QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN
IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE
For College Procedure
2.01.01.14: Committees
MINUTES FOR 2014-2015
(Note: The chair must email the approved minutes to the IE Office for placement on the College web page.)
September 29, 2014
Members in attendance: Arturo Valdespino, Ivan Iñiguez,
Tony Procell, Vangie De Luna, Gail Meagher, David Henry,
Raul Lerma, Claude Mathis, Charlie Miller, Dr. Ondrea
Quiros, Gloria Estrada, Osvaldo Rodriguez, Patricia Islas,
Ysella Fulton Slavin, Xiomara Chianelli, Kathleen Bombach,
Laura Molina
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Members not in attendance: Jeffrey Coles, Armando
Villarreal
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Guest: Zaira Crisafalli.
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I.
The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m.
II.
Results from Faculty Development sessions and a
meeting with some other discipline representatives.
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III.
Arturo Valdespino - Introduced guest Zaira
Crisafalli, who has done much with the creation
of Core Curriculum assessment. QEP and Core
will be working together.
Dr. Quiros - Last meeting we talked about
assessment, however before deciding on how
we will assess, we need to come to a consensus
on what is and what is not an appropriate QEP
activity. Also we need to discuss and agree on
terms such as: community, interaction and
connection. At the meeting with the discipline
leaders, a lot of feelings were expressed on how
a large number of activities no longer seemed to
“count” as QEP. The goal of the meeting is
building of consensus; what is and isn’t an
activity.
Discussion about definitions and the need for a
written explanation for QEP activities.
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Arturo Valdespino – On the screen we want to
define goals: interaction and connection.
There is emphasis on “what do those words
means?” This could mean students physically
going within one day. Terms are needed to
define community.
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Dr. Quiros – A good example of a QEP activity
could be students finding a problem within their
community and fixing it, as well as doing
research and becoming more involved with their
community.
Gail Meagher – What about the issue with the
borders?
Dr. Quiros – Community members who come
to a campus could also be a QEP activity.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – We should be careful
about taking the activity outside of the campus.
Going out to a play at EPCC could be an
example of a QEP activity. I agree outside of
class, but not outside of campus. Many student
commuters don’t know other students or have a
way to go to those events.
Vangie De Luna – Have the community learn
about health issues. Students from my class visit
the Fibrosis Clinic Health Center to research.
Particular students have to go out. We need to
make this more meaningful.
Arturo Valdespino – QEP is like a blanket, we
can do whatever we want, but it needs to relate.
What about not wanting to go outside of class,
but bringing someone in.
Tony Procell – If it helps students engage, it’s
ok.
Patricia Islas – Individuals/groups designed to
identify or to address public issues. What are we
addressing? Parameters need to be defined.
Gail Meagher – How about bringing in people
that live here, but have a different culture?
Arturo Valdespino– Having this be within the
classroom is a good idea.
Tony Procell – What about students taking
pictures of street art downtown and using them
as part of an assignment in class?
Patricia Islas– Let’s bring other performers,
exemplify.
Dr. Quiros – How about bringing in a former
student into the classroom?
Tony Procell – The idea would be to bring in
the connection into the classroom from outside.
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11/30/15
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Patricia Islas– A speech debate has different
aspects and can be performed nationwide.
Dr. Quiros – What about other instructors from
EPCC coming into the classroom?
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – To have students
engage students. They could have a professor
talking outside of classroom and taking each
class. Professors showing interest in the
community.
Tony Procell – Students are not learning about
the community if the QEP activity is about
something else.
Charlie Miller – Mostly QEP is just about
using our common sense. We’ve got to do
something about PCP students. Studies have
shown students who leave right away after class
are less likely to succeed.
Osvaldo Rodriguez – On campus activities are
really good. There is the Immigration forum.
Many students came and brought their family.
Taking the time to bring in their relatives is
what helps the community.
Xiomara C. Chianelli – It would be good to
write down what MUST be QEP and what
would NOT be QEP.
(From notes made on the board:)
QEP
NOT QEP
Enhance knowledge of No assignment
community
connected
Active engagement
Engage with others in
Deeper understanding
Campus activity open to
the community
Assignment required
(Assessment optional)
Move beyond classroom
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Ysella Fulton-Slavin – There are many
teachers who don’t want QEP.
Dr. Quiros – For QEP, there must be an
assignment attached to the activity.
Raul Lerma – Differentiate if the activity will
be addressing a community issue or concern
Arturo Valdespino– Impacting the community,
that’s what we want.
Charlie Miller – Wanted to add, I feel the
instructor doesn’t have to be engaged to figure
out who to bring in. The instructor doesn’t need
to be out.
Gail Meagher– Instructors must be out when
health fairs are going on.
IV.
Plan to review possible explanations and hear from
consultant for the next meeting
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Arturo Valdespino – The next meeting will be
around mid-October, so we want to come to a
consensus.
Gail Meagher– If we use texting people, as an
example, there is a delayed response. If you
want to communicate, get out there.
Dr. Quiros – Also consider that not every event
to be attended will count.
Tony Procell – I sent my students to take
pictures of street art.
Gloria Estrada – As long as the students go
back to class and talk about it.
Dr. Quiros – What about at the Hispanic
Heritage students who attend, but do not talk at
the event?
Xiomara C. Chianelli – This activity must
have an assessment.
Arturo Valdespino – What about being
indirectly engaged?
Dr. Quiros – Must take online and early college
into consideration as well.
Charlie Miller – High school students are
bound to spend more time going out.
Arturo Valdespino – Interact with a place, go
and tell the instructor what happens.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – It should be noticed
we’re wanting to do some kind of good. For
example, students can go to Providence Nursing
Home to visit kids with cancer. Once students
do this, they are engaged and enthusiastic and
look forward to the next time.
Xiomara C. Chianelli – Some people might
not want service learning.
Arturo Valdespino – On my personal
experience when I was in high school, I loved
going to games even when I didn’t play.
Kathleen Bombach – Home games or away
games?
Arturo Valdespino – “What happens?” and
“How is the atmosphere?” are some of the
questions to ask.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – It cannot be a home
game then?
Dr. Quiros – Learning about the community
can also include newness being a part of it.
Arturo Valdespino – Going on the visitor’s
side at the home game could be the new
experience.
Gloria Estrada – If we take an example, like in
baseball, there are whole families who come out
to watch the games. Students don’t realize this
until they start talking amongst themselves
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
11/30/15
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about baseball. There are generations in many
families who have played baseball.
Gail Meagher – What about a food drive at
church and doing activities to the community?
David Henry – We chose this QEP because of
the tendency of many EPCC students to want to
only stay close to home and do what is familiar.
Students need to engage in and appreciate the
community. New community experiences could
include Las Cruces, but not Phoenix.
Patricia Islas – What about a new experience?
Gail Meagher – What about caring about the
community, feelings to connect to the activity?
David Henry – So a deeper understanding?
Dr. Quiros – Connection is connecting activity
to something in classroom. Showing what was
learned through an assignment.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – Exposing our students
to something.
Ivan Iñiguez – I feel some students stay in the
same part of the community because they have a
sense of belonging. Let’s work with that, and
have them engage in something.
Raul Lerma – An example I have of not trying
something out would be the time when my
family realized my daughter’s boyfriend had
never had Church’s Chicken, and we had never
had Kentucky Fried Chicken, because we lived
in different parts of town. It comes down to
simple things.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – I think to be part means
exposure to many things you want and don’t
want.
Tony Procell – I agree that it all goes back to a
deeper understanding.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – In Shakespeare on the
Rocks, my students were exposed and it left a
seed. Some or maybe most didn’t like the play,
but as time passed by, students came back
saying they went to see it again. So, it doesn’t
matter if they hate it at first.
David Henry – We want to broaden their
horizons.
Xiomara C. Chianelli – Involve student
interaction.
Dr. Quiros – In the spectrum it’s mostly about
what counts vs. thinking what is going to count.
How far in the spectrum will this be?
David Henry – I think some instructors feel the
essay interferes with academic decisions.
Dr. Quiros – Does not have to be graded for
other disciplines; assessment is optional in
disciplines other than English.
David Henry – I say speakers might work.
Patricia Islas– Would this be open to the
community?
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V.
Ysella Fulton-Slavin – Later on will one
student do more than one assignment?
Dr. Quiros – We hope students do a QEP
assignment more than once throughout their
time at EPCC.
