Gateway

The Gateway Project supports faculty in designing and refining courses that are “gateways” to student success. Our work is grounded in student success data, student feedback, and evidence-based teaching practices. Faculty participating in our continuous improvement processes will enjoy a supportive, interdisciplinary community of colleagues who share successes and challenges as we work together to create effective learning environments for FIU students.

Since the 2014-2015 inception of the Gateway Project, more than 50,600 additional students have passed 24 foundational “gateway” courses than would have at the 2013-14 passing rates (24 courses with > 40,000 enrolled students annually, including Biology, Chemistry, English, History, Psychology, Math, Statistics, Economics, Religious Studies). The average passing rate across these gateway courses has increased from 65% to 81%.

What is a Gateway Course?

FIU’s Gateway Project responds to the well-established problem that the transition from high school to higher education can be fraught with challenges for students. At FIU, many undergraduates enter the university as transfers, so these transitions may affect students at any level. Foundational university courses have often served as “gatekeepers,” creating barriers to progress that diverted students from their desired academic plans or led students to drop out.

At FIU, we know that these courses can instead become gateways to student success that help students navigate new challenges. FIU’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) supports faculty as they develop plans for improving course design and teaching strategies to enhance student learning and success.

When FIU initiated the Gateway Project, we focused on courses with high enrollment (>1,600 students), high failure rates (>15%), and/or high impact on progress (strong predictor of dropping out or delayed graduation). With a goal of improving 1st-to-2nd year retention, FIU initially identified 17 critical courses from the university core curriculum (UCC). Improvements in course design and teaching led to improved passing rates and contributed to increased student retention.

As the project progressed, additional courses were designated as “gateway” courses and joined the course improvement efforts. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation/APLU-funded Transformational Change Collaborative supported the refinement and implementation of these plans through 2021. The FIU Strategic Plan 2020 expanded the Gateway Project to include Gateway to Graduation (G2G) courses. G2G courses are essential for progress in a given major and for timely graduation.

Today, we realize that every course is a gateway to something. Each course contributes to a student’s progress and success. So, now we invite any professor to participate in our course improvement activities.

The Gateway Survey:

The Gateway Survey of Student Perceptions and Behaviors has been helping us learn about student experiences in foundational courses since 2014. With more than 140,000 survey responses to date, we’ve used this data in a variety of ways, including:

    ● providing faculty with individual reports for your own efforts to assess and modify your course and instructional design

    ● using aggregate results for course improvement teams’ cooperative work

    ● understanding the impacts of student experiences on their study behaviors and course outcomes

    ● revealing differences in course experiences that may contribute to disparate outcomes

    ● providing programming to support you and your teaching efforts

    ● advocating for increased support of faculty course improvement efforts

With more than 140,000 responses to our Gateway Surveys, we know more about practices that support student learning and minimize obstacles to student success than ever before. Grounded in qualitative research using interviews and focus groups, key categories emerged of students’ perceptions of their courses and how those feelings affected their study behaviors. Feelings about the course, peer interaction, personal effort and study time, as well as personal obstacles to success in the course had significant associations with course passing outcomes. Survey respondents also provided rich text responses about aspects of the course that helped them learn, as well as suggestions for change. After testing and refining the survey in several key courses, a set of “core” questions were identified as being most strongly associated with differences in students passing the course vs. dropping or failing. As faculty became more engaged in the process of data-based course reform, we provided course customization to assess innovations and measure progress.

The “core” includes 15 questions that have shown a consistent relationship with course passing and best practices in gateway course design and instruction, which are distributed to all gateway courses at the end of each term. We include an additional question set that provides feedback on student feelings of belonging to the FIU community. Some courses include additional questions for the LA program, Hybrid initiative, or by faculty request. Alternative versions are used for online sections. Students typically complete the survey in less than 10 minutes.

Preview the core survey 

How to participate in the Gateway Survey:

Any course can be included in the Gateway Survey by faculty request. If you wish to have the survey distributed courses that you teach, please request through the appropriate links below:

Survey My Course (Summer B/C 2025)

Survey My Course (Fall 2025)

Engaging faculty partners has been an essential element of bringing this data into the gateway course improvement process. Our strategies for disseminating research findings create opportunities for faculty to share their successful interventions and instructional designs while identifying needs for continued improvement. An essential element of all these practices is the development of trusting partnerships between faculty, faculty development professionals, researchers, and the students who share their experiences in our surveys.

Course Performance

Since project implementation in Fall 2012, the percentage of FTIC students that pass all of the gateway courses that they take in their first year increased by almost 15%, and there was a 25% decrease in failure rates across the gateway courses. The 1st to 2nd Year Retention Rate has increased by 3% during the life of the Gateway Project. Passing rates continue a trend of improvement, resulting in over 8,000* additional successful course completions as of Fall 2018.

Faculty Feedback

In addition to the rich survey data, upon which faculty have developed evidenced-based teaching practices, gateway course completion and performance results, the perceived value of Gateway Project programming expressed by gateway faculty also serves as an important measure of success. 

Super excited about the relevance numbers – we’ve been working on this in course redesign. Also “comfort in class” numbers continue to rise – related to focus on class and program culture.

This was one of the more useful workshops that I have had at FIU as an instructor. It really helped me see the bigger picture of student success beyond my own classes and helped me view teaching at FIU as a community effort, rather than just an individual endeavor. I would highly recommend this to my peers.

I am very happy I made the time to be a part of the workshop, and even without the monetary reward, I would gladly do it again. I want to thank all of the organizers that took the time to create this deeply enriching, learning experience for us all. 

Recognizing Innovation and Excellence in Gateway Teaching

Established in 2015, by Provost Furton, FIUs Gateway Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes the innovative and outstanding teaching in FIU’s gateway courses. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching coordinates the application process, and a panel of FIU faculty serves as jurors in the selection process. Awardees are recognized during fall convocation and the award is accompanied by a stipend of $5,000.

Gateway Award for Excellence in Teaching Awardees 2016-2025

Sat Gavassa, Department of Biological Sciences

Rachel Ritchie, Department of Psychology

Roneet Merkin, Department of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences

Uma Swamy, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Nicholas Vagnoni, Department of English

Sonia Underwood, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Karla Rivera Caceres, Department of Biological Sciences

Umut Caglar, Department of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences

Sandra Stojanovic, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Julia Parker, Department of Psychology