and its mission and needs; it must also invite campus-wide participation in its development.The institution has developed an acceptable Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) that (1) includes a broad-based institutional process identifying key issues emerging from institutional assessment, (2) focuses on learning outcomes and/or the environment supporting student learning and accomplishing the mission of the institution, (3) demonstrates institutional capability for the initiation, implementation, and completion of the QEP, (4) includes broad-based involvement of institutional constituencies in the development and proposed implementation of the QEP, and (5) identifies goals and a plan to assess their achievement. (Quality Enhancement Plan)
In the first phase of our QEP, the Phase 1 Task Force, with representatives from all undergraduate colleges as well as from the Student Government Association, Student Affairs, Finance and Administration, and the Council on Staff Affairs, was established to publicize the QEP concept to the university community and solicit suggestions for VSU’s QEP, then to select from the suggested topics those with the best potential. The task force completed its task at the end of April, having selected four topics from the approximately 30 submitted by the VSU community.
The topics were developed into prospectuses, each of which includes:
- Explanation of the topic: how it links to VSU’s mission statement and strategic plan; what portion of the student body will be affected; what critical issues are being addressed.
- Research of Best Practices and Current Literature: putting the proposed QEP topic into perspective by researching scholarship on similar initiatives as well as the need for such a program; examine the “best practices” for similar initiatives.
- Explanation of Student Learning Outcomes: what the likely student learning outcomes would be; the relationship between the student learning outcomes and the QEP topic; the potential/possible goals in terms of student learning; observable/measurable baseline and results.
- Discussion of Resources: what VSU would need to invest in terms of personnel, facilities, and funding to make the program viable.
- Possible Assessments: how the proposed program would be assessed, including internal and external measures, benchmarks for student performance, etc. In other words, what would success look like and where/when/how could we measure it?
The prospectus that was chosen for VSU was the QEP for Office of Undergraduate Research . It was selected by the SACS Leadership team in October, after all four prospectuses were presented in several forums to the VSU community.
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Additional Resources:
QEP Update (PowerPoint Presentation to Faculty Senate 9-18-08)
Email comments and suggestions to:sacs@valdosta.edu