Frequently Asked Questions

"QEP" is an abbreviation for "Quality Enhancement Plan." It is a plan that addresses a topic or issue related to enhancing student learning.

All colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) are required to develop and implement a QEP as part of the reaffirmation of accreditation process.

Our QEP is Connect-Integrate-Connect. It is designed to promote university values including collaboration, critical inquiry, global perspective, and devotion to liberal learning as well as foster a community characterized by respectful and mutually supportive interaction to solve problems and serve the wider world.

Connect-Integrate-Reflect will empower students to connect with a community, integrate the lessons learned from working within the community, and reflect on what they have learned. These goals have the potential to create a campus culture of experience and application that is the foundation of a liberal arts education. Such a campus culture of experience and education will give all students access to critical tools and skills that promote meaningful success.

Experiential learning is an integral part of higher education, and it is widely recognized as an effective way for students to learn and develop valuable skills. Experiential learning provides students with opportunities to exercise their critical faculties and apply their knowledge as it compels students to grapple with unexpected issues and problems in a real-world setting and to find the tools and skills that will help them adapt to unfamiliar situations.

The "connection" referred to in this QEP means working with external partners through internships, studies abroad, and community-engaged learning activities.

Reflection is an active form of learning that connects and organizes new information within one's existing knowledge, providing a means to embed new material in one's cognitive map for the sake of recall, application to other areas, and developing a deeper general sense of understanding.

The QEP topic was identified through Emory’s ongoing planning and evaluation processes that focus on the undergraduate curriculum and general education requirements. Three separate faculty working groups recommended that Emory develop resources to expand student opportunities for multiple forms of exploration through experiential learning, defined as broadly as possible in ways that will help students use these experiences to integrate and reflect on their larger undergraduate experience. Connect-Integrate-Reflect will formalize and strengthen the ways students connect with communities outside the university and apply their skills in real-world situations.

Connect-Integrate-Reflect introduces students to a variety of external environments and promote active, hands-on learning activities. As a result, students will be able to

• Connect and work responsibly with different cultures, communities, and institutions
• Learn to integrate and apply academic knowledge and skills in contexts and environments outside of the university
• Reflect on how their learning experiences affected their personal and professional growth