Seeking Input on Revised QEP Framework

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Help define and refine our QEP–scroll down for a link to a survey and a list of our open questions.

QEP Background

The QEP’s original focus on Vocation, “Discovering One’s Purpose in a Changing World,” was determined to be too large by the SACSCOC On-Site Reaffirmation Committee. They felt we had too many wide-ranging activities and left vocation too nebulous to be successfully assessed. They suggested that we narrow our focus to “career and life planning” based on their findings from our written report and the interviews they conducted with both students and faculty.

With this suggested focus in mind, the QEP Interim Implementation Team has created an initial framework to guide the redevelopment of goals and SLOs. We would like students to learn about the process of career and life planning as opposed to an emphasis on getting jobs. We feel this is more in line with our liberal arts and Holy Cross approach to education.

Community Input Needed

In their report, we were asked by the SACSCOC On-Site Reaffirmation Committee to go back to the university community to refine the QEP topic. Therefore, we are running fora for faculty, students, and staff before the end of the semester.  We want to hear from the community about how to define the focus in such a way that reflects our mission and significantly supports student learning. We are here to listen to concerns and ideas that can shape our initial framework and subsequently the associated goals and SLOs.

In the fora, we’ll be engaging in four conversations:

  • Defining the Focus: What does it mean at St. Edward’s for students to learn a process of career and life planning?
  • Expanding on the Process Model: Does each component in the process support student learning?
    • Component 1: Discover, Discern, and Explore
    • Component 2: Build, Develop, and Prepare
    • Component 3: Engage and Experience

If you can’t make the fora, please share your responses to the following questions in this anonymous online survey:  https://stedwards.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_72jnSDGHfkmwvsN

Defining the Focus

  • Faculty
    • What resonates with you about career/professional/life planning?
    • What gives you pause or concern around this topic focus?
    • Favorite words/phrases? Ones to be avoided?
    • What do we mean at St. Ed’s by career/professional/life planning?
  • Students
    • What resonates with you about career/professional/life planning?
    • What is the most important thing St. Edward’s can do to help you with career and life planning?
    • Are there other aspects of the process that you would want to see as part of career planning at St. Edward’s?

Expanding on the Process Model: Discover, Discern, and Explore

  • Faculty
    • What do students need to explore and learn about in order to make informed career choices for your discipline?
    • To what extent is self-reflection and self-awareness an important part of developing career and life planning? Do you hit on this at all in your classroom or in advising?
    • In what venues (programs, courses, campus services, etc.) do students currently conduct this type of exploration on campus? Can you think of other venues that would facilitate this type of exploration?
  • Students
    • What do you think you need to learn about yourself before choosing a career?
    • Since high school, what have you learned about yourself that pertains to a future career? How/where did you learn that?

Expanding on the Process Model: Build, Develop, and Prepare

  • Faculty
    • How do students get from an idea about what they want to do for a career to actually doing it?
    • What are the important elements of career readiness for students?
    • How do we help students transfer their skills and experience to their post-graduate plans?
    • How do you help students to become career-ready right now?
  • Students
    • What kinds of skills have you learned so far that you think you’ll use in your career? How did you learn those (in class, at your job, co-curricular)?
    • When you think about preparing for your career, what are the things you want to know about?
    • What skills or experiences do you think you need, but don’t see yourself getting?

Expanding on the Process Model: Engage and Experience

  • Faculty
    • What type of experiences (curricular and co-curricular) have the most impact on future student success, particularly in your discipline?
    • How do they make meaning from those experiences?
    • How do we help students identify relationships between those experiences and post-graduation goals?
  • Students
    • What types of “real world” experience do you want to get before you graduate?
    • Have there been any times when you’ve stopped to consider how an experience (co- or curricular) is changing your ideas about what you want to do when you graduate? What were the circumstances (required reflection, talking with advisor, sharing with friends)? Did you act on what you learned? If so, what did you do?
    • How can St. Edward’s help you to have meaningful experiences around your career choice?
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About Rebecca Davis

Rebecca Frost Davis Director of Instructional and Emerging Technology Rebecca Frost Davis joined St. Edward’s in July 2013 as Director of Instructional and Emerging Technology, where she provides leadership in the development of institutional vision with respect to the use of technology in pursuit of the university’s educational mission and collaborates with offices across campus to create and execute strategies to realize that vision. Instructional Technology helps faculty transform and adapt new digital methods in teaching and research to advance the essential learning outcomes of liberal education. Previously, Dr. Davis served as program officer for the humanities at the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), where she also served as associate director of programs. Prior to her tenure at NITLE, she was the assistant director for instructional technology at the Associated Colleges of the South Technology Center and an assistant professor of classical studies at Rhodes College, Denison University, and Sewanee: The University of the South. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. (summa cum laude) in classical studies and Russian from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Davis is also a fellow with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE). As a NITLE Fellow, Dr. Davis will develop a literature review relevant to intercampus teaching, which will cover contextual issues such as team-teaching, teaching through videoconferencing, and collaboration; a survey of intercampus teaching at NITLE member institutions; and several case studies of intercampus teaching at liberal arts colleges, including interviews with faculty, students, support staff, and administrators. This work will be summarized in a final report or white paper to be published by NITLE. At Rebecca Frost Davis: Liberal Education in a Networked World, (http://rebeccafrostdavis.wordpress.com/) Dr. Davis blogs about the changes wrought by new digital methods on scholarship, networking, and communication and how they are impacting the classroom. In her research, she explores the motivations and mechanisms for creating, integrating, and sustaining digital humanities within and across the undergraduate curriculum.

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