Helping Students Master Communication Skills
QEP stands for Quality Enhancement Plan. South Piedmont’s accrediting body, the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Colleges, requires South Piedmont to have a QEP, ensuring that the College is continually enhancing the education it provides to students.
What is a QEP?
A QEP describes a carefully designed and focused course of action to address a well-defined topic or issues related to student learning. South Piedmont’s current QEP is called “Mastering Communication NOW: Improving Nonverbal, Oral, and Written Communication Skills.”
Why is Communication Important?
Mastering effective communication skills is a key component to student success while they’re in college and after they move on to higher levels of education or enter the workforce. Through internal research, South Piedmont found that students are not always equipped with the communication skills needed to be successful in their courses, degree pathways, transfer destinations, future workforce placements, or within their personal lives. Therefore, South Piedmont’s goal is to ensure that students are equipped with the communication tools and skills they need to be successful.
Through the QEP, South Piedmont aims to assist students in mastering the ability to:
- Apply the appropriate style, context, and delivery techniques for an intended audience.
- Ethically utilize credible and relevant resources to support arguments in their message.
- Present content using established conventions, effective visual aids, and appropriate organization strategies.
MIC Center
As part of the QEP, South Piedmont created its MIC Center (Multimedia, Information, and Communication Center) to cultivate learning related to communication and information literacy.