Quality Enhancement Plan

The Quality Enhancement Plan

Using the National Survey of Student Engagement’s “comparative standards” as a guide, Georgia Southern University seeks to achieve higher levels of student learning through “advancing a culture of engagement.” To accomplish this objective, the Quality Enhancement Plan delineates five broad goals for engaging students. Within this framework, we have identified several focused strategies and initiatives for achieving progress in each area.

1. engaging freshmen in the campus and community cultures. To maximize each student’s university experience, it is imperative that we reach out to these students early in their academic careers to communicate a shared value system common to the university community. Moreover, students need to be aware of their responsibilities as learners and the expectations for their success as well as knowledgeable about the different facets of learning. Learning at Georgia Southern is more than just what occurs in the classroom. Efforts toward achieving this goal will be specifically directed at enhancing the First Year Experience Program to highlight freshmen opportunities for and the value of student engagement in campus activities and in the surrounding community. Additionally, the importance of participating in campus academic traditions will be communicated to freshmen to reinforce a sense of academic community and shared values.

1. engaging students in scholarship, research, and/or creative activities. Georgia Southern faculty embody the teacher-scholar model and recognize the significant role that scholarship plays in optimizing student learning. Learning is reinforced and higher levels of comprehension achieved when students become directly involved in experiential learning opportunities, applying knowledge learned in the classroom. To that end, Georgia Southern will extend opportunities for students to become directly involved in original or meaningful scholarship, research, and/or creative activities; will communicate the value of these learning experiences to students; and will motivate students to participate actively in them.

1. engaging students through active and service learning opportunities. This goal extends the efforts undertaken in goal two above by expanding opportunities for student learning and personal growth, branching out beyond the scholarship of discovery into the scholarships of application and integration. Georgia Southern strives to make it possible for all undergraduates to have an experiential learning opportunity that is appropriate to their field of study. This learning may take the form of active learning and/or service learning. Our focus will be to heighten campus and student awareness on the importance of participating in these learning initiatives and to promote active learning through study abroad experiences and service learning through a variety of campus and community initiatives.

1. engaging students through capstone experiences in all academic programs. The benefits to learning that accrue to majors who participate in capstone experiences are widely recognized throughout the academy. While some academic programs offer capstone experiences to its students, these are not uniformly available across all disciplines at Georgia Southern University. We believe that focusing our efforts in this area will greatly strengthen student learning and enhance academic engagement. To accomplish this goal, the University will undertake a critical review of the capstone experiences currently in place and develop a model for extending opportunities to include all disciplines. Where applicable, capstone experiences will be designed to include service learning opportunities.

1. engaging students in a campus and societal social contract. While the previous four goals primarily frame engagement in terms of enhancing student learning, goal five is designed to impart to students their responsibilities as citizens of this university community as well as citizens of a much larger societal community. Through its participation in the American Democracy Project, Georgia Southern has ready access to the means for accomplishing this goal. It is important for Georgia Southern students to be cognizant of and reflective on their societal responsibilities.

While each of these five areas addresses engagement in terms of student engagement (even more specifically undergraduate student engagement), it is important to recognize that underpinning that engagement is faculty and staff engagement with students, each other, the campus, and the larger community. Faculty and staff model this behavior for students.

Format of the Quality Enhancement Plan

In discussing each of the five areas noted above, we will present each effort in detail, note progress made to date, describe the current environment and challenges posed by each issue, and develop an action plan for achieving these goals. The action plans will (1) describe the plan; (2) identify the institutional units responsible for implementation; (3) state the resources required; (4) provide a timeline for accomplishing each goal; (5) list assessment measures and benchmark criteria; and (6) note how outcomes will be used to inform ongoing implementation in each area.

For a full discussion of the different forms of scholarship see Boyer, Ernest L. Scholarship Reconsidered Priorities of the Professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1990.

Georgia Southern University proudly acknowledges the contributions and achievements of its Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies, which offers master’s programs in 42 fields, the Master of Fine Arts degree, the Education Specialist, and the Doctor of Education as well as several certificate programs. More than 2,000 graduate students are currently enrolled in this growing college, served by over 400 graduate faculty. The Graduate College plays a vital role in moving the University towards the goal of becoming a national model for post-baccalaureate education and in advancing the University in its mission and Strategic Plan. Nonetheless, given the nature of the QEP, the campus acknowledges it is important to focus our efforts in the five specific areas identified above. Therefore, graduate education is not an element of the larger discussion as its relates to the Quality Enhancement Plan.