Most of us are familiar with the research professor George D. Kuh and the book High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter (Kuh, 2008), published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Kuh identified ten educational practices that facilitate long-term success for students: first-year seminars and experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing-intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, diversity and global learning, service- or community-based learning, internships, and capstone courses or projects (2008). On account of the potential of HIPs to promote long term success for students, AAC&U termed these “high-impact practices” or “HIPs.” In 2016, AAC&U added ePortfolios as the eleventh HIP (Watson et al., 2016).
Thanks to the extensive research conducted in the US by Kuh and colleagues and many others, we know a great deal about HIPs. An expansive body of literature provides concrete examples of high-impact learning practices, details specific programming ideas, offers advice for the design and implementation of HIPs, and more (Kuh, 2008, Watson et al, 2016). It is important to note: HIPs are not only applicable to the United States. They are certainly translatable to a South African context, and many South African universities offer their own particular versions of HIPs to differing extents.
HIPs make perfect sense to universities. But, I wonder, how do you persuade students of the value of HIPs? This question then is really the central point of this blog-piece.
Unless HIPs are explicitly designed to be an integral part of the curriculum, it may prove difficult to persuade students that taking part in a HIP is truly worth the time and effort on their part. Taking part in HIPs can be a serious time commitment for some students who may be otherwise preoccupied with other responsibilities, such as caring for family members, raising children or working at part-time jobs. Some HIPs may even involve some costs, such as travel, which can be off-putting for students.
Students may not likely be familiar with the term HIP itself. They may not know, for example, that taking part in a First-Year Experience Seminar or Programme will be of immense benefit to them. A student might reason: why bother investing time in a service-learning project where I would have to incur the costs of travelling out to communities? Or why would I take part in a learning community when I’m in, any case, not keen on the company of my fellow students? Many students would be inclined to see only lectures, tutorials and exams as worthy of their time. Perhaps they would lend only cursory attention to those things we define as HIPs and upon which we place so much importance.
It is possible that we don’t fully consider these sorts of barriers to participation when designing HIPs or even assessing the students’ response to HIPs. How then can universities give students a reason to invest their time and energy in HIPs? Essentially, we have to convince students to take HIPs seriously.
HIPs can be seen as more important than ever in a post-COVID world. While we are still coming to terms with the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning, many published studies already indicate several negative impacts on students, such as a lack of concentration and ability to focus as well as an overall decline in student engagement (Ali, 2020; Ives, 2021; Castro & George, 2021). As such, HIP’s can be seen as more vital than ever to re-engage students in their learning. Of course, one does not disregard Jenny Darroch’s recent blunt statement, “Students are less engaged, stop blaming COVID” (Darroch, 2023) and her call to reexamine the current narrative around student engagement by understanding the student profile and considering whether universities are meeting the needs of students.
Darroch’s call for universities to adapt themselves to Generation Z and to help them engage with all that universities can offer, rings true. It is true that we have a responsibility to engage students and keep engaging them. We definitely need to step up the messaging to students that HIP’s will benefit them. This should be a conversation that we, as South Africa’s universities, start and continue to advance with each other. I would be curious to know: What is your definition of an HIP? How do you see your HIPs working? Have you designed it with the engagement of your students in mind? Please let me know.
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References
Ali, W. (2020). Online and remote learning in higher education institutes: A necessity in light of COVID education institutes: A necessity in light of COVID19 pandemic. Higher education studies, 10(3), 16-25.
Castro, E. & Jessie, G. (2021) The Impact of COVID-19 on Student Perceptions of Education and Engagement. E-Journal of Business Education and Scholarship of Teaching, 15(1), pp 28-39
Darroch, J. (2023, 30 May) May Students are Less Engaged, Stop Blaming COVID. Inside Higher Education https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/05/30/students-are-less-engaged-stop-blaming-covid-opinion.
Ives, B. (2021) University students experience the COVID-19 induced shift to remote instruction. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 18(1): 59.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-021-00296-5.
Kuh, G.D. (2008) High Impact Educational Practices: What they are, who has access to them and why they matter. Report from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
Watson, C.E., Kuh, G.G., Rhodes, T., Light, T.P., & Chen, H.L. (2016) Editorial: ePortfolios: the Eleventh High-Impact Practice. International Journal of ePortfolio, 6(2), 65-69.