2000-2010 Strategic Plan

Appendix C: Report of the Millennium Commission - Goals

Core Principle #1 Research should permeate and inform all levels of educational practice.

Goals:

Undergraduate and graduate students should actively participate - individually or collaboratively - in the creation, design and implementation of research as part of their academic experience in our COE.
Faculty on research time should have the flexibility of reallocating budgeted time for a semester focused on research every five years.
COE faculty should be encouraged to conduct and disseminate research with faculty in other disciplines or specializations within and across the College and the university.

Core Principle #2

Teaching is the focus of much of our scholarship. Therefore, priority should be devoted to pursuing excellence in our own teaching through rigorous peer review, public demonstration of effective teaching, and appropriate rewards and recognition.

Goals:

Faculty across schools should be encouraged and supported to study, examine, and improve instruction in higher education.
Forums on the scholarship of teaching should be held where COE faculties share educational practices centered on a common theme.
Teaching assistants should be mentored before, during, and after each semester in which they teach.
New faculty should be mentored in instruction and advising.
Faculty should have ongoing opportunities to reflect both individually and with peers upon data collected about their teaching and advising.
Excellence in teaching should be documented in a variety of ways for example, through advising students, serving on committees in and out of UGA, evidence of student learning.
Junior and senior level undergraduate courses should aim to have less than 60 students per class.
Funds for educational materials to support graduate and undergraduate instruction should be made available to support a broad range of programs.
Departments and schools should develop formal and informal ways to ensure that each student is known well by at least someone among his or her student peers, faculty, and staff.
Students should have more options within programs of study.

Core Principle #3

Our College should demonstrate an unwavering commitment to diversity, multiculturalism, and international education. Our College of Education, located within a major public state university, should continually examine, understand, and promote diversity of ideas and people as vital to an educated community.

Goals:

The demographic composition of the COE faculty, staff, and student body should be more reflective of the state of Georgia's demographics and of our global society.
The COE must be inclusive and welcoming to all persons equally. The College should be defined as a community of educators and learners that welcomes collegial discussion and activities.
We as a College need to continue to take a persistent, thoughtful, and prominent role in continually examining and addressing the changing issues of multicultural education.
Students should have more opportunities for international experiences and this should be independent of their ability to pay.
Avenues for pursuing cultural diversity in research, teaching, and service should be open to all faculty, staff, students, and administrators.
An international development coordinator to facilitate international exchanges, research, joint courses, and distance education should be hired.
Cross-cultural and international research and information sharing for an expanded and global understanding of scholarship and knowledge should be disseminated within and outside of the College.
Effective practices for fostering intercultural understanding and competence should be disseminated.
An open intellectual climate conducive to the examination of multiple perspectives on academic and professional problems and issues should be f

Core Principle #4

Our College should work to promote greater access to quality education so that all members of society may become more effective citizens. We dedicate ourselves to the democratic purpose of education as a primary means for promoting the general welfare.

Goals:

Graduates should demonstrate the critical thinking attributes of an independently minded, socially responsible citizen.
Faculty should strive in teaching, research, service, academic program development, and student support services, to demonstrate benefits for improving the education, learning, and general lives of children, adults, citizens, neighborhoods, communities, and society at large.

Core Principle #5

Opportunities for collaborative ventures of outreach, service, and academic community learning expand the possibilities for improving education and lifelong learning. Partnerships with people, schools, community organizations, clinics, agencies, business and governments at state, national, and international levels should be integral to our research, teaching, and service.

Goals:

An on-going process should be in place within each department that gathers and uses information from its graduates regarding the effectiveness of their educational experiences.
Annual public forums with employers of its graduates to elicit feedback should be held.
Departments should develop and recognize community, state, national, and international partnerships in teaching, research, or service.
The COE faculty should collaborate with constituents to resolve problems of schools, professional practice, and education.
COE faculty should develop outreach, service, and academic community learning components and courses within each program area.
Undergraduate and graduate students should have a wide range of choices and placements in their field-based experiences (for example, in schools, community outreach programs, and special projects).
Alumnae, alumni groups, and retired faculty should become more involved in leadership roles within the College.

Core Principle #6

Professional development, academic preparation, and lifelong learning opportunities should enhance professional practice of faculty, students, staff, and alumni.

Goals:

Each program area should define and develop leadership skills expected of graduates.
All students should have opportunities to learn and to demonstrate leadership capabilities.
On-campus leaves and other programs where faculty and staff can participate in leadership and professional development should be developed.
Each program area should make opportunities for continuing education available to its alumni annually.

Core Principle #7

Increased collaboration within the College, with other colleges at The University of Georgia, and with other universities, is vital for the improvement of all academic programs. The College of Education should take a leadership role in the development of joint programs, innovative technologies and curricula, effective teaching methods, context-based learning strategies, and related joint research.

Goals:

The COE should work with other colleges within the university to restructure the university reward system to recognize the value of productive collaboration.
College faculty should have opportunities to link with the Office of Instructional Support and Development in providing consultation to other colleges in UGA on curriculum, teaching, and technology.
Grant opportunities for collaboration in research, teaching, and service should be sought.
Mechanisms should be in place to promote and facilitate collaboration across departments, schools, colleges, and universities.
Dual appointments with the College of Arts and Science and other colleges should be created to support the preparation of teachers and other educational professionals and agreements made which protect faculty who partner in this manner in promotion and tenure decisions.

Strategic Plan - Apppendix C

Goals

Enabling Recommendations

About The College of Education

Bibliography

The Millennium Commission

The Millennium Commission Representatives