East Georgia State College Campus Plan Update 2020

Institutional Mission and Student Body Profile

East Georgia State College (EGSC) is an associate degree granting, liberal arts institution providing access to academically transferable programs of study and targeted baccalaureate degrees at low cost to its students. As a unit of the University System of Georgia (USG) within the State College Sector, EGSC extends its access mission from its home campus in Swainsboro to instructional sites in Statesboro and Augusta. EGSC has been included on both of the U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency Center annually updated Lowest Tuition and Lowest Net Price national lists of four-year public colleges since July 2017.

EGSC began offering its initial baccalaureate degree, a Bachelor of Science (BS) Degree in Biology, in Fall Semester 2012 and has awarded the degree to 20 students. Since adding an Associate of Science (AS) Degree in Biology in Fall Semester 2017, 10 students have earned the AS Degree in Biology.

The College launched its second bachelor program in Spring Semester 2016, a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Fire and Emergency Services Administration (FESA) and added an Associate of Arts (AA) FESA degree option in Spring Semester 2016. The FESA Program is based on the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) curriculum created at the National Fire Academy. The FESA BA Degree has been awarded to 12 students and the FESA AA Degree has been awarded to 6 students.

A third baccalaureate program, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN Bridge) Degree, was launched in Fall Semester 2017. Two cohorts have completed the program since its inception and 33 students have earned their BSN Degree. Both the BSN and FESA programs are offered entirely online for the convenience of working professionals and are among the lowest cost programs of their type in the nation.

Consistent with its access mission and its Carnegie Classification as a Baccalaureate/Associate’s Dominant College, EGSC expanded the number of associate degrees it offers in Fall Semester 2017. Until that semester, the College offered an Associate of Arts, Core Curriculum (AACC) Degree. In addition to the AACC, EGSC now offers 10 associate of arts and 5 associate of science degrees with disciplinary distinctions. These degree options encourage EGSC students to focus early on specific programs of study that are aligned with baccalaureate degrees offered by EGSC and other USG colleges and universities. In the first three years that these academic programs have been available, 263 EGSC students have graduated with associate of arts and 97 have graduated with associate of science degrees with disciplinary distinctions. (A list of EGSC’s degrees earned by program for the 2017-18 through 2019-20 fiscal years is presented in Table A1 in the Appendices.)

As presented in Table 1a below, EGSC enrollment peaked in Fall Semester 2011, declined, then recovered, but has declined again in recent years. Given more flexible admissions requirements at USG universities in response to the coronavirus pandemic, enrollment at colleges in the USG State College Sector declined in Fall Semester 2020 compared to the previous fall semester. As shown in Table 1a and 1b, another effect of the coronavirus pandemic is the significant increase in the number and percentage of students taking classes solely online.

Table 1a: Enrollment by Location/Delivery Mode: Fall Semester 2011-2020

Table 1b: Percentage Breakdown of Enrollment by Location/Delivery Mode: Fall Semester 2011-2020

Fall Semester 2019 Comparisons of EGSC with the USG State College Sector

Throughout the Complete College Georgia initiative (2012 to 2020), EGSC’s four largest demographic cohorts have been African-American (Black) Females; African-American (Black) Males; White (Non-Hispanic) Females; and White (Non-Hispanic) Males. As indicated in Table 2 below and presented graphically in the Appendices, for Fall Semester 2019 the ethnic composition of EGSC’s student population differed from the State College Sector overall. EGSC serves a higher proportion of Black students and lower proportions of White, Hispanic, and Asian students.

Table 2: Fall 2019 Student Ethnic Composition

For Fall Semester 2019, EGSC’s student population differed from the USG State College Sector in other important ways. EGSC had a higher percentage of full-time students, 78 percent, compared to 65 percent for the USG sector. EGSC also had a higher percentage of students requiring learning support, 71 percent, compared to 38 percent for the USG sector. In addition, 27 percent of EGSC’s students were the first generation to attend college, compared to 12 percent for the USG sector. Graphs highlighting these contrasts between EGSC and the USG State College Sector are presented in the Appendices to this report in Figures A1 through A6.

Fall Semester 2020 Student Profile

A percentage breakdown by location and mode of delivery of EGSC’s demographic cohorts for Fall Semester 2020 is presented below in Table 3.

Table 3: Fall 2020 Enrollment by Gender and Ethnicity by Location and Delivery Mode

Presented in Table 4 below is a breakdown by number and percentage of first-time freshmen (FTF) based on course load for Fall Semester 2020. Most first-time freshmen are full-time, particularly if they take at least one class on campus.

