The Texas A&M Approach to Refining the
Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)
| Tentative Timeline for QEP Refinement: (click here for pdf version) | |
| March 2004 | Assessment Method—Survey: QEP Council Feedback Report is conducted |
| September 2004 | Dr. Marilee Bresciani, Assistant Vice President for Assessment, and Dr. James Anderson, VP and Associate Provost for Diversity and Assessment, requests the QEP Assessment Plan and Report |
| Fall 2004 | Assessment Method—Focus Group: QEP Breakfast Meeting Focus Group Report is conducted |
| Fall 2004 | Assessment Method: Analysis: QEP Assessment Task Force Theme Analysis is conducted |
| Spring 2005 | Assessment Method: QEP Analysis of Reports is conducted (Reports analyzed from 2002-2005) |
| Spring 2005 | First DRAFT of the QEP Assessment Plan and Report is submitted to Dr. Marilee Bresciani, Assistant Vice President for Assessment and forwarded to Dr. James Anderson for approval |
| September 2005 | Analysis of the Acceptability of the QEP is conducted using Commission on Colleges (COC) guidelines (16 questions) |
| October 2005 | Analysis of the Acceptability of the QEP and the first DRAFT of the QEP Assessment Plan and Report are combined and become a living DRAFT of the QEP Assessment Report. This living DRAFT is submitted to Dr. Marilee Bresciani and Dr. Martyn Gunn, Chair of the QEP Council, who share it with the QEP Council. |
| October 2005 | The QEP Council, Chaired by Dr. Martyn Gunn, votes to refine the QEP from four foci to one: Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates. This vote is discussed with Dr. James Anderson and approved. The Provost, Dr. David Prior, is informed and gives informal acceptance. The Scholarship of Assessment Think Tank (SATT) votes to endorse the QEP Refinement. |
| October 2005 | Dr. Martyn Gunn, Chair of the QEP Council, and OIAD appoints the QEP Council Executive Committee |
| October-November 2005 | Dr. Bob Webb, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research, and the QEP Council defines the University’s approach/model for Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates based on University needs and a review of good practice. Dr. Bob Webb chairs the Implementation Plan working Subcommittee. |
| October-December 2005 | Establish specific, well-defined goals for the University’s refined QEP focused on Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates |
| October-December 2005 | Dr. Martha Loudder and the QEP Council will help determine the process for the Council’s resource allocation of the Provost’s funds to support the QEP focused on Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates. Dr. Martha Loudder chairs the Resource Allocation Process working Subcommittee. Allocation recommendations for adequate human and financial resources to support the effort should be included. |
| October-December 2005 | Dr. Bob Webb, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research, and the QEP Council will develop implementation strategies that include a clear timeline and assignment of responsibilities used in the refined QEP focus on Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates. |
| December 2005-May 2006 | Dr. Nancy Simpson, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Dr. Bob Webb, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research, Dr. Marilee Bresciani, Assistant Vice President for Assessment, and the QEP Council develop workshops and educational forums to support the implementation and assessment of Inquiry/Research-based Education of Undergraduates. |
| January 2006 | Involve Galveston campus in the QEP Refinement. |
| April 2006 | Dr. Martyn Gunn, QEP Council Chair, receives official letter from Dr. Prior, the Provost, to affirm the QEP Refinement. Report to the Academic Programs Council and the Dean’s Council about the refined QEP. |
| November 2006 | Dr. Virginia Lee, author of Teaching and Learning Through Inquiry: A Guidebook for Institutions and Instructors (2004), in collaboration with the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and the Dean of Faculties, visited the QEP Council at TAMU to discuss its progress with implementing inquiry-guided learning across the university. |
| December 2006 | Dr. Loraine Phillips and Dr. Bob Webb present Implementing Inquiry Research-based Education of Undergraduates at a Research-extensive Doctoral Institution at the SACS Annual Meeting |
| December 2006 | Step 0—Colleges submit Mid-term Reports of the Inventories to the QEP Council. |
| January 2007 | Distribution of Provost’s funds to colleges (through the College QEP Chair) in order to conduct the Inventory of Inquiry-rich courses |
| January 2007 | University QEP Council approval of the QEP Assessment Plan as a working and dynamic document |
| January 2007 | Dr. Martyn Gunn resigns as Chair of the University’s QEP Council in order to assume new duties as Dean and Associate Provost. Accepting the Provost’s request, Dr. Robert Webb, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Research, assumed the duties of Chair of the QEP Council. |
| November 2006- February 2007 | Colleges conduct inventories of existing Inquiry-rich courses through a survey hosted by Measurement and Research Services (MARS). |
| February 2007 | University-level QEP Awards are given by Dr. Bob Webb, QEP Council Chair, at the University’s 7th Annual Assessment Conference—Building Assessment Capacity: Foundation to Fruition. Exemplary work on the QEP for the 2005-06 academic year was recognized in Chemistry and English. The effort was led by a QEP Awards Subcommittee, chaired by Dr. Elizabeth Tebeaux. |
| March 2007 | QEP Council approves process for 2007-2008 Request for Funding that changes focus from funding PIs to funding College QEP Councils and the Department of Student Affairs to support Inquiry/Research-based Education. Official Request for Funding is released. |
| April 2007 | College-level inventory data for Inquiry/Research-based Education is distributed to each College QEP Council and the Student Affairs QEP Council by the Office of Institutional Assessment (OIA). Information will be used in the colleges’ request for funding process. |
| July 2007 | Step 1—Requests for 2007-08 college-level QEP funding due to the QEP Council from Colleges. This request includes measurable and/or identifiable student learning outcomes by college related to Inquiry/Research-based Education, as well as an assessment plan for the outcomes. |
| July-September 2007 | QEP Council endorses college-level proposals for QEP funding and college projects are funded by the Provost. |
| July-September 2007 | Update the revised QEP assessment plan and process for Inquiry/Research-based Education |
| September 2007 | The QEP Council, the Office of Institutional Assessment, and the Provost Office sponsored the Symposium for Inquiry/Research-based Education featuring Dr. Robert Bjork from UCLA with approximately 150 university attendees. Four TAMU professors presented ideas for promoting Inquiry/Research-based Education in classes. |
| November 2007 | A panel discussion of integrating inquiry guided learning in the classroom with Dr. May Boggess of the Statistics Department and Dr. Don Maxwell from Engineering was sponsored by the Office of Institutional Assessment. |
| December 2007 | A panel discussion of integrating inquiry guided learning in the classroom with Dr. Bruce Herbert from the Department of Geology and Geophysics and Dr. Sorin Popescu from the Department of Forest Science was sponsored by the Office of Institutional Assessment. |
| December 2007 | Dr. Loraine Phillips, Dr. Becky Carr, and Amber Malinovsky present A QEP Rubric for Institutional Progress in Inquiry-Guided Learning at the SACS Annual Meeting. |
| Summer 2008 | Colleges and Student Affairs will submit annual reports of progress regarding Inquiry/Research-based Education |