Funded by the Southern Education Foundation, the project will assist Norfolk State University (NSU) in developing a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The QEP is a required part of the upcoming reaffirmation of accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It is a focused course of action that addresses a well-defined issue that is clearly related to improving student learning.

The purpose of the demonstration project is to assist the university in sharpening the focus of the QEP, to identify essential resources needed to support the QEP, and to identify a set of viable measures of critical thinking skills for use in assessing the QEP’s impact on improving student learning outcomes. In 2005-2006, the campus community selected a QEP theme, “Creating Coherent Pathways for Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Students.”

The primary objectives of the demonstration project are: 1) to develop a community of practitioners who will study critical thinking pedagogies, assessment strategies, and best practices and who also will work collaboratively to advance the goals of the QEP, and 2) to test the viability of using an existing course, LOG 210 (Logic and Critical Thinking), to develop critical thinking skills in students.