Skip to Main content

ASU Announces QEP Topic: Community-Engaged Active Learning

May 04, 2011

Dr. Doyle Carter, director of Angelo State University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), announced Wednesday, May 4, that the university’s QEP will focus on community-engaged active learning. 

The QEP is the centerpiece of ASU’s reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The QEP must focus on student learning and the learning environment, which are also central to ASU’s mission statement. Much more than an accreditation requirement, the QEP is intended to enhance the quality of the learning at ASU and help the university and the people it serves become more of a learning community.

Community-engaged active learning involves students, faculty, staff, administration and community members in the learning process. By actively engaging with the broader campus, local and even global communities, students demonstrate personal and social responsibility and their ability to apply and integrate knowledge and skills in authentic settings. Therefore, this topic is closely aligned with the university’s mission to “prepare students to be responsible citizens and have productive careers.”

Announcement of the topic concludes the first phase in the QEP development process. The process began in August when ASU sought the input of multiple constituencies on campus and in the community through the “What’s Your Big Idea?” survey as well as through focus groups and other activities. A great deal of internal and external research was done as well.

“Much work lies ahead,” Carter said. “We have two years of research and development, piloting an implementation strategy, and finalizing a document for submission. Once the plan is reviewed and approved for full implementation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in the spring or summer of 2013, implementation will begin that fall.”