Arturo Valdespino – The next meeting will be
in about four to six weeks. Speak to people
within your discipline, within your own
department, that we’re doing something
different. Talk with them about how they see
these definitions and the chart we made.
Dr. Quiros - Assessment measures are getting
out of control, so to make it easier, we want to
find ways to assess at the same time, and to use
the same assessment tools.
Adjournment: Arturo Valdespino moved to adjourn
the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie Miller.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
11/30/15
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November 13, 2014
Members in attendance: Arturo Valdespino, Ivan Iñiguez,
Tony Procell, David Henry, Raul Lerma, Claude Mathis,
Charlie Miller, Dr. Ondrea Quiros, Kathleen Bombach, Laura
Molina
Members not in attendance: Xiomara Chianelli, Jeffrey
Coles, Vangie De Luna, Gloria Estrada, Gail Meagher,
Osvaldo Rodriguez, Patricia Islas, Ysella Fulton Slavin,
Armando Villarreal
I.
The meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m.
II.
Discussion of QEP Assignments.
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Arturo Valdespino – Quick wrap up, looking
at the table we created in the previous meeting
one of the primary topics was what could it
mean in a high school setting? I attended the
Teacher’s Dual Credit Conference and the
teachers I spoke to replied that everything we
would require is doable, it would just be a
matter of taking care of logistical matters. Now
our question is must all requirements listed on
the QEP side of table have an assignment?
Charlie Miller – I feel that in the last meeting
we found no common ground on what is
engagement. Is engagement all about student’s
just absorbing information? Does that really
count?
Arturo Valdespino – Depends who the speaker
is.
Kathleen Bombach – Engagement happens in
different ways. For example going to a museum,
not just talking, writing, and having them pay
attention. Engagement would be the attention
student pays to display and exhibits at the
museum.
Tony Procell – Reaction is also important. It
happens indirectly rather than talking; students
would be interpreting art.
Claude Mathis – Is the assignment required to
be in written form?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – There are other
options/ways. For example, presentations, many
government instructors could use the
assignment indirectly.
Kathleen Bombach – What if students attend a
council meeting?
Claude Mathis – Are documents required?
Arturo Valdespino – Yes from the students.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Would it be ok for
students not to talk and just research; would this
ok with the committee?
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Ivan Iñiguez – By doing so how, would
students impact the community?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Students might talk to
someone. For example, getting a four-way stop
sign set up in the community. The student
would need to find out who they would call,
what would be the process of applying, and may
need to talk to someone.
Claude Mathis – Let’s go back to the objective
of learning about the community as a
community, they’ve done it, and it could go
further. As you were suggesting and they’re
learning about the community as a community;
that’s what I was thinking.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – We have several
instructors in different disciplines who want to
use this type of resource, and that is a common
question. That’s something we need to be clear
about from the committee, if that’s considered
QEP or not. Obviously, it could be made more,
but just that alone can we answer those
instructors and it’s across the board with
nursing, government, history, they all have the
same question.
David Henry – What question?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – If using the internet as a
way of connecting to the community, and if
they find out information about the community.
If the assignment is finding information about
the community and are using the information
for something, would that be QEP?
Tony Procell– All they would need is the
internet?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – They may use other
resources. They wouldn’t need to talk to
anyone.
They may use resources from the library, from
the internet, they don’t talk to anyone, which is
the key point. They don’t talk to anybody, but
they can find out information that they need in
other ways, and they apply the information and
it is learning about the community as a
community. Something community oriented.
Arturo Valdespino– Just no verbal exchange?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Yes.
Ivan Iñiguez – I would be expecting it to be
measureable. How different is it if from, let’s
say, I want to learn about La Fe or Segundo
Barrio and I read about it and yeah I learn about
it, but then what?
Arturo Valdespino– But it’s still missing
something?
Ivan Iñiguez – Yes, there’s no impact on
anyone just me. Don’t we do that on a daily
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
11/30/15
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basis? You know when we read about
something.
Claude Mathis– Our goal doesn’t say learning
about the community so we can change the
community. It just says learning about the
community as a community, and I think we
should stick to that.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Our goal is students will
enhance their cognitive development through
connection and interaction with the community
to be better educated citizens, so that’s the goal
and that goal cannot be changed.
Kathleen Bombach– That’s not interaction.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Should we talk about
direct or indirect? That’s the one I kept to the
side.
Ivan Iñiguez – What I’m trying to say is, it’s
not a matter of changing the world, but it’s
missing something.
Tony Procell– It’s missing getting out of your
house. I think you should be required to do
something where you actually visit. Maybe the
four-way stop sign and analyze it, maybe even
take photos.
Ivan Iñiguez – or that you verbalize it in class?
Arturo Valdespino– What about moving
beyond the classroom? Moving beyond the
classroom, and let’s say online or just simply
online, can that be?
Charlie Miller– Am I misinterpreting as a
community? I think what Claude is defending
“learning about the community as a
community” as an “oh, I see how it is a
community “, but where does it mean that I am
becoming part of that community? So, I’m
learning about it as I’m becoming part of that
community; that’s what I interpret. It might be a
misinterpretation.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I think the committee
should have a vote for it, once a motion is made
to vote. I want to be able to say “the QEP
Standing Committee has decided on this about
that particular subject”. I agree to both sides.
Claude Mathis– What’s going to happen if we
just leave it like that?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – We have a lot of people
waiting on an answer. I have to give a specific
answer if it’s QEP or not. Not my call; that
decision is taken by the Committee.
Claude Mathis– What have you been asked?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Specifically “does my
assignment that they go on the internet without
talking to anyone count as QEP?”
Tony Procell– But by the definition of what
Claude just said QEP “Learning about the
community as a community” you’re saying by
yourself you’re not a community?
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Dr. Ondrea Quiros – no
Arturo Valdespino– Hold on, let’s vote on that
and then move on to this. An activity that does
not require or that is limited to just online
research does that count as a QEP activity?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – That’s also counting
videos, anything accessible by the internet.
Arturo Valdespino– Right, anything through
media
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Also, keep in mind we
also do online studies/online classes. They’d
like to use online resources for this as well.
Charlie Miller– We need to define this. What
Claude is saying is valid and that is by the
definition or one definition is “I’m learning hey
that’s a community, I get our community as a
community.” Again, that is a valid
interpretation, but then there is the devil’s
advocate who sees it on the other side as getting
out there involved in the community so do we
need to define it?
Claude Mathis– Is that an option?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – It isn’t an option because
I have to bring the assessments.
Claude Mathis– What if the instructor says
yeah I approve that.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I have no problem
approving everything. I’m just saying it
shouldn’t be up to me; it should be this
committee to be submitting the decision of
“does this count as QEP assignment, or not”.
My feeling is that there’s a range. There’s the
“perfect QEP” and then there’s “it will work for
QEP.” And the more we go here is the perfect
QEP, the more we exclude for whatever reason.
So, the question is, Do you feel strongly enough
about it that it should be to the point that it does
not count as QEP, because people will not want
to do that vs. “hey it works well enough and it’s
close enough even though it’s not my particular
interpretation,” if it’s close enough to what we
say it’s QEP. It may not be; it may be too far
off.
Kathleen Bombach– How about a different
angle on it? The purpose of the QEP is also to
improve retention and persistence in students.
So what activity contributes most to improving
retention and persistence?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Interaction with the
community.
Ivan Iñiguez – If they just read about it and
they don’t immigrate themselves in the
community, they’re isolating themselves. We
can have something simple like voting and
make this a topic.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Ok then we just have to
make sure we have a definition that
differentiates between going out taking pictures,
Z:/QEPCOMMITTEEMIN(COMBINED)
EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
11/30/15
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which is not communicating with anyone, but is
absolutely engagement vs. looking at pictures
online.
Claude Mathis– Maybe you do it that way,
maybe you put that out in the spectrum of
possibility. This is a strong version of learning
about the community as a community and this is
an ok.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – The reason you need to
make a decision is because in terms of
assessment it’s either a part of the measurement
or it isn’t. If you say that “It is and anyone can
do it and therefore it’s part of the assessment,
otherwise”…so it has to be part of the
definition.
David Henry – Here’s how I’m interpreting.
Where it says deeper understanding I would
write “deeper understanding, through
interacting with members of the community.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – So if we use an example
of going to an art museum and seeing art, how
would you define that as members of the
community?
David Henry – Well they’re not at their house,
they were interacting.
