Students initially advised into Developmental Writing courses have become the new target population for service by the
Mountain View College Quality Enhancement Plan. New data show that Developmental Writing students are less likely to graduate than any other college student cohort.
On June 6 th
, the college hosted a video conference between the MVC Reaffirmation
Team and Dr. Marcy Stoll , the Vice President of the Southern Association of Colleges, Universities, and Schools—Commission on Higher Education. In her review of the preliminary QEP draft,
Dr. Stoll suggested that the rather global scope of the QEP Writing initiative was needlessly broad. She noted, in fact, that, without identifying what that redefined cohort might be, a narrower student target group might be managed much more effectively and perhaps better served.
The Reaffirmation Team agreed, and the QEP Committee Co-Chairs solicited help from Jerry Scheerer , the MVC Institutional Research Director. Within days, Jerry generated new 2012 student completion data that clearly suggested a possible student target group. Despite the fact that between 500-600 students successfully exit a Developmental Writing (DWRI) course each academic year, only 101 or 9% of total Developmental Education course enrollments are reflected in the 337 graduates for 2010-2011.
Therefore, the QEP Committee decided to use the Writing Intensive Courses (WICS) concept to create a pathway for students who complete Developmental Writing courses. This pathway will provide a consistent instructional approach to writing and increased writing support for these students throughout their MVC college experience. The overall goal will be to increase the graduation rates of students who begin in Developmental Writing courses.

One of the most sought-after national leaders in the field of writing and speaking, Dr. Chris M. Anson leads off staff development during return week this fall with two days of discussions and workshops, addressing writing and the teaching of writing in higher education. He comes to us as one of the college’s first QEP external staff development presenters, an activity anticipating the arrival of the SACS Visiting Team to our campus in late September.
Dr. Anson is a University Distinguished Professor, Professor of English, and Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina
State University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in language, composition, and literacy and works with faculty in nine colleges to reform undergraduate education in the areas of writing and speaking. Before moving to NCSU in 1999, he spent fifteen years at the University of Minnesota, where he directed the Program in Composition from 1988-96 and was Professor of English and Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor. He received his Ph.D. and second M.A. in English with a specialization in composition studies from Indiana University, and his B.A. and first M.A. in English from
Syracuse University.
Chris has received numerous awards, including the State of
Minnesota Higher Education Teaching Excellence Award, the Morse-Alumni
Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, and the
Dr. Chris Anson will deliver the keynote address,
Governor’s Star Service Award for his service-learning work at Minnesota. He was setting the context for the inaugural semester of an NCTE Promising Researcher Award Finalist and has received or participated as the college’s QEP topic on writing. a co-principal investigator in over $1 million in grants. http://ncsu.academia.edu/ChrisAnson
An avid writer, Chris has published 15 books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters and is on the editorial or reader’s boards of ten journals, including
CCC, CE, RTE, Across the Disciplines, Written Communication, Assessing Writing, and The
Journal of Writing Assessment. He has recently co-authored a book on digital literacies,
Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and other Digital Tools (Christopher-Gordon Publishers,
2009). Chris has given over 490 conference papers, keynote addresses, and invited lectures and faculty workshops across the U.S. and in 26 foreign countries.
Dr. Anson is Chair-Elect of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, a position that will take him through the leadership and position him as Chair in 2013.
Additionally, he held membership for several years on the Board for the Council of Writing
Program Administrators and served as its president from 2002-2005.
Dr. Quentin Wright co-chairs the
Mountain View College QEP
Committee.
Dr. Quentin Wright, QEP Co-Chair, learned of Dr. Anson while attending a conference on college writing this past summer. “When we were deliberating who we might bring as an outside consultant on writing for our staff development,” says Wright, “Chris Anson was the name that kept coming back up. He is one of the premier authorities today on writing, speaking, and student learning.”
Greg Elkins , L.E.A.D. staff development coordinator, was helpful in securing
Dr. Anson. Greg introduced Dr. Anson’s vita at the May QEP meeting, noting that he would be available throughout the fall return week to meet with faculty and to offer workshops on teaching writing in higher education.

