East Georgia State College Campus Plan Update 2021

SECTION 1. 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.

Because admissions testing requirements at USG universities were suspended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment at colleges in the USG State College Sector declined in Fall Semester 2020 compared to the previous fall semester. EGSC’s enrollment declined by almost 12 percent between Fall Semesters 2019 and 2020. As a result, EGSC enrollment in Spring Semester 2021 declined from the previous spring semester and the enrollment decline continued in Fall Semester 2021. With the reactivation of admissions testing requirements at USG universities in Spring Semester 2022, fall semester enrollments at state college are expected to rebound. As shown in Tables 1a and 1b below, another effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is the significant increase in the number and percentage of students taking classes solely online.

Table 1a: Enrollment by Location/Delivery Mode: Fall Semesters 2012-2021

Table 1b: Percentage of Enrollment by Location/Delivery Mode: Fall Semesters 2012-2021

EGSC Academic Program Review

Because of the decline in enrollment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the related suspension of admissions testing requirements at USG universities, a study group was formed consisting of EGSC and USG academic staff during Spring Semester 2021 to review the viability of the College’s academic programs. Given the decline in EGSC’s enrollment, one certificate program, thirteen associate degree programs, and three baccalaureate degree programs were determined to be unsustainable. Consistent with the USG’s Board of Regents Policy 3.6 Creation and Elimination of Academic Programs, these programs were closed to new admissions on August 11, 2021, and plans were developed to assist students currently majoring in these programs to complete their degrees over the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years.

In addition, meta-majors at the associate degree level were created for the social sciences and the natural sciences to provide efficient pathways for students completing an associate degree at EGSC to go on to complete a baccalaureate degree at another USG institution with seamless transferability of credit hours earned. As a result of these changes, EGSC will be offering the following degrees to current and prospective students:

• Associate of Arts in Elementary Education
• Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts (formally Associate of Arts, Core Curriculum)
• Associate of Arts in Social Sciences (New in Fall Semester 2021)
• Associate of Science in Business Administration
• Associate of Science in Natural Sciences (New in Fall Semester 2021)

Fall Semester 2020 Comparisons of EGSC with the USG State College Sector

Throughout the Complete College Georgia initiative (2012 to 2021), 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 Appendix, for Fall Semester 2020 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 2020 Student Ethnic Composition

For Fall Semester 2020, EGSC’s student population was like the USG State College Sector in several ways, including gender representation and credit hour load. For both EGSC and the State College Sector, women made up 62 percent of the student population. In addition, 60 percent of EGSC students were full-time compared to 62 percent of students across the State College Sector and in both cases served military students who were 1 percent of the overall student population. 26 percent of EGSC students were first generation compared to 22 percent for the sector. One important difference was EGSC’s higher percentage of students requiring learning support, 65 percent, compared to 34 percent for the sector. For the 2019-20 academic year, EGSC student completed associate degrees with an average of 71.4 credit hours earned compared to 80 credit hours earned for the sector. Graphs illustrating these comparisons between EGSC and the USG State College Sector are presented in the Appendix to this report in Figures A1 through A9.

Student Profile

A numeric breakdown of EGSC’s Fall 2021 Enrollment demographic cohorts by location and mode of delivery is presented below in Table 3a. A percentage breakdown of EGSC’s demographic cohorts is presented below in Table 3b. Since the multiracial category represents 5.2 percent of female enrollment and 4.2 percent of male enrollment, students in this category are listed separately from other students.

Table 3a: Fall 2021 Enrollment Count by Gender and Ethnicity by Location/Delivery Mode

Table 3b: Fall 2021 Enrollment Percentages by Gender and Ethnicity by Location/Delivery Mode

Fall Semester 2021 First-Time Freshmen (FTF) Profile

Presented in Table 4 below is a breakdown by number and percentage of first-time freshmen (FTF) based on course load for Fall Semester 2021. Most first-time freshmen who attend one or more classes at an EGSC location are full-time. In contrast, a smaller majority of FTF taking classes online only are full-time students.

Table 4: Fall 2021 First-Time Freshmen by Course Load

Presented in Table 5 below is a breakdown by number and percentage of Fall 2021 first-time freshmen are first generation college students and who receive a Pell Grant.

