These posters are among six visual puzzle posters designed by UM students to help kick off the university’s new Quality Enhancement Plan. Think Forward involves an ambitious set of actions, unites the UM community of scholars around a central learning outcome and reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to improve general education. University Marketing and Communications design
OXFORD, Miss. – Continuing its journey toward decennial reaffirmation of accreditation, the University of Mississippi is seeking participation from faculty, students and staff in a new Quality Enhancement Plan.
Think Forward is designed to foster development of critical thinking skills in lower-division, general education courses and co-curricular learning experiences by enhancing faculty development and modifying student learning environments. The plan involves an ambitious set of actions, unites the UM community of scholars around a central learning outcome and reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to improve general education.
“I believe we’re taking on a truly essential goal for university education,” said Debora Wenger, associate professor of journalism and a member of the QEP committee. “Great ideas are not the purview of just a relatively small group of people charged with creating a plan.
“The broader the participation, the better for all of us, especially the students.”
Wenger said she can’t think of a single career or life effort that won’t require critical thinking as a major component of the work.
“If we can better prepare our students for thinking about the problems they will need to solve or the opportunities they will encounter in their futures, then we will have done our jobs as educators,” she said.
Six visual puzzle posters designed by Ole Miss students are available to engage the campus community in critical thinking activities. Users can provide answers to one or more of these puzzles via the Think Forward website for a chance to win an Ole Miss prize.
The university kicked off the implementation of its Quality Enhancement Plan focusing on critical thinking with a Feb. 2, 2018, lecture by Linda B. Nilson, author and director emerita of the Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation at Clemson University.
The QEP is part of the university’s reaffirmation of accreditation process with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The QEP process offers the university an opportunity to improve its teaching and learning environment, said Robert Cummings, UM executive director of academic innovation and associate professor of writing and rhetoric.
“Thus, we chose to emphasize critical thinking, which is really a hallmark of a college education,” Cummings said. “A disposition to scrutinize ideas, find or challenge evidence, and voice sound conclusions will offer a lifetime of returns, regardless of which field our graduates may pursue.”
For more information and to participate, visit http://thinkforward.olemiss.edu/.