Suggested Topics for the QEP
Note: Below you will find descriptions of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Projects. The original descriptions are given, as well as any comments we have received. Comments are given in italics.
Once you have read the descriptions, please give us your opinion using the survey link below. You will be asked to rank your top three choices, with 1 being your first choice and 3 being your third choice. Thank you for taking part in the identification of UT Martin’s QEP.
Survey(ended)
A new survey has been created to break a tie between two of the most popular subjects: Students Making Connections with Professionals in Their Field, and Information Literacy. The winner will be the main topic for the QEP.
UTM Faces Tennessee’s Budget Crunch
Students Making Connections with Professionals in Their Field
A Community of Engaged Scholars
Green Energy, Recycling, and Protecting Our Natural Resources
Creating a Learning Culture That Uses Innovative Techniques
UTM FACES TENNESSEE’S BUDGET CRUNCH
Below I’ve put together a very brief outline of goals and measurable outcomes for a proposed QEP, slightly unusual to be sure: UTM Faces Tennessee’s Budget Crunch. I am suggesting that we take the discussions that have been occurring regarding the budget crisis, the reports we’ve been getting from the administration, the kinds of discussions we had around the TUFS proposal, etc., and open that discussion to the entire campus community.
UTM Faces Tennessee’s Budget Crunch
Goals:
· Involve the entire campus community in understanding, discussing, and looking for the best ways of resolving the budget crisis confronting us.
· Place the crisis in the context of our defining the role of higher education in society, and UTM’s role in relation to the community, more specifically still. In other words, successfully resolving the crisis begins with our defining what role higher education plays and should play in society.
· Familiarize the entire campus community with the institutions and individuals who shape higher education in the state, including the Governor, the legislature, THEC, the UT system, the State Board of Regents, etc. How are decisions made and who makes them? On what basis? Where do the funds come from?
· Create in our campus community a sense of democratic empowerment and participation, i.e., citizenship.
· In so doing, also enhance our student body’s skills in analysis, writing, math, and citizenship.
Measurable Outcomes:
· Production of a campus-wide written report summarizing our findings. This report would draw on many academic disciplines across the campus, including English (reading and writing skills), Math (statistical analysis), History, Sociology, Political Science, Management, and Education, to name only the most obvious areas we can draw on.
· A series of campus wide large group meetings involving TN state and national leaders discussing and debating their perspectives on the questions of the meaning of higher education, the nature of the crisis confronting us, and the nature of the solutions they offer to these crises, etc..
· Creation of small group meetings (perhaps by discipline, perhaps by academic requirement) in which campus community members systematically debate and discuss these same issues:
o What is the purpose of higher education in our society? What should it be?
o Why are we facing a crisis in higher education?
o How are decisions made concerning higher education? What solutions do different players offer, and why?
o Can we think of better alternatives, alternatives that more adequately address our understanding of higher education?
o Etc.
· A coordinating body (pulled together by SGA, Faculty Senate, and Administration?) to draw together the different discussions in large group meetings, and produce a final report.
STUDENTS MAKING PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS
Sorry I missed the forum, but I was in Nashville at a conference. I have been thinking about this for a long time, even before the QEP request. My thoughts constantly go back to the number of students who are disassociated/disconnected professionally with their future. Our students, being Millennial, require a great deal of nurturing and guidance. This being said, some (perhaps many) fall apart upon graduation because there is no one there to “nurture” them. The few students who have it “together” go on and do well, but I am amazed at how often I am asked… “now what do I do?” “How do I actually go out and get involved in my profession.” If we get them involved in their profession while here, I believe that they will see the importance of professional activity AND will have a connection upon graduation. It is my hope that they will have attended professional conferences and seminars while at UTM and therefore, developed new relationships outside UTM and in their professional areas.
I have completely revamped my professional leadership class over the years to address this disconnectedness in our students. Our students (and my guess is many across campus, too) don’t know what their professional organization is, what the mission of the organization is, are not student members of the organization, and do not see the necessity/importance of establishing a connection BEFORE graduation.
I propose a professional connectivity emphasis, where money is made available for students to attend professional conferences (or for us to develop them locally when none are available). Case in point is the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) does not have a student membership for students who are in a pre-professional program. You can only be a member if you are enrolled in an accredited professional PT program. Our students at UTM have no way of connecting with the PT profession. So I want to offer them that opportunity.
I have proposed to our department to begin putting on a one day seminar for pre-professional students. This would be open to our students and high school students who are interested in various allied health professions. I want to draw them in, I want them to remain in their area of study, I want them to be active in their professions BEFORE graduation. I believe that students will be more successful with graduating and finding jobs with this emphasis during their tenure at UTM.
I am proposing that this conference (that I want to put on) will be full of hands-on presentations by local professionals (not us) so that the students can make a connection to professionals in the local community. The students will learn valuable skills and develop relationships in the professional community. I would propose tracking the seminar so that students could attend year after year and learn new skills each year. If each department/college made this effort to get the student to connect to the local professionals and the professional organization I think we would have better outcomes. (or perhaps I am off my rocker and it is only our students who have missed the boat!)
We could measure attendance at conferences (or our conferences), attrition, graduation rates, attaining jobs in their chosen fields, membership to professional organizations before and after graduation, post graduation professional organization activity.
Suggested topic – Diversity
Our students often come from backgrounds that have isolated them from different religions, races, and even political thought. May be subset of Global Community, however, you don’t have to get outside of our nation to encounter diversity issues.
A Community of Engaged Scholars
The QEP UTM chooses will be right because of the dedicated people who will weigh in on the decision. To help ensure this, I would submit we should make it ambitious not timid, deep not superficial, important not trivial, and energizing not sleep-inducing.
I believe the QEP should have something to do with helping our students become not just professionals, but civic-minded professionals. Stanley Fish, and others of his ilk, say the curriculum is no place for “meddling” in politics or other such matters. Those on the opposite end of the spectrum believe all or most classes should have a way of connecting the material to what is relevant in the society outside the class. My belief, and I think I am not alone in this at UTM, is that whichever way you address it, students should not leave our university without being prepared to take active roles in their communities, and indeed the world. We could create a plan that would permit us to address issues of local-to-global citizenship within and between our classes.
This preparation should include interaction and appreciation for the categories within which issues arise. One attempt by the Center for Strategic and International Studies to structure issues facing today’s and tomorrow’s citizens is called the seven revolutions. Their categories are: population, resource management and environmental stewardship, technological innovation and diffusion, the development and dissemination of information and knowledge, economic integration, the nature and mode of conflict, and the challenge of governance.
I believe our students should be given opportunities for servant-leadership (community service, service learning, leadership and civic engagement) in all or a subset of these categories (or others on which we decide).
Why?
First:
UTM is a place where service both in the classroom and out, has occurred naturally for decades, so it fits who we are. But until recently, we cannot be said to have ever carefully fostered it or measured its occurrence and impact.
Second:
All of higher education is challenged to demonstrate how a liberal arts education is relevant in today’s world and such an undertaking (i.e. a QEP designed around engaged scholarship) would highlight the importance of bridges between liberal arts and applied-professional studies.
Third:
The spirit of the times is one of service and volunteerism, with the White House emphasis and the unprecedented availability of monies for such endeavors.
Fourth:
The groundwork has been laid for a QEP emphasizing “An engaged community of scholars” by our Institute for Civic Engagement - still being rolled out.
Such a QEP would allow us to address a number of concerns I hear from other faculty. Here are a few examples of ways we need improvement and how the QEP I am advocating would help.
Our students need to write better but would it not be more powerful if they had something useful to write on?
Our students need to know how to communicate better (in general, but also with respect to various new technologies) but would it not be more powerful if they were communicating on high-stakes issues?
Our students need to understand how that which winds up “in the cracks” between and among their classes, is a significant part of a relevant framework for addressing problems from the local to the most global. Such understanding would allow our students to take on the role of public servant/citizen while carrying out the duties of their profession?
To me, there would be something in such a QEP for every college or department and something for each of us who believes his or her own discipline is the most important one.
I would therefore propose that we seriously consider making our QEP a broad concerted effort to create a “community of engaged scholars”.