Table 5: Fall 2021 First-Time Freshmen First Generation and Pell Grant Recipients

EGSC Comparisons with Peer Colleges

In 2017, EGSC selected fifteen colleges, including three within the USG, as its comparison group for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Each EGSC data feedback report generated from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) compares the College to this group. According to the IPEDS Data Feedback Report 2020 for the College, 46 percent of EGSC enrolled students in Fall Semester 2019 were Black, in contrast with 6 percent for its comparison group. In addition, the majority of EGSC were full-time students, while most students in its comparison group were part-time. EGSC also had higher percentages of its students taking at least one course online and taking online courses exclusively. As in previous years, tuition and fees charged by EGSC to full-time, first-time (FTFT) students were lower than its comparison group. The 2020 feedback report included three-year associate degree graduation and transfer-out rates for the Fall Semester 2013 FTFT cohort. While EGSC’s graduation rate of 12 percent was lower than the 29 percent average for its comparison group, EGSC’s transfer-out rate of 66 percent was substantially higher than the 13 percent average for its comparison group. Given its function as an access institution within the USG, the combination of these two rates indicates a success rate of 78 percent for EGSC in accomplishing its mission.

SECTION 2. IMPROVEMENT PRACTICES – UNDERSTANDING CHANGE MANAGEMENT

The improvement practices listed below are drawn from EGSC’s strategic plan and have been implemented to remove or lessen the structural and motivational obstacles that students face and improve student outcomes.

SECTION 3: MOMENTUM SUMMIT BIG IDEA

At East Georgia State College, we will engage students differently through student learning communities (SLCs), the focus of the College’s quality enhancement plan (QEP). As we planned our QEP, we were eager to develop SLC opportunities for students to make solid connections among different academic courses, to improve perceived relevancy of the course work, and foster connections with the course material, other students, and their professors. Since the SLCs involve linking courses in different academic areas, we anticipate student academic success/improvement in their knowledge of the course material.

Section 3.1 Progress Achieved

Despite the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of the three linked courses during Spring Semester 2021 proved that SLCs are effective, but professors involved with momentum year (MY) initiatives, Gateway to Completion (G2C) revisions, or USG’s teaching fellowships had a greater impact on the success rates than those not involved in USG’s initiatives or professional development. For example, a G2C English Composition II (ENGL 1102) class was paired with a U.S. History II (HIST 2112) class. The history professor has held an USG teaching fellowship and the English professor has been involved with promoting the G2C and MY initiatives. Their two courses were linked so that when students registered for one of the courses, they had to register for the other course because linked courses must share the same cohort of students. Both professors draw from pedagogies pertaining to diversity and inclusion, social justice, and mindset, and they used the backward design method in that they first identified what they wanted students to gain from the interdisciplinary experience. Both professors wanted students to recognize how interconnected literature and history are so that students could use literature to bring history to life or use history to find deeper meaning in the literature. Ideally, the recognition promotes a love for life-longing learning while giving students different access points to history or literature. The Composition II course is a literature-based writing course that is organized by themes that focus students on the certain arguments about society or humanity that may be found in the stories. The English professor shifted focus on certain themes like “Arguments about War” and reorganized the course so that the assigned stories were illustrating the historical events or era covered in history class. Students learned the history and then used the history to understand and analyze the literature.

There were three shared writing assignments that encouraged students to make interdisciplinary connections between the two courses as well as to their own society or lives. These assignments were designed to meet the learning objectives “to explore the “big questions” and critically examine the details that make up history and society’s “big picture.” The shared assignment that encouraged students to use a fictional text to make a point in an historical argument especially helped students connect the two disciplines, even as they explored the bigger picture. When students read William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” they were to write an essay that examined the character of Miss Emily as a symbol for the Old South and the Lost Cause and how these ideas kept the South anchored in a mythical past and prevented the region from moving into a more enlightened future, even as they made an argument about keeping or removing Southern Confederate Monuments in public spaces. In the history class, students read several primary and secondary documents concerning the use of the Confederate flag and the building of monuments in the Jim Crow era. They wrote a discussion where they addressed the motivation behind these symbols that, as many argue, glorify a mythical past to justify Jim Crow racism and promote white supremacy. The students were expected to use the history explored in the discussion assignment to better help them to understand Faulkner’s symbolism. By combining these assignments through an interdisciplinary approach, the students came to a better understanding how this perpetuation of Confederate imagery in public spaces in the twenty-first century helps promote racial division and distorts the true history of the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Students reported an increased sense of empathy, belonging, and deeper interdisciplinary learning. In comments left on student evaluation of the course, students stated that “historical thinking was a big new skill” but they enjoyed learning how to read literature through history, or they developed a greater understanding of history through literature’s dramatization of it. Students claimed they were taught to critically think through issues that impact their lives, even as they have a better understanding of how the past influences the present and shapes the human condition. Students said their experience was “pretty rigorous,” but they enjoyed the experience.

