OSL Newsletter Issue 1 Fall 2012

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  • 7/28/2019 OSL Newsletter Issue 1 Fall 2012

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    Student Luncheon Group with

    three SACS On-Site Committee

    Members

    Extra! Extra!

    Read All About It!!!

    SACS On-Site Visit

    What is the SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation visit all about? To many students, a sudden push about all things QEP

    and being told about a team of people coming to the campus to determine whether or not their college credits will count is a

    scary and out-of-the-blue thing. I hope to use this article to explain the entire Quality Enhancement Plan process in a way that

    makes sense. Every ten years there is a SACS visit, each visit is actually a review of a Quality Enhancement Plan project. The on-

    site team comes to the school with questions about our current QEP and uses the time on campus to speak to individuals about

    it and figure out if it will really meet a need that we have on campus. Really, the SACS visit occurs in the middle of the QEP cycle

    which begins 4 years before the visit.

    The first step in developing a QEP is deciding on a topic. Our Colleges method of doing this was to send out an email

    to all of our staff and faculty soliciting ideas and give them 6 months to form arguments for their topic choice. Then they held

    different presentations where each group could pitch their idea and research. We decided on Math Empowerment because of

    the number of students that did not graduate because they did not complete a college-level math course. After the topic was

    chosen, the next step was putting together a Committee to write out the Quality Enhancement Plan along with a Compliance

    Report.

    The QEP that was written included five strategies: Advising, Placement, Student Engagement, Tutoring, and FacultyDevelopment. Each Strategy discussed what the school would do differently in order to improve math retention rates with our

    students. The opening of a tutoring center solely for math, the Math Resource Center, along with flip classes, jumpstart

    programs, the use of supplemental instructors, clickers, and informal tutoring were just a few of the ideas that the QEP team

    wanted to implement to help our students with their mathematics. The Compliance Report was written along with the QEP to

    explain how each strategy and idea coincided with the guidelines the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools set down

    for quality enhancement plans. After the QEP and the Compliance Report was written, the team sent the Compliance Report to

    be reviewed by an off-site SACS Committee.

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    QEP Team writes

    the QEP and the

    Compliance

    Report. Then they

    send the

    Compliance report

    to the off-site SACS

    Committee and

    receive a response

    Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Ye

    The off-site Committee wrote us back a response listing the concerns they had with our plan. We were then given

    another year to write a Focus Report to respond to the off-site Committees concerns and both out finalized QEP and our Focus

    Report were sent to the On-site Committee to be reviewed. All of this research and work culminated in a visit by the On-site

    team. They came prepared with questions about our QEP and conducted several interviews with CVCs Administration, faculty,

    staff and even students in order to assess how serious the campus was about our QEP. At the conclusion of their visit, they give

    out recommendations and suggestions. What that means is that they told us which areas they think need to be worked with

    more, and it is up to us to fix those problems and show that we fixed them with data. A few of the final comments from the on-

    site SACS Committee included The entire school provided excellent customer service and The students we spoke to were

    knowledgeable and polite. We were very impressed.

    It was a good visit for Cedar Valley, but we will not get official approval until June. When

    we do, the QEP will be implemented, and we will have about four years to collect data and see if the

    QEP actually did what it set out to do, improve the number of students that complete a college level

    math class. During year ten; five years after the on-site committee visited the school, something

    called the Fifth Year Report is written. This report basically shows whether or not the QEP was a

    success and gives SACS all of our data that we spent the past 4 years collecting. After that is sent in,

    we have a one year resting period where all of our changes and strategies we made become

    common policy, and then we start the cycle again and begin deciding on a new topic for our QEP.

    Even though it seems to the average student like this whole SACS visit came out of nowhere, it isactually been a process that has been in motion since Cedar Valley College became an accredited

    institution. Below is a timeline of the QEP cycle from the colleges point of view.

