President Bob Bell is encouraging every faculty and staff member on campus to learn about and commit to supporting the university's new Quality Enhancement Plan.

The QEP, as the plan is widely known, is a campus-wide initiative to improve student learning by enhancing students' critical thinking and real-world problem solving skills using active learning strategies.

While the program's goal relates to student learning, true success requires involvement from the campus community even beyond the academic programs, Bell says.

"The beauty of this plan is that it involves everyone — from faculty to staff. If we are all focused on a common goal, we will ensure its success," emphasizes Bell.

The QEP is a major component of the re-accreditation process the university is undergoing with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The re-accreditation process involves the university submitting written compliance reports, the development of a QEP, and an on-site visit from a team of SACS reviewers. When the on-site review team for accreditation visits campus April 11-13, examining the TTU QEP will be the team's primary focus. During a typical three-day visit, committee members examine data and conduct interviews in order to evaluate the soundness of the QEP and ascertain whether the institution is in compliance with accreditation requirements.

The QEP has been in the works for about two years and is an integral component of the university's new strategic plan. It also relates directly to the university's vision statement by contributing to the life-long success of our students.

The complete 115-page QEP document is available online to download at www.tntech.edu/qep, but the core message of the plan is to encourage the campus community to improve students' critical thinking and real-world problem solving skills by developing and incorporating active learning strategies for students to learn by doing, not just listening. The plan also emphasizes the development of effective communication, teamwork and creative thinking skills that support critical thinking/real-world problem solving.

So what is critical thinking?

Although the term "critical thinking" has various meanings, the wording of our QEP topic encompasses a broad definition of the term that includes skills associated with evaluating information and ideas, as well as using information to solve real-world problems. Since real-world problem solving frequently involves effective communication, teamwork, and creative thinking, these skills became additional areas of emphasis and also served to broaden campus involvement.

How does the QEP affect me?

"The plan is only as effective as those who buy into it and commit to supporting it," says Barry Stein, TTU planning director. Many staff and faculty will participate in the QEP through unit-wide projects that are submitted by the unit chairperson or director. A major component of the QEP is an incentive grant program that encourages departments and individuals to write project proposals to apply for grants up to $3,000. The proposal submission form is available on the QEP web site.

One such proposal, submitted by Facilities, involves Mechanical Engineering students in projects to visit area school systems to evaluate the effectiveness of their heating and cooling systems. The project allows students to apply what they learn in class to real-world problems while helping the community and working with campus staff.

More than 100 proposals have already been submitted, and they represent a broad cross section of the university at both undergraduate and graduate levels, Stein says. While the original deadline for proposals was in December, Stein is encouraging everyone to continue to submit proposals for review for the following year as well.

Who created the QEP?

The QEP was developed by a campus-wide representative committee with input from the broader university community. After reviewing outcomes of student surveys and tests, the committee suggested various potential topics. Focus groups across campus were then used to identify the areas of greatest interest. Campus units were surveyed to help narrow the focus and develop an implementation plan. Individual faculty and staff were also given the opportunity to submit project proposals.

How will we know if the QEP is successful or not?

The university is already using a variety of tools that can help assess student progress on the QEP. Those evaluations, surveys and tests are described in more detail in the full proposal on the web and will continue to be used to gauge how much students are improving over time and whether the plan is successful.