Denver, Colorado
Westin Tabor Center
April 15-18, 2004

Agenda

Because this is the final national meeting of the Quality in Undergraduate Education (QUE) project, we would like to look both backwards and forwards-back to our history and accomplishments and forward to the ways in which we might continue to advance the ideals of the project at our institutions and through other national projects concerned with enhancing student learning. To accomplish these goals, we have organized the meeting across two full days to progress this way:

First, we will provide for structured reflections on QUE's accomplishments and disappointments (guided by our evaluators, Policy Studies Associates). We will analyze the factors that either enhanced success or created barriers to progress, and by the end of the day we will have a fairly detailed history of QUE, from 1997 to 2004.

Next, we will ask QUE colleagues to demonstrate successful techniques (standards-setting, curriculum mapping or revision, assessments, etc.) so that the group can reflect on lessons learned. This section will include observations by the consultants who have guided our progress.

Finally, we will think about how QUE can influence activities at our own and other institutions and projects.

With this structure in mind, please bring to the Denver meeting:

1. A list of perceptible changes that QUE has made in your professional life; the curriculum of your department; your syllabus; and/or your colleagues' professional work;

2. Assessment activities, standards, or curriculum changes not previously shared with QUE colleagues.

3. Plans and/or suggestions for continuing the work of QUE.

Thursday April 15, 2004

5:00 p.m. Planning meeting with Ron, Gloria, Ruth, Susan, Leslie Anderson and the PSA team

5:30 p.m. Cocktails and Dinner

7:00 p.m. Ron Henry: The Accomplishments of QUE

8:00 p.m. Cluster meetings

Friday April 16, 2004

7:30 a.m. Breakfast

8:30 a.m. What We Have Been Doing for Four Years

Leslie Anderson and the PSA team will explain their evaluation techniques, why they have been taking notes and asking questions, and what they have learned about QUE.

The team will then introduce their strategy for recording maximum information about QUE's successes and failures from all groups of QUE participants.

9:30 a.m. Collecting the History of QUE: Simultaneous Cluster Meetings and Small-group Interviews

A). Clusters meet to document what has been accomplished in QUE since 1997, guided by a series of organizing questions.

B). In two teams of two people each, the PSA researchers interview all subgroups by cluster, discipline, and whether 2-yr or 4-yr institution.

12 noon. Lunch

1:00 p.m. Resume history of QUE.

4:00 p.m. Plenary: Highlights, Problems, progress

Representatives of clusters will report on what the retrospective process is revealing.

5:30 p.m. Dinner on your own

Saturday April 17, 2004

7:30 a.m. Breakfast

8:30 a.m. Mini-conference

Clusters and institutions will demonstrate what worked for them, such as standards-setting processes, curriculum-mapping, institutional strategies, assessments.

12 noon. Lunch

1:00 p.m. What the Consultants Saw

Presentations by the discipline consultants on their experience with QUE and discuss how QUE relates to national trends and similar efforts in the disciplines.

3:00 p.m. Break

3:30 p.m. Summing up the Significance of QUE

Andrea Leskes, Vice President for Education and Quality Initiatives at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, will summarize the two days' work and reflect on QUE's place in the national spectrum of change in postsecondary education.

5:30 p.m. Cocktails and Celebratory Dinner

Sunday, April 18, 2004

8:00 a.m. Breakfast and Farewell Address