Such a QEP would not be a replacement for the ICE, nor is it unnecessary since we already have the ICE. On the contrary, I would argue the ICE will be stronger ten years from now because of such a QEP and the likelihood of the QEP being successful is made greater by our nascent ICE efforts. To those who might hold the “redundancy” or “superfluity” positions I would say: (1) overlap of goals does not imply overlap of processes – i.e. QEPs are not institutes and institutes are not QEPs since QEPs are ad hoc quality-enhancement protocols designed to have lasting positive influence on the University, and institutes, such as the ICE, are repositories of ongoing activities designed to serve as augmentation for what the University deems of long-term importance, (2) the success of any strategically-orthogonal (irrelevant or independent of what the University was already attempting) QEP would seem to be doomed from the start due to the culture’s apparent prior unfriendliness toward it, (3) expenditures on QEPs with little chance of relatively long-lasting effects may be said to have been wasted, but QEPs with “built-in” (in this case the ICE) mechanisms to help assure their continuing payoffs would more nearly resemble investments than one-time purchases, and finally (3) there is nothing wrong with synergy.
The Case for a Community of Engaged Scholars (after considering other proposals)
What I do here is consider each of the proposed QEPs and then I dwell most on the one I am advocating.
· A Writing Across The Curriculum Program
I love this idea. I would ask, why stop with writing, why not say writing across the curriculum on matters of regional, state, national and global urgency?
· Critical Thinking Skills
Another great idea to which I would add, why just critical thinking? Why not critical thinking on matters of regional, state, national and global urgency?
· Information Literacy
Again, a fine concept, but why not challenge our students to be literate about information so as to effect understanding and problem solving in matters of … [see above]. One other point here is if information literacy is defined as being literate in the technologies or information dissemination realities of today, such an endeavor will always be playing catch up given the pace of change in this area.
· Green Energy, Recycling, and Protecting Our Natural Environment
This is one of the matters of …[see above] The only thing I would add here is, this issue has economic, political, psychological, moral/ethical and physiological dimensions, so why not address those as deeply as possible rather than focusing only on current definitions of what it means to be a steward of the natural environment?
· Fitness and Nutrition
Poor eating and exercise habits are no doubt a bane to our modern lives, but these are symptoms of more fundamental cultural issues to which university students should be attending.
· Global Community
No doubt something we need to be helping our students address. Would it not be a much richer approach to combine citizenship with reflections on the global community? There are many views of the global community: the corporate set sees the world as one big market, from a political point of view the various nations coexist as a class society, economically there are the haves and have nots, ethically/morally, one set of people may abide by one moral framework while others adopt entirely different ones. This list could go on indefinitely, but one thing is certain, this issue should not be stereotyped or oversimplified, but our students should be given opportunities to understand it in its complexity.
· Including an ethics component in whatever topic we choose
I would say, why stop at just pointing out in a theoretical or abstract way, what it means to be moral or ethical? Why not allow our students to confront situations in which they will have to decide whether to abide by laws, rules, theories, slogans, treatises, tracts, constitutions or ever-evolving principles?
· Civic Engagement / Volunteerism
Volunteerism is not something most schools or communities have difficulty with, so I will not dwell on that. However, would it not be terrific if our pre-law students shadowed attorneys and wrote about their experiences, figured out what it meant to be information literate in that profession, came to understand how critical thinking distinguishes the attorney who makes major contributions to society from the the fly-by-night (fade away) practitioner of the law, how the day-to-day realities of the job undermine good fitness and nutrition habits, how issues that seem separate on paper are far from it, and how moral/ethical issues plague this profession.
Should those who will some day be physicians, engineers, business managers, agriculture specialists, politicians, not be required, during their undergraduate days, to engage issues, discuss problems, and in general reflect deeply on the life they will encounter in their profession?
How can this be accomplished across the curriculum?
Service-learning – courses in which students engage problems in the community by applying what they are learning, which in turn, enhances that learning
Community service – students finding ways to match their personal resources with the community needs around them
Leadership – learning to humbly accept the role each of us with special abilities has inherited – namely, to find ways to serve others through envisioning, planning and helping to carry out more effective individual and collective actions… to make this more possible, students could be given opportunities to be protégés of the successful, mentor others who are learning, and begin to figure out how to organize themselves and others for effectiveness.
Civic engagement – CE has a number of components, but they come down to understanding, commitment, and action.