Arturo Valdespino – Let’s look at it the way
Dr. Ondrea Quiros brought up, in terms of the
extremes in the spectrum. It’s in essence what
we’re talking about, but she’s right because we
ultimately have to work on how we’re going to
assess it, so that goes back to original question.
For the vote is it acceptable to have simply an
online form of communication that does not
require dialogue at all?
Charlie Miller – There is an option C that has
already been mentioned, just wanted to throw
that in. If they do that if they work with other
students and other students and they experience
that together, I’m in.
Arturo Valdespino – Are you saying like on an
individual basis?
Charlie Miller – because they’re engaging
Arturo Valdespino – I can see where you’re
going so individual basis only. Charlie is talking
about group work, work in pairs. On an
individual basis only, is it acceptable for the
student to have a non-verbal cognitive
engagement with their research.
Claude Mathis – when he says in dialogue
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – the problem is the
directly vs. the indirectly. We’re trying to define
those terms. What is directly, what is indirectly?
The easiest way of seeing it is: going to the
museum and seeing pictures in person or seeing
it online. We’re saying one is QEP and the other
one isn’t.
Kathleen Bombach– Big difference in each
person’s engagement level
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III.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I get this really straight
all the time, an instructor tells me they have
these videos, these things online, why can’t they
use these materials as QEP. The argument is, is
it ok to see something, see a physical place, like
the missions on a television screen versus
telling you have to go there in person
Claude Mathis– I think it’s worth it. It’s very
valuable to have them know there are missions
out there and some people might be really
worried that won’t be
Tony Procell– You can see the artwork online,
but if you go to the museum you also see
somebody else’s artwork. For a learning
experience, you’ve got to get out there.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – How do we express that
in words so that other instructors can make the
decision if what they are doing is QEP or not,
that is the question? We need that kind of
definition so that when the instructors say, does
this count as a QEP assessment and I can say it
does.
Claude Mathis– For example Dr. Toro, he’s in
his class, he puts his students in groups and
they’re looking at their computer screens and
they’re looking at the stuff that he’s put out
there and they’re learning about the community
and they talk about it together. I mean that’s
direct dialogue,
Discussion of measurement of success for QEP
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Dr. Ondrea Quiros – It is, so how do we
express it with that so we have instructors be
clear about the assignment?
Ivan Iñiguez – Will it still be measureable? If
I’m a student and I get sent to the museum?
Claude Mathis– Ms. Elliot takes her students
to the museum so that they can see paintings
and they can apply the rules of framing. A
camera frame, which they study in class. That’s
a great project, and then after they do they walk
around together, and they talk about it.
Ivan Iñiguez – How does an instructor know if
they gained anything of it?
Claude Mathis- Well she was there, they have
to do a presentation.
Ivan Iñiguez – there you go, that’s where we’re
getting to.
Claude Mathis – That was my question earlier
too, what evidence is there?
Arturo Valdespino – why don’t we change
“assignment” to “documentation”?
Charlie Miller – I have to ask our two
administrators a question, because you will be
dealing with paperwork and Claude you will be
dealing with people who will be coming to you
to complain. What is the tolerance level in the
Z:/QEPCOMMITTEEMIN(COMBINED)
EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
11/30/15
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future upon, as far as those who are going to get
around? Because remember a year ago we were
told around this time that we have to do this,
when sacs was coming. We did it, we got
through it, but I promise you guys this, because
we hear it in the hall ways there are going to be
a lot of folks that whatever we do here, if there
is a loophole they will find it. I’m referring to
those folks who don’t want to do any of this.
Claude Mathis– It’s not required in all
disciplines, right?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – No it’s not. There are
other disciplines who would like to be a part of
it, whose instructors who feel they are doing
things with the community and would like to be
a part of it and they are very angry that their
things don’t count. I would love to be able to
say yes it does count. So I would love to phrase
it, so that more and more can be.
Kathleen Bombach – There are some people
who want to do the minimum, but there already
people who are doing more.
Charlie Miller – I feel like Kathleen’s example
the student who looks at art should absolutely
qualify.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros - add “indirectly in a social
context” to the table
David Henry – I don’t feel like this actually
clarifies anything. It is not a big deal for our
students to go out and do something, they can
do it. I have mine do it and they love it.
Tony Procell– what about “active engagement
in a social context”
Claude Mathis– what about “documented
active engagement”. Have students do a little bit
of writing, stand up and talk about it.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – there could be pictures
Kathleen Bombach– should we let the
compliers dictate what we should do?
Claude Mathis- I think 90% of us are going to
do it
All – NO
Kathleen Bombach– so if we create what’s the
exemplary model, the handful of people who do
not want to do it can go to their Dean, because
most people will do it.
Arturo Valdespino– Let’s go over the table
which says if you ultimately have a QEP
activity or not.
Charlie Miller– we need to end that deeper
understanding that we haven’t clarified what
that is or we don’t need to?
Kathleen Bombach– well if there’s going to be
a NOT QEP column it should be lined up with
the left hand side.
Ivan Iñiguez – what if we just turn this in to
like a mission statement and if when you read
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the mission statement if you’re not following
the mission statement then obviously it’s not
QEP. That’s where a lot of confusion is. If we
state what it is and if it doesn’t follow what it is,
then it’s not.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – the problem is that we
have a goal and the goal had these words in it
and people had problems understanding it.
Which is why this was created. They interpreted
it differently which is why this is supposed to
clarify the goal.
David Henry– I think this is silly, just take the
QEP column off.
Charlie Miller– keep it positive, keep it
mandatory.
Claude Mathis– where do you describe the
activity? Describing the activity would we want
people to jot down things about how it enhances
knowledge or how it deepens knowledge of the
community
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – and they define what
active engagement is, I like the idea. So, when
they ask if it’s a QEP assignment, I can say fill
this in and if they can fill it out then it is a QEP
assignment. All disciplines give a documented
explanation of the assignment and is part of
QEP implementation.
Claude Mathis– what about adding a phrase
that in the end will have the instructors fill in
the form?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – activity characteristics?
Arturo Valdespino– characteristics?
Ivan – activity description?
Arturo Valdespino– I like it because it’s pretty
straight forward
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I don’t like “deeper
understanding” it’s in the middle of nowhere,
and this has nothing about leading the students
to become better educated citizens. It’s just part
of the goal that we can’t change. Could we add
“leads to better educated citizens”?
Claude Mathis– It is the intent of the oath
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – let’s make it really easy.
Kathleen Bombach– the goal should have one
or two measures that address cognitive
development, then we’ve got connection with
interaction. Also, instead of “better educated
citizens” rather it be “members of community”
everyone is not an actual citizens.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Should it be part of
community, going to games?
Claude Mathis– Scope would be limited,
games are not QEP.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Art museum is good
because you learn a lot from local artist, focus
on better educated citizens.
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7
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IV.
Ivan Iñiguez – Could it be confusing gaining
new experience?
Kathleen Bombach- Individualize at
institutional level?
Claude Mathis– back to basic facts of trusting
faculty
Arturo Valdespino– Ok, so are we ready to
vote if the table we have created is acceptable?
Claude Mathis– I move to motion
All – yes
Discussion of assessment measure for QEP
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Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I’m trying to not use
technical language. So, taking the table in mind
if comparison successful, what would it look
like, and how would we know?
Kathleen Bombach– Students demonstrate that
on the assignment.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – If we met our goal, how
would it be pictured?
Kathleen Bombach- Retention will show
through the assignment (individual assignment)
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – what about more people
voting?
Kathleen Bombach- We can’t measure that.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – How would we know?
Kathleen Bombach– Higher retention in class
Claude Mathis– Change of attitudes
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – How would we know if
they loved it?
Raul Lerma – Volunteering?
Arturo Valdespino– Offer feedback,
connection of classes.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – What other things would
we see in the population?
Tony Procell– Bring up what they did in
History class
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Looking at SLOs and
three sheets of paper. There’s a list, SLOs,
personal response codes. This is coming from
Core 1301, we can’t change the outcome. We
can manipulate criteria, to make things we
already talked about that connect. Can we find a
way to make it match?
Claude Mathis– I like it, but it needs to be
clearer.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I spoke to Zaira to make
sure what was allowed. We can tweak the
assignment to include the community if we’re
using QEP to make ethical decisions. I don’t
know if it will complicate this to instructors
assessing.
Arturo Valdespino- Let’s go back to revisit all
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Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Do we ask instructors if
there should be ethical decision making?
