91¶ÌÊÓƵ

91¶ÌÊÓƵ HIEE Taxonomy

The HIEE taxonomy is a tool to help educators reflect on their teaching inside and outside the classroom.  It is NOT meant to serve as a grading rubric for student work.  Rather, this taxonomy is an instructional tool meant to encourage educators to thoughtfully consider and cultivate the impactfulness of each  engagement opportunity. It is designed to highlight the different levels of impact that are defined as foundational, integrated and transformative connections with students.  Keep in mind that “higher” levels of impact are not necessarily more desirable than “lower” levels.  The desirable level of impact is dependent upon the student learning outcomes you are striving to achieve through a particular educational experience.  Use the taxonomy to assess the educational experiences you are employing in your courses and programs to inform what you can do to make your practices be more impactful for each student.

* The Student Access & Success SETF (Student Engagement Task Force) created the original version of this taxonomy and graciously collaborated with the Student Success Engagement Committee to modify it to include additional impact strategies.

Background

For the last two decades, the phrase “high impact” has been used to describe educational practices researchers have found to be particularly influential for student learning and persistence to graduation (Kuh, 2008).  Kuh’s list of ten “high impact practices” — including research, community service, internships, study abroad, capstone, living learning communities, first year seminars, common intellectual experiences, writing intensive courses, and collaborative assignments — has become the aspirational “high impact” standard at many institutions of higher education around the country.  Accordingly, in the last several decades, 91¶ÌÊÓƵ has established centers and offices to support and grow many of these particular practices — e.g. Office of Undergraduate Research, Career Services (internships), Center for Community Engaged Learning, Study Abroad, etc.

Not surprisingly, given Weber State’s student-centric approach to learning, other high impact educational experiences not included on Kuh’s list have  emerged in both the curriculum and co-curriculum. Although a vibrant innovative culture for teaching and learning resulted, the development and use of high impact educational practices has not necessarily been well articulated or coordinated across departments and divisions.  Therefore, it is unclear if all Weber State students have equal access and thereby benefit from these impactful learning experiences.

In November, 2017, the Commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) recommended to the State Board of Regents “that the Board establish the goal that all students participate in two high impact practices during study at the undergraduate level: (1) one during their first 30 credits of enrollment (not including concurrent enrollment), and (2) one within their major, and that reports on progress toward these goals occur during institutional completion reports at Board meetings.”  The main motivation for this recommendation is to ensure all students have equal access to high impact educational experiences.

Role of High Impact Educational Experiences in the Student Success Initiative

Given Weber State’s commitment to student success, we must  ensure that all students have equal access to highly impactful learning opportunities.  The Student Success initiative articulates engagement as one of four key pillars in an educational environment necessary to cultivate a successful student.   As such, a goal of the initiative is to make high impact learning opportunities readily available to all students throughout the curriculum and co-curriculum to ensure students “actively engage in learning inside and outside the classroom” (91¶ÌÊÓƵ Student Success Vision, 2016).  Much of this engaged learning is already occurring through the many high impact educational experiences at 91¶ÌÊÓƵ.

It is the task of the Engagement Committee (a subcommittee to the Student Success Steering Committee) to identify a way of more systematically coordinating the development, growth and implementation of high impact educational efforts taking place both in and outside of the classroom.  The necessary first step in this coordination process, however, is to share a common language about and understanding of high impact educational opportunities. A common language will help:

• Identify where high impact opportunities already exist in our curriculum and co-curriculum which will enable advisers to guide students to these types of learning experiences;
• Empower faculty and staff with a shared taxonomy to self-evaluate the learning experiences they currently provide and choose whether or not to enhance those experiences to be even more impactful for students; and
• Create a coordinated system of educational experiences that ensures equal access to high impact learning opportunities for all students, especially underrepresented students.

Description of this Document

This document represents the efforts of the Engagement Committee to develop shared language for high impact learning experiences at 91¶ÌÊÓƵ.  The 30-member committee collaborated in a six-month process to develop and vett a working definition and taxonomy of high impact educational experiences (HIEE) that can be used by educators in both Academic and Student Access & Success.  

A critical goal for educators is to create a rich learning environment that will help students be successful in their educational and life-long pursuits.  Rather than limiting educators’ choices of impactful experiences to Kuh’s (2008) list of ten “high-impact practices,” the committee decided to anchor Weber State’s definition in eight impact strategies that are found in all of Kuh’s  high-impact educational practices (Kuh & O’Donnell, 2014). By doing so, educators can continue to be innovative and creative in their educational practices to ensure high quality learning experiences for their students and not be limited to an already predetermined list of “high-impact practices.”  

In other words, the committee found the nationally recognized language of “high-impact practices” limiting and, therefore, strategically chose language meant to be more inclusive of a variety of educational practices that can occur in either, or both, curricular and co-curricular experiences.  Hence, the language of High Impact Educational Experiences (HIEE) was created.

Assumptions

1. 91¶ÌÊÓƵ has the responsibility to provide a setting conducive to the use of impact strategies.  
2. An engaged learning environment is a hallmark of a 91¶ÌÊÓƵ education.
3. High impact educational experiences intentionally combine impact strategies to improve student learning.
4. Not all courses or co-curricular activities will utilize every impact strategy. But all faculty and staff are encouraged to incorporate as many appropriate strategies as possible, at the highest  level possible, in all courses they teach and activities they facilitate.
5. The use of impact strategies in a course or event does not automatically equate to high impact educational experience; however, all high impact educational experiences regularly integrate impact strategies.

References

Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987).  Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education.

Ewell, P.T. & Jones, D.P. (1996).  Indicators of “Good Practice” in Undergraduate Education: A Handbook for Development and Implementation.  Boulder, CO: National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

Kuh, G.D. (2008).  High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Kuh, G.D. & O'Donnell, K. (2014).  Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale.  Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.