Anthony Buenning and Karrisa Samuel (left) join David Couric and Kaye Mager (right) in celebration of the new “Ink Spot MVC
Writing Center,” part of the make-over in response to the college’s Quality Enhancement Plan activities.
A “process-centered approach” to teaching writing emphasizes stages or phases in the experiences of all writers: creating, drafting, revision[ing], and editing.
Many factors— the discipline content, student learning outcomes, and other instructional contexts—influence the choice of writing activities instructors may assign, but these phases of writing are common to the development of any finished composition, and, as such, “writing as a process” is the approach to teaching writing supporting the Mountain View College Quality
Enhancement Plan.
The literature review for the QEP included a study of more than 150 resources, many focusing on “best practices” in teaching composition, the writing process, “writing across the curriculum” (WAC) initiatives, writing intensive courses
(WICS), pedagogical theory, and discipline-oriented composition activities.
The emphasis on teaching writing “as a process” dates to the late 1970s, and reflected a very different approach from “teaching patterns” (comparison/contrast, description, cause/effect) or “writing by emultion” (imitating the “masters”). Some composition theorists early on argued that the four phases of the process reflect a continuous cycle. Others, however, noted the fluidity of the process, with writers bouncing back and forth between these tasks—at one moment, brainstorming, and in the next, spell checking, reorganizing paragraphs, or combining sentences, etc.— back and forth, back and forth with sometimes sudden surges of writing activity followed by sluggish periods, marked by confusion, boredom, distractions, and even writing “blocks.”
In a more formal, academic setting, just how students move back and forth between these phases, however, is controlled by such factors as the clarity of instructions, the complexity of the assignment, the amount of assistance, the setting of the writing task (classroom or home), the time allotted, and the student’s confidence in understanding of the content. Nicole Martin argues, for example, that
“processes used in writing are considerably different for different kinds of texts.” In other words, writing instructors assume that a “process” reflects the very nature of basic cognitive activity that generates each kind of writing.
“Writing Intensive Courses” (WICS) date to the
1980s and are outgrowths, in part, from the early “Writing
Across the Curriculum” (WAC) initiatives. WICS require more student writing than do other sections of the same course.
Additionally, however, writing in WICS is guided, and some writing activities require multiple drafts. Instructors use a common writing rubric for providing student “feedback” and may enlist the help of additional college resources like tutorial help in a writing lab or center. Related to student learning, WICS instructors hope to enhance student learning in the specific disciplines. For example, a biology instructor,
Alan Holyoak notes that “the job of a biology faculty is not only to teach topical information but to prepare students to think, work, and write as biologists.”
While some attempts at implementing WICS have floundered, others of have been quite successful and longlived. Those that thrive require important commitments at all levels. Successful WIC initiatives reflect a shared instructional vision grounded on a set of specific student learning outcomes, a high level of faculty commitment and comfort in the demands of teaching and assessing writing within content-specific courses, and an institutional commitment of support in such elements as coordination with campus writing centers, writing tutors, consistent management, and a process of continuous assessment.
The QEP five-year budget—almost $900,000— reflects Mountain View College’s commitment to WICS as the centerpiece of the QEP. This budget will institutionalize our QEP on writing improvement as a means to increasing the number of Mountain View College Developmental Writing students participating in each year’s graduation exercises.

Drs. Quentin Wright and Geoff Grimes, with key support from MVC’s Development Director Heather Marsh , completed the final editing and fine tuning of the Mountain View College Quality Enhancement Plan on Thursday, August 2 nd
, only one weekend ahead of its submission to the college’s Reaccreditation Visiting Team on Monday, August 6 th
. What they experienced as a writing team is a case study in process writing , the focus of the QEP itself.
“I feel like we just gave birth after more than eight months of labor!” said Geoff. Quentin and Geoff began drafting various sections of the document in early fall, 2011, even before the QEP Committee itself had finalized all the elements of the plan.
To facilitate the writing, Wright and Grimes commandeered W200, a small conference room, as the new “QEP Work Room,” and promptly moved in, setting up a computer and printer and reorganizing shelf space. Grimes was still completing the literature review, and what would be more than 150 documents began spewing from the printer, using up more than two printing cartridges.
Every afternoon found the two co-chairs slathering swatches of dry erase text over the white board and poring over SACS guidelines. Over the
Christmas holidays, they were locked in the throes of an obvious meltdown
QEP primary authors (from left to right) Drs. Geoff
Grimes and Quentin Wright with Heather Marsh when they realized that the wording of the QEP SLOs were not congruent with other college-related documents, the work of the college’s Core Curriculum/General Education Committee, and various drafts of texts from the QEP Committee’s sub-committees developing training guidelines, assessment standards, faculty development training, and the writing rubric itself, not to mention SACS recommended guidelines for even composing a QEP.
The QEP Committee and its sub-committees had worked diligently and for long hours over many weeks to draft the Focus Statement, the Goals, and the QEP objectives for each goal.
Nevertheless, the inconsistencies and incongruity overall between the documents were clear.
Furthermore, the objectives weren’t stated as measurable claims.
Frantically, Wright and Grimes spread the documents over the twelve-foot table, looked at each other, left the room, locked the door, and went to lunch, but when they came back, nothing had changed; they faced the same dilemma. After treading water for more than an hour, what became clearer was the critical role the writing rubric would play in the whole revision process.
Every element of the QEP had to be congruent with the wording of the writing rubric itself, the baseline standards on which student compositions would be evaluated.
Grimes and Wright went back to the drawing board—actually the white board, writing across it the original wording of the QEP SLOs. They decided to compare the writing principles that the writing rubric subcommittee had identified as important elements for improvement with those identified in the existing rubric of the English Department, composed earlier from a number of models and approved by the CC/GenEd Committee for assessing student writing in
English courses. Parallel elements slowly began to emerge.
Within another week, the two co-chairs had revised the SLOs and the elements of the writing rubric to reflect word-byword congruency. They were ready to present them to the full QEP Committee with their explanation for the urgency of the revisions. The committee members understood the conflicts and approved the revised wording of the SLOs along with the revised writing rubric and recommended its submission to CC/GenEd Committee. With a March deadline looming for some kind of document due to be presented to the President’s Council, the CC/GenEd Committee was not meeting until late February. With ten minutes left at the end of the CC/GenEd Committee meeting, Grimes moved the adoption of the revised rubric which was accepted unanimously as the college’s official writing rubric.