Critical thinking, oral written, personal response
(English Discipline)
Claude Mathis– a lot of potential for
assignment
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Do you want to make
ethical decisions in assignment, tell instructor.
David Henry – Definition of ethic right and
wrong
Tony Procell– Idea personal enrichment
Kathleen Bombach– Why committee ….
Assessment fit better? Overlap assessment and
QEP
Claude Mathis– What would the assessment
be?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – QEP could be optional,
but could be any essay.
Claude Mathis– we’re assessing in limited
disciplines. Are we changing original proposal
for SACS or how are we assessing? What if we
move assessment around, move this into
practice.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – We only use in English
& then indirectly assessment (using survey).
Claude Mathis– Why can’t we keep doing the
same?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Outcomes did not match
rubrics. These SLOs measure goal, don’t talk
about assignment, but not things we want to see.
Needs to be aligned. Adjust SLOs or rubric. For
example, SLO #1 students demonstrate
something. First it’s perfect because it connects
and extends knowledge (only works interaction
and connection). Rubric should match what we
want to measure and the problem is the
outcome. Should we change the rubric or SLO?
David Henry – Having this done by committee
has a couple of options.
Claude Mathis– Tell us what it is then we can
vote.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I will give you an option.
I will offer, but then you have to work with
what you get. Please submit comments by email. Does the committee consider we need to
get together again?
David Henry – By when?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Next semester.
Claude Mathis– What about we do both. Get
the e-mail and meet before the end of the
semester?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Meet before finals?
Arturo Valdespino– What about meeting the
Thursday before Faculty development?
Everyone – Yes.
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11/30/15
8
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V.
Arturo Valdespino– Tomorrow will e-mail
when we will meet again.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Let’s look and make
logical decisions and then the committee
decides.
David Henry– Something actual in front to
decide.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Changing the outcomes
Adjournment: Arturo Valdespino moved to
adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie
Miller. The meeting was adjourned at 4:27 p.m.
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
11/30/15
9
January 8, 2015
take care of it. New experiences that lead to new
perspectives about community and self is key.
We want to focus on what it would look like if
we’re successful. What do we hope to end up
accomplishing that is measurable? More active
learning, more responsibility for your own
learning, more personal connection, growing
sense of community and personal pride. More
responsible and educated citizens, better
retention and more likely to complete programs
is the main goal.
Members in attendance: Arturo Valdespino, Ivan Iñiguez,
Tony Procell, David Henry, Raul Lerma, Claude Mathis,
Charlie Miller, Dr. Ondrea Quiros, Kathleen Bombach, Laura
Molina
Members not in attendance: Xiomara Chianelli, Jeffrey
Coles, Vangie De Luna, Gloria Estrada, Gail Meagher,
Osvaldo Rodriguez, Patricia Islas, Ysella Fulton Slavin,
Armando Villarreal
I.
The meeting was called to order at 1:12 p.m.
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II.
Discussion of assessment measure for QEP
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Arturo Valdespino – If you’ve ever missed a
meeting the minutes are sent out roughly about
a week or so after the meeting is done. So, just
go ahead and take a look at those and if you
have any questions or comments please contact
me or Dr. Quiros. Also, everything will be up
on the website in addition to that, everything
that we will do today will be up on the website
this afternoon or tomorrow. Hopefully, faculty
will be able to see it ASAP, once you give the
word out
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Review of proposed QEP Assessment
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Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I will be using SACS’
methodology from the last conference. Going
over why we’re doing this and why changes are
needed are because QEP activities had a wide
variety of interpretation which did not match
our rubrics, and there was a large discrepancy in
the data, and our discussion from the first QEP
Standing Committee Meeting determined they
didn’t align, consensus was needed and need of
measuring in a different way. According to
SACS, a way to conceptualize this was to ask
the three main questions: What is the
problem/issue that it’s supposed to address?
Why is it significant? What would it look like if
we’re successful, how would our community be
different? The problem was that our students
were isolated and had little participation in the
community. This is significant for our learning
because the more people know about a place,
the more they will respect the place, and want to
Dr. Quiros – Step one – consensus to
interpretation of QEP.
Step two – outline and align learning outcome
with consensus (outcomes cannot be changed
completely, we are allowed only to tweak.) I’ve
suggested a tweaking to adding “A personal
connection to content knowledge through an
expository essay about an experience in the El
Paso region or a community topic that is
relevant to the student.” Mr. Valdespino thought
we should omit the word “personal” because it
is redundant on their personal civic lives.
Reminder of past meeting minutes
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III.
IV.
Arturo Valdespino – I want to thank Dr.
Quiros for putting everything together. It is
clear, concise. Today is really about getting the
last bits and pieces of information out. We can
vote on everything and for the most part we
should be good. It’s just going to be about
getting everything out to the departments.
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Step three – is documenting methodology and
targets the outcome (how we’re going to
measure it). Gloria Estrada suggested the word
“member” be different. Kathleen Bombach had
some suggestions on the instructions over
selected students who are not attending.
Kathleen Bombach – I suggested 5, 8, 15
students on the roster, if those students are not
attending then going down one digit keeps it
random.
Dr. Quiros – Essay vs. Paragraphs. For 1301,
they must write a QEP essay. The assessment is
based on the essay. The prompt in the activity is
designed by the instructor. Now on our target I
suggested 75% for the systematic sample
choosing either outstanding or satisfactory on
the rubric. Does everyone think this is a decent
percentage?
Claude Mathis – It seems standard
Ivan Iñiguez – It’s good because it gives us
room to work with, I think.
Kathleen Bombach – Why don’t we try 75%,
but look at it in the future, right after the first set
of data.
Dr. Quiros – SLO #2 will have a couple of
paragraphs, the reflection prompt has changed
to be a reflection. This reflection will get us the
data we are looking for in order to assess.
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11/30/15
10
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David Henry – What length will the paragraph
need to be, 400 words maybe?
Dr. Quiros – This is something that is being
done in class. Instructors do not have to grade it.
What about 250 words, one page?
Mutual response – 400 words is ok.
David Henry – Can the instructor grade it?
Dr. Quiros – It is up to the instructor, but is not
required. Not all classes have the paragraph.
For the essay all instructors have the QEP essay,
and all instructors will assess the three chosen
students, if any of those three students do not
attend, go down to the next one. A sample size
of all classes will have to do pre and post
surveys who I will inform they were selected.
All classes will do the essay. All classes must
have the QEP, all classes must have numbers 5,
8, 15 from their roster for SLO #1. Same classes
for paragraphs and the surveys. (Changes in
rubric for SLO #1 are on handout and sheet.)
These changes were suggested by five different
people. On the second rubric for SLO #2, there
were three instructors who weren’t quite so sure
about the transfer criteria.
Arturo Valdespino – QEP assignment was
“bringing the community in to the classroom.
Brought in two college graduates that moved
out of town and they came back and spoke to
the students. They spoke about diversities they
faced in going to school, what they gained and a
variety of things more. All students were able to
apply all they learned and researched.
Claude Mathis – Question on transfer criteria
about language on “new situations”?
Dr. Quiros – This is to make the QEP broader
since others are not so personal.
David Henry – Is this a new assignment?
Dr. Quiros – This is a separate assignment; this
is based on the paragraphs which will be
assessed by the interdisciplinary panel.
David Henry – This criteria should be shared
with students before they write.
Dr. Quiros – So then change methodology to
show that students are given a copy of the rubric
and the prompt. These are only for the sample
size.
Claude Mathis – How about we change the
transfer criteria, it sounds too abstract,
especially for students who are new to this.
Dr. Quiros – methodology change to “gained in
their lived and/or communities”?
Mutual – Yes
Dr. Quiros – The second criteria change to “to
contribute to understanding of the application to
their lives and/or the communities”?
Mutual – Yes
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Dr. Quiros – Gloria Estrada suggested more
information is needed with the survey. The
Survey is given before and after the QEP
assignment. Important change from what was
done before. She also asked what happens if
you’re not selected and should you keep
documentation for summary information for the
results. Does the committee believe instructors
would need an explanation if they are not
selected?
Mutual – Yes
Dr. Quiros – So on the instructions I will add
“nothing will need to be done if you’re not
selected and will be notified as well.”
Claude Mathis – Can you ask if they can reply
to you to clarify thy received the notification?
Kathleen Bombach – Do you know the
percentage of the sections to be selected?