Table 4: Fall 2020 First-Time Freshmen by Course Load

Presented in Table 5 below is a profile of first-time freshmen in Fall 2020, including the percentages of FTF who require learning support, are first generation college students, and who receive a Pell Grant.

Table 5: Fall 2020 First-Time Freshmen Profile

Section 2. Improvement Practices

EGSC has initiated improvement practices (IPs) to remove or lessen the structural and motivational obstacles that students face and to improve the outcomes for our campus. In this section, those IPs will be described according to who is involved in planning and decision-making, the data used to make decisions, how this data is disaggregated and shared, areas in which the data indicate improvement or not, and the areas where the College is closing equity gaps.

1. First-year residential curriculum with emphasis on academic success, critical thinking skills, navigating campus procedures, increasing students’ understanding and respect for civility, and assisting students in making the transition from high school to college. Presiding over this IP are Angela Storck – Director of Housing (in collaboration with the Director of Academic Success in Residence Halls, Director of Retention, Director of Counseling Services, Director of Student Conduct). Data used in decision-making include survey data, early alert submissions, high school grade point average, enrollment status, academic progress, and conduct referrals. The goal of this initiative is to create a collaborative, data-driven experience for students that optimizes the efficient and effective use of campus resources in support of student success.
2. Mongoose texting system Mongoose Cadence is a non-emergency text messaging system that is utilized by all EGSC campuses to conduct two-way communications between EGSC units and stakeholders to efficiently convey relevant information such as financial aid deadlines, academic advising, college activities, events, housing and scholarship information. The texts can be targeted to a broad audience or one person (i.e., missing document request). Parents, prospective students, alumni and other stakeholders may also be reached through this service. The Statesboro Director, the Office of Institutional Advancement and President’s Office, and selected departments oversee the system. Administrative users manage the success of the tool and provide functional support. They import and export student data, create and manage Mongoose user accounts, monitor platform usage, initiate larger-scale text message campaigns, text, manage everyday touchpoints and communications, and build relationships with students. Reports showing usage and response rates are exported and evaluated by respective personnel. This IP makes communication with students and other stakeholders more accessible and efficient. In addition, communication can be tracked which provides data for more informed decision-making.
3. Georgia Southern University Partnership EGSC established a presence in Statesboro in 1997 through a cooperative academic program with Georgia Southern University (GS). EGSC - Statesboro students may co-enroll in select courses with GS and may participate in the GS Army ROTC program and Southern Pride. Students enrolled at EGSC-Statesboro are full members of the GS campus communities and have access to student services and activities on the GS campus. Data used to make decisions include transfer rates; transfer student performance (GPA); co-enrolled student performance (GPA); number of transfer hours; number of graduated transfer students. EGSC and GS continue to improve this partnership removing obstacles and working together to promote the program. This partnership allows students to take advantage of the small, personal classroom setting at EGSC while simultaneously benefiting from the numerous student service opportunities at GS.
4. New position, Director of Retention Devoted position to ensure that students are aware of resources available to assist in their academic success, including workshops and individual consultations. The Director of Retention works with the members of the retention team, staff from Student Life, Records and Financial Aid, and faculty. Data is drawn from early alert submissions, academic warning information, Bobcat Bridge records, and financial aid alerts. Telephone calls and emails are utilized to reinforce the institutional commitment to student success.
5. D2L communications with students Posting of announcements in D2L for students that includes information about courses, semester reminders, and other timely and important information for students. For example, information is posted about the Pulse App from D2L and how to download it. This is an additional resource that students have access to and are likely to see any communication that is directed to them. The Director of eLearning, VPAA, Deans, and campus directors are involved in the planning and decision-making. Data used for decision-making is drawn from average number of logins to D2L. There was an average of 8941 logins for the first week of fall semester. Communications in D2L can be targeted to Swainsboro, Statesboro, or Augusta students.
6. G2C course redesigns Eliminate inequities in student success in gateway English and mathematics courses (i.e. ENGL 1101, ENGL 1102, and MATH 1001), based on sex, race/ethnicity, age, first-generation college student status, and Pell grant recipient status. Planning and decision-making by mathematics and English faculty. Data collected from G2C Project Teams, Student success rates, and course redesign reporting data from G2C platform. MATH 1111 College Algebra was discontinued as a G2C course beginning Fall 2018.
7. Convocation Academic Convocation is held each year at EGSC to commemorate new students’ entry into higher education, to officially start the new academic year, induct new students into the Freshmen Class with the Bobcat Pledge, build community among the academic family, and to share the College’s mission and expectations to new and returning students. The Convocation Committee co-chaired by the College Deans. A survey is administered to all faculty to select the annual topic.
