Georgia Depository Libraries: Expanding Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Government Publishing Office (GPO) provides materials published by government agencies to designated libraries in the United States and its territories. In return, these libraries offer free, public access to the materials in their depository collections. The state of Georgia has 23 federal depository libraries—one Regional and 22 Selectives. All but two of these libraries are affiliated with academic institutions, and the majority are part of the University System of Georgia (USG).

Improving Graduation Rates in the Two-to-Four Pathway to Bachelor's Degrees

In the US, transferring from a two-year program to a four-year program has become an increasingly important route towards a bachelor's degree. However, the pathway has an extremely high attrition rate. Utilizing two recent institutional reforms in the University System of Georgia, I show that allowing community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees and consolidating institutions increase two-year students’ bachelor's degree attainment by around 3 percentage points, which represents a 20% improvement. Both reforms increased two-to-four transfer rate, and institutional consolidations also increased bachelor's degree attainment, conditional on transferring. Moreover, I find evidence that reduced loss of credits during transfer is the driving force of the improvements. In particular, the reforms reduced credits lost during transfer by around 36%.

The Effects of Using Open Educational Resources on Minority Achievement in Undergraduate Mathematics

Prominent in the public debate on college affordability is the rising cost of textbooks. Owing to limited finances or mounting college debt, many students fail to purchase required course textbooks. Among the perils students without textbooks face are delayed course enrollment, high failure or dropout rates, and extended time to graduation. At Fort Valley State University, an Historically Black University within the University System of Georgia, the mathematics faculty first observed increasing numbers of college algebra students without textbooks, then, similarly, with upper division students. As a cost-savings measure, the faculty redesigned eight courses using open educational resources (OER). This chapter highlights the four-year results of faculty and students' OER course experiences. OER students have better grades, lower failure rates, and better attendance records than those using traditional textbooks. The attitude of OER students towards mathematics also improved. A total cost savings of $197,780 was realized with an average, per student savings of $198.

Stranger Under Siege

This case study and analysis explores the brief, 17-month tenure of Sam Olens as President of Kennesaw State University, including his controversial appointment, leadership mis-steps, and eventual resignation. The political and social contexts of his tenure, which coincided with political turmoil in the wake of the 2016 election and a subsequent resurgence in progressive activism throughout the country, are considered as contributing factors to his downfall. Likewise, his status as an outsider to higher education at the time of his appointment, his visibility as an outspoken conservative, and his employment being the perceived benefit of political corruption are all noted as a contributing elements to his inability to earn the confidence of the faculty and student body of Kennesaw State University, along with his divisive, misguided, and ill-conceived actions while in his executive position. The role of institutional context in regards to the recent histories of Kennesaw State University, the University System of Georgia, and the state of shared governance in American higher education as a whole are respectively explored in how they set the stage for Olens’ tumultuous and temporary reign at Kennesaw State. A set of recommended courses of action are presented as counterfactual alternatives to the events as they actually occurred, based on higher education leadership literature.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEVELOPING EVALUATIONS OF ONLINE COURSES

Exploration of how to assure effective teaching and learning online is extremely important and timely as many institutions seek to maximize the educational benefits from this constantly developing technology. This study categorizes principles gathered from an extensive review of the literature focusing on current best practices for effective teaching and learning in online courses. It compares the presence of those principles in items gleaned from a review of assessment instruments currently in use by thirteen Georgia institutions and several national online courses. Results, which were used to inform the revision of the University System of Georgia eCore course evaluation instrument, provide a rubric for assessing and informing other instruments used to evaluate online course instruction.

Awareness of Breastfeeding Laws and Provisions of Students and Employees of Institutions of Higher Learning in Georgia