Dr. Quiros – Under 20%
David Henry – I suggest that this topic be
explainable and understandable by the people
who don’t get it because they have to convey
that same understanding to another group of
people. So a thorough explanation is advised,
bulleted, stating this and this needs to be done.
Part time faculty do not go to discipline
meetings.
Dr. Quiros – We will eventually have to have a
proper procedure. Once the college procedure is
in effect, it will be easier every semester.
Kathleen Bombach – On the new and final
form, I suggest when the answer should be yes
or no, there should be check boxes, so they
realize they don’t have to fill up all the white
space.
Dr. Quiros – In the instructions, they could just
submit a copy of their assignment, which is also
helpful. A definition for both the QEP activity
and the assignment was given for people who
don’t know, this helps them understand.
Charlie Miller – Add “briefly explain” to
“Does the QEP activity move beyond the
classroom (or brings the community into the
classroom)?
Dr. Quiros – Are there any other questions and
concerns before the committee votes?
David Henry – What about the other
people/disciplines?
Dr. Quiros – The others are six other
disciplines, they are doing the QEP. The only
change in the survey is a box that reads, “Have
you taken this survey before?” From those
disciplines, four or five sections per discipline.
Each of those disciplines are doing Pre and Post
surveys. So we’ll be able to compare those
surveys to our English discipline as well and
they have the descriptions. They will not need
to do anything other than the surveys.
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11/30/15
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David Henry – What about the SLO’s?
Kathleen Bombach – What we do this
semester is come up with ideas for our new
SLO. We don’t do anything this semester except
look at the results from last semester and then
the committee comes up with recommendations
for what the new SLO should be all for 1301
and 1302 by the time the cycle comes around,
we can continue the same SLO’s or we can try
and work it out. What makes this confusing is
everybody has to do the SLO. I will double
check with Maria Gomez and take a sample.
Dr. Quiros – With SLO’s you can choose
anything, but with Core you can’t. You are
given the criteria.
Kathleen Bombach – SLO’s we only measure
one specific thing for each SLO.
David Henry – Suggest changes are emailed so
I can send them to the English coordinators.
Gail Meagher – How are the classes that will
be doing this be selected?
Dr. Quiros – All English classes must do SLO
#1. The only ones that are getting randomly
selected are the paragraphs and surveys, which I
will inform as soon as I receive the list.
Tony Procell – Does the 20% of all English
sections include Dual Credit and ECHS?
Dr. Quiros – Yes.
David Henry – All students do the essay and in
each class three students are selected based on
their position on the roster and then only 20% of
all sections will be selected for the survey and
the paragraphs.
Claude Mathis – Is the sample large enough to
be confident enough that some sections in Dual
Credit will be falling into the sample?
Dr. Quiros – It is part of the random sample so
we trust that data and the numbers. We will look
at the results right after and determine what
needs to be done.
Kathleen Bombach – If we have this break up
on the sample it will require for us to do a
stratified sample and that will not work. Also,
what about the people who are taking online
classes, how will they fill out the survey?
Dr. Quiros – For those particular sections, they
can do the surveys online.
Charlie Miller – Will it be too much to require
the instructors to report to Dr. Quiros on their
Dual Credit/Early College High school
students?
Dr. Quiros – I will have their Name, CRN and
Campus. I will know who they are and contact
them.
Claude Mathis – We should any way keep an
eye that all rules are followed and are following
through.
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V.
Arturo Valdespino – Okay, if there is nothing
else are we all in favor?
Mutual – Yes.
Dr. Quiros – I do want to share that the QEP
website has a calendar we’ve created, to also
have instructors be involved with QEP.
Epcc.edu/QEP is the website where you will
find two calendars. A Passport calendar and an
EPCC Community calendar with community
events. This way instructors may refer and use
these events if they’d like as their QEP
activities. The Passport will start piloting Spring
semester. This is for both instructors and
students going out into the community to
participate and giving credit to both. Also, our
first QEP event is March 28. It is a
documentary, as well as a panel. I also want you
to have this in the back of your mind, in three
years will have to do something a little different
for our QEP if you decide to keep it the same. It
is really learning about the community, our
future goals will be to create a college
procedure and to think about branding it.
Claude Mathis – How about also having this
go into High schools?
Dr. Quiros – Mr. Miller will be having a
meeting with the staff from the Adopt a School
Program to incorporate Papagayo (literacy
center) and promote going to college.
Charlie Miller – Please invite your students to
participate.
Tony Procell – At the Northwest Campus we
have the Glass Menagerie Project. In this
project we do Symposiums, go to libraries,
we’re trying to create “The Big Read” for the
entire campus to read one novel.
Dr. Quiros – Lastly, we have a Twitter,
Instagram and now Facebook where we inform
everyone about the dates, times, and venues for
these community events.
Adjournment: Arturo Valdespino moved to
adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie
Miller. The meeting was adjourned at 2:22 p.m.
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11/30/15
12
April 16, 2015
They seem to be okay with it, and so that is
going well. We won’t really know until we get
in all the data which won’t be after the last week
of school.
Members in attendance: Kathleen Bombach, Gloria
Estrada, David Henry, Ivan Iñiguez, Gail Meagher, Charlie
Miller, Laura Molina, Dr. Ondrea Quiros, Arturo Valdespino
Members not in attendance: Xiomara Chianelli, Zaira
Crisafulli, Vangie De Luna, Ysella Fulton Slavin, Patricia
Islas, Raul Lerma, Claude Mathis, Tony Procell, Osvaldo
Rodriguez, Armando Villarreal
I.
Arturo Valdespino – Want to welcome all for
attending the meeting.
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Arturo Valdespino – We have two new
members in the committee. Zaira Crisafulli, and
Brian Kirby who is the new District-wide
coordinator elect.
Chair and Chair Elect issues
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IV.
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Welcome to two new members: Brian Kirby,
District Coordinator Elect and Zaira Crisafulli,
English Instructor from TM
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III.
The QEP Procedure
The meeting was called to order at 3:06 p.m.
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II.
V.
Arturo Valdespino – Last July everyone
decided/elected who would be chair. Mr. Henry
suggested I should be chair. Our next meeting
will not be until Fall semester. There are two
options for the election of a new chair or the
continuation for current chair.
Kathleen Bombach – I nominate Mr.
Valdespino.
Charlie Miller – I second that nomination. Are
you willing to accept the nomination and are
you motivated to do it?
Arturo Valdespino – Answer to both questions
is yes. I look forward to what will come over
the next academic year. It has been great.
Anybody second the motion?
David Henry – I second it.
Arturo Valdespino – All in favor?
All – Aye.
Arturo Valdespino – What do we do for Chair
Elect?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – We can keep it the same.
Update on the QEP assessment
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Dr. Quiros – The first thing on updates for the
QEP assessment, the assessment is going well.
The new procedure that we have is going well.
We are now starting to get in all the data, and
instructors seem to know what they’re doing.
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VI.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – As an administrator I
cannot vote or make motions, so I am going to
make a suggestion and hopefully someone will
make a motion. We have to do a QEP
procedure. Basically, just stating what we’re
already doing right now. My suggestion is we
make a goal to add on the minutes that we will
talk about it in the beginning of the Fall
semester to have a completed procedure by the
end of the Fall semester.
David Henry – I move to create a goal for next
semester.
Kathleen Bombach – I second the motion
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Okay, so this will be the
plan for next semester of having to create a
procedure and having a completed procedure by
the end of Fall semester.
Charlie Miller – The meeting held a week
before school starts, will that happen again?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – It can absolutely wait.
The reason for this last one was because we
wanted to have the procedure in place for the
instructors. Thank you to the Committee who
has been really helpful to have the procedure in
place. That has been really helpful for the
instructors. Also, during the Faculty
Development week, I am offering a session to
put instructors on the computer on Twitter and
Instagram for QEP assignments, but we will be
going through the procedure during the
discipline meeting as well. After a couple of
times, it won’t be as new. There will also be
three training sessions on the Tejano Passport
Program, if anyone would like to do it, and if
Mr. Smith approves it.
Discussion about the brand of QEP
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Dr. Ondrea Quiros - In regards to the brand I
have no suggestions. The problem is the
“activity” was branded as QEP, so everything
has QEP with a logo. Now, the students are not
supposed to know that it’s for accreditation. It’s
supposed to be a program to help them. The
second problem is that in three years we may or
may not change that QEP. This committee will
make that decision about where we go next in
terms of just tweaking the QEP we have or go
to a new one over the next five years. Question
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is, what do we do now? It’s not something we
have to come up with an answer for, but it’s
something we should start a conversation about.
