The
Refined Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)
Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates
The University is required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to develop initiatives that enhance student learning targeted by the Quality Enhancement Plan. The QEP Council has recommended that future initiatives focus on the Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates. This refined direction supports a recommendation from the Task Force on Enhancing the Undergraduate Experience to develop research and inquiry-based learning initiatives throughout the undergraduate curriculum and has been accepted by the Provost and by SACS.
Inquiry/Research-based courses provide students with the skills to assimilate facts, recognize unanswered questions, formulate strategies for seeking answers, investigate appropriately, and draw valid conclusions. One of the greatest advantages of education at Texas A&M University is the opportunity for students not only to acquire knowledge, but also to participate with the research faculty in the discovery and application of knowledge. Educating "knowledge workers" will no longer serve our society; the future will require higher education to produce "knowledge creators."
Chairs of the College QEP Councils, who are all members of the university QEP Council, are charged to monitor, document and report QEP progress in their college to the university's QEP Council. During the 2006-07 academic year the College QEP Councils will initiate, finalize and report the details of Phase 1 of the refined QEP: identifying and evaluating the present state of Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates in each College. A development grant of $7,500 will be provided to each College QEP Council in September 2006 to initiate Phase 1. Each college is asked to allocate matching funds of at least $2,500 in addition to the grant. Grants will be renewable in future funding cycles as the colleges move into Phase 2. Grant funds may be used for faculty salary buy-outs, graduate student wages, and other allowable uses of State funds.
Phase 1 will involve the following deliverables:
1. Inventory of Existing Inquiry-intensive Courses:
In most programs across the university many upper division courses
are already inquiry-intensive courses. Further, it is clear that
many of the existing advanced laboratory courses would fall into
this paradigm. The challenge in expanding the use of this model
throughout various curricula will be in bringing this mode of instruction
into lower division courses, where the impact may be even greater
for student learning. This inventory of courses should include syllabi
and any course material necessary to support its classification
as a inquiry-intensive course. This activity will mark the starting
point for future QEP activities in the program.
Dates Due: Inventory
by January 31,2007
2. Formulate Targeted Learning Outcomes: Each
college will identify and adapt inquiry-intensive student learning
outcomes that will be used as a basis for evaluating learning in
existing inquiry-intensive courses. Using the list of outcomes,
the college will develop and execute a plan for carrying out a baseline
assessment in the existing inquiry-intensive courses. The baseline
assessment will serve as the starting point for future QEP assessment
activities.
Date Due: Inquiry-intensive
Learning Outcomes and Initial Assessment Plan due in January 31,
2007
3. Proposal for 2007-08 QEP Project Funding:
The final activity in Phase 1 will be the development of a funding
proposal for the second phase of the University's QEP initiative.
Phase 2 is expected to involve two or more years of funding. Each
college will determine, on the basis of its findings in the first
phase, where it will direct future resources to enhance its undergraduate
research and inquiry-based learning. The Division of Student Affairs
will work with the colleges and use collaborative and integrative
approaches to ensure co-curricular experiences for students participating
in Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates
Date Due: April 2007
Considerable professional development and technical
assistance will be provided to the colleges by the QEP Council,
the Office of Institutional Assessment, the Center for Teaching
Excellence, and the Office of Undergraduate Research beginning in
May 2006, and continuing as the projects progress.