By Jamie L. Freedman
After half a year of groundwork, the Innovation Task Force Learning/Teaching Committee presented its top ideas for academic innovation to the GW community at well-attended Showcases of Ideas on April 20 and 22. One more showcase is scheduled for today on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus.
The committee’s short list of eight proposals -- ranging from increasing the number of hybrid courses to creating a January term -- would create significant savings or generate new revenue while enhancing academic excellence and advancing the university’s scholarly mission.
The 16-member group, chaired by Associate Vice President for Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs Dianne Martin and Chief Information Officer David Steinour, met biweekly for the past six months to generate and evaluate ideas aimed at enhancing the academic enterprise at GW for both faculty and students.
“Our top ideas provide innovative enhancements to GW’s academic delivery system that will increase intellectual engagement and generate savings to plow back into academics,” Dr. Martin says.
The group evaluated hundreds of ideas, utilizing a matrix of criteria such as expected academic benefits, resources needed and potential savings realized. “We then divided into subcommittees to gather and distill more information, interview people involved in the proposed activities and conduct cost/benefit analyses,” she says. “Everyone put a tremendous amount of time and effort into the process to ensure that our recommendations were grounded in reality.”
The group’s leading idea -- to convert 35 GW courses per year into hybrid courses over the next five years -- could generate cost savings of an estimated $1 million annually while strengthening the academic experience. A fast-growing trend in higher education, hybrid courses combine traditional face-to-face class meetings with an online learning component.
“Research has shown that there is great academic and intellectual benefit derived from blended courses,” Dr. Martin says. Moreover, since hybrid classes would meet face-to-face for 100 minutes per week -- instead of the traditional 150 -- a substantial amount of classroom space would be freed up, reducing the amount of space leased by the university.
Study abroad is the focus of two top ideas generated by the committee. The first proposal centers on expanding study abroad programming for undergraduates. “There will be a particular push to provide more study abroad opportunities for engineering and business students,” Dr. Martin says. “We will also focus on increasing the number of students studying abroad during the fall semester, with the goal of producing an even distribution of study abroad participants across both semesters.” The plan could save the university more than $1 million annually by freeing up residence hall space and allowing GW to enroll additional students.
A related proposal calls for strengthening George Washington’s four overseas study abroad centers, expanding operations to include a limited number of students from other universities. All revenue generated from increased tuition dollars would be funneled back to academics at GW.
“In this case, the idea is to expand something that we already do very well internally and open it up to an external audience, increasing revenue as well as promoting GW’s reputation as a school with particular expertise in study abroad,” Dr. Martin says.
A fourth top idea -- reorganizing the academic calendar to create an intensive, three-week January term between the fall and spring semesters – could give students the chance to study one of 25 different areas in greater depth and allow them to potentially graduate early. “In addition to enriching the academic experience at GW, the January term would enhance our recruitment potential and increase our revenue stream, since we could enroll additional students to replace students that graduate early,” Mr. Steinour says.
Other top ideas submitted by the Learning Group include creating high-profile, interdisciplinary four-to-six-credit signature courses in overlapping areas; establishing four-credit, in-depth courses in select majors enabling students to take four courses per semester rather than five; harnessing internship opportunities to take advantage of GW’s many existing partnerships, and increasing internship opportunities for academic credit; and renovating the first floor of Gelman Library to create collaborative learning spaces.
“The committee felt that it was important to move forward on these four final ideas, even though they are not revenue generators, because they all hold immense potential to enrich the academic experience here at GW,” Mr. Steinour says.
Lauding the committee members for their insights, ideas and energy, Mr. Steinour says, “Everyone put an incredible amount of hard work into researching and analyzing the many proposals, and I thank them for an exceptional job.” He tips his hat to several School of Engineering and Applied Science members for jumping in to help with the financial analysis. “The financial expertise of Rich Cosentino, Jessica Dennison, and Anastasia Martynova from SEAS, as well as Presidential Administrative Fellow Gina Fernandez, was invaluable,” he says.
“It was a great experience to work with so many outstanding faculty members, who put their heart and soul into this important initiative,” Mr. Steinour concludes. “I am proud and thankful to be a part of this incredible process.”