In 2008, Florida International University's Agroecology Program established an upper division Agroecology course and Sustainable Agriculture course to serve a population of mostly urban-raised students with little or no previous agriculture background. We surveyed a total of 500 students enrolled in these classes at each Fall and Spring semesters from 2008 to 2025 to assess learning outcomes and rank factors contributing to the classroom teaching, interactive discussions, campus organic garden as an outdoor learning facility, and farm visits. Using machine learning methods (hierarchical clustering and gradient tree boosting) to analyze survey responses, we found that high learning outcomes were associated with active classroom participation, experiential and experimental learning at the campus organic garden, membership in student clubs associated with the organic garden, off-campus farm visits, and off-campus application of newly gained gardening knowledge (e.g. gardening at home). Interestingly, the level of knowledge gained in composting, compost application, regenerative agriculture practices, and overall understanding of agroecological principles through experiential and experimental learning were the best predictors of students’ overall learning outcomes. We speculate that sustained involvement with this “classroom-campus organic garden” indicated higher intrinsic motivation, which led to higher learning outcomes.