The top three concepts were reviewed by committee members to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal.

 

Concept 1:  Engagement for Academic and Professional Success (eventually renamed MT Engage)

Strengths:

• Addresses the results of the campus survey, the student focus group, and the employer focus group. Also NSEE (active and collaborative learning; writing; thinking; speaking effectively)
• Addresses weaknesses revealed in Gen Ed assessments and in high DFW rate courses
• Provides bookend experiences for students in UNIV 1010 and 4010
• Focuses on engagement, especially important in Gen Ed
• Emphasizes both within the class and beyond the class experiences
• Should improve first year success/retention
• Should improve career placement for graduates; Help them in interviews
• For faculty – address the new emphasis on faculty engagement for tenure
• Helps with undeclared sophomores—broader exposure to where they are going earlier
• Ties to Quest for Student Success
• Impacts student learning in UNIV 1010, Gen Ed, and seniors
• Combines two popular ideas of Academic Engagement and Career
• Ties to best practices in portfolios, engagement, High impact practices; FLCs
• ePortfolio provides students with a technological advantage when moving into career

 Weaknesses:

• Relies heavily on U1010 instructors--mainly adjunct based
• Scope could be too large/overly ambitious (3 comments)
• Some majors already provide 4010 content within their courses
• ePortfolio platforms already on campus
• Should emphasize active learning more
• Measurable outcomes?
• Faculty learning communities have not been fully embraced

 General Conversation:

• How do you find a way to think of this as a program with coherence? What connects UNIV 1010, Gen Ed, and UNIV 4010? Is it engagement, BTC experiences, both? We would need to think of a catchy (and simple) way to describe this.
• Could have ePortfolio introduced in a course(s) other than UNIV 1010
• If using UNIV 1010 need full-time faculty involved
• Could use existing capstones in place of UNIV 4010
• Like Professional Success in the name
• How do you get students to commit to completion of their ePortfolios?
• Would you need to incentivize students to participate in the program?
• Could you make ePortfolio an admissions component?
• Could include summer activity and ask them to update their profile before the Fall
• Make ePortfolio required and what goes in it
• Could have service, experiences from class, research tabs with self-reflection segments; use as a journal experience
• Who would administer the start-up, training, counseling for students?
• Where is the active learning and what are the expectations from students? 
• What is the expectation from faculty and how do we get them to participate?
• Faculty development is a critical need. Must have plan for this and incentives
• Portfolios are useful for assessment
• Multi-faceted idea: advising; beyond the classroom experiences; and faculty training are included
• Suggested emphasis on ePortfolio to reach Engagement for Academic and Professional Success; ePortfolio is the tool of QEP

Concept 2:  Academic Engagement in Gen Ed 

Strengths:

• Addresses weaknesses revealed in Gen Ed assessments and in high DFW rate courses
• Addresses the faculty survey
• Ties to student focus groups regarding gen ed, NSEE (active and collaborative learning; writing; thinking; speaking effectively); ties to student retention survey increasing relevance of courses;
• Has a clear and limited focus
• Redesign process is already in place and showing promise
• If we include UNIV 1010, this could be academic engagement in the freshman year
• Impacts student learning in freshman / sophomores vulnerable to retention issues
• Ties to Quest for Student Success
• Ties to best practices in engagement, High impact practices, FLCs
• Scope is doable
• Would help students AND faculty advance through professional development in engagement practices

Weaknesses:

• 11 courses have already been through or are going through the redesign process, and other courses will be added to the process before the QEP is implemented; however, there are many different versions of some Gen Ed courses (large lectures, small classes, online, hybrid), and each of these types of a particular course might need to be redesigned in different ways
• Does not directly address the survey / focus group results focusing on career readiness—but could through college orientations as a co-curricular activity and/or redesign UNIV 1010
• Would require significant faculty development and buy-in
• Faculty learning communities have not been fully embraced
• Many adjuncts and FTT teach gen ed courses so it would require constant professional development and incentives

  General Conversation:

• Could add ePortfolio to this
• Full-time faculty could rotate through gen ed
• Could phase in professional skills
• Could phase into upper level courses

Concept 3: Connecting College to Career 

Strengths:

• Addresses survey results
• Addresses employer focus groups
• Would help students see the relevance of their course work
• Help with undeclared
• Ties to Quest for Student Success
• Impacts student learning in U1010 and in some majors
• Ties to employer focus group, student focus groups; freshman retention
• Ties to best practices in portfolios, engagement, High impact practices;
• Intern office reinstated
• Could serve as a guide for students (and parents) to understand opportunities within their chosen fields/departments

 Weaknesses:

• Much of the focus is not on freshmen--where we are having the most difficulty with student success
• Too much career focus in freshman year is not necessarily a good thing--students change majors, etc.
• UNIV 1010 only mandatory for undeclared
• Curriculum development for junior / senior seminars is large in scope—but could phase in
• Need ENGL buy in and many are taught by adjuncts and FTT

General Conversation:

• Connect them to the future not a job. Change title to future skills or professionalism not career.