Global Learning QEP: FIU voices sought and heard


Focus-group sessions are providing critical feedback that is being used to guide decisions concerning QEP curriculum, assessment, marketing and communication.

By Stephanie Doscher, associate director, Office of Global Learning Initiatives

The purpose of FIU’s Global Learning Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is to educate for global citizenship – to empower every FIU student to actively address issues and challenges in an interconnected world. To meet this lofty goal, and to shape a strategic plan of action that will respond to FIU stakeholders’ specific needs and priorities, the Office of Global Learning Initiatives (GLI) has invited faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members to participate in a series of QEP focus groups.

“It is only when we take seriously the many and varied voices of the community that global learning has a lasting impact. Learning to listen to and respect one another’s viewpoints is the heart of global learning,” says Hilary Landorf, director of the Office of GLI. The Office of GLI was created in August 2008 to lead FIU’s QEP and to become the clearinghouse for the myriad global learning curricular and co-curricular activities at FIU.

Focus-group sessions are recorded, transcribed and analyzed for critical themes and concerns. Discussions have covered a wide-range of topics, and feedback has been used to guide decisions concerning QEP curriculum, assessment, marketing and communication. Focus groups will continue to be held in the coming semesters.

“It is not the Office of GLI but the FIU community as a whole that will guide the formation and implementation of the QEP going forward,” says Landorf.

For more information on the Global Learning QEP, please contact Andrew Gomez, program assistant, Office of Global Learning Initiatives, GL 470, by phone (305-348-4145) or via e-mail (agomez@fiu.edu).

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