Tips on QEP

Embrace the process. It does no good to whine about it. See it as getting something done at your college that wouldn't have been done otherwise.

Get good writers on your team. In general, pick your team for expertise, not just "broad-based-ness" (although that's important too).

Proactivity. Talk to your liaison. Get it done.

Someone wise once told me, "Go to your boss with solutions, not problems." Great advice. When you go into the provost with "issues," go in with resolutions to those issues.

Topics should be focused. Critical thinking for a college of 8,000 students may be impossible to get consistent assessment on. Also, it must be student learning outcome focused, not "start a program we always wanted" focused.

Expect that external forces will throw you a major curve while you're in the process. WE picked learning support (developmental education) and the state agency/government made two huge changes that totally knocked us for a loop.

Hire a QEP Director/Coordinator who is going to stick around. Obviously, some people leave or pass away, but it's best to hire someone who is a sure bet.

To find an evaluator, start by going to the SACS site and finding schools that did their QEP on your topic or a similar one. Then find out who their QEP Director or the chair of the QEP Committee was. Another method is to contact leaders in professional organizations.

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