And that’s the way the writing process goes in an institutional project requiring broad input from all constituencies. By the March meeting of the President’s Council, Dean Wright was able to share some thirty or more pages of drafts reflecting what would be the organization of the full document, much to the general relief of the President who, after a year and a half, had seen nothing of substance from the QEP Committee beyond minutes of the meetings of the Committee as a whole and its working focus groups.
Working backward from the September date when the college will host the SACS Visiting Team and the institutional deadlines for submitting the final reaffirmation materials, Grimes and Wright continued writing, usually every afternoon, submitting their pages back and forth between emails and conferring with each other at critical junctures.
Toward the end of the drafting, Grimes and Wright solicited the fine talents of Heather Marsh, a talented and experienced grant writer. Heather agreed to introduce supporting tables and graphics and to “humanize the document” with inserts, guides, and page rubrics that would assist new readers in navigating the text. Over a three-week period, Heather performed her magic, and what she had received as a prosaic and rather unengaging stream of paragraphs, she returned as a piece of professional writing within an attractive template along with balanced supporting charts and graphics that clarified each critical section of text.
“Oh, I just kind of fluffed the pillows a little bit!” Heather observed in her self-effacing modesty. By the end of May the three had finished the full draft with only the bibliography yet to be completed. It was ready to submit to the outside reader for review and recommendations.
Professor Renee Moore, Director of the QEP in Writing at Mississippi Delta Community College, five years ahead of
Mountain View College in the reaccreditation process, agreed to review the draft with a promise for a week’s turn around. On the same day that Grimes and Wright submitted the draft to Professor Moore, Jerry Scheerer, Director of the college’s Institutional
Research Department, forwarded a message from Dr. Marcy Stoll requesting the immediate submission of the QEP document to her for her own review, a full week earlier than what Grimes and Wright had anticipated. They had hoped, of course, to respond to suggestions of Professor Moore before submitting it to the college’s SACS liaison, but that was not to be the case.
On June 6 th
, the co-authors joined the college’s Reaffirmation Committee in a conference call with Dr. Marcy Stoll, Vice
President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools—Commission on Higher Education. Dr. Stoll praised the work of the committee and complimented the document as one of the finest initial drafts of a QEP that she had received to date.
Dr. Wright’s heart slipped back into place from the choke hold he had held on it in his throat.
“You could just see the relief in the President’s face!” said Wright.
Dr. Stoll offered positive suggestions and raised important questions. Most significantly for the writing team and the QEP Committee itself, she suggested narrowing the target audience to make the implementation of the writing project more feasible. Within a week, Dean Wright and
Dr. Grimes were poring over data Jerry Scheerer had forwarded on MVC student success, and the new target audience became focused. It was Developmental Writing students who were failing to graduate. With this new data, Quentin reconvened the QEP Committee whose members discussed the implications for the QEP, but they concurred that a new, more narrowly defined student population as the target of the QEP offered many advantages for those students. And so it was done— the final adjustment, or at least, just about.
Jerry Scheerer, Director of the MVC Institutional
Research Office
A QEP plan for better serving Mountain View College’s increasing Developmental Writing student population dovetailed cleanly with the statewide community college “Texas Complete” initiative. College President Zamora embraced the new orientation and encouraged the QEP cochairs to define more clearly the way the QEP might complement “Texas Complete,” the thrust of colleges across the state to matriculate many more community college students. The college’s readjusted QEP was now congruent and compliant with an entire state’s service project.
“I am so proud of our document,” says Grimes. “There’s not an ounce of fluff anywhere in it. It is grounded in a documented student need, and it will serve a large and important sector of our student population. This QEP is the single most important initiative I have been a part of in the forty-two years I have taught at Mountain View College. I have complete faith that what our college community and its QEP Committee have framed here will serve students well for many, many years still to come.”

The Mountain View College Quality Enhancement
Plan (QEP) focuses on student writing . After more than a year of reviewing institutional data and student performance, surveying suggestions of students, faculty, staff, and community leaders, between 2010 and 2011, the QEP Committee narrowed proposals from sixteen to five, and from the five to
“writing” as the QEP topic in deference to the demonstrated students’ need to improve as academic writers .
To address the QEP Committee’s original focus on improving of student writing , the QEP Committee identified three broad Goals :
1) To develop students’ skills in mastering writing principles.
2) To increase writing within the disciplines.
3) To nurture a culture of writing.
Supporting each goal, the Committee composed a set of specific, measurable Student Learning Outcomes along with timelines for demonstrating incrementally improved results to achieve each of the three goals.
This summer, however, the original broader focus on improving student writing (in general) has been dropped, and in its place is now the “QEP Mission Statement.” The mission of the QEP is to increase the number of Developmental Writing students graduating from Mountain View College.
This change in focus is the result of new data from the Office of
Mountain View College Institutional Research indicating that few MVC Developmental Writing students ever graduate . In fact, out of all those students assigned to Developmental
Studies when they first entered college, only 9% of those who graduated in 2010-2011 were former Developmental Writing students. The great majority of our Developmental Writing students drop out before their second year.
To turn that figure around will take the efforts and commitment of the entire college community. The key, the
QEP Committee believes, lies in “Texas Complete,” a statewide initiative to customize attention and services to those special student cohorts who are likely to drop out of college without intervention. In this context, Goal 1 of the QEP has been modified to read, “To develop Developmental Writing
(DWRI) students’ skills in mastering writing principles.”
For Mountain View College DWRI students, that intervention requires the creation of a specific pathway to graduation that will be facilitated at the beginning of these
Dean Shirley Higgs leads MVC Academic Advising. students’ coursework through the MVC Academic Advising team, placing those students in Developmental Writing and then, upon completion, into Writing Intensive Courses (WICS) and QEP Enhanced Courses in all three tiers of the Core
Curriculum. Additional guided writing in the WICS and QEP
Enhanced Courses will help those students build upon critical thinking and writing skills they acquired in Developmental
Writing and increase their confidence as writers and learners as they continue their studies in transfer courses. Because of the nature of the discipline content, QEP Enhanced Courses incorporate fewer of the writing activities required in WICS.
The foundation of the QEP initiative is the QEP Writing Rubric which in fall, 2012, was approved by the MVC Core
Curriculum/General Education Committee as the recommended rubric for use in assessing writing in all Core courses.
All WICS and QEP Enhanced courses will use the QEP Writing
Rubric for assisting students in reviewing and evaluating their writing and for collecting formative data on student writing skills from semester to semester.
To prepare the faculty members who are considering participation in the development of WICS and QEP Enhanced
Courses, the QEP Committee has created a QEP Staff Development Program that will provide training in the creation and facilitation of WICS and the use of the QEP Writing Rubric.
Faculty members will be compensated financially at the completion of their training. Successful completion of the training leads to Faculty Certification as a WICS or QEP Enhanced
Course faculty member . The QEP training activities have been approved as institutional LEAD (Professional Development)
Committee faculty training options.

