The EXACT Plan consolidates GGC’s existing experiential learning resources and practices, expands upon that campuswide inventory by fostering a culture of curricular practice, strengthens practices through focused faculty training that integrates ePortfolio and critical thinking pedagogies into GGC’s expanding experiential learning profile, and operationalizes strategies for ensuring access to all students. EXACT is the current Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) topic for GGC, initiated in FA24 with two 1000 level courses – ITEC 1001 & HIST 1112. To accomplish the EXACT Plan, the intentional integration of critical thinking competencies within experiential classroom and curriculum frameworks, when, scaled, provide all students with opportunities to experience this integrated learning approach multiple times, from general education to upper-division classes in their majors. Additionally, the incorporation of sustained ePortfolio-centered reflection is a foundational component of all experiential learning opportunities.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Within the first year of the EXACT Plan, we had 14 sections of HIST 1112 & 57 sections of ITEC 1001 participate during FA24 (first semester offering EXACT courses). We had 225 HIST 1112 students (56% of students in participating sections) & 560 ITEC 1001 students (40% of students in participating sections) complete the critical thinking reflections and 1066 ITEC 1001 students (77% of students in participating sections) complete the ePortfolio project which was the experiential learning activity in this class. A total of 386 ITEC students and 18 HIST 1112 students participated in an end of the semester survey. When evaluating student perceptions of the EXACT courses, 46.5% of ITEC students reported that the experiential learning assignment was definitely engaging, 47.3% of ITEC students reported that the experiential learning assignment enabled them to learn the content in greater depth, 48.4% of ITEC students reported that the experiential learning assignment allowed them to apply the contents of this course to real-world problems, and 47.8% of ITEC students reported they were able to draw conclusions from the knowledge that they learned through the experiential learning assignment. Less than 12% of ITEC students reported “not really” to any of these questions. We had 2 course coordinators for each course. Additionally, 14 HIST 1112 (100%) section faculty and 26 ITEC 1001 (90%) section faculty participated during FA24.
We assembled an advisory board consisting of faculty, staff, and students from all schools, enrollment management, Center for Teaching Excellence, Instructional Technology, Student Affairs, Student Government, Advising and Tutoring Centers, and Assessment Office. These individuals have also selected subcommittees to advise the Director on policies and procedures in the following areas: EXACT Scholars (student recognition program), External Communication, External Partners, Curricular Issues, and Assessment. The Advisory board meets three times a year with the subcommittees meeting with the Director once per semester.
We have been in discussions with the Human Services Department, Honors Program, and School of Education to pilot the EXACT Scholars ePortfolio to begin having students earn this recognition by Fall 2025. The plan is for Human Services students to add an additional page to their ePortfolios addressing the EXACT Scholars Professional Level requirements with the potential of 8-10 students earning this distinction by end of Fall 2025. The Honors Program developed an ePortfolio to allow students to add EXACT Scholars pages within the Honors 1000 and Honors 3000 courses. The School of Education piloted a new ePortfolio template that will incorporate the EXACT Scholars pages as well.
ITEC and HIST departments agreed to continue in the program and as such, ITEC 1001 and HIST 1112 will be tagged with the following attribute in Banner: “Exper Learn & Critic Think”. Two additional 1000 level courses (ENGL 1102 and CHEM 1211K) and four 2000 level courses (EDUC 2120, BUSA 2105, EXSC 2000, HIST 2250) will be piloted during Fall 2025 and Spring 2026. The course coordinators had an initial training during February 2025 and will continue to develop these courses during Summer 2025.
LESSONS LEARNED
A key lesson learned was that section faculty were not involved in planning experiential learning activities and critical thinking reflections during year one. To address this, we began training new course coordinators in spring 2025 to engage faculty early in the process. This approach aims to increase faculty participation and student engagement, as faculty will have more input. While many faculty embedded activities, some did not emphasize them enough to ensure a higher level of success.
CHANGES TO MAKE
We continue to work on our training of faculty so that they truly understand the purpose of the EXACT courses. Faculty who understand the purpose are more likely to be enthusiastic about the project & promote it to students more. A comment within the Student Success Inventory suggested involvement of the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) for assistance with training. The EXACT Plan staff work very closely with the CTE staff and as such, this partnership should and does exist. We will continue to explore that and other mechanisms for training as well.
We are continuing to revise the EXACT Scholars program moving it from a three-tier approach to a four-tier approach matching the years of academic rank (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) so that students can participate at each level and making it easier to understand the requirements. We will explore using a Degree Works block so that students can see how many EXACT courses they have completed.
Our priority areas are to continue to expand the program from 2 courses during AY25 to 8 courses in AY26 followed by 28 courses in AY27. The goal is that all GGC students will enroll in EXACT courses throughout their academic journey at every academic rank (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior). While the EXACT Scholars program will be an opt in program, all GGC students will have multiple opportunities to have experiential learning activities embedded into their courses, recognize their value and importance in their overall academic journey, and practice critical thinking reflection along the way.
We are also prioritizing assessment as the program expands. To manage this growth, we increased the number of faculty assessors from six to twelve and determine process and reliability testing. In May 2025, the expanded group met to assess over 300 artifacts. To address the scalability, we are also investigating the use of AI to assist with assessment.
Critical to the success of the EXACT Plan is reliable tracking of EXACT-approved curricula as well as an audit of those courses commonly associated with experiential learning (e.g., service-learning, independent research, and internship courses).
Support from all aspects of the campus, particularly from EXACT course section faculty, is critical to this program. If section faculty do not understand the program, they will not convey its importance to the students. Improved training of section faculty will provide them the opportunity to have more input.
We have met with other institutions (Valdosta State University, University of Georgia) who have been incorporating experiential learning into the curriculum for longer times that we have. Continuing and expanding these discussions will be fruitful as we move forward. Assistance with Degree Works to track the EXACT Scholars program progress will also be helpful.