I wanted to bring this up now, in case there is
something we can do for the next three years;
this past year was year number two.
Gail Meagher – We can focus on different
aspects of community. The community is wide
open, there’s a lot you can do and still keep that
one statement.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Yes, although in terms of
the brand, we have posters, steps and forms on
how we assess it and the CESSE’s. I also want
to mention other schools when they do their
QEP or activity they usually have a catchy
phrase on whatever their QEP is. So, if we can
make up a short little phrase to start branding it
now, because students will forget.
David Henry – Community Rocks, for the
suggested phrase?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Well we do have two
options. Option number one might be to come
up with a brand for this particular QEP, so we
can start branding now. Option number two, we
keep this particular QEP and then for the next
QEP we will leave off QEP. It will be our QEP,
but we’ve learned from this experience. We can
put that in our report, and then start with the
next one as our new brand.
Charlie Miller – What about if we keep it as
QEP, but have it mean “Quality El Paso” or
“QEPCC?”
Gloria Estrada – I like the idea, but if we
change it right now it gives the impression that
it’s a new thing. So we might want to take that
idea, but only if we decide to tweak the current
QEP because the people will say it’s the same
one if we keep the same name, but if we tweak
it they’re going to say that it’s new.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Ok, great idea. We will
just make sure to hold on to this brand until
then, is that ok?
Kathleen Bombach – We already have the Tshirts.
Arturo Valdespino – Dr. Quiros, so like you
stated earlier if we want to keep things as they
are, there’s nothing wrong with that, we can
simply document that we have made the
mistake and that we learned?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Unfortunately the
mistake wasn’t caught. UTEP also did the same
thing.
Charlie Miller – I think we should keep it,
nowhere on our T-shirts does it say anything
more than QEP. So, if we decide to tweak it,
people can say, “that’s Quality El Paso!”
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – What does everyone else
think?
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Kathleen Bombach – Yes, we don’t have to
change the initials.
Ivan Iñiguez – Let’s keep the acronym and just
have it mean different things.
Charlie Miller – Maybe eventually add the
“CC” to QEP.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Anybody want to make a
motion?
Gail Meagher – I like it, I move that QEP stand
for Quality El Paso.
Charlie Miller – I second the motion.
David Henry – Will this still mean “learning
about the community as a community”?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Yes, if the committee
wants to keep everything as is, and just change
the meaning of QEP, the connection would stay
meaning the same.
Kathleen Bombach – I think it would be good
for our students to have some understanding in
what accreditation is and why it’s important to
go to a fully accredited school. All the ads of
other places calling themselves a college or a
university and they’re not. It’s part of educating
them as consumers of education.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – On the folders I gave out
for New Student Orientations it states we’re
accredited by SACS, who is SACS, QEP, what
it stands for and what our QEP is. It does make
sense that if our QEP is branded and in the next
years we have a different QEP it will be
confusing to use the same QEP with a different
logo. As people are doing this for more years,
they’re kind of learning these problems.
Kathleen Bombach – El Paso’s been a real
target of the for-profit schools because we have
lower levels of institutional knowledge and
understanding how it works, and it’s easier to
take advantage of people who don’t know the
difference between SACS accreditation and a
vocational school. It’s a point where students
can be educated on what accreditation means
for them as they earn their credits. There are
people who attend these for-profit schools who
pay up to $50,000 and in the end have nothing
to show for it, and then try to transfer to the
college of UTEP and find out the credits don’t
transfer.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I will ask at the Florida
conference about this.
Kathleen Bombach – Even Forbes Magazine
covered El Paso as this great business
opportunity to open a for-profit school. This
was because of our low educational levels, our
high minority population and low incomes.
Gloria Estrada – Dr. Quiros weren’t we at one
time asked to tell our students about QEP?
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They were supposed to know what the concept
was. You were to randomly ask a student to
make sure they knew.
Ivan Iñiguez – The only thing they were
required to say was what QEP meant, Learning
about the community as a community.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – It’s ok to call it QEP, but
not saying we are doing this because of
accreditation for SACS. Also, the problem is the
brand, like what is it. They can know, learning
about the community as a community” is our
QEP, but if in five years we have a new QEP we
are stuck with, “Learning about the community
as a community.” We can’t get rid of it
completely unless we have data. It’s supposed
to become institutional-wide.
Gloria Estrada – Yes, I don’t see the reason of
why we have to change it now.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – We have to change the
brand. What other schools have found that if we
keep this QEP, (we’re not supposed to say it’s
for SACS accreditation) so if we branded this
QEP and if we change it in five years or four, it
will be confusing to say, “our new QEP is…”
we would have two QEP with two different
things going on at the same time.
Gloria Estrada – I understand.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I also had a question,
what happens if the data shows that it didn’t
work at all. Do we stick with it or are we forced
to continue to work with it? Most likely it
would be to stick with it, but our next QEP
would be to try and work with that. I will look
into that.
Charlie Miller – I don’t feel like it’s a big deal
because every school will end up changing their
brand. We can play with that brand all we want.
For example, Quality Education Program.
Whatever changes it’s still Quality El Paso as in
we’re changing what we’re doing, but the whole
idea is to enhance education.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – If someone asks what our
QEP is, then there might be confusion.
Charlie Miller – I think it’s a matter of
semantics.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Yes, we can keep it as it
is, but I just want to make sure it’s in writing
that we all understood that this is what we did
and we’re ok with it or we’re going to make a
change. I can’t make that decision, so we could
keep it as QEP and do as Mr. Miller is saying,
call it Quality El Paso, or we not worry at all
and see what comes in more years. Those are
the options. We don’t have to decide today.
David Henry – How about we call it Quality El
Paso?
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VII.
Kathleen Bombach – We have a motion on the
floor, having it called Quality El Paso.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – Is everyone ok with that,
Quality El Paso?
Ivan Iñiguez – What happens in three or four
years? Do we need to change that again?
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – We can wait and see
what happens in three or four years. If we’re
just tweaking this one, we keep the same QEP.
We’re just actually tweaking what we’re doing.
We can just leave it. If we have something
completely different per say, going to math
skills, we can’t call it QEP. So there’s a motion
on the floor to call QEP – Quality El Paso?
Arturo Valdespino – All in favor?
All – Aye.
Dr. Ondrea Quiros – I’m going to start using
Quality El Paso and keep the same brand, QEP
right?
Kathleen Bombach – Could we get T-shirts?
Adjournment: Arturo Valdespino moved to
adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie
Miller. The meeting was adjourned at 3:35 p.m.
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For College Procedure
2.01.01.14: Committees
QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN
IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE
MINUTES FOR 2013-2014
(Note: The chair must email the approved minutes to the IE Office for placement on the College web page.)
June 26, 2014
Members in attendance: Dr. Ondrea Quiros, Osvaldo
Rodriguez, Armando Villarreal, Ivan Iñiguez, Tony Procell,
Patricia Islas, Vangie De Luna, Ysella Fulton Slavin, Gail
Meagher, Xiomara Chianelli, David Henry, Kathleen
Bombach, Raul Lerma, Claude Mathis, Charlie Miller, Laura
Molina, Arturo Valdespino
o
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Charlie Miller asked if litigation, liability to
the college has been an issue about sending
students off-campus.
o Dr. Quiros said that this issue has not been
discussed, but no issue has been brought to
attention.
o Patricia Islas explained that if the college
is not responsible for transporting students,
then there isn’t a liability issue.
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Claude Mathis asked if there is a connection
between Service Learning and QEP.
o Patricia Islas explained that research has
been done that looked at the benefits to
students, and that a project was done
through Service Learning from a grant that
showed the benefits to students at EPCC.
o Claude Mathis said he knew of other
schools where Service Learning was
required for graduation.
Members not in attendance: Gloria Estrada, Jeffrey Coles
Guests in attendance: Mr. Steve Smith, Dr. Ron Stroud
I.
The meeting was called to order at 3:13 p.m.
II.
The Committee Procedure Papers
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III.
IV.
All attendees were given two packets and an
agenda.
Election of Chair and Chair Elect
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Charlie Miller volunteered for Chair Elect
Arturo Valdespino was nominated and elected
as Chair.
Review of process of QEP Implementation and
Assessment
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Dr. Quiros presented the current state of the
QEP assessment.
