Isn’t it good to know your college of choice is working hard to ensure quality teaching and learning?
Brevard College has that covered with the new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The plan is a big part of the recently announced reaccreditation, which is a result of Brevard College’s continued dedication to the values and practices of higher education.
The Brevard College QEP focuses on one student learning goal: “improve student understanding and practice of collaborative learning.” The plan was formed through focused stakeholder meetings beginning in 2018, resulting in a broad list of potential focus topics. The QEP steering committee hosted two days of workshops in May 2020 where the list was narrowed and measurement and assessment for the QEP were identified. The faculty unanimously approved the QEP proposal on August 13, 2020 and the Executive Leadership Team reviewed and approved the proposal on August 25, 2020.
A QEP is developed as part of the accreditation process through the Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). According to the SACSCOC website, the QEP document “(1) includes a 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.”
The Brevard College QEP Literature Review identified Johnson and Johnson’s (2013) five elements of cooperation: “positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing” as pillars of collaborative learning. According to the QEP, “These five elements will serve as a foundation for the refinement of our institutional
capacity building, success measures, and overall assessment design of this QEP.” IN order to increase understanding and practice of collaborative learning, evaluation and measurement of the process will come from two different perspectives, student self-assessment as well as faculty and staff evaluation of students.
Sources:
Brevard College Quality Enhancement Plan Document
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, F. P. (2013). Joining together: Group theory and group skills (11th ed.). Boston: Pearson.