Goal: Expand utilization of most useful course components in CourseDen and extend the chatbot platform into academic colleges and schools.
Rationale: Campus engagement also needs to focus on improving student success in virtual environments. Even residential students utilize academic support (for example, CourseDen for access to grades and course resources) and student services in virtual settings, so these need to be deployed strategically. Two action items this year will focus on developing and implementing a set of common course components in CourseDen that will be utilized in all on-campus, hybrid, and virtual courses. Students have also shown active engagement with chatbots to some student support units, including Admissions and UWG Online. Chatbots have proven to be an effective and efficient way to support students, answer questions, and resolve barriers to success. Consequently, UWG will work to expand chatbots into academic colleges and schools as a way to support currently enrolled students and communicate with prospective students.
Common Course Components
Action related to this goal has been implemented. In Fall 2023, the Institute for Faculty Excellence (IFE) hosted information sessions to help faculty understand the goal of incorporating common components in the LMS for all courses, regardless of modality. The primary reason for asking faculty to organize their courses in a standardized format was to help students navigate their courses and reduce cognitive overload. The IFE worked closely with the Faculty Senate’s Teaching, Learning, & Assessment Committee (TLAC) to determine details regarding the organization of the courses in the LMS. The committee members, along with several other faculty, designed their spring 2023 courses in alignment with these recommendations and piloted these courses that semester. They offered feedback to the IFE and the TLAC based on their students’ experiences. The IFE also surveyed UWG students to better understand what their expectations were in regard to how their instructors used the LMS and to learn which LMS components were most supportive of their success. Nearly 1,000 students responded, and their responses helped inform new expectations for instructor usage of the LMS. Throughout spring and summer semesters, the IFE offered support to faculty via hands-on workshops on-demand videos, and written tutorials.
The Office of the Provost required that all fall 2023 LMS course sites include a Concourse syllabus, gradebook, and assessments (instructions, submission options, and feedback) when appropriate and possible. Reports on LMS tool usage were pulled from the LMS and indicated a high rate of compliance among instructors.
In fall 2023, the IFE, TLAC, and Office of the Provost continue to further develop expectations for faculty usage of the LMS to align with student expectations and best practices for supporting student learning and success. Plans are in place to continue to require faculty to build LMS course sites to include a Concourse syllabus, a gradebook, and assessments, when appropriate and possible. Further, faculty will be asked to include an up-to-date course calendar in the LMS and content modules that contain access to learning materials, when appropriate and possible.
Chatbots in Academic Programs
Action related to this goal has been implemented as a pilot project in the College of Arts, Culture, and Scientific Inquiry (CACSI). Dr. Sharmistha Basu-Dutt, CACSI Associate Dean, coordinated the development of the chatbot in CACSI, in partnership with UWG Online. UWG deploys chatbots in other student support departments (Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions, Student Solutions, Registrar, Financial Aid, and Office of Student Accounts and Billing Services); however, no academic programs were utilizing chatbots. Utilizing the Gecko chat application, the CACSI Dean’s Office worked with academic programs to develop questions and answers along with a skill tree for students to navigate and select through to get specific information / help if they do not know the best way to ask their particular question or if their question is not being answered effectively by the chatbot:
CACSI Chatbot Questions & Answers
The pilot was launched in fall 2023 and data on student usage will be available in next year’s report. Next steps in the project will be to expand the utilization of chatbots to other academic colleges and schools across campus.