The QEP essay assignment is supposed to have
some type of “connection and interaction.”
SLO #1 is assessed from this essay using a
rubric. This is the first direct assessment.
Interdisciplinary Panel, made up of faculty, will
assess paragraphs based on a rubric to directly
measure SLO #2.
Only the English discipline directly measures
the SLOs.
A survey is the indirect assessment to measure
self-perceptions and attitudes towards the
community and connection to it. All disciplines
implementing the QEP use the survey.
Ysella Fulton Slavin asked where the theme
came from.
V.
Dr. Quiros said there were surveys, focus
groups and task forces in order to narrow
down and choose the theme.
Where are we now?
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Dr. Quiros continued the presentation with
statistics that showed that in Fall of 2013, 91%
of instructors turned in QEP assessment
components. This Spring 2014 semester, 97%
of instructors participated.
The QEP assignment is required to have some
kind of physical interaction. Ysella Fulton
Slavin said that she wanted to mention that
some instructors have been doing things for the
community already. She explained that Charlie
Miller gives away books while she volunteers at
the Ronald McDonald house. She felt that
maybe other instructors didn’t really understand
the real goal with implementing the QEP.
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VI.
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VII.
Dr. Quiros went on to explain the purpose of
the committee. She said that the first step is to
create a procedure.
Dr. Quiros volunteered to create, with the help
of Dr. Ron Stroud, the first draft of this
procedure.
The next step for the committee would be to
review assessment measures for the QEP and
see if the SLOs measure the goal.
Dr. Quiros explained that the handouts showed
the goal, SLOs and rubrics next to each other to
help the committee review these assessment
measures.
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Welcome to Committee by Steve Smith
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VIII.
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Purpose of QEP Standing Committee
Mr. Smith explained that all faculty was either
hand-picked or recommended by their Dean. He
also explained that the committee will not be an
exercise to see who is helping the community
the most, but rather a way for further
engagement. While the assessment is being
documented in the English discipline, there are
also other disciplines participating in the QEP.
He said that it was his hope for a college-wide
effort of all discipline areas in the college to
improve in the area of engaging students. Mr.
Smith explained that the QEP is about
improving student learning and assessing
student success. Reaffirmation went well, and
the preliminary feedback is that there is no
action needed; this meant SACS was satisfied.
The implementation of our QEP will continue
for the next five years.
Mr. Smith discussed Dr. Quiros’ background
and her relevant experience in assessment.
He concluded by thanking the Committee.
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IX.
Procedure Draft
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Working with the Community
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It was asked about examples of how the QEP is
implemented in the classes. Charlie Miller
explained that in his class, he had students
interview the people working at Kids & Co, a
community organization that puts on local
student theater productions. He said his students
ended up working together when they had the
option of going alone. They then wrote an essay
with the strengths and weaknesses of the
program. Necessary guidelines were provided.
There was group work and interaction.
Dr. Quiros commented that since around 80%
of EPCC students are between the ages of 1820, we should use tools such as Twitter and
Instagram. Mr. Miller’s example would have
worked well as an event to be tweeted and hashtagged on Instagram.
X.
Arturo Valdespino explained the idea of
people coming in to talk to students. These
successful community members are originally
from El Paso who left and then chose to come
back. He is looking to have three to four
speakers for Fall semester. The essay would ask
students to think about why they would or
would not leave El Paso to pursue their dreams.
Dr. Quiros then talked about how this project
was aimed at Hispanic males, who statistically
are less successful for completing programs.
The idea was that this population would be
motivated by the respect given to these
community members. She stated that in this
way, the QEP can affect a number of different
motivational factors.
Kathleen Bombach said that she noticed how
the rubrics of the SLOs don’t really match the
SLOs, and that she thought the committee
should work on having SLOs match up.
Osvaldo Rodriguez asked how many
paragraphs the Interdisciplinary Panel had to
read.
o Dr. Quiros explained that each member of
the Panel assessed about 100 paragraphs
and are paid $200. A random sample of all
the paragraphs was selected through the
OIR office.
Motion: Claude Mathis made the motion if
everyone was in favor of Dr. Quiros creating a
draft of the procedure and distributing it to the
committee before the next meeting.
o Motion was seconded by Charlie Miller
and approved by the committee.
o Kathleen Bombach asked how the draft
would be distributed.
o Dr. Quiros answered that it would be
through email.
Questions?
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Charlie Miller asked about the survey
instrument, if it came from EPCC or if it was
being used at other institutions?
o Dr. Quiros said the survey was created at
EPCC, and that it was an untested
instrument. However, she also said that
several questions have been identified
which were created and tested by the PEW
Research Center that could be used if using
a tested instrument was a matter of
importance to the committee.
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Ysella Fulton Slavin said that she felt
instructors might feel that the QEP will be more
work. Meanwhile, there are some instructors
who have been doing this even before the title
of putting community in community college.
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Claude Mathis suggested more marketing.
Ysella Fulton Slavin said she thought we
needed more in public relations.
o Patricia Islas described the development of
Tejano Passport program for students to be
enthusiastic about attending community
events and volunteering. Ms. Islas
explained that this program would
document their participation.
o Dr. Quiros said that we need instructors to
be out in the community as well. She also
explained that marketing for Twitter and
Instagram, as well as the QEP, was being
targeted with students going through New
Student Orientation. She was also offering
Faculty Development classes for instructors
on how to use Twitter and Instagram with
their students in order to create a more
immediate and connected way to
communicate with our students other than
just e-mail announcements and the Tejano
paper. She said that we are waiting for
budget approval for the Tejano Passport
program.
o Patricia Islas said we also need to bring in
opportunities for students who cannot go
out in order for students to participate. She
asked, what is considered connecting to the
community? She felt that there needs to be
more specific guidelines and examples.
o Dr. Quiros explained there was a planned
Faculty Development session for
instructors to write what that interaction
means to them.
o Kathleen Bombach asked about the QEP
Lib Guide, and Dr. Quiros explained to the
committee that the Lib Guide had a listing
of possible QEP assignments as examples.
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Ysella Fulton Slavin felt that we should have
incentives for teachers.
o Claude Mathis said he would look into
incentives for teachers.
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Armando Villarreal asked if the surveys are
required.
o Dr. Quiros said that yes, the surveys are
required.
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Ivan Iñiguez asked when the next meeting
would be scheduled.
o Arturo Valdespino said it would be next
semester.
o Patricia Islas said it would be best to
propose dates so faculty can pencil it in and
plan around.
o Ivan Iñiguez mentioned it would be best
that it not be the last Thursday of the
month.
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Gail Meagher said that nursing students have
health fairs. She asked if there was a way to
follow the QEP as students move through
courses, in order for it to become an
institutional foundation.
o Patricia Islas said that service learning is
needed at the institutional level.
o Dr. Quiros said that there were statistics
which showed a positive relationship
between service learning and retention.
o Ysella Fulton Slavin said she felt that in
the English discipline, some teachers may
feel like it’s kind of a chore. She felt that
instructors should be given credit.
o Gail Meagher said that she felt the college
culture in community college needs to
create recognition for community
involvement.
o Patricia Islas agreed with Gail, and that it
was important for instructors to hype
enthusiasm to students.
o Dr. Quiros explained that in terms of
research, faculty needs to be more involved
themselves rather than just sending students
out to the community. We need instructors
to participate so students participate. We
need to find opportunities for faculty to be
involved with community outreach.
o Xiomara Chianelli said she participated in
National Women’s Day along with Dr.
Waissman and Patricia Islas. She felt that
we needed faculty to guide new instructors
on discipline base rather than create rubrics.
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It was asked if an office hour could be dedicate
to the QEP.
o Claude Mathis said he would look into the
possibility of an office hour dedicated to
the QEP.
o Patricia Islas thought that time off for
faculty for volunteering in the community
would be a good incentive.
o Claude Mathis agreed with her.
XI.
The next meeting will be next semester. It will be
planned in advanced to accommodate as many
people as possible, and Arturo Valdespino said he
would contact the committee about a tentative date
and time.
XII.
Adjournment: Arturo Valdespino moved to adjourn
the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie Miller.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:14 p.m.
