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QEP recommendation to expand SR’ outdoor classrooms
27.MAR.07
ALPINE - In the future, Sul Ross State University’s academic environment may encompass more of the great outdoors. This is the recommendation of a 43-member committee following several months’ work on a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

The committee, composed of students, faculty, administrators, staff, local merchants, and Sul Ross alumni, met to focus on a problem, that when addressed will enhance student learning. The plan is required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) as part of the re-accreditation process all universities in 13 southern states American universities undergo every 10 years.

After considering over 80 ideas generated by the campus and wider community, the committee chose student engagement. Faculty consistently reported high absenteeism and lack of student engagement in some required classes. Drop-out rates and retention of freshmen supported these perceptions.

The committee’s challenge has been to design a new strategy for student learning success. They chose "Enhancing Academic Learning through Student Engagement" as their theme and outdoor learning as a primary platform for achieving it.

Sul Ross President, R. Vic Morgan said, "I am pleased with using our strengths, hands-on learning and the great outdoors, as tools to improve our student engagement issues and thus improve student learning."

Subsequent student questionnaires and discussion groups revealed a common request for more hands-on, outdoor learning. With deer, antelope, wild turkey, javelina, fox, and raptors often traversing campus property, Sul Ross provides an ideal setting for outdoor learning. As one committee stated, "By targeting outdoor learning, we can actually consider our location an asset, instead of an obstacle."

In addition to the obvious outdoor opportunities, other assets like the Archives of the Big Bend and programs like Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences, Biology, Geology, Environmental Studies, Outdoor Theatre, and numerous on-going research projects and classes already provide serious academic connections to the surrounding outdoor area. Many local businesses and employment opportunities like ranching, tourism, hunting, and various state and federal agencies are also strongly connected to location.

New courses and minors targeting outdoor employment are already being planned with possibilities for expansion almost endless. Committee members are excited and enthusiastic about rejuvenating programs, creating new courses, expanding faculty development opportunities, designing alternative classrooms, encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation, and enhancing student engagement.

Following official sanction from review by the SACS on-site reaffirmation team, after their on-site visit to the campus in Spring 2008, Sul Ross will begin incorporating more hands-on, outdoor learning into classes, assignments, and activities that will benefit from increased student engagement. Student support services will be challenged to add more outdoor activities. Alumni, merchants, and local citizens will be invited to offer outdoor learning opportunities. Several new ideas will be piloted this fall.

The committee is chaired by Barney Nelson, Languages and Literature. For more information, contact Nelson, (432) 837-8154, or bnelson@sulross.edu. - Sul Ross State University