- Imagine our students being allowed to do service-learning, perform community service, lead others and become civically-engaged so as to better understand and find solutions to problems in such daunting areas as population, resource management and environmental stewardship, technological innovation and diffusion, the development and dissemination of information and knowledge, economic integration, the nature and mode of conflict, the challenge of governance. (These are the Seven Revolutions of the Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Measuring CE
Number of service-learning courses taken
number of hours served
nature of service rendered
assessment of learning that occurred due to service
impact on community
Amount of community service engaged in
number of hours served
nature of service rendered
impact on community
Leadership
incidences of organizing others for understanding, commitment or action
occurrences within the curriculum
occurrences in the co-curriculum
Civic engagement
attendance at campus events pertaining to the individual-collective interface
(e.g. panel discussion of gun control, abortion rights/freedom of choice, evolution, war, poverty, global warming, resource shortages, the natural environment, the role of religion in the world, forms of government, and so on)
active participation in civil affairs
voting, registering others to vote, lobbying for change at the various levels, civil disobediance, nonviolent protest, service as part of travel study
reflection, demonstration of resolve and specific actions taken as a result of new understandings of issues gained while a student at UTM
When on March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered in Queens, New York in view of over 30 people who did nothing to rescue her from her knife-wielding assailant, sociologist had a new line of study and a new term for their lexicon, “the bystander effect”. After many years of controlled laboratory and field experiments, sociologists know that the more people “standing around” the less likely it is any one of them will aid a public victim. It’s as if the norm for crowd behavior is to do nothing unusual or that would stand out, but rather do what appears to be the tacit crowd consensus, that is, nothing.
I would maintain that political and civic apathy in our country may also be explained as an example of this bystander effect. The effect can be thought of as having macro- and micro-level geneses. People look around and see others paying little attention to public matters and assume it is normal to do nothing. When they are in a group (say at a college campus) and they see few or no people attending to elections, legislation, economics, social issues, health or natural environment crises, they infer the norm to be one of take care of yourself and do not worry about such matters.
In many cases, victims are aided by courageous cultural deviants, people who do not subscribe-to or feel inhibited by the norms – who take action. These cases turn into examples of how members of the audience rise up to defend a victim. When one or more people take action, others will find it easier to do so.
Leadership, service, civil action, and civic-mindedness, all interrupt business as usual. I believe it is too passive for Universities to wait for the majority of students to “get it” by watching a minority of student leaders in action. If the University waits for this, they may wait forever, or they may see periods of student action followed by long periods of inaction.
I would like to suggest that the university examine majors and courses with the ideas of Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. To do this, we would have to examine each major and the requirements for that major by considering what end result we are looking for and how each course required for that major contributes to that end result. It would involve defining “what you want” and “how to measure whether or not you got it.” The same thing could be done course by course. It would be a lengthy process and would, no doubt, be threatening to a lot of faculty. But it would also show concern for the students’ end results. It is my belief that we will eventually have to do something like this to address accountability and cost effectiveness. We could get ahead of the curve and model this for other campuses.
There is no reason that students could not be involved in the assessments of current courses and contribute to the discussions and decision making about the courses. In Understanding by Design you begin with the end in mind and build backward. A major would be defined by what someone with that major would know and be able to demonstrate.
For an example, if a student graduates with a degree in History, what does that mean? Currently, it means he/she completed x courses in history. But what does it indicate that this person understands and is able to do? If we define the learning objectives of a History major, not based on the number and types of courses completed, but on the basis of experiences and demonstrated abilities, then we have a means of assessing the value of a History major. A History major has accomplished these ___ things as demonstrated by ___ . A Math major would be able to demonstrate their understanding of and ability to use mathematics through ___. A Biology major would be able to demonstrate their understanding of and ability to apply the concepts of Biology through ___.
For courses, begin with the desired end result and build the courses backward from there. The learning objectives for a given course are… to meet these objectives the students is expected to …. These can be broken down into formative assessments of student progress toward the ultimate learning objectives.
This is not the best explanation but perhaps it illustrates the idea.