8. Early Alerts Utilize GradesFirst Early Alert system to improve student attendance and success. This initiative is managed by the academic deans, chairs, coordinators, directors, faculty; Academic Center for Excellence staff, and the Director of Retention. The data collected is drawn from class attendance and course success rates.
9. Synchronous Instruction Faculty will teach online courses via Zoom at scheduled times. The academic deans, chairs, coordinators, directors, and faculty manage this initiative. Data used to analyze success are course success rates and outcome achievement.
10. “Live” Office Hours Faculty conduct office hours remotely and are available to consult with students “live” during these hours. Faculty are required to keep 10 office hours per week. Faculty may use Zoom conferencing, Microsoft Teams, Facetime, or Google Live for the student consultations.
11. Critical and Academic Thinking for Success (CATS) Restructure Effective Fall 2020 expanded CATS course to include previous course description found in current catalog, as well as a Special Interest element to more effectively engage students in coursework for CATS, with the goal of aiding in student retention. Primary people involved in the planning and decision-making of the IP for CATS included the current Vice President of Academic and Students Affairs, Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences, and Director of First Year Experience (FYE). Secondary participants in the execution of the plan and ongoing decisions include faculty members teaching CATS and the FYE committee. Data used to carry out the IPs for CATS came from several sources. One of, if not the major reason for the restructure was the USG initiative on making connections with students for retention purposes. Also, attendance has historically been low in many CATS sections. The college now incorporates a no-cost textbook to help ease the financial burden of students purchasing a textbook. In order to broaden the base of instructor participation across our campuses, faculty teaching responsibility for CATS now encompasses the School of Mathematics and Sciences, as well as the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Class sizes were restructured at a cap of 20 per class section, as opposed to over 200 per section, previously. It is desired that the pass rate for the class will greatly improve with smaller class sections, as better professional and academic relationships are facilitated. Continued monitoring by the FYE Committee and the EGSC leadership team will be ongoing in nature. Linkages to EGSC’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), faculty learning communities (FLCs), and the development of student communities (SLCs), are all components of a multi-pronged approach to fully implement and integrate the many campus and academic elements of the IP of the CATS program. It is expected that the IP to the CATS program will transform the EGSC community.
12. Augusta University (AU) Partnership The purpose of this partnership is to use up-to date, relative data to strategically deepen the EGSC-AU partnership. In order to accomplish this, a working group has been created to address areas of improvement by analyzing specific data regarding the success of EGSC-AU students who transfer to AU. The President of EGSC, along with the VP for Enrollment Management at Augusta University, established the key indicators for examination. Various departments from AU, including enrollment management and IT, work to ensure that the data is up-to date. Various departments at EGSC, including the AVP for External Campuses and IT, work to ensure that the data is consistently shared for current information. A Working Group of individuals from both campuses meet frequently to discuss the intricate details of each key indicator and provide updates to data, as needed. A data dashboard with key indicators was created to assess the partnership regarding the number of EGSC-AU students per term, number of transfers, average GPA of EGSC-AU students that transfer to AU, progression to 30, 60 and 90 hours, and graduates. While these key indicators have been selected and are currently being viewed, other projects continue to stem from the working group. For example, the co-enrollment process has been redesigned, which allows EGSC-AU students to take courses with Augusta University. This revamped project should impact the number of students that transfer to AU. Other smaller projects that continue to be addressed include faculty/staff access to AU accounts, ID/Parking Permit retrieval processes, and co-enrollment application/processing/matriculation practices.
13. Tutor.com Tutor.com is an online tutoring service that provides 24/7 on demand access across over 80 subjects, significantly expanding service to our students seeking instructional support late at night, on weekends, or other times when our Academic Centers for Excellence are closed. Tutor.com offers 24/7 on-demand tutoring services 52 weeks a year. The College subscription to Tutor.com promotes tutoring services for fully online students and off-site students. Tutor.com was set up for a “test run” in Summer 2019 and fully implemented by Fall 2019. With the initial contract, EGSC purchased 500 hours. Students began using these hours in July 2019. By the end of January 2020, there remained only 179 hours of the original 500 hours purchased. An additional 250 hours were then purchased. These additional hours proved to be extremely valuable as the College moved to fully online/remote services in Mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the assistance of CARES Act funding, the College was able to purchase over 2000 additional tutoring hours in June 2020. The college remained fully online through the Summer 2020 semester and reopened in August for Fall 2020. Usage of tutor.com during fully remote services (March through July) = slightly over 216 hours that includes 398 tutoring sessions. Total number of hours used since tutor.com was implemented in July 2019 = 626 hours that includes 1672 tutoring sessions. The average session length is 27.57 minutes. Top subjects: Math = 867 sessions and 378 hours (details of each Math subject are in full report attached) Science = 244 sessions and 131 hours (details for each Science are in full report attached) English = 81 sessions and 34 hours (that is live one on one session times) There were also 30 hours of 24/7 essay review drop offs, bringing the total for English to 64 hours. Tutor.com has proven to be an asset for supplementing tutoring services for our students.
14. ACE Services Tutoring In-person tutoring is provided for our students at all 3 campus locations: Swainsboro, Statesboro and Augusta. With the assistance of technology, tutoring services provided by our EGSC tutoring staff have been expanded to provide remote tutoring options. Zoom has been the main platform utilized to provide remote services. This was especially needed when the college was required to move to fully remote services in Mid-March due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. There are ACE Coordinators at each site location who are supervised by the Director of the Learning Commons. See Attached Student Usage and Success Rates table for details. Note: Spring 2020: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all University System of Georgia Institutions were required to move all services and courses online mid-semester. Therefore, check-in information from our GradesFirst kiosk in each ACE location was not accessible to students from March 14th until the end of the semester. This greatly impacted our numbers for student visits. However, our tutoring staff continued to assist our students with their tutoring needs remotely utilizing a variety of platforms during this time. Despite the challenges with tutoring remotely, the overall success rate for our students between the 3 campuses rose from 72.5% for the Fall 2019 semester to nearly 80% for the Spring 2020 semester. One positive that has emerged from the pandemic is the knowledge gained in the use of technology and how utilizing technology enhances the opportunities for providing services to our students. Remote tutoring will continue to be offered to all students across all 3 campuses in addition to our fully online and off-site students. Tutors from each ACE location will be utilized to provide services across campuses to increase tutoring services at each ACE location. A calendar has been created highlighting each tutor’s availability and subject knowledge. The schedule is posted for students to view in the newly created Academic Center for Excellence D2L course, which will aid them in scheduling their tutoring appointments. The Academic Center for Excellence D2L course will be launched for the Fall 2020 semester.
15. Academic Advising Advisement is provided to students with learning support requirements on the Swainsboro and Statesboro campuses by full-time professional advisors. In Augusta, for the 2019-2020 Academic year, advising for students with support requirements was provided by a combination of a full-time professional advisor and faculty advisors. The Director of the Learning Commons and Advising staff, with supervision from the Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs are responsible for decision-making. Student completion rates and student success rates are the data used in decision-making. In Spring 2020, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, all EGSC services and courses were moved to fully online beginning March 14; therefore, face-to- face advisement meetings were not feasible for half of the Spring semester. During this time, Academic Advising staff met with students remotely utilizing Zoom, phone calls and, also communicated via email. Although the College reopened in August for Fall 2020, Academic Advisors will continue to meet with students in a remote manner due to social distancing requirements.
16. Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) To ensure the quality of the student learning communities, faculty scheduled to teach linked courses begin training through a series of workshops that the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and First Year Experience (FYE) Directors are leading. These workshops cover best practices for teaching student learning communities and mindset exercises that address faculty mindset toward students. Including the FYE Director in the training and professional development of faculty teaching these courses impacting first-year students is an improvement plan that was formed after the QEP report was submitted, and it came out of careful consideration of the strategic plan that focuses on learning communities, high impact practices, and mindset. The QEP Director, CETL Director, and FYE Director are the decision-making team.
17. Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Faculty Teaching and Learning Series is a new workshop experience for faculty looking to share activities and approaches that have worked for them. The series is designed to encourage greater participation among faculty and to inspire faculty to take ownership of the CETL as a valuable resource to their professional development. Participation numbers in CETL activities have been low (less than 10) since the CETL’s beginning. Increasing faculty participation supports EGSC’s first goal in its strategic plan in that the more that faculty attend workshops designed by faculty for faculty, the greater impact the CETL can have on supporting USG’s and EGSC’s teaching and mindset initiatives.
18. Chancellor’s Learning Scholars (CLS) The CETL director will sponsor a Kickoff Event via Zoom in early November that allows the CLS to introduce their topics and ask for volunteers to join their Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs). This promotional event is an improvement over the flyers that have previously promoted the CLSs. The promotional flyers did not offer adequate space for generating widespread interest in the FLCs topics. Some CLSs reported poor participation. The improvement plan seeks to improve participation.
19. Momentum Year (MY) The CETL and the FYE Directors have joined forces to create workshops for faculty teaching student learning communities. These workshops have a mindset component that takes the mindset initiative to the next level: encouraging faculty to develop a growth mindset toward their students. The CETL and FYE Directors have also joined to start mindset workshops for faculty teaching first-year courses to support EGSC’s mindset initiative. Faculty will learn how to develop growth mindset in their students through feedback, language, and reflective assignments. They will also learn how to apply growth mindset to their own attitudes concerning their students’ abilities regardless of the student’s preparation level. The CETL Director and the First Year Experience Director study high DFWI rates in first year courses to make decisions.
20. New position, Director of Academics in the Residence Halls The Director of Academics in Residence Halls assists students in improving their academic achievement and proactively encourages academic success. The Director works with faculty and staff to provide mentorship with Residence students. Zoom conferences will be held to throughout the fall semester to disseminate academic information. A power point presentation was created to introduce the core curriculum to all new students. A housing video was created and required for all students to view. The advisement session of the video covered information about the core, advisement, and important dates for the fall 2020 semester.
21. Mandatory Online Teaching Training of all FT & PT Faculty All full and part-time faculty are required to complete online teaching training by September 18, 2020. The options for faculty members included eCore training, the faculty training available at Augusta University (specifically for faculty at the EGSC Augusta instructional facility), and the BOR Faculty Development Series, Going the Distance: Designing and Delivering Quality Online Courses and Degree Programs. Faculty who previously taught or currently teach eCore courses were exempted from the training. The VPASA and college deans supervise this initiative. To continuously enhance student learning, this training is crucial to ensure that faculty are prepared to teach online synchronously and with better online course management skills.
22. Use of Best Practices (see attachment) During the annual Faculty Workshop (August 2020), faculty were a given a handout Best Practices and Expectations for Online Instructors. The online learning environment presents a unique set of challenges that require clear definition of faculty performance. The best practices identify the minimum level of interaction and management needed between students and faculty to maintain a quality online learning environment. Faculty were asked to sign, date, and return these agreements to their academic dean. The decision to use best practices is based on college retention and graduation data.
23. Faculty training in High Impact Practices (HIP) During the Faculty Workshop in August 2020, presentations were made to faculty on a variety of HIPs, including a) Growth Mindset, b) TILTing, c) Generation Z Goes to College, d) USG Summer Seminar, e) Techniques to Humanize OL Teaching, f) Reflections on COVID Transition in Spring 2020, and g) Tips for 8-Week Courses. The decision to train faculty in HIPs is based partly on the USG system initiative promoting the use of HIPs and college retention and graduation data.
24. Use of Faculty Communications Plan At the Faculty Workshop in August 2020, faculty were given a detailed, semester-long communications plan and asked to use it. The purpose of the detailed communication plan is to help foster connections with students, particularly students who have been identified as at-risk for academic failure. The decision to use communications plan is twofold: the College’s priority to enhance the degree to which students feel connected in the classroom and the BOR initiative toward making meaningful connections with students.
25. Low & No-cost Texts In the effort to make college more affordable, all faculty are encouraged to use low or no-cost textbooks. This information is available on the student schedule, which is available online 24/7. The decision to use low and no-cost textbooks was made based on the high percentage of Pell eligible students and financial aid recipients at the College.
26. Fall Break Term Short term, This IP is similar to the Maymester term and provides the opportunity for students to take classes during the winter break. The decision to offer the Fall Break Term was made based on enrollment and the focus on offering flexibility in course scheduling. This IP is overseen by the Associate Vice President for Academics and Enrollment Management, the Director of Admissions, and the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. The measure of success is the number of credit hours sold.
27. 12-Week Term The purpose of the 12-Week Term is to offer flexibility in course scheduling while allowing students (who enroll late) the time they need to complete the financial aid process prior to the start of classes. This IP is managed by the Associate Vice President for Academics and Enrollment Management, the Director of Admissions, the Director of Financial Aid, and the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs. The measure of success will be the number of full-time students enrolled in the 12-Week Term and the number of credit hours sold.

Momentum Update: Observations and Next Steps

Section 3.1 Existing Momentum Work

Pathways 

Purposeful Choice

Mindset

Section 3.2 Follow up from Momentum Summit III - “Campus-Wide” Momentum Approach Activities (Beyond the Classroom)

Presented below is the work and institutional activities initiated by the USG Momentum Summit III, with descriptions of strategies that impact student success “beyond the classroom,” including improving student success through financial aid, student life, housing, and career services, or in other aspects of your cross-campus work.

Student Success and Completion Team

The members of the EGSC Student Success and Completion Team are presented below.