Packways: Learning by Doing
Packways is a means of informing and involving more students in success opportunities we call high-impact experiences (HIEs).
NC State’s 2024-2029 QEP
Packways: Learning by Doing was selected as the university’s 2024-2029 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) topic as part of NC State’s 2024 SACSCOC reaffirmation of accreditation process. This QEP, which focuses on high-impact experiences, is part of a universitywide project focused on enhancing student learning and student success.
About Packways
As part of Packways, NC State students will have access to high-impact experiences (HIEs), understand their value, and be guided in the practice of reflection to better integrate experiences across contexts for lifelong learning. Packways also brings together a community of practice that focuses on HIEs that prepare NC State students to serve North Carolina, the nation and the world.
Participation in high-impact experiences (HIEs) has a proven impact on students’ critical thinking, career readiness, rate of engagement and self-actualization.
Packways: Learning by Doing
2024-2029 QEP
What makes an experience ‘high impact’?
HIEs at NC State are immersive and sustained opportunities for students to deepen and apply knowledge in and beyond the classroom. HIEs empower NC State students, in collaboration with mentors and/or one another, to learn and grow through structured critical reflection, to make and communicate connections, and to assess and integrate goals across their collegiate experience. By equipping students with tools for lifelong learning, HIEs prepare our students to thrive in a dynamic, diverse and complex world.
Packways focuses on five types of student engagement through HIEs: early cohort, professional, scholarly, community and global.
Early Cohort Engagement
Living and Learning Villages, First-Year Academic Programs
Professional Engagement
Employment, Entrepreneurship, Internships/Co-Ops, Student Teaching, Practicums, Leadership
Scholarly Engagement
Undergraduate Research, Creative Activity, Senior Design Projects, Capstones
Community Engagement
Citizen Science, Service-Learning Courses, Service-Learning Projects
Global Engagement
Collaborative Online
International Learning (COIL) Courses, Study Abroad, Global Research and Internships, Certificates and Minors
How Can Packways Help Me?
Students: Students will learn about HIEs from consistent and peer-designed messaging. Advisors, faculty and staff will aid in planning for participation. Honing reflection skills will allow the integration of learning with personal and professional goals.
Faculty: Faculty may be mentoring or teaching a HIE (1st year seminar, service learning course, research course, capstone) and not even know it. Packways’ workshop series will help integrate reflection and mentoring practices. Packways funds can help improve or start a new HIE.
Staff/Advisors: Staff and advisors will participate in workshops to integrate HIEs into student advising, improve the quality of and access to the HIEs you oversee.
Administrators: HIEs provide students sought after skills such as problem solving, collaboration and communication. These marketable skills enhance both the NC State brand and our ability to recruit. They also contribute to a sense of belonging, helping with retention and student anxiety.
Learn more about packways
HIE Highlight
Video coming soon.
Packways Pilot Year (2024-25)
As we begin the five-year period of Packways, our pilot program has been designed to help us fully map all of the High Impact Experiences at NC State. Our framing questions are:
- What are the experiences which align with our vision of HIEs at NC State?
- How do students learn about these activities?
- How can we best educate students about the value of these experiences, guide them towards the experiences they need and help them to get the most out of these experiences?
- What do access and quality look like in different campus HIEs?
- What programs already embed critical reflection practices?
The Packways Pilot Year will focus on:
- Activating a multi-faceted communication plan with student voices explaining the benefits of HIEs, overcoming barriers to them and gateways to learning more and getting engaged
- Launching a three-pronged professional development program co-designed by campus partners to engage HIE mentors and advisors in learning and exchange about HIE best practices, facilitating access and embedding critical reflection
- Close collaboration with a group of HIEs that are most likely to reach entering freshmen/transfer students (first year seminars, living learning villages, student employment in the University Libraries and the Wellness and Recreation Center). These HIEs were selected because of their status as gateways – places where new NC State students are likely to learn about a variety of HIEs. In partnership with Packways staff these programs will circulate HIE resources to students, participate in professional development, encourage their students to complete Packways surveys and participate in HIE focus groups, and provide a sampling of reflection artifacts for assessment.
- Testing the assessment models developed (Student Learning Outcomes, assessment for HIE quality.)
Who We Are
Partners
- Office of Assessment and Accreditation
- Division of Academic and Student Affairs
- DELTA
- Office for Faculty Excellence
- Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs
- NC State University Libraries
- Shelton Leadership Center
Implementation Team
- Levent Atici, Associate Vice Provost for Student-Centered Interdisciplinary Initiatives, Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs
- Tricia Buddin, Director of Student Services, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Jennifer Capps, Assistant Vice Provost, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs
- Diane Chapman, Executive Director and Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development, Office for Faculty Excellence
- Kim Duckett, Department Head, Collections and Research Engagement, NC State University Libraries
- Melissa Edwards Smith, Director of Education and Campus Engagement, Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity
- Melvin Jai Jackson, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement, Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity
- Sharon Joines, Associate Dean of Academic Strategy and Professor, Graphic Design and Industrial Design, College of Design
- Michele Kurtz, Director, Student Leadership and Engagement, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
- Kelly Laraway, Director of Employer Relations, Career Development Center, College of Humanities and Social Sceinces
- Julia Law, Director, Study Abroad, Office of Global Engagement
- Verna Little, Assistant Director, Intern Program and IT Governence, Office of Information Technology
- Herle McGowan, Chair of the Faculty and Teaching Professor, Statistics, College of Sciences
- Chester Miller, Director, Residential Learning, University Housing, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
- Seth Murray, Teaching Professor and Director of International Studies Program, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Janice Odom, Director, Caldwell Fellows, NC State Alumni Association
- Annaka Sikkink, Program Coordinator for Student Engagement, Campus Enterprises
- Rhonda Sutton, Assistant Dean for Professional Development, The Graduate School
- Nancy Welchel, Assistant Vice Provost for Institutional Survey Research and Analysis, Institutional Research and Analysis
- Tyler Wiersma, Director of High-Impact Experiences, Poole College of Management
What is a QEP?
A Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is an integral component of the SACSCOC reaffirmation of accreditation process. It reflects and affirms a commitment to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on an issue that NC State considers important to improving student learning outcomes and/or student success
Per SACSCOC requirements, a QEP has:
- a topic identified through an institution’s ongoing comprehensive planning and evaluation processes;
- broad-based support of institutional constituencies; focuses on improving specific student learning outcomes and/or student success;
- commits resources to initiate, implement and complete the QEP; and
- includes a plan to assess achievement.
Visit the SACSCOC and Accreditation FAQ page for more information about the development of NC State’s QEP.