Topic Identification

Topic Identification

Throughout the topic identification process, the QEP Committee worked with college constituents to determine the best plan of action to ensure the final QEP topic would improve students’ abilities to implement and articulate their personal soft-skill development and employability. Faculty and staff members were involved in researching best practices in academic and industry literature to determine the specific methods and activities to be used in this project.

Additionally, Student Services’ representatives gathered research and resources on identifying employability skills and utilizing structured support services to enhance the student learning experience. Best practices learned from this research were incorporated into the QEP’s development. By enhancing the students’ professional development experience, focusing on skills such as ethical decision-making, teamwork/collaboration, professional spoken and written communication, and problem solving, and offering structured support, NCTC will improve its retention and completion rates.

Based on the QEP proposal, literature and research review, and stakeholder feedback, the committee determined that the QEP implementation should begin within the Career and Technical Education programs. Implementation would begin in one division, led by an instructional dean and would then scale to other career and technical programs, supervised by other instructional deans. The QEP would adapt to include any new programs added to the career and technical education offerings, and programs with higher enrollment would be targeted to begin first.

Career and Technical Education programs and enrollment data are listed in the table below (Appendix C).

Table 1: Career and Technical Education Enrollment Data