Mountain View College President Felix A. Zamora and his
President’s Team have assisted the college’s QEP Committee and Co-Chairs Drs. Quentin Wright and Geoff Grimes in shaping the QEP budget. “I am very pleased with our QEP budget,” says President Zamora, who has shared it as an example with other DCCCD administrative colleagues.
Under the guidance of a salaried QEP Project
Director, to assure the success of the WICS and QEP Enhanced
Courses, a QEP Assessment Committee will monitor the courses each year, collecting samples of student writing, and reviewing the WICS and QEP Enhanced Courses curricula for compliance with the “WICS Guidelines.” The QEP Assessment Committee will make recommendations for adjustments in faculty training, teaching strategies, and reporting results, and through the support of the respective Deans, assist in implementing any needed changes in instruction and in the facilitation of the QEP.
To establish some baseline data on student writing skills, the QEP Committee is conducting a fall 2012 pilot project , involving ten courses that the faculty members (all volunteers from several disciplines) have redesigned to meet the proposed “WICS Guidelines.” Assessment of student exit essays from these courses will provide an initial set of data for use when, if approved, the QEP project goes into full operation in 2012-2013.
Funding is essential to the institutionalization of the
QEP. MVC President Felix A. Zamora and Sharon Davis, the Vice
President of Business Services, have approved a budget for funding initially the first five years of the QEP. Both assisted the
QEP Committee in reviewing the Committee’s funding proposal.
President Zamora noted that he was “very pleased with our QEP budget.” Initial funding includes the reallocation, in some cases, of monies from a number of existing resources for which QEP support is appropriate. However, while continued college support is required, future funding will be budgeted and based upon the assessment of the success of the QEP and its needs that may arise.
The QEP Committee is “looking for a few good teachers” who will join the cadre of Writing Intensive and QEP Enhanced
Course instructors. Positions are open in every discipline.
To qualify as a Writing Intensive or QEP Enhanced course instructor, you will complete a staff development program of two to four workshops that will introduce you to the elements of the two writing-supported courses and strategies for incorporating writing assignments into your instruction. These
L.E.A.D. workshops “lead to” certification as a “Writing
Intensive Course” or “QEP Enhanced Course Instructor.”
To assist writing assignments, the college offers several important instructional supports:

The Writing Rubric —a set of clearly defined writing standards and a simple assessment system that can be applied flexibly in assessing student compositions

The “Ink Spot” —the MVC Academic Center for Writing, staffed with excellent writing specialists, who will work one-on-one with your students

Learning Resources —workshops for staff and students on critical thinking, accessing academic information, and evaluating sources; a bibliography of texts on writing in the disciplines

QEP Workshops —on process writing, writing in the content disciplines, use of the Writing Rubric, writing assessment

