scholarly journals Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Shari Lanning ◽  
Mark Brown

Higher education research indicates that student engagement is the most critical factor in retention programs for undergraduate students (Upcraft, Gardner and Barefoot, 2005; Tinto, 2012; Pascarella, Seifert, and Whitt, 2008). These studies illustrate that if students do not feel engaged, they are at high risk for leaving their institution prematurely. Among high impact practices, undergraduate research has been shown to have the most positive effects with regard to promoting student engagement (Kuh, 2018; Kuh, 2008). Herein we highlight the use of mentored research as a high impact practice in undergraduate education, Further, we call upon the education community to share their models, approaches, observations, and research findings related to undergraduate research initiatives.

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (169) ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Moran III ◽  
Marilyn J. Wells ◽  
Angela Smith-Aumen

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaye D. Ceyhan ◽  
John W. Tillotson

Abstract Background Prior research reported that motivational beliefs that individuals attach to specific tasks predict continuing interest and persistence in the task. A motivational approach may be particularly useful for understanding undergraduate students’ engagement with research in their first and second years in college. The current study utilizes the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation to qualitatively explore how much and in what ways early year undergraduate researchers value their research experience and what kinds of costs they associate with it. Results The results revealed that intrinsic value had the highest expression in participants’ motivation to engage in research. The second most expressed value type was the utility value of undergraduate research with regards to obtaining the desired outcomes, and attainment value played the least important role in participants’ motivation to engage in research. Findings also indicated that some of the participants associated a cost(s) to their research experience. The highest mentioned perceived cost was opportunity cost, where participants commented on losing other valued alternatives when engaging in research. Participants commented on the time, effort, or amount of work needed to engage in research, and a few participants commented on the emotional cost associated with their research experience in terms of the fear of failure. Conclusion As perceived cost is the least studied in the expectancy-value framework, this study contributes to cost values within college students, particularly about early year undergraduate researchers. The findings of this study can form the basis for future work on exploring ways to increase the values and decrease the costs students experience in their undergraduate research experiences.


Author(s):  
Judith A. Giering ◽  
Yitna B. Firdyiwek

This chapter describes the experiences of a liberal arts college that is part of a large research university implementing e-portfolios with a focus on learning engagement. Using qualitative data collected over time and programmatic experience, the team assesses the depth of engagement their students are experiencing, to determine whether most students are using e-portfolios to engage in learning on their own, or only when prompted to do so by faculty within the confines of a single course. Too few students have taken full ownership of their e-portfolios and engaged with them as a meta-high impact practice. Implications of this finding suggest faculty using e-portfolios need to be intentional about student engagement at the meta-high impact level. Part of achieving this is developing further clarity on what it looks like when e-portfolios are designed to be used as a meta-high impact practice while applying more rigorous methods to determine when students have reached this level of engagement.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-367
Author(s):  
Brian D. Clocksin ◽  
Margo B. Greicar

Community engagement is commonly imbedded in the ethos of institutions of higher education and has been identified as a High Impact Practice for student learning and retention. The Sustained Engagement Experiences in Kinesiology (SEEK) program at the University of La Verne is a curriculum-wide approach that moves students through four stages of community engagement: Respect, Participating with Effort, Self-Directions, and Leadership. The stages are developmentally sequenced across the curriculum and provide opportunities for learners to move from passive participants to active engagement scholars. The engagement experiences serve to enhance students’ abilities to transfer what they learn in the classroom to real-life problems, foster an asset-based approach to community engagement, and facilitate a transition from surface-to deep-learning.


Author(s):  
Jim Meagher ◽  
Xi Wu

Introductory graduate level courses and upper division technical electives often present a student with his or her first research project. Time limitations of a course require a balance between open ended discovery, development of specialized technical knowledge, and teaching the mechanics of research methodology. The case study presented in this paper is an outline of two different strategies to introduce research to undergraduate students within the framework of a rotor dynamics laboratory. The laboratory had historically been designed to demonstrate machinery malfunctions in a series of short exercises. The laboratory was changed to have several introductory labs designed to prepare students for an extended self-directed research project that included literature searches, paper reviews, design of experiments, and presentation of research findings to the class. In one strategy the students were expected to practice discovery primarily through experimentation with specific, restricted goals. In the other strategy the students were given more flexibility defining the research question and in establishing priorities. Both projects had students design an experiment whose results were compared to mathematical simulations and each led to research that was presented at a conference. Although both were considered successful in terms of student learning and research outcomes, a balance biased toward experimentation and restricted student options for discovery actually led to broader research findings and more in-depth student research but with less student appreciation for and practice with the necessary preliminary stages of conducting research. The student learning experiences and methodologies for each scenario are presented and compared in this paper.