    Deciding on a

    topic for the

    QEP

    QEP Team writes Focus

    Report as a response to the

    questions and concerns

    brought up by the off-site

    SACS committee and sends

    both the QEP and the Focus

    Report to the on-site SACS

    committee to review. On-

    site SACS Committee

    develops questions based

    on the QEP and Focus

    Report and then visits thecollege to assess the

    school. School receives

    recommendations and

    suggestions by on-site SACS

    Committee

    The School works to implement those

    recommendations and suggestions

    over the next 5 years along with

    implementing the QEP. The

    implementation team at the school

    gathers data and assesses whether or

    not the QEP is accomplishing its goals.

    The Fifth Year Re

    written and sent in

    have data that sup

    QEP and shows that

    that the QEP set ou

    was indeed met. T

    initiatives and str

    become common sc

    and there is a one

    period before a ne

    chosen.

    10 year period from the Colleges point of view

    t after

    e fifth

    ear

    port

    Dr. Wimbish speaking at

    the SACS Party 10/19/12

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    September 6th

    , 2012- Fall Kick-off Party

    The OSL hosted this event

    in order to provide a festive

    environment for meeting

    new people and networking.

    We provided food, drinks,

    and music. We also had a

    photo booth set up in D100

    to take commemorative

    pictures for free. There was

    also a sign-up opportunity

    for students that wanted to

    join a CVC Club.

    OnAugust 21st, 2012,

    Meet the Faculty Dayoccurred.

    70 Students showed up to the Cafeteria

    to meet their instructors, discussclassroom expectations, and get ahead.

    Our Lovely Student Ambassadors also led

    campus tours throughout the day.

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    For this event, 3 student

    volunteers were invited to

    come up to the stage and be a

    contestant for Constitution

    Trivia! The audience waited

    with anticipation while the

    point wheel spun and cheeredwhen a student panelist got a

    correct answer. They also

    enjoyed what our speaker; Dr.

    Myrtle Freeman had to say

    concerning the right to vote.

    We also had a voters

    registration table out.

    September 18th

    , 2012- Constitution Day

    Congrats to our

    1st

    place trivia

    Winner: Robert Gant!

    What is OSL and What Can We Do For You?

    The Office of Student Life helps to enhance your experience as a

    college student. By providing opportunities with different clubs and

    organizations, students thrive under participation. We are also here to

    help students become more well-rounded, learn transferable skills, and

    provide multiple networking possibilities. The OSL has hosted 16

    events and counting this semester!

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    There are Twenty-Nine

    Active Clubs and

    Organizations This

    Semester! Those Include:

    African American Student

    Association (AASA)

    Baptist Student Ministry

    Bi-Lingual Student Ambassadors

    Brother 2 Brother

    Cheerleading

    Commercial Music Association

    Dance Club

    Do Something Club

    Family Music Theater Club

    Fashion Club

    Gamers on Campus

    Gay/Straight Alliance

    Health Professionals Club

    Latin American Student

    Organization (LASO)

    Men of Distinction

    Nation to Nation Club

    Phi Theta Kappa (PTK)

    Poetry- Literary Club

    SACM: Sci-fi, Anime, and Comics

    Movement

    Sociology

    SPACE Club Students for Physics,

    Astronomy, Chemistry and

    Engineering

    Student Ambassadors

    Student GovernmentAssociation

    Student Leadership Institute (SLI)

    Study Abroad

    Tennis

    THEMTheatre Helping Education

    Move

    Veterinarian Technology Student

    Association (VTSA)

    Women of Divinity

    October 11th, 2012

    Mens Coffee

    The Office of

    Student Life used

    this event to Pilot

    an electronic way

    of gathering

    event assessment

    Data.

    Our Speaker, Dr. Larry Bryant

    spoke about Hip-Hop and how

    the musical styles changed with

    the times and mindsets of the

    people making the music. He

    indicated that anger and violence

    in the music influenced the

    people that listened to it to anger

    and violence. He left us with a

    simple thought- What does

    todays music indicate about us?

    Need help or want to learn more about the OSL?Contact Us!

    Miyoshi Holmes (972-860-8237)

    Harold Hankerson (972-860-8233)

    Lauren Anderson, Lewis Giles, or Katrina Gibson (972-860-8257)

    OR Come to D101-D104

    for more assistance!