Yes, the QEP team continues to move forward, with meetings and more meetings.  More importantly, however, the team has narrowed its focus to look at gateway courses–and some very specific gateway courses, at that.

The discussion continues to revolve around one central theme:  Improving student achievement, specifically in the gateway courses, so as to improve student success, student retention, and student persistence to graduation.  (Sounds like that’s exactly what the QEP is supposed to do to me.)

Even better, we have lots (and I do mean LOTS) of data that show how students have been doing in math and science courses, in particular, and what impact prior enrollment, high school coursework, and classroom particulars can have.  For example, Undergraduate Education has now run a couple of cycles of comparing “You WILL be held accountable for your attendance” and “We’ll be checking attendance” in classes.  You know what?  If students come to class regularly, they perform better.  (Who’d have thought?)

Dr. Sibert has been working on the research end of this project and has looked at several potential angles to play in the QEP proposal.  He’ll be attending the upcoming QEP conference in Kentucky in July and should be able to nail it down for a “final” proposal in mid-August.

Cool.

Yesterday, Reena Schellenberg mentioned that one of her students had seen a “QEP” sign on campus and said something like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of that.”  Nice! Without benefit of an official kick-off or some big celebration, the QEP process is already making headway.

John Sibert has been beating the bushes for the last couple of months, seeking input, ideas, and suggestions for not only QEP topics but also ideas about just what’s good or bad about the education here and about what could make things better.  Student Government was particularly interested and has, as a result, starting pushing the whole idea of student involvement with signs across campus.

As one of those old campus radical types (okay, maybe just campus liberal types) from the late sixties and early seventies, I am so glad to see some signs of life from the student body here.  Students have, at least from my perspective, been remarkably passive.  Now they may have found a way to gear up their own level of activism (okay, maybe it’s just more active participation) - but it’s a start.

So, if you’re interested in joining the conversation, take a stroll over to the QEP blog.

QEP blog in a new window

If you’re wondering what the QEP is all about, take a look at Dr. Sibert’s QEP blog.  The first entry is here.