VSU’s Quality Enhancement Plan (Experiential Learning); 4 year completion Spring 2025
Evaluation/Assessment plan
Evaluation Plan and measures: pre/post-test, student written reflection, participation numbers
KPIs: 1) total course and program activities endorsed, 2) total student participants, and 3) attainment of QEP student
learning outcomes one, two, and three
Baseline measure (for each KPI): 1) The year four (2024-2025) goal for the number of experiential learning endorsed
program or course activities offered was 60. 2) The year four goal for total student participants was 230 students
served. The five-year goal was 1,000 students served. 3) The goal was 70% will achieve level 3 or higher on EL rubric
for SLO attainment.
Current/most recent data (for each KPI) [NEW for 2025]: 1) 91 total activities have been offered in 2024-25, ,
exceeding both the four- and five-year goals. 2) As of the 2024-2025 year end, 2,399 total students have been served
in EL endorsed course or program activities, exceeding both the four- and five-year goals. 3) 89.28% achieved level 3
or higher on EL rubric for SLO attainment which was slightly lower (1.3%) than the prior year.
Goal or targets (for each KPI): For 2025-26 the goals are: 1) 85 course or program El activities endorsed, 2) 2,200
participants, and 3) 90% reach level 3 and above on EL rubric for SLO attainment
Time period/duration: 5 years (fall 2021-spring 2026)
The 2024-2025 year ended with 2,399 students served as participants in QEP-endorsed EL course activities or programs. There was a 101.7% increase from 2023-24 in the overall participation numbers due to modifications in how we review and endorsements. As an overall perspective, 36.9% (2399/6501) of undergraduate students completed an EL-endorsed project in 2024-25. Over the first four years of the QEP, 85 total faculty have offered experiential learning endorsed course activities, across 143 courses representing all academic colleges. Adjustments will be made to streamline the assessment process for faculty teaching EL-endorsed courses to increase experiential learning course opportunities for students at VSU, with a goal of ensuring experiential learning offerings across all disciplines and academic programs. We are working closely with Academic Colleges to include additional courses from Education, Nursing, and Business.
Entering the 5th year of the QEP, we are focused on embedding and scaling curricular and co-curricular experiential learning across the university in line with VSU’s 2030 Strategic Plan Strategy 1.2e: “Charge Enrollment and Student Affairs and Academic Affairs with creating and implementing a comprehensive plan—to include universal participation with Blazer Ready—that ensures that every undergraduate student benefits from experiential learning opportunities in-and out-of–the-classroom throughout their program of study.” In Spring 2025, the QEP Coordinator and several members of the EL Advisory Committee consulted with the VSU Strategic Planning Committee to advise on target dates, procedures, and individuals responsible for achieving this strategy. Specifically, the EL Advisory Committee is tasked with items from the strategic plan discussed below. Most of our work this year is dedicated to putting the scaffolding into place to achieve these targets (e.g. identifying responsible committees and individuals for collaboration; establishing and working within subcommittees; developing a shared procedure for continuing to scale and assess experiential learning across Academic Affairs and Student Affairs while increasing scale and making sure all students are guaranteed vetted experiential learning as part of their program of study). Below are the items from the articulated strategic plan and our plan and progress towards meeting each of them:
- By Fall 2027, increase experiential learning endorsed courses and programs, as well as student participation, by embedding experiential learning in the core curriculum and academic programs;
The EL Advisory Committee formed a strategic planning sub-committee in Fall 2025 and developed a tiered model for experiential learning that aligns with several existing campus EL initiatives. The Committee has been inviting relevant stakeholders from across the university to consult and plans to share a draft of this model with academic deans by the end of Fall 2025.
- By Fall 2025, provide an annual list of experiential learning activities in each program to be included in Blazer Ready to Student Affairs for students to track and earn competencies;
In Spring 2025, the EL Coordinator created a form available on the public-facing QEP website that allows faculty to submit co-curricular Academic Affairs activities for student experiential learning credit (e.g. student presentation at an external academic conference). This is publicized in an email to all faculty at the end of each semester to solicit submissions from that semester. The first list was shared with Student Affairs for tracking students to earn competencies in Spring 2025 and the second list will be shared in Fall 2025.
- By Fall 2027, establish an assessment schedule for experiential learning endorsed courses and programs to ensure quality and student success,
As the EL Advisory Strategic Planning Subcommittee refines the tiers for experiential learning designation and credit, we will work with existing assessment pathways (e.g. Core Assessment for first and second year core IMPACTS courses and Institutional Effectiveness Plans and Reports (IEPs/IERs) to see how they can be used to also evaluate experiential learning curricular offerings. The goal is to streamline assessment and minimize faculty burden by using existing pathways.
- By Fall 2027, establish the Experiential Learning Exposition to showcase student-submitted experiential learning.
The EL Advisory Committee provided a successful soft launch of the EL Exposition in 2024 with an undergraduate showcase and will provide a second annual event November 17-18, 2025. In 2025, the event is partnering with Student Affairs, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, the Valdosta Early College Academy, and community internship supervisors. The event will include training for faculty and community partners in Supervising and Teaching Students in Work-Based Learning (.2 CEUs, offered through the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching), student internship panels, and graduate and undergraduate showcases. VSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences received an ~$2.45m Mellon Foundation grant to fund paid internships in the humanities for undergraduate students at the institution. The impact of the internships will be highlighted as part of the Expo. The goal is to refine the event each year, with a model that is strong and sustainable by the official launch in Fall 2027.
In May 2024, we launched the CELT-QEP Experiential Learning Professional Certificate (24 total course hours). Eight faculty graduated with the certificate in May 2025 with four more graduations expected by the end of Fall 2025. Many more faculty have completed one or more individual courses. The certificate draws from existing USG virtual-training on high-impact practices, the recorded ambassador workshops from years one and two of the QEP, and additional training created by the faculty ambassadors and CELT. The CELT Director and QEP Coordinator are also working to make courses in this certificate externally as well as internally focused. As previously mentioned, one of the courses will be offered free to community members as part of the fall Experiential Learning Exposition.
Our current overarching scalability challenge is the need to finalize the tiered experiential learning categories as well as ensuring continual review of new offerings and assessment of existing ones. The Executive Director of the Mary Virginia Terry Center (expected to be hired by Spring 2026) and the Experiential Learning Advisory Committee will provide guidance. Other challenges include continuing to train new faculty in experiential learning theory and practice (this requires ongoing collaboration with CELT), developing an assessment plan for experiential learning across the university that is feasible with current resources.
We would continue to benefit from indirect resources in knowledge collaboration with institutional leaders in experiential learning at other USG institutions. The Society for Experiential Education provides valuable resources. The QEP Coordinator attended the annual conference in September 2025 and is a member of the SEE Campus Leaders Network, which meets throughout the year. It would be especially beneficial to learn more about how universities in the USG are collaborating in experiential learning initiatives across Academic and Student Affairs and the platforms that they are using for tracking. Development of VSU’s Terry Center for Experiential Learning will present additional opportunities to develop longstanding partnerships with local and regional organizations for students to engage in experiential learning with mutually beneficial outcomes in public displays of competence and career readiness. The Program Coordinator completed the Society for Experiential Education’s certification program and will attend the SACSCOC Annual Meeting for the second year to continue to learn more about QEP impact reporting.
