HIPs at Ten

High-Impact Practices and the Adult Online Learner

“…As higher education comes under increasing scrutiny, greater pressures are being placed on institutions to increase the graduation rates for all student populations. The importance of student engagement in HIPs, as evaluated in the NSSE survey, has been addressed in various studies, including Kezar and Holcombe (2017), Kilgo and Pascarella (2015), Kuh and AAC&U (2008), and Kuh et al (2017). Indeed, in an ever-changing world, institutions need to provide students diverse ways to become engaged in their education; this may be especially true of adult learner populations.…”

“…Given the findings of many studies, such as Kuh et al (2017), which are on the importance of high-impact practices, and the results derived from the analysis of the NSSE data in the current study, it is thought that as institutions strive to increase student exposure to HIPS focusing on opportunities that meet the needs of adult learners (on campus or online) may not only increase overall student engagement but also benefit from resultant increases in student success measures, such as overall six-year graduation rates. Stoloff et al (2015) found that, although undergraduate admission tests are an indicator of student potential, programs including HIPS such as those detailed in this study can lead students to reach higher levels of student success, such as program completion and graduate school attendance.…”

What’s in a Name? Unpacking Students’ Roles in Higher Education through Neoliberal and Social Justice Lenses

“…The application of a social justice lens to higher education raises questions about and makes arguments for striving for equity and justice for all within the higher education community in light of existing disparities (Brennan & Naidoo, 2008). These are important issues given that higher education systems were arguably designed by the privileged for the privileged and, despite ongoing efforts to promote equity, are still systems that are structurally hierarchical and inequitable in terms of power, access, and resources (e.g., Kuh, O'Donnell, & Schneider, 2017). I see partnership-at its most aspirational-as one means to disrupt this hierarchical status quo in higher education and strive for more equitable ways of working, thinking, and producing knowledge based on the acknowledgment that everyone has valuable expertise to contribute.…”

Accentuating Dispositional Learning from HIPs Using ePortfolio

“…High‐impact practices — activities such as learning communities, service learning, undergraduate research, and community engagement — may be especially good for promoting certain of the dispositional outcomes that are in growing demand because of their engaging properties and the unusually positive benefits that accrue to the undergraduate students who participate in one or more of them. For example: They typically require applied, hands‐on practice necessary for deep, meaningful, integrative learning over an extended period of time. They have compensatory effects for students from historically underserved populations (that is, students get a boost in their performance). They help shrink the psychological size of the institution because students get to know well at least one faculty or staff member and a small affinity group of peers. These positive effects on learning and persistence are cumulative and additive when students participate in multiple HIPs during their undergraduate program (Kuh, O'Donnell, and Schneider 2017). …”