Over the years I have found nursing students have difficulty developing critical thinking skills. As you can imagine, nurses need critical thinking skills to care for their patients. I find it hard to believe nursing would be the only area with this problem and think a QEP related to critical thinking would beneficial. I’m not sure but maybe the exit exams would be a means of measurement of critical thinking.
I also think we need to enhance active student learning. In nursing we need to apply knowledge. Studies have shown engaging students in active learning promotes life-long learning. This would be a valuable asset regardless of the area of focus of the student.
I personally believe that either writing across the curriculum or critical thinking--or some combination of both--would benefit all students. To me, improving student writing is extremely important. If a student can express herself, she is WAY ahead of the game. I believe critical thinking could be part of writing across the curriculum.
As one long of tooth and short of UTM time, I considered not responding. But, not being content to sit back and rock into retirement, I’ve decided to write in support of bullet #2 - - “Critical Thinking Skills.” (CTS) As we probe deeper into the possibilities of space age communications, CTS becomes more important than ever. To elaborate, I’ve attached a recent article of mine:
I’ve just completed my 40th year in higher education, and will retire at the end of 2009. As I reflect upon my career, I’m considering the relevance of higher education in today’s culture. Are we teaching the right things? Our students frequently ask, “I came to college to study X - - why am I having to take courses in humanities, fine arts, and social and behavioral sciences?” I remember as a student years ago having the same question. Basically my answer goes something like this. No matter what your profession, your success will depend on the ability to get along with others, to interact – not only with folks in your own profession - - but folks in other professions, as well. And, your ability to do that will depend on a broad education. You need to understand something of the world’s complexity. You also need to be able to think on your feet, communicate well, and respect diverse opinions from people in all walks of life. And, very importantly - - because the world is changing at warp speed, you need to be able to gather data (sometimes quickly), analyze it with an open mind, and develop your own conclusions. Leaders do that. They don’t automatically accept a piece of information as fact, then react. If we educators have done our job well, our graduates will be independent thinkers, and independent thinkers often become society’s leaders.
Recently, I attended a seminar on “Conspiracy Rhetoric.” I went, because I have been intrigued, if not saddened lately, with how this phenomenon has loomed over our society like a dark, dreary cloud. Basically, conspiracy rhetoric means: to develop a conspiracy (plan to bring about a certain result), and then develop the rhetoric to make it happen. The rhetoric may be totally true, partially true, or have absolutely no validity. And, once an idea gets “out there,” it’s hard to reel it back in. At one time it took hours or days for a rumor to spread - - now it only takes seconds. Conspiracy rhetoric is often ruthless, presented in cleverly disguised ways, so it looks real. For example, fictitious references are often given, that “sound like” well known, dependable references. Motives range from: wanting someone to win an election, or stroking a personal ego, to making money. And some media personalities are making lots of money with conspiracy rhetoric. At one time we paid the most money to our leaders - - ones with vision, a positive attitude, and creative, servant leadership. Now we most pad the pockets of negative thinking folks - - ones who constantly put people and ideas down - - but never have creative ideas of their own. Tuesday morning, arm-chair quarterbacks, who’ve never served on the field of battle.
There were many examples of conspiracy rhetoric in the last presidential election - - on both sides. One involved questioning whether Obama was born a U.S. Citizen. Once the idea was “out there,” it was hard to make many people believe otherwise, even though the birth certificate was presented by Hawaiian officials. Another example was the bashing of ethanol by a coalition of competing industries. Even when accusations were proven false - - by the U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Lab, and several Land Grant universities, it’s been difficult to “undo” the damage. Health care reform and climate change are more recent examples.
We’ve had conspiracy rhetoric for decades - - but only recently has it become mainstream. Instant, worldwide, interactive communications have allowed it to blossom in recent years. Blog sites, Twitter, Facebook, and web-enhanced cell phone packages all play a part. Perhaps the biggest problem is a declining civility in our culture - - partially brought about by instantly and constantly being bombarded by the negative. Things like: ponzi schemes, unscrupulous CEO’s and public officials, unfaithful public servants - - on and on. The fact that a very small percentage operate that way - - and that most don’t - - has little bearing on our collective cultural attitude. As Hembree Brandon, a writer for Penton Media, recently wrote: “It’s been said that we Americans are a people with a short attention span: We’re transfixed, sympathetic to, or outraged by whatever is most sensational at the moment. Tomorrow? Well, it’s another disaster, scandal, whatever.”