It started with a brief meeting in January, 2010 in a classroom, just off the administrative offices. President Felix A.
Zamora addressed about twenty faculty and staff members he had called together to explain the new SACS-Commission on Higher
Education requirement of a “Quality Enhancement Plan.”
The attendees included representatives of each of the academic divisions of the college and selected administrators. Their task was to choose a QEP Committee Chair or Co-Chairs who would lead the college through the development of a Mountain View
College Quality Enhancement Plan.
From the beginning, the initial members embraced the initiative that required the college to select a topic reflecting a critical need not currently being addressed. Drs. Quentin Wright and Geoff Grimes agreed to serve as Co-Chairs for the duration of the planning process. The real work, however, would take the efforts of many people from all sectors of the college community.
Supporting the Co-Chairs were members of the QEP Steering Committee including Prof. Taunya Dixon-Collins , Dr. Rabab Fares ,
Prof. Amanda Humphey , Prof. Denise Shipley , and student Emanuel Faz .
The QEP Committee-at-large divided up into sub-committees to make the selec-
tion process a little easier. A Faculty/Staff Sub-Committee included Prof. Taunya Dixon-
Collins (English), Prof. Mariaelena Godinez (ESOL), Dr. Anne Grissom (Speech), Prof.
Amanda Humphrey (Speech) Mrs. Antonia Kilpatrick (Advising Director), Prof. Kumars
Ranjbaran (Math), and Dr. Geoff Grimes (Ex-Officio).
A Student Relations Sub-Committee included with Emmanuel Faz (student), Marcus Hardway (student), b (Art), and Ms. Cathy Edwards (Student Life Director).
The Community Relations Sub-Committee included Dr. Geoff Grimes (English),
Ms. Heather Marsh (Resource Development Director), Prof. Denise Shipley (Biology), and
Dr. Quentin Wright (Academic Dean).
The Literature Review Sub-Committee was made up of Prof. Joseph Brockway
(Spanish), Dr. Geoff Grimes (English), Mr. Ramon Herrera (Librarian), and Prof. Tamar
Slider (Math).
The Institutional Data Sub-Committee included Prof. James Harris (Sociology),
Dr. Ryan Pettengill (History), Dr. Doug Keenan (Electronics), Dr. Quentin Wright
(Academic Dean), Prof. Richard Para (Aviation), and Prof. Jonathan York (Government).
The Student Relations Sub-Committee approached student organizations. The Faculty/Staff Sub-Committee developed a
Survey Monkey instrument for soliciting suggestions from instructors. The Community Relations Sub-Committee reached out for ideas from the MVC service area, while the Faculty/Staff Sub-Committee introduced the QEP to the support personnel and collected their ideas, including almost thirty recommendations alone from the college’s writing tutors. The Institutional Research Sub
-Committee worked to collect direct and indirect data that would help support the selection of a final topic.
Much of the work involved surveying both students, faculty, and staff in selecting the QEP topic. Many people were involved. Student Government President Manny Faz was supported by members of the Inter Club Council , leaders of the various clubs and organizations, who helped organize a campus-wide survey of students, collecting, with the help of the Black Students
Organization , more than 1,000 responses—over 800 of them suggestions from MVC students. Phi Theta Kappa students, members of the college’s honors society, hosted a college forum that solicited ideas for topics.
The QEP Sub-Committees completed yeoman work in collecting ideas, identifying 16 possible topics, each reflecting a student need. These were finally narrowed from sixteen to five, and from five to just one— student writing . Phase 1—the selection of the QEP Topic —was complete.

