Members of AFIT's QIP Committee pose for a photo with Dr. Sivaguru S. Sritharan, AFIT Provost and Academic Dean (seated at the left) and Dr. Todd Stewart, AFIT Director and Chancellor (seated at the right).  Back row, from left to right: Maj Christina Rusnock (Chair, QIP Steering Committee), Dr. Laurence Merkle, Dr. Steven Cain (Chair, QIP Internal Sub-Committee), Dr. Betsy Grimes, Mr. Michael Hill, Maj Jason Bindewald (Chair, External Sub-Committee), Ms. Amy High, and Mr. Richard Kappel.

In preparation for its ten-year accreditation reaffirmation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) in 2020, the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is undertaking a major Quality Initiative Project (QIP) to demonstrate the institution's commitment to continuous improvement. 

The HLC's website states that the QIP "is intended to allow institutions to take risks, aim high, and if so be it, learn from only partial success or even failure.  Genuineness of effort, not success of the initiative, constitutes the focus of the Quality Initiative review and serves as its sole point of evaluation."

AFIT's QIP will create a data-driven, executable investment strategy for modernizing instructional capabilities across the institute. 

"The concept of a twenty first century university and twenty first century classroom entails interdisciplinary research and education and multi-modal instruction that goes beyond traditional modes of instruction and research experimentation. Modernizing AFIT's instructional capabilities is a forward thinking strategy for the institution and the QIP initiative is a meaningful step in this direction. For AFIT, the QIP initiative is not only a requirement to complete the HLC reaffirmation process but also is an essential component of the institutional strategic plan" stated Dr. Sivaguru S. Sritharan, AFIT's Provost and Academic Dean.

The steering committee, led by Maj Christina Rusnock, has defined 5 thrust areas:  (1) Classroom and teaching laboratory design, functionality, and utilization (2) E-learning technologies for resident and distance delivery (3) Faculty and staff development programs and support infrastructure (4) Infrastructure to support advanced instructional technology capabilities and (5) Organizational structures, policies, processes, procedures, and strategic vision to support effective teaching.

For each of the thrust areas there is a period of data collection, a gap analysis, and development of investment strategy guidance. 

"Data collection is the largest phase and is comprised of internal and external sub-committees.  The internal sub-committee is charged with collecting data on AFIT's current capabilities, needs, strengths, and issues for each of the five thrust areas.  This was accomplished mainly through surveys, focus groups, and panel discussions" explained Maj Rusnock.  "The external committee's job is to collect information on other university's activities with respect to the five thrust areas.  This was done mainly through site visits and phone interviews.  They will develop a list of at least three feasible ideas for each of the thrust areas."   

One of the surprising observations was from an AFIT faculty member's visit to the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT).  The FIT library staff have done away with almost all of their books in the library, focusing instead on digital collections.  With the extra space, FIT has created collaborative areas for students and faculty to come together and interact. "They had all of this space that was housing books that people weren't reading - because getting a paper book or journal isn't the way people currently interact with those materials.  That was really interesting to think of the 'bookless library'," commented Maj Rusnock.

Through the summer of 2017, the sub-committees will work to analyze their data and identify gaps in capabilities.  That information will then be used for the final phase of the QIP - developing investment strategy guidance detailing investment opportunities that are prioritized based on cost and ease of implementation.

"One of the things that I hope will come out of this project is identifying that instructional capabilities are a priority and that the faculty needs to be appropriately incentivized to do their own development to make sure they are excelling in the classroom. Speaking as a faculty member within the graduate school, a lot of attention is placed on our research and publications.  That attention sends an implicit message to the faculty on where their efforts should be focused" said Maj Rusnock.

Maj Rusnock is quick to state that the committee isn't trying to implement change just for change's sake.  "Any technology can either enhance or detract from what teachers are trying to do in the classroom.  It depends on the material, how it is implemented, class size, etc.  So it is really important to prioritize the learning outcomes and student objectives first and then determine if some of these new technologies can help the faculty more effectively meet those goals" said Maj Rusnock.

The QIP report is due to HLC in April 2018, but there are some relatively easy ideas that AFIT has already implemented. "The University of Cincinnati has a Faculty Advisory Committee comprised of faculty from all the departments who advise the Teaching and Learning Center on effective methods and needs for a particular department.  Dr. Betsy Grimes, Faculty Development Director at AFIT, has begun implementing this model already" said Maj Rusnock.