So how do we turn this boat around - - how do we wean our culture off the negativity, the crippling effect of conspiracy rhetoric? Bring about calm and reason, in the midst of chaos? The best way I can think of is through education. And even though reading, writing, and arithmetic are critical, we need to make sure we also teach our young people how to think for themselves. They need to be conditioned to question all data and claims - - to be suspicious, especially of negative or glowingly positive ideas. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is - - if it seems too absurd to be true, it probably is. They should be able to evaluate the source, before “buying into” a new idea. As I was speaking about conspiracy rhetoric recently, someone asked a good question, “So, how do you know if the source is dependable or not?” Tough question. First, finding and verifying the source of any one, among millions, of information bites is hard. Then, once you find the source how do you know if it’s reputable? That ‘s tough, too. But a good start is to ask three questions. First, does the source have anything to gain from the statement - - financially, politically, personally, or otherwise? Second, has the source established credibility over the years, by being objective and unbiased? For example, Land Grant Universities, most government agencies, and several well-known older national science organizations usually are considered reputable by enlightened citizens. Not foolproof, but fairly dependable. And finally, has the information been verified by other sources?
No, the solution is not easy - - but we must begin to counteract the gullibility of our culture. As our world continues to become more populated and our culture more complex, we will increasingly have to function amidst confusion and chaos. Our nation’s success will depend on our citizens, especially our leaders, staying calm - - and using reason as a basis for action. And the best tool we have to get that trend started, is a broad-based education.
Green Energy, Recycling, and Protecting Our Natural Resources
Earlier, I proposed something to the effect of “Green energy, recycling, and protecting our natural resources” as a theme for our QEP. That obviously needs a lot of work to define it and make it quantifiable, but it is a worthwhile idea.
We should focus on fitness and nutrition.
As a group, the citizens of our nation are less fit today than they once were. This is a strategic issue with implications for our national health care debate, agriculture policies, and management of our oceans, lakes and rivers. Nutrition thus interacts with the natural resources issue I mentioned earlier. Most of us do not get adequate exercise, and most of us do not think much about the quality of what we eat. I was in graduate school before I knew enough basic facts about nutrition to wisely plan my diet, and a medical doctor had to teach me. I clung to this ignorance despite the fact that physical fitness was extremely important at my undergraduate institution. West Point taught me to do push-ups and run, but it did not teach me that corn has too many calories to count as a vegetable in my diet.
I know that we could raise fitness and nutrition issues in many of our classes. Matrix algebra to plan diets satisfying nutritional constraints comes to mind. Chemists can burn food in a calorimeter to measure calories. Philosophers can talk about the ethical questions surrounding the uneven distribution of food. Agriculture classes can reach out to other students to educate us about the actual sources of our food. Economists can talk about the impact of agricultural subsidies on food prices. Marketing folks can talk about the sales impact of labeling food “organic” or “free range.” Health and human performance classes can obviously raise these issues.
Outside of the classroom, we can all encourage each other to be more active. Our athletic teams can promote fitness. We have a new student activities center, I think. Sodexo would need to buy in – promoting nutrition education at the point of sale. One can make good choices and bad choices in the cafeteria. My goal is that people would make educated choices.
The Surgeon General’s report below identifies schools as “ a key setting for public health strategies to prevent and decrease the prevalence of overweight and obesity.” I think that successful implementation of a campus wide emphasis on fitness and nutrition could benefit our students and campus community for years to come.
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/CalltoAction.pdf
A few things about a QEP of Information Literacy:
I believe that information literacy would be an excellent choice for UTM’s QEP. This month has even been declared by President Obama as National Information Literacy Awareness month. One of the greatest appeals of this program is how applicable it would be to every discipline and every student. Plus, Information Literacy also allows for an emphasis on critical thinking skills, improved writing, and effective communication.
