Faculty and staff met Tuesday to discuss Virginia Tech's First Year Experience/Quality Enhancement Plan.
The town hall style meeting was held in order to present the current plan and solicit input on the implementation.
The plan, entitled "Invent Your Future," is intended to enhance student learning in the first year, to encourage thoughtful academic planning and build knowledge and understanding.
"I have been very pleased to see the level of engagement that faculty, staff and students have had in the process, and it is exactly what we've hoped for," said Provost Mark McNamee.
"We want to come up with a significant plan that will make differences in the lives of undergraduates," McNamee said.
"Dr. McNamee has been one of the initiators of making sure we meet the QEP requirements," said Bob Jones, who chairs the QEP Implementation Committee and the department of biological sciences.
"It is a continuing process in what will be more steps and iterations of feedback and versions of the plan," Jones said.
The plan hopes to be thorough and provide a sound basis for increased learning outcomes for all students enrolled at the university, not just freshmen or transfer students.
"Learning outcome assessments and measurements of the changes in learning is one of the most critical aspects of the plan. It has to be unique and reflect our own personal culture and where our institution is headed," Jones said.
Through tools such as pathways framework and academic advising, student learning will hopefully become more streamlined and reflective in order to improve the first-year experience for all students at Tech.
There are several core tasks for students within the QEP plan, ranging from developing a plan of study to researching co-curricular activities and learning the benefits of reflecting upon previous work.
"We are saying we are Virginia Tech, we are a major research university, and we have our own traditions and cultures," Jones said. "Learning about those and exploring your own learning goals is a very powerful way of defining and exploring the advantages of this institution."
Technology will also play a role in self-reflection through the use of ePortfolios, a key point of the QEP plan.
"The tools that we can use here are matrices, presentations and goal management tools," Jones said. "They can use innovative ways to reflect on their learning and can actually keep track of the QEP within this framework."
All ePortfolios will be housed within Scholar, which will become the standard for Tech as the university begins to move away from Blackboard.
The QEP, to be phased in over five years, will be coordinated, implemented and assessed centrally. Tech is also seeking to minimize administrative costs to make the program work properly. The bulk of the work will be coming from students, advisors and instructors.
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