Background: Over the past 2 decades, southern states in the United States have recorded the lowest breastfeeding rates. It is not known whether awareness of breastfeeding laws and provision of resources play any role in their breastfeeding practices. Research aims: The aims were (a) to describe awareness of breastfeeding laws and provisions by students and employees of institutions of higher learning in the state of Georgia, (b) to describe awareness by race and ethnicity, and (c) to determine factors associated with awareness of breastfeeding laws and provisions among students and employees within Georgia institutions of higher learning. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of students ( n = 1,923) and employees ( n = 1,311) associated with five institutions within the University System of Georgia ( N = 3,271) was completed. Convenience sampling was used. Data were collected through Qualtrics. Chi-square test was used to examine differences between groups, while logistic regression was used to examine associations. Results: Participants included 33.3% undergraduate, 26.2% graduate students, 24.6% staff, 14.2% faculty, and 1.7% administrators. Over two thirds were female and white. Almost one third reported having a child or children. Awareness of breastfeeding laws and provisions was very low among respondents, with 26.6 and 9.6% aware of federal and state provisions, respectively. While less than 10% were familiar with the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative program, 52.6% reported their institution provides a supportive environment for breastfeeding. Being a student and being a minority were negatively associated with awareness of laws and provisions that support breastfeeding. Conclusion: The need for focused efforts on increasing awareness of legislative and institutional provisions and support for breastfeeding exists.

"Talk Doesn't Cook the Soup"

The creator, Kenja McCray, is an Associate Professor of History at Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC), where she teaches United States and African American history. AMSC is an institution within the University System of Georgia offering an affordable liberal arts education and committed to serving a diverse, urban student population. McCray has a B.A. from Spelman College, an M.A. from Clark Atlanta University, and a Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Her areas of interest are the 19th and 20th century U. S., African Americans, Africa and the diaspora, transnational histories, women, class and social history. The creator of this essay believes education should be a life-altering process, not only in the intellectual or the economic sense, but also cognitively uplifting. She experienced personal change in college through interacting with professors. She strives to give students a similarly inspirational experience. The encounter should be empowering and should change the way they see themselves and their relationships to the world. The intent of this creative piece is to share the creator’s contemplations on a rites of passage program in which she participated during her college years. She asserts that, given current cultural trends signaling a renewed interest in African-centered ideals and black pride, many aspects of the program could interest current students looking for safe spaces in increasingly intolerant times. This essay will interest researchers, student leaders, student activities advisors, and other administrators seeking to create and develop inclusive campus programs.

University Housing Development: A PPP Approach

Growth and financial constraint continue to hinder development in a multitude of areas in the public sector. Higher education has joined the growing list of public sector organizations turning toward the private sector for innovative solutions to the negative externalities of growth. On April 14, 2014, the University System of Georgia posted a request for qualified contractors for a first of its kind public–private partnership. Wishing to move away from its current long-term asset financing plan that utilized public–private ventures, and to move much of the bonded debt, the university system issued a call for contractors for the construction of campus housing on nine system-member institutions across the state of Georgia. In an effort to evaluate the importance of this contractual arrangement, a thematic analysis of publicly available contract documents is analyzed. We find that the university system’s values associated with the project are best described as risk-averse behavior.

Measures of student success with textbook transformations: the Affordable Learning Georgia Initiative

In 2014, the state of Georgia’s budget supported a University System of Georgia (USG) initiative: Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG). The initiative was implemented via Textbook Transformation Grants, which provided grants to USG faculty, libraries and librarians, and institutions to “transform their use of textbooks and other learning materials into using lower cost options”, in other words to use open educational resources (OER) in lieu of a traditional bound textbook. The Round One Textbook Transformation Grants have already shown to be successful in that they saved students approximately $760,000. What is not known, is the collective impact on student learning. This study examines the learning gains or losses pre- and post-transformation in ALG Round One courses where traditional resources were replaced with OER. It estimates differences between pre- and post- textbook transformation across the following outcomes: 1) Drop Fail Withdraw (DFW) rates, 2) rates of completion, 3) numbers of students receiving a final grade of A or B, C and D, 4) numerical final grades as a percent, 5) final exam grades as a percent, and, 6) course-specific assessment grades measured in percent. Twenty-four data sets were analyzed for DFW rate, eight data sets for completion rate, fourteen data sets for grade distribution, three data sets for final exam grades, three data sets for course specific assessment and one data set for final grades. The null hypothesis that there would be no differences between pre- and post-transformation rates in these learning outcomes was supported. Thus, this study demonstrates that the USG’s ALG initiative helped students save money without negatively impacting learning outcomes. In addition, it is the first of its kind to measure some of these learning outcomes (e.g. final exam grade, assessment grade, and distribution of letter grades) at this scale.