Plus, Information Literacy appeals to every discipline. In History, for instance, teachers could discuss the significance of primary and secondary sources—even including some first-hand historical research in local libraries/archives/historical sites. Certainly for English, the emphasis of Information Literacy has already begun. One of the new adopted English 112 texts is They Say, I Say, whose major purpose is to teach undergraduates how to incorporate outside research into your own writing—in other words, how to enter into the academic conversation. In Business, they’re already looking at business models; information literacy teaches students how to locate and evaluate business models. In the sciences, it can be about discovering information through hands-on labs and discovering new ways to communicate that information to others. Plus, it’s the perfect topic when considering career preparation for our students.
I did particularly enjoy this student-centered blog entry provided by the library at the college of DuPage: http://blog.codlibrary.org/#post-439
Plus, I like the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) standards of Information literacy: Know, Access, Evaluate, Use, and Ethical/Legal (to see more, here’s a website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/standards/standardstoolkit.cfm).
As for the library, several initiatives could be put in place to lead and support the program. I mentioned to you the notion of embedded librarians—librarians who work with faculty members in research-intense classes. They would be involved in Blackboard discussions of sources, perform the bibliographic instruction for that class, create subject lists of resources for the specific topic, and be available for students to contact them.
Plus, our LibQual+ survey in the spring, which has already been paid for with stimulus funds, could add questions to specifically address the needs assessment of information literacy on campus.
The Paul Meek Library has already signed up for a three-week webinar on Information Literacy, and we’re hoping to have a great deal of participation.
Of course, I would love to see the library as an integral part of the QEP, and I think such an effort could have both immediate and long-lasting impact on our campus.
I liked Information Literacy and it seems easily measurable (with faculty help) and aim-able at disciplines. Though it might take open ended questions:
1) What are the three most common sources of information for professionals in your field?
2) What computer databases, if any, should professionals in your field be aware of?
3) What are the most prominent organizations for professionals in your field?
4) Where in the library are the books related to your field?
5) List three reasons you might use the library instead of the internet
6) What, if any, types of information related to your field are better found on the internet tan your library.
Multiple choice? (I am giving these no thought, just typing…)
Which of the following is the more reliable indicator that the information on a webpage is reliable
a) quality of the graphics
b) the extension of the domain name (.com, .edu, .net, …)
c) the size of the font
d) how often it s updated
Multiple choice seem difficult.
Let me encourage the group to consider the possibility A Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program to enhance student academic outcomes and the academic experience at UTM.
This, of course, is a perennial topic. Our department in past decades tried to encourage the program only to have it shoved, in effect, back in our faces. (Once we were essentially told to institute a post-test at the end of first-year comp to measure whether English 111-112 had turned our students into writers.)
You can ask any teacher in any discipline (including English) who has students write and prove, at least anecdotally, that our students as a collective group write rather poorly. My students, when I ask, often tell me that they do little writing beyond their initial 111-112 sequence. I know that we are supposed to have a writing-intensive senior course in each discipline, but by senior year it’s really too late to ensure that students become mature writers. First-year English can only provide a basis (and, we hope, a strong one) for mature writing, the kind that will only come if all disciplines accept the idea that writing is integral to learning and is a vital skill for success beyond college. (I heard two young engineers in two successive years speak at the Engineers Banquet, and both stressed how important writing skills were and are in their field, which you might think would de-emphasize language skills.)
If we’re trying to identify what out students need and what they’re not getting, it seems to me that the ability to write clearly, grammatically, and well may be one element that’s undervalued in the UTM education process. Some of my colleagues in other fields tell me that they’ve pretty much given up on using any kind of writing as a part of an assessment because students as a whole write so poorly. I’d dare anybody to find any teacher in any discipline who says that UTM students, on the whole, write well.
Of course I go back to the conservative pattern of liberal education that expected students to do three-hour essay finals in all the humanities and social science fields and to write papers on academic topics in those fields. I know that the ethos of UTM is different. But I’d like to see writing stressed because, as we all know, it’s a key practical skill that also enhances clear, critical thinking and full understanding.
Obviously I’m proposing a topic here that’s close to my heart. I can imagine others that might also have great value. But I’d at least like it if you’d throw this one into the hopper, without necessarily labeling it as one that comes from me personally. As I was looking at the criteria you were posting today for the QEP, in every case I could imagine Enhanced Writing Across the Curriculum as fitting the bill. Though the measurement of progress might seem to be likely to be difficult, I can envision certain numeric results (evidence that more writing is going on in more contexts in more classes) and perhaps pre- and post-tests (based on the AP models and other systems of assessing writing skills) that might provide concrete evidence of the efficacy (or failure) of the plan.
