The University of Georgia organized its third annual Active Learning Summit on February 27 and 28. Over 370 participants — an increase from 260 last year — assembled at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education & Hotel to gain insights from colleagues, swap ideas, and promote collaboration. A number of attendees journeyed to the summit from other institutions, including educators and administrators from as far as the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Miami.

UGA President Jere W. Morehead greeted attendees during the opening ceremony and presented some significant statistics regarding the university’s Active Learning Initiative:

• More than 1,500 educators at UGA have participated in introductory sessions on active learning.
• Over 1,000 active learning toolkits have been given to faculty.
• 151 faculty members across 65 departments have finished the Active Learning Summer Institute, resulting in 147 redesigned courses that have directly benefited over 78,000 students.

“I am confident we will continue to witness the advantages of this initiative as time goes on,” Morehead stated. “Thank you to all at this summit for striving to extend the limits of undergraduate education and ensuring we deliver the highest quality instruction to our students as we prepare them to be leaders in our community.”

Next, Provost S. Jack Hu addressed the audience, acknowledging the latest group of faculty who completed the summer institute, along with the faculty mentors who contribute to the development of a supportive active learning community.

Following the provost, Vice President for Instruction and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning Marisa Pagnattaro spoke. She acknowledged peer learning assistants, students who receive training to assist in the classroom and play a significant role in the Active Learning Initiative, along with the PLA faculty mentors who collaborate with them.

An inspiring keynote and interactive breakout sessions

This year’s keynote speaker was Natasha Jankowski, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In her address, “Active Learning and Assessment: Refining Practices to Empower Student Success,” she emphasized surveys since 2020 indicating that students continue to face challenges post-pandemic with mental health issues and feelings of demotivation and falling behind academically. Jankowski discussed the various methods through which active learning can enhance students’ perspectives by fostering a more relational and engaging classroom experience.

Highlights from the remainder of the conference included a lunch-and-learn session led by the Office of Assessment, outlining the gathered data and evidence of active learning’s effects on students, as well as breakout sessions on subjects such as implementing active learning strategies in introductory courses, designing classrooms for hands-on active learning, evaluating active learning, reworking online and flipped instruction, utilizing change grants, creating vibrant student engagement, and applying generative AI in active learning.

A brief overview of active learning at UGA

UGA’s Active Learning Initiative commenced in 2017 when President Morehead established a task force to investigate what the university should be doing — or improving — to enhance student learning and success. A primary suggestion from that task force was to transform courses and classrooms to more actively engage students.

Shortly thereafter, in 2018, the university launched the Active Learning Summer Institute to assist faculty in redesigning their courses to incorporate active learning techniques. The first 32 graduates experienced improvements in their students’ enjoyment of the classroom environment and in their students’ performance on assessments in the redesigned courses.

That same year, the university allocated $1 million to convert selected classrooms into environments that would fully support active learning. In 2022, Morehead declared that UGA would invest $6 million over the next five years to enhance further instructor development, student engagement, and classroom improvements. The university also appointed its inaugural director of active learning, Leah Carmichael.

A recurring theme echoed throughout this year’s summit, particularly from out-of-state participants, was the recognition of how fortunate UGA is to have comprehensive backing from the administration for such a complex initiative that demands extensive cultural change.

Carmichael echoed this perspective as she opened the first day of the summit. “When I talk about our culture of active learning at other national and international conferences, colleagues from other institutions often express envy at the significant support we have fostered here,” she remarked. “They understand that transformative change of this scale isn’t achievable without strong backing from senior leadership.”

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