Phase 2 focused on developing the topic into a QEP Plan . The sub-committees re-organized to focus on student writing.
More than 125 part-time and full-time instructors responded to a survey, identifying three broad themes. 64% indicated that
“writing is an integral part.” 78.9% stated that “writing assignments are specifically stated in the syllabus.” At the same time, however, only 48% of the faculty “ indicated that students would not pass if they ‘can’t or won’t write.’” In general, faculty had minimal confidence in students’ writing abilities as they enter and leave Mountain View College. Approximately 76% of faculty believed students were “poorly prepared” when entering college, and only 50% believed that MVC graduates are either adequately or well prepared for writing on the job or in higher-level course work.
A review of direct data—results of English Department assessment of student exit argumentative research papers—demonstrated that fewer than 40% of the papers reflected basic mastery of academic writing skills.
The QEP Committee defined a focus: to improve student writing.
In support, the Committee identified three broad Goals and supporting Student Learning Outcomes for each Goal: 1) to improve students’ mastery of basic writing skills, 2) to increase the amount of writing [in courses], and 3) to nurture a culture of writing at Mountain View
College.
The mechanisms for addressing these goals and related SLOs would be the introduction of Writing Intensive Courses and QEP
Enhanced Courses throughout the three tiers of the Core Courses. With these two decisions made, the work began with new QEP Sub-
Committees. One sub-committee set out to compose the criteria for defining
Writing Intensive
Course. A second sub-committee drafted standards for certifying Writing Intensive Course faculty members. A third subcommittee met to
Courses in the three tiers of the Core Curriculum to receive WICS and QEP Enhanced Writing support identify ways for
“nurturing a culture of writing.” Yet another sub-committee focused on the Writing
Rubric and its revision to align it with the QEP Student Learning
Outcomes.
The process by which the QEP Document has come together is detailed in another article in this newsletter, but none of it would have been possible without the help and leadership of the QEP Committee, the support of the Mountain View College administration, and the input from the entire Mountain View College community.

Greg Elkins , the Director of the Office of Professional Development, is ready to assist faculty interested in implementing Writing Intensive Courses and QEP Enhanced Courses beginning this fall.
“Faculty members are required to complete 30 hours of professional development each year,” says Greg, “and training for Writing Intensive Course certification is one of several options available early on this fall.”
The L. E. A. D. ( Learn, Educate, Appreciate, Develop) Office “takes the lead” in all faculty development initiatives at Mountain View College and maintains faculty training records throughout the year.
Greg Elkins, Director,
L.E.A.D. Office
“QEP/SACS Update—1:00—2:00 p.m., Monday, August 20, W171
“QEP-Pilot Meeting” (Required for QEP Certification—open to all faculty)—1:30-2:30 p.m., Tuesday, August
21, W 168 (Dr. Wright, facilitator)
“QEP-Writing Process” (Required for QEP Certification—open to all faculty)—2:30-3:30 p.m., Tuesday,
August 21, W168 (Dr. Geoff Grimes, facilitator)
“QEP-Writing Rubric” (Required for QEP Certification—open to all faculty)—3:30-4:30 p.m., Tuesday, August 21, W168 (Kaye Mager and Jonathan York, facilitators)
“Writing at the Core of Learning: A Rationale,” Convocation Address by Dr. Chris Anson, 9:45-12 noon,
Wednesday, August 22, MVC Performance Hall
“More Writing/Stronger Learning” (Adjunct Orientation)—4:30-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, August 22,
MVC Library Sign-In
“Creating a Writing Intensive Course”—Workshop with Dr. Chris Anson, 9:00-12 noon (for all faculty),
Thursday, August 23, Location (TBA)
“Critical Thinking: Designing Instructional Strategies to Promote Critical Thought (panel discussion), 12 noon, Thursday, August 23, B149 (Kevin Williams, Mary Ann Taylor, Jonathan York, Kaye Mager, and Joyce
Tarpley, facilitators)
The head librarian in the Mountain View College Learning Resources Center, Toby Baldwin , along with his staff, will play an integral role in supporting the college’s QEP on writing. Librarians have developed student and staff workshops on critical thinking, built around critical reading skills—not just accessing works, but in evaluating sources on their merits and in the contexts of their topics.
Additionally, the library has been increasing the number of books devoted to critical thinking, reading, and writing. Toby has submitted a list of more than 150 current book-length studies and other references on composition as well as teaching rhetoric and writing in the holdings at Mountain View
College.
“The library is pleased to be a player in the QEP writing initiative,” says Baldwin. “ Raymond
Herrera served on the initial QEP Committee until he accepted a position outside Mountain View, and
Margaret Knox assisted in isolating database resources for the literature review last year. I think we will play even more important roles in student learning when the QEP is finally approved, and we began to
Toby Baldwin
MVC Head Librarian implement its activities.” As classes resume this fall, the library will be featuring major works on writing in its displays and encouraging staff and faculty to familiarize themselves with the full holdings on composition in the library.