Since this is an off-the-cuff note, you can eschew judging the prose here against what might seem to be my own high standards. I think that I’ve made the drift of my proposal clear, and that’s what I’m trying to do. If the idea finds no general support, then obviously it isn’t the right one for your committee and our campus to pursue. (I like Anna’s suggestion about Enhancement of Global Experience. I DON’T think we need any more stress on technology. My students, some of whom can’t put a grammatical sentence together, seem to be fully “literate” in using computers.) This note is not a put-down of other teachers in other disciplines. I know that each year a number of teachers outside English work with Dr. Carrithers in the Voice Lessons program, and I know that many teachers still conscientiously find ways to encourage good writing in non-English classes.
Actually one part of a front-end survey might be to survey exactly how teachers outside English incorporate writing in their classes; then, at the end of the period, a follow-up survey might at least show that more writing is happening, with the supposition operating that with more writing UTM students will be gaining useful practice that they would not have gotten without this QEP initiative.
I see that "writing across the curriculum" has been brought up in your meetings. I would like to throw in a related issue.
As a first-year composition teacher, I feel that my job is severely restricted by students' inability to visualize any writing requirements for them beyond the first year. Indeed, many of them do not write substantial material after their first year and know that they just have to jump through the hoop to get on with their education. As a university, we are supposed to have upper-division classes in each department that are "writing intensive," but it is very obvious that not all departments follow this. I have organized the UTM Interdisciplinary Student Writing Conference for the last five years, and it is very obvious that little upper-division writing is going on university wide. (I rarely receive submissions from any colleges except Humanities and Fine Arts. There are other individual teachers from across campus who do submit student writing, but as a whole, little to no writing is being offered--as far as I can tell--in most of the other colleges.) If we are serious about producing students who can think, write, and communicate, then we need to look at how much writing we really require students to do in their respective majors and how much we're willing as a university to prepare them for a world increasingly driven by visual and printed information that comes at them faster than ever!
Could we possibly have a more synchronized upper-division writing program in this university? Most colleges have specific writing programs for juniors and seniors in their disciplines (e.g. Writing in the Social Sciences, Writing in the Humanities, Writing in the Sciences, etc.) and they are taught by professors in their respective departments (or by professors with expertise in that area). We seem to be able to get over 1000 freshman each year to take a general studies class that doesn't provide them credit hours towards their major, couldn't we at least have a sort of "gatekeeper" course students would have to take their junior year that is writing intensive in their discipline?
Writing, Writing, Writing! No other program will have a more positive impact than WRITING for UT Martin students.
I personally believe that either writing across the curriculum or critical thinking--or some combination of both--would benefit all students. To me, improving student writing is extremely important. If a student can express herself, she is WAY ahead of the game. I believe critical thinking could be part of writing across the curriculum.
Creating a learning culture That uses innovative techniques
Full Title: Creating a learning culture that promotes active learning, information discovery, and critical thinking through innovative techniques such as social networking, mobile technology, or lecture capture.
The communication environment of our incoming students has changed. They come to UT Martin armed with laptop computers, cell phones, and social networking accounts in multiple arenas. Netbooks and smart phones are taking over the market. Students know how to communicate quickly and efficiently with the others. Mobility, access to data and information, anytime, anywhere, has become a reality. If this option were chosen for the broad based QEP, the campus would position itself it a place to take advantage of the communication mechanisms in hand and to be on the leading edge of studies in how social networking, mobile technology, and lecture capture affect learning outcomes. This option would be cross disciple, could include components of ethics, active learning, critical thinking skills, information literacy, global community, diversity, etc.
Include an ethics component in whatever topic we choose
I would suggest the followings if they are proper for this forum.
- A minimum mathematics/algebra literacy requirement/skills just like English requirement.
- I would like to see us get back to 15-week semester (this may not be in line with QEP). This is a problem for sciences, perhaps for math as well, since our students are not doing well in MCAT and other standardized tests, yet, we are suppose to deliver the required material in 14 week, which used to be 15 week.