Section 3.2 Implementation and Barriers

COVID-19 disrupted the widespread implementation plan. At first, we listed seven (7) linked communities on the Spring 2021 schedule, but due to COVID-19’s impact on enrollment, we only had three (3) linked courses fill: English Composition II and U.S. History II, Quantitative Math and U.S. History II, and English Composition I online and Fitness Walking online.

Problems included getting students to submit the online assignments and completing the course. There were also scheduling difficulties that we did not anticipate.

Section 3.3 Changes Made

Both instructors believed the added stress of Covid created an unusual online experience and have committed to making small changes for Fall 2021. Those changes are still in progress.

 Section 3.4 Lessons Learned

Academic Affairs has been working with the EGSC Registrar’s office to correct scheduling difficulties. We have decided to only offer the SLCs during the full-term to avoid 8-week and 12-week scheduling issues.

Section 3.5 Assessment

At the basic level of analysis, the success rate for both English courses taught as part of a SLC were higher than student success rates than those courses not part of a learning community. The goal was to increase successful completion rate in SLC courses by fifteen (15) percent. The quantitative success outcomes for English Composition II met the goal for linked courses. Seventy-five (75) percent of students successfully completed English Composition II with a “C” or higher, exceeding the 59.6 percent of students in non-SLCs who successfully completed English Composition II. The 15-percentage point increase in success rates also increased the average course GPA by .44 points, to 2.33 compared to the 1.89 course GPA average for students not in the SLC. Though History is not part of the G2C efforts at EGSC, the linked History course also saw similar rates, with a 73.3 percent successful completion rate and a course GPA average of 2.53 compared to a 2.07 GPA course average because the professor adheres to the G2C principles in his course design.

SECTION 4 MOMENTUM WORK UPDATE

Section 4.1 Momentum Work Resilience Update

Summarized in the table below are the activities planned to make the College’s Momentum Year work more resilient during the 2021-2022 academic year.

STRATEGY/AREA

SECTION 4.3 GLOBAL MOMENTUM SUPPORT

Presented in this section are three initiatives EGSC is implementing to support Momentum Year student success.

4.3.1. Service Excellence training was given to staff in Admissions, Residence Life, Financial Aid, Registrar’s office, Library, Academic Center for Excellence, Testing, Retention, and Academics in Residence Halls. Each unit then met independently and completed a Service Excellence survey. Unit heads and associate vice presidents (AVPs) are responsible for reporting, monthly, on Service Excellence initiatives in the unit. Additionally, goals were set by each unit that will be assessed at the conclusion of the academic year. The Service Excellence survey is presented below.

4.3.2. Bobcats Excel Program (Academic Action Plan) developed and implemented by student academic support staff with the foci on retention, self-regulation, and graduation. The description is below.

Bobcats Excel Program Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the Bobcats Excel program is to strengthen students’ academic and metacognitive skills and consequently their retention at EGSC. The initiative aligns with EGSC Strategic Goal #1:

“Student Success: East Georgia State College provides access to innovative academic programs and engages in college completion initiatives, transforming students and equipping them with tools for success.”

Target Population

Students assigned to learning support for Fall 2021 and students whose current academic standing is “Academic Warning”.

Objectives

Ten-point increase in course success and fall-to-spring retention rates of students who actively participate in Bobcats Excel versus students who do not. Active participation is defined as meeting with an academic coach at least four (8-week courses) or at least eight times (15-week courses).

Intervention

Students will meet weekly with an academic coach to report their current progress in courses. The academic coach will work with the student to determine specific actions that need to be taken to increase likelihood of academic success.

Resources

Assessments

• Course success rates
• Microsoft Forms interaction log
• ACE Check-in data
• Tutoring Reports
• Spring 2022/Summer 2022 Pre-registration data

Bobcats Excel Program Implementation

Student Notification

Students will be notified by e-mail, instructors who teach learning support, and the course will be listed on their D2L homepage.

Staff Utilization

Students can complete weekly check-ins with staff in the Data Analytics and Academic Attainment Unit (we can use the GradesFirst Campaigns). Students enrolled completely online will be able to check-in via Zoom. Each staff member in the Data Analytics and Academic Attainment unit will serve as the point of contact for at least one learning support course.

