NSU's Quality Enhancement Plan April 2017

2 | NSU QEP Development Process Each of these strategies, along with faculty resources, focuses on helping students become better writers who understand and work carefully through the writing process. The QEP chairs will work with the NSU Write from the Start Writing and Communication Center staff on the on-going assessment of these activities, implementing a series of direct and indirect measures of student learning, including the use of a common rubric to assess student writing. Assessment results will be used to improve the QEP throughout the course of its implementation. The QEP Committee has developed a marketing strategy to inform all students and faculty and staff members about the QEP. This includes developing a timeline that shows how on-site and online resources and services will be delivered to all students, regardless of modality. The QEP Committee also developed a new organizational chart to demonstrate project leadership and a budget that will fund the QEP from its initial stages through completion. Documentation for each of these can be found in the appendices of this proposal. II. QEP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Introduction The Mission of Nova Southeastern University … is to offer a diverse array of innovative academic programs that complement on-campus educational opportunities and resources with accessible distance-learning programs to foster academic excellence, intellectual inquiry, leadership, research, and commitment to community through engagement of students and faculty members in a dynamic, lifelong learning environment. Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a complex, primarily graduate and first professional institution with a diversity of programs and audiences, including a diversity of colleges, academic levels, and programs and an array of delivery models (including campus-based, fully online, and blended teaching/learning options). In addition to its Fort Lauderdale/ Davie Campus, NSU offers programs at its Oceanographic Campus in Hollywood, Florida; and its North Miami Beach Campus in North Miami Beach, Florida. NSU also has regional campuses in Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Offering a diverse array of programs is a key part of our mission. Yet, NSU’s commitment to fostering academic excellence and intellectual inquiry at both the undergraduate and graduate levels requires a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) that keenly focuses on core aspects of student learning common throughout the institution. The challenge faced by any large, complex institution is to identify an area of focus that allows for flexibility in implementation to ensure near universal acceptance and support. This was NSU’s framework for identifying its QEP topic area. Institutional Process Leadership NSU’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Leadership Team, chaired by George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., president, determined that a