Strategy/Project Name:
Experiential Learning
Momentum Area:
Purpose
Category:
Strategy/Project Description:
Experiential Learning at the University of Georgia empowers every student to apply their learning in real-world contexts, equipping them with the competencies and expanded perspectives to thrive in the emerging, dynamic global society.
Summary of Activities:
Experiential Learning at the University of Georgia empowers every student to apply their learning in real-world contexts, equipping them with the competencies and expanded perspectives to thrive in the emerging, dynamic global society.
Activity Status:
Evaluation/Assessment plan:
The Office of University Experiential Learning supports the University of Georgia Strategic Priority 1.1: “Expand Experiential Learning opportunities for all students” through the following KPIs:
KPIs (Measured Annually):
1. Increase the number of approved experiential learning opportunities available to students to >3000 by FY2025; enabling the increase of the percentage of undergraduate students completing two or more approved experiential learning opportunities from ~40% to >55% by FY2025
2. Expand and accelerate the “EL@UGA brand/reputation” at the regional and national levels by FY2025
3. Expand undergraduate equity and access to all approved experiential learning opportunities (including service-learning, internships, study away, undergraduate research, etc.) through the launch of a formal experiential learning “direct gift menu” by FY2021 resulting in annual gifts >$500k by FY2023 and growing the EL Endowed Fund to >$3MM by FY2025.
Baseline Measure for Each KPI (AY2024-2025):
1. EL Portfolio of Approved Experiences and Completion: ~2,824* Transcript-eligible courses and non-credit activities have been approved through FY25 inclusive of 156 courses and 20 non-credit activities added in FY25. (*Not inclusive of all global courses as those are not added at the catalog level). 5,637 Students representing 69.51% of the FY25 Undergraduate Graduating Cohort completed two or more Transcript-eligible EL opportunities (FY25 Graduating Cohort n = 8,109).
2. Thought Leadership: OEL presented at several state and national events including the NSSC Annual Conference; the 2025 PINnacle State of Southern Innovation Summit; the AAC&U Global Education Conference; the UERU Annual Conference; and the Southwire Leadership Meeting. Additionally, one team member completed their Experiential Education Academy Certification through the Society for Experiential Education.
3. Access: OEL awarded $1,071,366 to students pursuing EL Opportunities and grew its future fund impact by establishing three new fund agreements valued at ~$175k
Progress and Adjustments:
Signature Achievements:
1. Scaling Global Experiences for First Years: OEL strategically scaled the ELCA program footprint in FY25, serving 199 (+82% YOY) first year students across 7 programs operating in six countries. Additionally, the OEL designed and launched a new diversified brand strategy to enable accelerated expansion of the program model across campus.
2. Increasing Access: In addition to a new record of EL Scholarship Awarding of $1,071,366 to 529 students in FY24, OEL established 3 additional fund agreements valued at ~$175k in future endowed funds in collaboration with DAR. FY25 marked OEL’s first fully year managing the GCS and All GA EL Funds, impacting 62 students with $180,782 in support (+377% YOY). ELIP applications were migrated into InfoReady, significantly streamlining that process.
FY25 Progress Highlights
1. Expanding EL Opportunities: OEL directly added 152 new approved opportunities inclusive of a focus on expanding approved opportunities for underclassmen (+20). Additionally, OEL secured 49 new industry partnerships in FY25; significantly expanding WIL opportunities for the fourth year in a row.
• Engaging Students in Approved Experiences: Collaboration with colleges, units and colleagues across campus enabled 32,324 transcript-eligible opportunities to be completed in FY25, an ~5% increase YOY. This included completed opportunities in key strategic areas like:
• Global: 6,867 completed experiences
• Service-Learning: 7,647 completed experiences
• Internship / Work-Integrated Learning: 6,775 completed experiences
• Undergraduate Research: 3,782 completed experiences (Inclusive of students completing research through UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and UGA’s new VIPR Program which places undergraduates on vertically integrated project teams conducting research in areas ranging from machine learning to metabolomics and genomic editing among others.
• Ensuring Sustainable Technical Infrastructure: OEL collaborated with Kaptiv8 to transition the Office’s web infrastructure to WordPress, aligning the brand ethos to Office of Instruction templates.
• Connecting with Stakeholders: The comprehensive content strategy resulted in a 1,151% increase in engagement, and a growth in Instagram followers from 4,750 to > 5,250. The OEL LinkedIn follower volume grew 17.6% YOY. In particular, OEL continued to facilitate the “Internship Working Group” launched in FY23; hosted EL Council Meetings; worked with OSSA and OSFA to transfer to GCS EL Scholarship Funds to OEL workstreams; and collaborated with OGE on the launch of EL Connect Abroad.
Areas for Improvement
1. OEL Team Bandwidth: Team bandwidth was exceeded in FY25. The addition of several scholarship funds, running Connect Abroad and ELIP all required a large percentage of staff time to manage.
2. Assessment & Review: While some research and interviews were started (Elon, WI, UT Austin), the OEL still needs to formalize a proposal to enable a Periodic Review Process of currently approved experiences facilitated by the OEL.3. Portfolio Acceleration: Likely impacted by bandwidth challenges across the team, the pace of new opportunity creation slowed YOY, though the total volume of new global additions enabled OEL to exceed the goal.
Plan for the Year Ahead:
For the 2025-2026 AY, the Office of University Experiential Learning has implemented an Operating Plan consisting of 8 objectives supported by 48 metric/time defined key results. Directly relevant to the core above KPIs and the noted Potential Changes identified in the Office’s After-Action Review, critical actions areas include:
1. EL Portfolio of Approved Experiences and Completion: Increase >60 new approved opportunities with a focus on adding >25 new EL approved activities for underclassmen. Expand the EL Connect Abroad program for first year students to serve >300 students.
2. Thought Leadership: Present at 3 professional events.
3. Access: Distribute >$1MM through EL Scholarship and Fund Initiatives. Secure >$500k in new EL Fund agreements.
Challenges and Support:
As noted above, primary challenges are essentially three:
1. Technical Infrastructure
2. Team Bandwidth
3. Fund Expansion
Increasing automation and standardization with the operating procedures of the Office will directly impact 1 and 2 while our increasing collaboration with DAR will support 3. The Office also added a Graduate Assistant for the 2025-2026 AY to enable bandwidth expansion.
Contact email:
Primary Contact:
Andrew Potter, Director of the Office of University Experiential Learning
