“Momentum Learning Communities” are highly integrated first-year learning communities associated with each academic Focus Area/major and enhanced by co-curricular content related to career readiness in an area of study
FA21 pilot = 10 LCs
FA22 expansion = 30 LCs targeted (2 LCs needed to be broken based on enrollment patterns, resulting in 28 Momentum Learning Communities implemented).
FA23 maintain and refine = 30 LCs targeted for refinement of integrative learning opportunities.
Evaluation Plan and measures: Continue to track retention and progression, as well as academic performance, for each learning community cohort (in conjunction with FA21, FA22, and FA23 student cohorts). Additionally, we will assess similar performance and engagement measures as we did in FA21 and as we are currently doing for FA22 LCs, including engagement with co-curricular career readiness materials and demonstration of integrated learning outcomes.
Baseline measure: FA21 Outcomes
Career Readiness Module Completion: Faculty were asked to assign 2 different Career Readiness modules to students. Career Services kept and communicated records about student completion. Of students enrolled in Momentum LCs:
- 21% of students completed 2 or more modules
- 14% of students completed 1 module
- 65% of students completed 0 modules
Data for the FA22 Momentum LCs are currently in process (as of March 2023) and will be updated as soon as available.
Other metrics:
Compared to non-Momentum LC’s (1107 students), students in Momentum LC’s (146 students):
- Registered for more credits in Fall (13.13 vs 12.64)
- Registered for more credits in spring (13.27 vs 12.58)
- Had a lower avg GPA (2.09 vs 2.42)
- Were more likely to be Pell-eligible (66.4% vs 56.6%)
Data for the FA22 Momentum LCs are currently in process (as of March 2023) and will be updated as soon as available.
Compared to non-LC students (1382 students), students in Momentum LC’s (146 students)
- Registered for more credits in Fall (13.13 vs 11.82)
- Registered for more credits in spring (13.27 vs 11.80)
- Had a lower avg GPA (2.09 vs 2.49)
- Were more likely to be Pell-eligible (66.4% vs 50.3%)
- Were more likely to need corequisite learning support courses (15.07% vs 8.32%)
- Were less likely to be White (17.1% vs. 26.3%)
Data for the FA22 Momentum LCs are currently in process (as of March 2023) and will be updated as soon as available.
Goal or targets: In Fall 2022, GGC initially prepared 30 Learning Communities designed with the same level of integration and co-curricular support as in Fall 2021 (slightly lower than our original target of 40 LCs). In the end, 28 of these Momentum LCs were offered.
For Fall 2023, we plan to maintain implementation of the 30 Momentum LCs, with a focus on enhancing the integrative learning opportunities within these LCs.
Time period/duration: assessment will continue annually, with aspirations to scale to the extent resources allow.
Data regarding student academic performance in the LCs continue to suggest that we would benefit from more investment in professional development for faculty with respect to integrated learning. As a result, we sent a small team to participate in the AAC&U’s online Institute on Engaged and Integrative Learning (IEIL) in July 2023.
The addition of a dedicated college-wide Student Success Committee in AY23-24 represents a shift from a previous committee focus on the first-year student experience. This new Student Success Committee, chaired by the Dean of Student Success, brings in perspectives and advice on the learning communities and other student success initiatives from across the college and beyond.
In addition, a new Director of First- and Second-Year Experience has come on board (as of September 2023) and is already making great strides in enhancing the process of creating and enrolling students in learning communities.
Data for the Fall 2023 LC students (n = 533 unique students in 21 distinct learning communities), we have some preliminary descriptives based on transactional data as of the time of this update (November 2023):
- Approx. 10% require corequisite learning support English
- Approx. 11% require corequisite learning support Math
- Approx. 53% identify as female
- The LC students in Fall 23 again largely reflect the GGC student body demographically regarding Race and Ethnicity, but are more likely to identify as Hispanic and less likely to identify as White than the overall student population: Approx. 35% identify as Black or African American, 37% are Hispanic, 9% Asian, and 18% White
- Approx. 32% self-identify as First Generation in College
The plan for AY 2023-2024 is to maintain the offering of Momentum LCs (initial target number of 20) in the Spring semester while adding the innovations of two additional Living-Learning Communities (LLCs), bringing the number of those LLCs to three.
Fall 2023 = Maintain and refine
With a goal to maintain a similar number of learning communities from FA22, we were able to offer 21 LCs by the end of fall 2023 registration. Of these, 8 featured an embedded FYS course, GGC 1000.
Fall 2023 and beyond = Strategic shift, Scaling
Refinement of integrative learning opportunities for all students enrolled in the LCs and improvement of the of coordinating, staffing, and supporting the LCs is our focus. In Spring 2024, we aim to offer more highly integrated second-semester learning communities. We have targeted Fall 2024 for large scale increase in learning communities offered.
GGC also will continue to examine ways to incorporate the first-year seminar, GGC 1000, in the Momentum Learning Communities.
In addition, GGC plans to more intentionally focus on faculty development in the area of integrative learning through the collaborative work of Student Success, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), and other areas. Depending on the insights gained by the small team attending the AAC&U’s Institute on Engaged and Integrative Learning (IEIL), additional recommendations may be brought forward.
Evaluation Plan and measures: Continue to track retention and progression, as well as academic performance, for each learning community cohort (FA23 student cohort and continuing thereafter).
Additionally, we will identify comparable performance and engagement measures to track across Fall cohorts, as we have begun with the FA21 and FA22 cohorts, including engagement with co-curricular career readiness materials (particularly for those whose LC included a GGC 1000/FYS) and demonstration of integrated learning outcomes.
Assessment of the Career Readiness module for the FA22 LCs shifted to focus on those communities that included a GGC 1000 (FYS), where the career readiness modules are directly aligned with the course objectives.
Updated Data for the FA22 LCs is presented below with all LCs included (20 LCs for Fall 2022), as they will be for Fall 2023 and beyond.
Fall 2022 LC students (n = 544 unique students):
- Had average GPA of 2.24
- The LC students largely reflected the GGC student body demographically regarding Race and Ethnicity: Approx. 36% were Black or African American, 36% were Hispanic, 7% Asian, and 16% White
- Just over 30% self-identified as First Generation
- Approximately 56% were female
- 7.2% required corequisite learning support English
- 19% required corequisite learning support Math
Data for the FA22 LCs will be updated as available. Currently, we are awaiting 1-year retention data for the Fall 2022 cohort.
We continue to need resources (time, financial, and staffing) to provide the levels of faculty pedagogical training/support that we would like, particularly to enhance integrative learning opportunities within the LCs.
GGC experienced a reduced budget allocation for FY24, which has presented some challenges for maintaining learning community course capacities at a level that maximizes integrative learning. Recent efforts to connect more USG institutions that are implementing Learning Community pedagogy could help us to develop solutions to some of the challenges.