Mark Twain called “humor mankind’s greatest blessing” ( Mark Twain—A Biography ). In the shadow of America’ s greatest humorist, Dr. Paul Benson seizes the moment of the college’s most poignant moments to add a little levity to the occasions with his quirky, off-the-wall scripts and videos. For the last reaffirmation initiative, he scripted “Raiders of the
Lost Archives,” a burlesque of the college’s staff preparations which drew compliments and laughter from the college’s SACS
Visiting Team.
This round, he is at it again with “The Mountain View
Mystery” featuring a pair of private investigators (a.k.a. ‘Men’ in Black’) seeking to deliver a billion dollars bequeathed by a former MVC student, “Howard Muse.”
“The idea,” says Paul, “is you have this old, former
MVC student—a billionaire—who, on his deathbed, bequeaths this fortune to ‘Mountain View,’ but he dies before he can clarify what he means exactly by ‘Mountain View,’ and he leaves it to these two ‘finders’ from his staff to make sure the fortune falls into the right hands. So they go out to locate
‘Mountain View’ and finally stumble on ‘Mountain View
College’ where everybody’s in the throes of ‘SACS mania.’”
Dr. Benson, the 2011-2012 “Outstanding Faculty
Member in the Dallas County Community College District, is one of the most recognized humanities instructors in America, directing last year a major national conference on Thomas
Jefferson at the Library of Congress and Jefferson’s home at
Monticello.
“But he has this crazy, quirky side that bubbles up,” says Geoffrey Grimes , his long-time friend and colleague in the English Department, “that, I think, resides deeply inside this warm, caring teacher that just has to come out from time to time, and it’s been the college reaccreditations that seem to be the trigger that brings it out!” Randy Clower, the college’s award-winning filmmaker, notes that this creative piece has featured the directing debut of Jeremiah DeLeon , the son of
MVC Vice President of Instruction Dr. John DeLeon .
“Randy is the post-production guy,” says Grimes,
“who pulls it all together in the final video, adding his magical animation and video savvy that folks at MVC have enjoyed for years, and I think he’s done it again!”
“I just write this stuff,” says Benson. “It’s really Randy that makes it happen, but we always have the wonderful support of the college faculty and staff who seem to enjoy the fun of all the light-hearted good humor, and that’s what it’s really all about!”

The QEP “Culture of Writing” Sub-Committee , led by Art Professor James Behan , has developed some exciting ideas for encouraging more writing across the campus. Here are three of the proposals:
If you ever wanted to try your hand (with a pen in it!), the MVC Online
“News Anthology” is your opportunity. In spring, 2012, the students of Prof. Markay
Rister developed the plans for an online collection of student writing. Short fiction, poetry, non-fiction essays—all are options for submissions to this juried online journal of MVC’s very best work. The Online “News Anthology” will be located on the college’s QEP website and will be operational this fall.
A rotating writing wall can be placed along campus hallways. A permanent writing wall can be placed outside of the MVC Writing Center. The wall would consist of a varying number of panels covered with bulletin board paper, or whiteboard panels, for students to write on. Students would be able to write their thoughts, poetry, or songs on the wall. In addition, students could post/attach articles from newspapers and magazines, or they could attach something that they have written. The writing wall would be visible to the entire campus at all hours of the day, promoting a culture of writing among our students and employees.
Former MVC Honors Student Aisha Davis
To be held each year, the writing festival, honoring the late and beloved at work on her research paper.
Developmental Writing instructor Lew Sayers, would host professional writers and their readings of late work, opportunities to review manuscripts and receive critiques, talk to professional writers, attend workshops on how to write and how to get published, check out writing vendors and their products, and, of course, write!
"Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, P.R. #P031S100113. In October, 2010, Mountain View College was awarded a U.S.
Department of Education Title V Cooperative grant entitled "Cooperatively Developing a Community of Student Success". This grant is helping to improve student persistence and success through curricular innovations and student-centered learning strategies, and this newsletter was printed with grant funds."