Author(s):  
Regina Garza Roche ◽  
Francisco Gerardo Barroso Tanoira ◽  
Edgar Román Canul Homá ◽  
Carola H. Rivera Cuellar ◽  
Ángel Carrillo Cervera ◽  
...  

El presente trabajo identifica las estrategias que emplean diversas instituciones de educación superior para fomentar el espíritu emprendedor en sus estudiantes de pregrado, así como el involucramiento de diferentes actores de la sociedad, a través de la formación de clústeres universitarios que permitan resultados de alto impacto en emprendimiento, innovación y solución a problemas sociales. Esto es posible a través de la formación de recursos humanos, pensamiento disruptivo, generación de conocimiento y vinculación con los sectores productivo, académico y gubernamental. Las conclusiones indican que los clústeres universitarios son estrategias eficaces para el fomento del espíritu emprendedor. ABSTRACT: This document identifies the strategies used in diverse higher education institutions for enhancing entrepreneurial spirit in their undergraduate students, as well as the involvement of different actors of society through university clusters formation that allow high impact in entrepreneurship, innovation and solutions to social problems. This is possible through human resource training, disruptive thinking, knowledge generation and links with the productive, academic and governmental sectors. The conclusions show that university clusters are effective strategies for enhancing entrepreneurial spirit.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (S(1)) ◽  
pp. 40-50
Author(s):  
Genshu Lu ◽  
Lijie Li ◽  
Mei Tian

Drawing on the data generated by a survey involving 1,428 international undergraduate students in China, this article analyzed the relationship between the participants’ perceived learning environment and their self-reported engagement in academic activities. The findings revealed the participants’ uneven participation in academic activities. Based on their self-reported levels of student engagement, the participants were categorized into three types: i.e. active engagement (23.2%), lack of engagement (45.8%) and inadequate engagement (31.0%). In line with the previous research findings, this research confirmed a significant relationship between international students’ perceived learning environment and their engagement in academic studies. Suggestions were given for the enhancement of international student education in China. 本研究应用对1428名来华本科留学生的调查数据,探讨了来华留学生的学习投入状态,以及个体因素和学习环境因素对其学习投入的影响。研究发现,就总体而言,来华本科留学生感知的学习环境处于良好状态,他们的学习投入程度则处于一般偏低水平;根据来华本科留学生学习投入情况,可将其学习投入类型分为高投入型、低投入型和欠投入型三类,分别占比23.2%,45.8%,31.0%;个体因素和学习环境因素对来华本科留学生的学习投入程度具有一定的显著影响。为提高来华留学生的学习投入程度,一方面要从来华留学生自身出发,提高学习自觉性,增强学习投入水平;另一方面,要根据来华本科留学生的个体背景采取胡针对性的策略,同时通过营造良好的学习环境来提升来华本科留学生的学习投入水平,帮助其获得更好的在华留学经历。


2020 ◽  
Vol V (I) ◽  
pp. 488-499
Author(s):  
Shumaila Hameed ◽  
Mumtaz Akhter

Formative assessment is known for its positive effects it has on students' achievement. This study was designed to find out the effect of formative assessment on students' motivation at the higher education level. This study was experimental in nature; intact pre-test post-test control group design was used for data collection purpose. Sample of the study was selected conveniently, which comprised of undergraduate students. Students belonging to the experimental group were taught with instructional embedded formative assessment, whereas students belonging to the control group were taught with formal teaching methods. Students of both groups were required to fill a motivation questionnaire at the start and end of the study to check the level of intervention. Data collected through pre-test and post-test were analyzed using SPSS. The findings of the current study had suggested that instructional embedded formative assessment had a significant positive effect on students' motivation towards learning at the higher education level.


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