The University of Mississippi

Quality Enhancement Plan

Cultivating Indispensable Abilities

Welcome to Thinkforward, the University of Mississippi’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Thinkforward is designed to foster critical thinking skill development in lower-division, general education courses and co-curricular learning experiences by enhancing faculty development and modifying student learning environments. Thinkforward sets out an ambitious set of actions, unites the UM community of scholars around a central learning outcome, and reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to improve general education.

Critical thinking is at the heart of a college education.

Critical thinking involves thinking about complex problems, gathering and evaluating information, comparing alternative conclusions, and communicating a conclusion. Over the next five years, the university is investing resources to help faculty and professional staff more effectively teach critical thinking. The university will also invest in building and/or renovating classrooms that facilitate engaged learning opportunities. This Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), ThinkFORWARD, was developed from conversations among students, faculty, and staff.

Solving these visual puzzles is one example of critical thinking. Click the poster to reveal the answer.

Check back this fall for more puzzles, brain teasers, and critical thinking activities.


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Announcements

February 1, 2019

UM Launches Website to Support QEP

We are pleased to launch thinkforward.olemiss.edu to support the University of Mississippi’s Quality Enhancement Plan, Thinkforward. The QEP was developed with twin goals to support critical thinking. Over the course of five years, we will (a) cultivate the ability of our faculty to teach critical thinking and (b) enhance the student learning environment to better engage critical thinking. In support of these goals, we will engage in seven comprehensive actions, which include hiring new personnel to lead our initiative, creating an annual faculty institute to support critical thinking pedagogy, providing opportunities for critical thinking redesign grants, supporting faculty programming on critical thinking, as well as developing other initiatives.

Grant Program Among Planned Activities of QEP

Planned activities of the QEP include the launch of a critical thinking redesign (CTR) grant program to promote diffusion of critical thinking development across the University. This program will be incentivized and supported and participants will be selected through a call for proposals. Individuals awarded critical thinking redesign grants are expected to contribute to the critical thinking teaching and learning guide (Action 5) and assess the critical thinking learning outcomes of their students. Please check back for additional information as this program is developed.