Gulf Coast Community College  
SACS Overview SACS Compliance Quality Enhancement Plan SACS@GCCC
 

QEP
Key to Success

GCSC's Quality Enhancement Plan

What is the QEP?
The Quality Enhancement Plan is a course of action designed to improve student learning.   While it is a requirement by SACS, it affords GCSC an opportunity to focus on one area that will increase institutional quality and effectiveness in teaching and learning.. As such, the QEP must be grounded in the College’s  mission and must be aligned with the strategic plan.

GCSC’s QEP is a five-year plan that, once approved by SACS, begins in fall 2011 and concludes in spring 2016.

QEP Topic:
Enhancing Students’ Critical Academic Literacy (CAL) through enhancements to classroom pedagogy
The College’s definition of Critical Academic Literacy is the ability to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge and higher-order thinking skills in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of textual materials and electronic media—moving students beyond detecting key ideas and summarizing text
  • Demonstrate knowledge and functional application skills concerning the accuracy, currency, relevance, and authority of textual and other information sources, including electronic materials (Horning 73)
  • Demonstrate the ability to connect and bind both related and diverse ideas within target textual material, as well as making connections to ideas outside the text, within the field of study, and among a variety of disciplines

How was CAL selected as GCSC’s QEP Topic?
In fall 2008, a 20-member QEP Steering Committee representing a broad spectrum of the college began its task of creating and implementing a QEP selection process that engaged the college community, leading to campus-wide forums and division surveys that elicited areas of concerns.  Narrowing of focus led to led to the selection of the QEP topic in early 2009.

Six subcommittees of 44 total faculty and staff performed preliminary work on the following areas of the QEP:  Background, Rationale, Outcomes; Key Concepts and Definitions; Professional Development Initiative; Student Success Initiative; Assessment of the Plan; and Institutional Capability.

Student Learning Outcomes
As a result of this project, students will be better able to:

  • Analyze, synthesize, and evaluate textual materials and electronic media, progressing beyond detecting key ideas and summarizing text
  • Evaluate the accuracy, currency, relevance, and authority of textual and other information sources, including electronic materials
  • Connect and bind both related and diverse ideas within target textual material, as well as make connections to ideas outside the text, within the field of study, and among a variety of disciplines.
  • Use CAL skills to conduct the kinds of inquiry, critical thinking, reasoning, and creative expression relevant to the discipline in which the student is engaged. 

What actually happens during the five years of the QEP?
GCSC faculty and staff will receive training on CAL concepts and discipline specific CAL best practices. Utilizing this training, faculty and staff will design, incorporate and assess Critical Academic Literacy units in the curriculum and in academic support materials, making CAL a fundamental part of education at GCSC.

Who is involved in the implementation of the plan?
The oversight for, and implementation of, the plan are the responsibility of the CAL Implementation Committee, the QEP Director, selected CAL faculty and staff, all reporting to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Learning Support, to the President, and ultimately to the Board of Trustees. The majority of faculty and staff will implement the plan or will support its implementation during these five years.