Community weighs in on student learning

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability conducted an online survey that will be used to create a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for the College. A QEP is a 10-year plan that the college will implement to help improve an area of student learning.

ACC is required to create a QEP as a requirements for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS).

The process used to develop the QEP is up to the college. ACC is one of the only colleges to use a survey which is open to students, faculty, staff and the community to develop the QEP.

"This is a homegrown process. This is something ACC developed," said Amanda Karel, the ACC SACS coordinator.

899 students, faculty, and community members responded to the survey, which ended on Oct. 31. Their responses will be used to help select which area of student learning ACC's plan will focus on.

Survey participants submitted ideas for improvement, and those ideas were sorted into 16 categories of student learning.

The two to four categories ranked by survey takers as the most important will be used to begin forming rough ideas for the QEP.

"A lot of these are really close," said Karel.

Goal setting and completion (51.6 percent), and problem solving (47.2 percent) were the highest ranked categories on the survey. Mathematics (21.4 percent) and Numerical literacy (17.4 percent) came in at the bottom of the list.

According to Karel, the final student learning topic will be announced in April 2011 along with a rough plan for implementation. After this there will be a year and a half to devise specifics such as funding and which programs will be responsible for implementing the plan.

SACS will visit the campus and make recommendations to help make the QEP better in fall 2012. 

Survey Results

690 participants ranked the 16 areas of student learning based on importance. Participants were able to choose more than one category.

Goal setting and completion 51.6%

Problem solving 47.2%

Self-directed learning 47.4%

Critical thinking 45.9%

Study skills 45.9%

Time management 44.0%

Transition from developmental to college courses 36.4

Teamwork 35.9%

Written communication 34.5%

Oral communication 33.7%

Information literacy 33.1%

Success in distance learning courses 26.7%

Other 26.2%

Reading comprehension 24.3%

Mathematics 21.4%

Numerical literacy 17.4%