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August 14, 2014
Members in attendance: Arturo Valdespino, Ivan Iñiguez,
Tony Procell, Vangie De Luna, Gail Meagher, David Henry,
Raul Lerma, Claude Mathis, Charlie Miller, Dr. Ondrea
Quiros
o
o
Members not in attendance: Gloria Estrada, Jeffrey Coles,
Osvaldo Rodriguez, Armando Villarreal, Patricia Islas, Ysella
Fulton Slavin, Xiomara Chianelli, Kathleen Bombach, Laura
Molina
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I.
The meeting was called to order at 2:09 p.m.
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II.
Last Minutes Review
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III.
All attendees were given previous minutes and
an agenda.
Arturo Valdespino asked if there were any
questions or concerns on the minutes for the
past meeting.
Unanimous reply that there were no questions
or concerns.
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Issue with Assessment
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Arturo Valdespino stated that regarding these
issues, there were options and that voting was
required.
Dr. Quiros said while the assessment of the
QEP was up to the committee, Dr. Alexei
Matveeve, the director of the department for
SACS that reviews assessment, gave a
presentation during the SACS summer
conference in which he explained some
fundamental elements necessary. Some of these
elements that are missing in our assessment are:
o Standards
o Targets
o A Baseline
Having a SACS consultant come to explain and
go over details is being looked into.
Last year’s data will not be useful as data itself,
but will be useful in determining if we are
headed on the right track.
Other institutions have taken time and redone
assessment.
For next semester, the same data will not be
useful, and therefore the committee should take
some time to look into the assessment options
A PowerPoint presentation was used to discuss
three options:
o Option #1: Stop assessing next semester.
No QEP assignment will be done in classes.
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Different instructions will be given to
everyone for spring semester.
Option #2: Assess only SLO #1. No
paragraphs or surveys.
Option #3: Everything is kept as is, but
data will not be used. We will have data at
hand for our records.
Arturo Valdespino and Dr. Quiros asked what
option sounded reasonable to the committee.
Ivan Iñiguez said Option One and Two work.
It’s better to have it and not need it than to not
have it and need it. This is just in case SACS
were to change their minds and request data. On
this matter, he would vote for option three.
Charlie Miller said option three would upset
English instructors once they found out. He has
been asked to fight against assessment, and this
process might have this situation escalate.
Dr. Quiros explains survey is reliable. There is
a low standard of deviation and a high reliability
for the survey items. Survey can be kept as is.
OIR is being overloaded, so we need to consider
assessment measures that will not overload
them. One idea is to take a couple of students
per class, have a few people assess. This idea
would lower the total number, but survey must
have a baseline.
David Henry asked if this will be randomly
generated.
Dr. Quiros responded surveys will still be done
as a whole for the institution.
Charlie Miller stated that this way it seems
there will be more cooperation in the future.
Dr. Quiros mentioned this needs to be
discussed by committee. Faculty should
approve. We want to continue with data so
instructors can keep participating.
Documentation is needed.
David Henry asked if the paragraph can be
done instead of the assessment.
Dr. Quiros said we need to state what was
done.
Everyone talked about choosing option #2.
Tony Procell states to let everyone know that
there is a change ahead so assignment will
lessen.
Charlie Miller states this way will make it
simple.
David Henry asks if instructor will just do
assessment sheet.
Charlie Miller said this will probably cause
less anger from instructors
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David Henry said change in the end is our
teacher. QEP assignment should be used, and
we have to keep assignment on the syllabus.
Dr. Quiros asked for feedback, what would you
have chosen?
Ivan Iñiguez said I feel that data be kept due to
probable changes, this way the data is there.
We can still do something (QEP-wise), but still
have a nice break and still include this in the
syllabus. In result, next semester notify
everyone.
Dr. Quiros said yes, it would only take a couple
of minutes to narrow it down.
Raul Lerma said let’s keep this simple. We do
not want to go through what we went through
last year with SACS.
Arturo Valdespino said I’ve been in education
for twenty years, and the rule I believe most
important is to cover yourself the most. From
these, let’s pick the option that does this.
Tony Procell said option #2 seems to be good.
Dr. Quiros said by what I saw, other
institutions from previous SACS conference, we
are following a pattern. We are judging the
situation, and making changes, as long as there
is data collected.
Ivan Iñiguez said don’t stop data, but don’t
work too hard.
Charlie Miller said some instructors have said
the paragraphs are a waste of time due to the
fact that the survey contrasts what students have
written.
Dr. Quiros said there are more disciplines
interested in participating in the QEP. Six more
have joined.
Arturo Valdespino said we’ll review our
options once more.
Dr. Quiros said we’ve so far discussed
problems with the assessment. There are
minimum things we must do. We need to
reassess. Many schools have regrouped. We
discussed if stopping is the best way to do it.
We still need to do the QEP, just do SLO #1 to
have documentation, then inform faculty that
more will be done Spring 2015.
Claude Mathis asked if data is being used.
Dr. Quiros said yes, and we will have a
consultant come in to explain.
Claude Mathis asked if last year’s data will be
our baseline.
Dr. Quiros said that no, the data obtained was
from after the QEP activity was done.
Claude Mathis asked why last year’s data
cannot be used.
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Dr. Quiros stated we tested only after the
activity. However, the data can be used for
making changes.
Claude Mathis asked how we can get that
baseline.
Dr. Quiros stated we do pre and post surveys.
These can become our baseline. The survey is
reliable, and it’s a strong survey.
Arturo Valdespino mentioned we should move
forward to discussing options two and three.
David Henry said let’s keep QEP alive in
everyone’s calendar. Let’s encourage it for buy
in.
It seems like instructors are vaguely
understanding this must be done. Let English
instructors be involved in last state of voting.
Claude Mathis asked what potentiality we can
learn from this. What can be discovered?
Dr. Quiros stated that we are testing the
teaching methodology of improving learning
from being involved in the community.
Claude Mathis stated he agreed, we need
people motivated to potential.
Dr. Quiros said in the main core, other
disciplines are required.
David Henry said Claude said to cut, why cut
back in assessment?
Arturo Valdespino said yes, to make it seem
easier.
David Henry said let English people
(instructors) be involved.
Dr. Quiros said this makes sense to make
changes for methodology, use institution-wide
in theory.
Vangie De Luna asked if the objectives for the
time being will change goals. How are we going
to assess the results?
Dr. Quiros stated there will be an indirect
assessment in classroom surveys, compared a
wider scheme. Basically, we are giving QEP to
waves of students. We will correlate to
institution as a whole. We make sure everyone
knows data from last semester, evaluate.
Vangie De Luna asked how much work is it to
compile. How reliable? Is it longitudinal study?
Gale Meagher asked if there would be other
surveys for comparison.
Dr. Quiros said yes, we look at all surveys
from different courses, disciplines and all
semesters.
Motion: Arturo Valdespino made the motion
if everyone was in favor of Option #2.
o Motion was seconded by Charlie Miller
and approved by the committee.
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
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IV.
prompt doesn’t seem to align with outcome
or rubric.
Arturo Valdespino mentioned next meeting
would be in mid-September, and we will go
over assessment.
Ivan Iñiguez requested the meeting not take
place on the last Thursday of the month.
Charlie Miller mentioned the Faculty
Development would take place on September
18.
David Henry asked to see new ways to assess.
See if there are options to not reinvent the
wheel.
Arturo Valdespino said I will e-mail two
weeks ahead of meeting as a reminder.
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Questions?
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Gale Meagher asked to review option #3
o Next semester do the assessment as before.
Data collected will not be used and
instructors will have done unnecessary
work
Gale Meagher asked if there was an indication
of what is missing.
o Dr. Quiros stated baseline, targets, and
standards. We are also overloading OIR,
not using sample sizes, and the rubrics
weren’t aligned. There is no qualitative
aspect of paragraphs, and the paragraph
V.
Charlie Miller said since Dr. Quiros and I are
on the core assessment, can we borrow
things/ideas?
o Dr. Quiros said yes, we are just
regrouping/tweaking.
Gale Meagher said this will be like the
assessment of the SLO?
o Dr. Quiros said yes, and SACS loves the
fact that we address issues.
Gale Meagher asked to please address what the
e-mail will be about, since there are many emails received. Also asked if meetings will be
at Valle Verde campus from now on.
o Dr. Quiros said yes, the meetings will be at
Valle Verde in the future, due to the
amount of people in the committee and the
space in the room for everyone to be
comfortable.
Adjournment: Arturo Valdespino moved to adjourn
the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie Miller.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:52 p.m.
Z:/QEPCOMMITTEEMIN(COMBINED)
EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
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