This week’s episode defines collaborative projects and assignments, a high-impact practice (HIP), and explores its role in higher education. The episode features one foundational publication on HIPs from the Association of American Colleges and Universities and one recent publication from Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning.
See extended episode notes at https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/what-are-collaborative-assignments-and-projects/.
This week’s episode defines collaborative projects and assignments, a high-impact practice (HIP), and explores its role in higher education. The episode features one foundational publication on HIPs from the Association of American Colleges and Universities and one recent publication from Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning:
The episode was hosted by Marie-Clare Ofoegbu. 60-Second SoTL is produced by the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University.
60-Second SoTL
Episode 26 – What are Collaborative Assignments and Projects?
(Piano Music)
0:02
Jessie L. Moore:
What are collaborative assignments and projects, and why are they designated as a high-impact educational practice? That’s the focus of this week’s 60-second SoTL from Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. This episode is the first in an 8-part series hosted by Elon University Masters of Higher Education students who are exploring collaborative assignments and projects as a high-impact practice. Listen for their future episodes in their series wherever you subscribe to 60-Second SoTL.
0:27
(Piano Music)
0:30
Marie-Clare Ofoegbu:
Hi, my name is Marie-Clare Ofoegbu.
In “High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter,” published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, George Kuh, Carol Geary Schneider, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities serves as a foundational text of high-impact practices, HIPs for short. The authors identified the original ten HIPs and their role in overall positive student outcomes and experiences.
0:56
The authors analyzed and synthesized the ten HIPs’ impact on students’ overall success in gaining the social, economic, and personal benefits associated with receiving a college degree. Additionally, an intentional focus was placed on culminating the data on the HIPs’ outcomes for underserved students.
Through data provided by the National Student Survey of Student Engagement, the researchers explored students’ engagement in multiple HIPs in their first and senior years at their college or university; the retention rates of first year students to their second year if they engaged with a HIP; the gains and learning students reported in their HIPs’ participation; and the overall student exposure to HIPs based on demographical markers like ethnicity, college year, whether they were first generation, and age.
1:45
In synthesizing the data, first year students discovered deep learning within their HIPs’ participation in learning communities and service-learning. Within both HIPs opportunities, first year students engaged with active and collaborative learning and student to faculty interaction. Senior students’ participation in student-to-faculty research and service-learning, as HIPs, caused deep learning with personal and general student gains to be reported. Also, both HIPs’ encouraged active and collaborative learning and an opportunity for student-to-faculty interaction as well. Holistically, the authors observed that underserved populations had a higher GPA and retention from first to second year when they engage with HIPs and benefitted significantly from their HIPs participation.
2:33
In a more recent publication, “HIPs at Ten,” George Kuh, Ken O’Donnell, and Carol Geary Schneider recognize the ten-year anniversary of HIPs and discussed the characteristics of HIPs with a trajectorial plan for its future. The authors defined each HIP and highlighted their significance to the student experience with its relationship to higher student engagement rates. Research showed collaborative assignments and projects tended to exist in a multitude of forms from study groups to team-based learning opportunities. Through the authors’ analysis of HIPs, they realized HIPs have numerous advantages for students, but accessibility and equity are challenges across campus for implementing HIPs. However, opportunities for future research and literature will provide solutions for the broader community to learn from.
3: 3:22
Collectively, these two texts suggest that collaborative assignments and projects exist within other HIPs and manifests itself as a collaborative learning opportunity for students. Both texts provide a general understanding of the impactful and ever-growing nature of HIPs that remains a point of study to understand where these practices intertwine themselves with other practices.
3:45
Although these studies focused on the holistic impact of HIPs, this SoTL podcast series will explore collaborative assignments and projects through its components of collaborative learning and team-based learning. To learn more about both studies, see the full citation in our show notes.
4:01
(Piano Music)
Jessie L. Moore:
Join us next week for another snapshot of recent scholarship of teaching and learning on 60-second SoTL from Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. Learn more about the Center at www.CenterForEngagedLearning.org.
4:17
(Piano Music)