D2L Course

• Contains at least one resources related to each academic/metacognitive skill and add a 1 or 2 question quiz.
• Provides a pdf file of the weekly check-in document for students.

4.3.3. Convocation Program will by organized for Fall Semester 2022 and is designed to provide students information on campus resources, including, Counseling, Academic Center for Success, Library, Student Life, and Student Conduct. The program will begin with a Ted Talk video on the importance of resilience and will feature a panel discussion and Q & A from faculty, staff, and students. The students would benefit from an inspirational story about resilience, a meaningful topic that has the potential to motivate and propel students forward through college and any challenging situation. This type of dialog will be more engaging, relevant, and meaningful for EGSC students as they pursue a college degree during these unprecedented times.

SECTION 5: ADDITIONAL HIGH IMPACT PRACTICE EXAMPLES

Presented in this section are examples of high impact practices used by EGSC faculty members in various academic disciplines.

Critical & Academic Thinking for Success Course

Funding from the Chancellor's Learning Scholars Program was used to buy and use cardboard VR headsets (powered by the students' own phones) to take students to Jerusalem using 360-degree VR video tours of the most significant Holy Sites in the city over the course of several classes.

History Courses

Use “Reacting to the Past” series of role-playing games to encourage students to explore key moments in great depth as historical figures, engaging with texts their alter-ego would have read and debating others in written and oral arguments. This pedagogy creates an understanding and empathy for the past, and for both sides of an argument, and builds critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, public speaking, and persuasive writing skills.

American Government Course

Students attend and/or participate in local municipal, county commissioner, or school board meetings. This civic engagement strengthens democracy and the role that students, and future generations, play in it. Likewise, civic engagement is about citizens talking to citizens. The role of staff or elected officials is to pose the right questions, listen, and learn from the public; and the students see this civic engagement first-hand. The benefits of students seeing and being a part of this civic engagement allows them to see that their elected officials, for example, want to develop better and more creative ideas and solutions.

English Courses

High impact practices used in English courses include 1) High Expectations (challenging assignments that help students “level up”) helping students through Growth Mindset pedagogy that promotes capability, purpose, and social belonging. 2) Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) lectures and assignments helping students understand what is expected and why. One student was overheard saying, "I have to get this right because she is professional." 3) Promoting Substantive Interaction between learner to learner, learner to materials, and learner to instructor. 4) Integrate Learning Assignments providing structured opportunities for students to reflect on how and what they are learning so that they can integrate the new knowledge with what they already know. 5) Exposing students to voices and circumstances different from their own Experiences with Diversity assignments.

Spanish Courses

Global or Cultural Learning is emphasized in the Spanish courses. Students do small research about a specific group or country and are asked to talk about its society and culture. Students get to explore and learn cultures different from their own. The small research is usually discussed in the discussion board or turned in as an assignment. Students are always amazed at how different Hispanics/Spanish are from Americans in so many ways. They are expanding their knowledge and gaining a better understanding of the Hispanic culture.

Psychology Courses

Collaborative Assignments and Projects Collaborative learning combines two key goals: learning to work and solve problems in the company of others and sharpening one’s own understanding by listening seriously to the insights of others, especially those with different backgrounds and life experiences. Approaches range from study groups within a course, to team-based assignments and writing, to cooperative projects and research. Students engage in a collaborative exercise where they will pretend to play the role of Institution Review Board (IRB) members who will be charged with arguing for or against the ethics of proposed research questions. Students are randomly assigned to a side and are asked to evaluate the feasibility of the research question and delve into the ethical considerations that must be addressed before embarking on a research project that involves humans or animals.

Biology Courses

Growth Mindset is being incorporated in biology courses to encourage students amid the COVID pandemic. Our students are responding in an even a more positive manner than before. Students that have been totally online are appreciating the extra encouragement. Collaborative assignments are used in the intro biology class as well as microbiology. In microbiology students work together to understand specific diseases that are common among different groups of people as well as the effect on body systems. Two or three students work together to present to the class on a selected topic.

Mathematics Courses

Students are provided clear instruction on how to create “Notes that Stick” and how to improve study skills. Checklists for each lesson or module help students know how far they’ve come and how far they still must go to provide a sense of progress. Real world examples are used in class. Example problems are worked on the board to show entire thought process. Students are asked to work problems on the board or in small groups while explaining their thought processes. Students are taught how to map concepts and then do it regularly as homework.