Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Executive Summary
Map Your Journey!
The Holmes Community College QEP entitled Map Your Journey! addresses key obstacles that students encounter in the early stages of their academic careers with an emphasis on those at-risk of losing financial aid. A centralized facility known as the Holmes Trek Center will serve students in a supportive environment that nurtures personalized education and career options. The Trek Center will be operated by Trek Coordinators who focus on improving the overall quality of students by serving as a resource for academic and career coaching with definitive planning to prepare students for success while facing financial aid challenges.
The QEP identifies a student population cohort that consists of full-time students acknowledged as being on financial aid probation/suspension status according to the federal regulations and the College’s policies as published in the Holmes bulletin adhered by the Financial Aid Director. Two intervention strategies implemented for the cohort will be as follows:
- LLS 1321 Career Exploration 4-week online course that interfaces with TypeFocus, a leading developer of online personality type and career resources, and allows students to gain insight into themselves while enriching their Financial Aid literacy, using that knowledge to map an academic and career plan.
- Trek Center services which provide students with access to the same aforementioned resources as well as academic and career coaching via face-to-face interactions, networking with appropriate personnel, i.e., Financial Aid, and informative personal assessment workshop opportunities.
The College developed student learning outcomes and program outcomes that are measurable, realistic, and timely to best serve the cohort via the intervention strategies. A comprehensive plan with equivalent assessments and checklists will be employed to secure the integrity of the QEP’s outcomes and determine the overall effectiveness of the intervention strategies. Measured in qualitative and quantitative means, the outcomes will compare cohort intervention results to baseline data of groups of years prior to interventions with parallel identification criteria. Completion of self-efficacy evaluations will be conducted through meticulous methods consisting of degree evaluations, comprehensive educational plans, and workshop participation. Other measurement instruments include surveys to indicate the perception and level of satisfaction with the intervention strategies.
Map Your Journey! is designed to increase student success and provide appropriate tools for the establishment of their future academic and career paths. For Holmes, the QEP represents a significant step forward in preparing students by connecting long-term academic planning to viable career paths which is vital in accomplishing one’s educational journey.
Contact Information
Teresa L. Mackey, Ph.D.
Vice President for Compliance and Institutional Research
tmackey@holmescc.edu
(662) 472-9101