As part of the reaffirmation of accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), Southeastern Technical College is in the process of developing a new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).
As described in Principle 7.2, the College must develop a QEP that (a) has a topic identified through its ongoing, comprehensive planning and evaluation processes; (b) has broad-based support of institutional constituencies; (c) focuses on improving specific student learning outcomes and/or student success; (d) commits resources to initiate, implement, and complete the QEP; and (e) includes a plan to assess achievement.
In the initial stages of development, the College reviewed data from its ongoing comprehensive and evaluation processes and identified an issue with student learning that needs to be addressed. The QEP is an intervention to address the identified issue with student learning and an opportunity to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness.
Data analyzed from all institutional constituencies indicated that a gap in work ethics skills among students existed. Graduates are entering the economic workforce without the work ethics skills necessary for workforce success.
According to the literature review, behavioral change and development of new habits are more likely to occur when work ethics skills are introduced, developed, refined, practiced, and reinforced. The best instructional methods for teaching work ethics are active learning experiences that foster student engagement, practice, and reinforcement of the work ethics skills.
Based on quantified themes from institutional data, the QEP will focus on improving students’ communication skills, organizational skills, and productivity skills.
The overall goal of the QEP is to build students’ work ethics skills. The following student learning outcomes describe what students will be able to do as a result of the QEP implementation: