Supplemental Updates for University of Georgia - 2023

UGA recruits and enrolls undergraduate students with outstanding academic qualifications and lofty expectations for academic performance and post-graduate success. To meet the needs and expectations of these students, UGA has long been focused on excellence in undergraduate education. Evidence of this focus includes a long history of initiatives designed to enhance undergraduate education and increase our already high retention and completion rates. Examples include the following:

1. First Year Odyssey Seminar Program
2. Active Learning Initiative (Quality Enhancement Plan)
3. Small Class-size Initiative (SCI)
4. Enhanced student support via peer tutoring, peer learning assistants, and Academic Coaching
5. Experiential learning graduation requirement for all undergraduates
6. Double Dawgs pathways program and
7. The Teaching Enhancement and Innovation Fund.

We report briefly here on the Active Learning QEP and the Small Class-size Initiative (SCI).

3.A: Active Learning QEP

As part of UGA’s reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which was completed in Spring 2022, the University of Georgia selected active learning as the topic for its new QEP to infuse active learning within the teaching and learning ecosystem for undergraduates at UGA.

Within a culture of active learning, students are active participants in the classroom, learning is understood as the construction of knowledge rather than its absorption, and instructors guide students to construct knowledge while actively reflecting upon the learning process.

The QEP is designed to transform the undergraduate classroom experience by cultivating a learning environment that supports and amplifies the impacts of active learning along three strands: 1) programming for instructors to embrace and develop active learning within their curriculum and to redesign specific courses to incorporate it; 2) courses and other resources for students to introduce them to the value of active learning and help them become successful in active learning environments; and 3) renovation of classrooms into dynamic, active learning spaces. To advance this initiative, in 2021 UGA and the UGA Foundation allocated $6 million over five years (from Fall 2022 through Spring 2027).

In the area of programming for instructors, the Active Learning Summer Institute (ALSI) has included 127 faculty members across 57 departments on campus who have redesigned 138 courses impacting over 78,000 students. See Appendix B for a list of redesigned classes as part of ALSI. In spring 2023, Mathematics and Statistics were each awarded change grants to redesign strategic courses in their majors that impacted 2,800 students annually.

Within the student engagement component of the initiative, 152 students have taken UNIV courses dedicated to preparing them to excel as active learners on campus in Spring 2023. In addition, the University selects, hires, and funds more than 120 undergraduate students per semester to serve as peer learning assistants (PLAs). Within this role, PLAs may help plan the course with the instructor, facilitate classroom discussion and active learning techniques, and provide a resource for students seeking more information about the course.

In addition to the budget allocated for the QEP, UGA has also spent over $2.5 million since 2018 on classroom transformations and a teaching laboratory for instructors to examine and test different technologies or classroom setups that promote active learning. Within the QEP budget, 41 classrooms were enhanced with student collaboration tools in the first year, impacting instruction for more than 34,725 students each semester, and one model active learning classroom was designed in the center of campus to demonstrate complete flexibility for a learning environment for all those wishing to implement active learning pedagogy.

Students will most directly feel the impact of this culture change, as the key learning outcomes of this initiative are to instill students with lifelong learning dispositions: curiosity, initiative, connection, and reflection. These goals for student learning align well with the University’s mission and its “commitment to excellence in a teaching/learning environment dedicated to serving a diverse and well-prepared student body, to promoting high levels of academic achievement, and to providing appropriate academic support services.”

3.B: Small Class-size Initiative (SCI)

Despite the size of its student population, UGA maintains small class sizes, having on average 33 students per class with a 17:1 student-to-instructor ratio. The Small Class Initiative (SCI) is keeping that ratio low. Beginning in 2016, the initiative reduced class sizes and added seat capacity in select classes that had high demand, served multiple majors, and had high DF rates and large numbers of withdrawals.

As anticipated, this initiative has resulted in wider availability of critical classes, a reduction in the DF-W rates, deeper student learning, and improved time-to-degree. We have seen significant improvements in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, Mathematics, Microbiology, Economics, and Biostatistics. We will continue to review the data and work with departments and review data on effectiveness.

Section 4: Observations and Next Steps

UGA has built a vibrant, world-class learning environment which, thanks in part to innovations such as the Active Learning Initiative, Experiential Learning requirement, Double Dawg pathways, and other special initiatives. In the coming year we will add a focus on writing and increasing undergraduate students involved in research. We are attracting the very best students from across the state and nation and around the world, and we will continue to use data to inform our student success initiatives to make sure students thrive at UGA.

Those who reported data and offered advice for this CCG update were the following: