By Doc Anderson
Co-Editor-In-Chief
Beginning in the 2023 fall semester, Northeast Texas Community College will implement a new course designed to assist and acclimate first time college students as part of the college’s ¡°Sowing SEEDS for Success¡± Quality Enhancement Plan.?
The course is one-credit hour and is a part of NTCC¡¯s Quality Enhancement Plan, QEP. Jennifer Sparks, Director of QEP and Interim English Faculty, said the class is designed specifically for first year students with a successful acclimation to college life during their first year of school.
¡°The course is geared towards students who have less than 12 semester hours, are first time students and have a general studies major,¡± Sparks said
The class will help those new college students learn how to navigate the campus, take advantage of available services, learn good study skills, explore career options and more.
The overall goal of the QEP is to increase student success by educating and instituting a sense of personal responsibility and pride in new students. NTCC plans to integrate the QEP course into other degree plans over the course of five years.
The QEP is a major part of NTCC¡¯s re-accreditation process, which affects the college¡¯s eligibility to offer financial aid, receive grants, offer transferable courses and more. The QEP is a large undertaking that is developed and implemented over several years.
The process in developing ¡°Sowing SEEDS for Success¡± began in Aug. 2019 and was developed after NTCC conducted research asking about the biggest barriers to student success. Input from students, faculty, staff and community members indicated that personal responsibility was a theme that stood out.
The QEP committee then sought proposals for QEP ideas and, eventually, the ¡°Sowing Seeds for Success¡± first-year experience course was born. This name is a nod to NTCC¡¯s roots in rural Texas where agriculture is well known and a large part of the community. SEEDS is an acronym for Show Up, Engage, Experience, Develop, Succeed. These characteristics tie back to the QEP¡¯s primary goal of improving student success.
Anna Ingram, Associate Vice President for Instruction, said the course is a great opportunity to further assist the success of the students.
¡°I think this is a very good opportunity for our college to do something that will be very beneficial to students,¡± Ingram said.
The QEP course will take its pilot flight in the fall semester 2023. Details on the curriculum for the class have not been released. For more information on the QEP course contact Jennifer Sparks at jsparks@ntcc.edu.