Quality Enhancement Plan
During the spring 2016, Columbus State University will present a new Quality Enhancement Plan to SACSCOC for consideration. The proposed QEP (2016-2021) focus is to improve creative, real-world problem-solving skills in CSU students. Through a set of initiatives based on successful high-impact practices, faculty and staff will target students' abilities to collaboratively gather and evaluate information, identify questions or problems, develop strategies and solutions, and articulate and implement quality solutions.
CSU's 2006-11 QEP was entitled, “Writing the Solution: Steps Toward Developing Competent and Professional Student Writers.” Grounds for the choice included CSU students’ poor performance on the Board of Regents’ Writing test, their perception as reported in the 2004 NSSE that they write fewer papers than students at other universities, research findings that writing can foster students’ cognitive abilities, and a consensus among stakeholders (especially faculty) that CSU students must learn to write better. The QEP's expected outcomes: (a) students will learn to write better and to use writing to help themselves learn, (b) faculty will be developed to assist them, and (c) the university will provide the infrastructure to enable both groups to succeed.
Both direct and indirect assessments of students’ writing skills were made during the five years of the QEP’s implementation to document its impact.The Faculty Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning was created to provide structural support. Ninety-one percent of departments participated in the QEP grants program. In a 2011 survey, more than half of all faculty reported the way they taught writing had changed as a function of participation in QEP programming.An annual Celebration of Student Writing showcases the writing-related projects of students taught by Faculty Writing Fellows. An undergraduate journal, Momentum, was launched to publish student research and writing. Annual Student Writing Awards recognize outstanding essays by first-year students. The Writing Center provides face-to-face assistance to students at both the main and RiverPark locations and to all students via online submission. Faculty Writing Fellows are selected and supported annually. Recipients of the Outstanding Teacher of Writing Awards are recognized for the way they demonstrate the vital role of teaching effective writing.
