Once approved, UNCW’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is a five-year project meant to enrich and enhance a specific aspect of UNCW student learning. All students, faculty, staff, and administration are strongly encouraged to participate in the QEP’s development, from topic selection to feedback on the final project. Any and all ideas, opinions, participation, and general interest are always welcome!

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is one of the primary requirements of UNCW's 2013 re-accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Over the course of three academic years, a team of professors, administrators, staff, and students have been coordinating the QEP process, which includes gathering a wide range of input from across campus, choosing a project topic suited to achieve identified student learning goals, developing programs and strategies that put that topic into practice, implementing those programs on campus, evaluating their impact, and adjusting the programs as necessary to ensure years of enriched student learning across UNCW.

According to SACSCOC requirement, the university must invest ample resources to implement the QEP, and SACSCOC will be specifically interested in the “institutional capacity” to implement and measure/assess our plan to enhance student learning. As a result, our funded and approved QEP will be meaningful, measureable, assessable, and significant. The newly developed enrichment in student learning will become a significant legacy that will benefit the campus community in years to come.

About eTEAL

The QEP at UNCW is known as eTEAL: experiencing Transformative Education through Applied Learning.

eTEAL's Goals

1. To improve student learning in applied learning experience through enriching the environment supporting student learning.
2. To provide faculty and staff with information and resources about high-impact practices in applied learning pedagogy as appropriate to their discipline and responsibilities.
3. To promote the incorporation and implementation of high-impact practices of applied learning throughout UNCW.
   

What is Applied Learning?

Applied learning is a pedagogical model that places students in experiences requiring them to integrate theories, ideas, and skills they have learned in new contexts, thereby extending their learning.

eTEAL Student Learning Outcomes

eTEAL draws its student learning outcomes from the University Studies required Component: Explorations Beyond the Classroom (EBC):

• EBC1. Students will be able to articulate their expectations, the purpose, and/or the goals of the experience in terms of their personal educational development.
• EBC2. Students will synthesize knowledge drawn from their coursework to address the issues/challenges/questions involved in the experience.
• EBC 3. Students will be able to communicate the impact or significance on their personal educational development and on others in the profession or in the field at the conclusion of the experience.

Applied learning experiences for the eTEAL initiative can include:

• Directed independent study;
• Internships;
• Course-embedded projects that meet a specific real-world need;
• Community-based projects;
• Honors projects;
• Study abroad (when it involves intentional and reflective applied learning); and
• Efforts for innovative team-teaching undergraduate research.
Core concepts of the applied learning objective include an enhanced applied learning initiative for students that could develop/sustain the following key competencies or academic skills:

• Critical thinking skills;
• Inquiry/Creativity;
• Thoughtful Expression; and
• Other skills unique to each experience.

These concepts will be realized by funded hands-on learning initiatives for the students and professional development opportunities for faculty to take into the classroom.

Interested in finding out more? View our PowerPoint Presentation:
"Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) 2013: An opportunity to enrich our legacy of learning at UNCW"