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High Impact Practices: Engaging ePortfolios Beyond Assessment

J. Elizabeth Clark, Ph.D.

LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

October 2024

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About this Session

LaGuardia is one of the campuses that put high impact practices(HIPs) into the national spotlight. George D. Kuh's 2008 "High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter" outlined the ways in which specific teaching and learning practices have greater impact on student learning.

Today, as we continue to redefine the classroom after COVID and as we navigate increasingly hybrid and online teaching spaces, how might a renewed focus on high impact teaching and learning practices help us as we seek to more fully engage our students? How can ePortfolios serve as a space for engaged life-long learning, reflection, integrative learning, and dialogue?

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About this Session, 2

Together, we'll explore the eleven high impact practices and the key characteristics that ensure a practice is more than just checking a box. We'll also consider the ways that LaGuardia might strengthen its work with high impact practices throughout the curriculum.

You will leave the conversation with:

• a robust definition of high impact practices and key characteristics;

• an understanding of ePortfolios as a site for engaged & integrative learning, harnessing the potential of ePortfolios as a high-impact practice;

• a set of exemplar ePortfolios for further exploration;

• a set of further readings on ePortfolios as a high-impact practice, and ePortfolios for engaged & integrative learning.

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What Are HIPs?

The term High-Impact Practices (HIPs) comes from George Kuh's 2008 work outlining 10 practices in higher education in his now landmark monograph High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. This work builds on AAC&U's Greater Expectations, Purposeful Pathways, Liberal Education, LEAP and the Essential Learning Outcomes work. HIPs should be understood in context: these are experiences that, when engaged meaningfully, create deep learning experiences for all students at our institutions.

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How Are HIPs Adopted?

High-Impact Practices (HIPs) are evidence-based teaching and learning practices that put students and faculty first.

They come from deeply intentional faculty work.

Campuses adopt high-impact practices through curriculum, co-curricular activities, and faculty engaged in or interested in this work.

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Kuh Identified 10 HIPs in 2008

First Year Seminars & Experiences
Common Intellectual Experiences
Learning Communities
Writing-Intensive Courses
Collaborative Assignments and Projects
Undergraduate Research
Diversity / Global Learning
Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
Internships
Capstone Courses and Projects

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"simply offering and labeling an activity a HIP does not necessarily guarantee that students who participate in it will benefit in the ways much of the extant literature claims.”

from "What Really Makes a ‘High-Impact' Practice High Impact?" https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/01/kuh-and-kinzie-respond-essay-questioning-high-impact-practices-opinion

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So what makes a high-impact practice actually HIGH-impact?

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More focused time and energy on tasks that extend over a significant period of time;
Students are in the company of faculty & peers;
The interactions are more substantive;
These interactions provide students opportunities to experience diversity and opinions and experiences different than their own;
More opportunities for feedback in real time;
Response to unscripted problems and models of how learning works;
Immersion;
Structured reflection;
Public demonstration of learning

from "Key Features of High-Impact Practices" by George Kuh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i9xHt5erAc

** Many of these key features are outlined in more detail on pages 14-15 in the 2008 monograph.**

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Equity
Scalability
Evidence-Based Thoughtfully Crafted Experiences
Relationships Between HIPs and the Defined Outcomes
Relationships Between Campus Projects

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"Scaling HIPs effectively through curricular or graduation requirements is one way to induce widespread participation"
"Requiring student participation in one or more HIPs should be an intentional, evidence-based decision and tailored to the institutional context and its students. Simply increasing the number of available HIPs is not an effective approach to scaling."
"Which students are experiencing HIPs, and who is left out? Are underrepresented students having high-quality experiences? Access to HIPs without equitable participation is a hollow achievement."

from "What Really Makes a ‘High-Impact' Practice High Impact?" https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/01/kuh-and-kinzie-respond-essay-questioning-high-impact-practices-opinion

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Questions to Consider: HIPs at LaGuardia

How has our history & experience with high-impact practices helped students to succeed in the past?
Where do high-impact practices exist currently? How can we collect the stories of this teaching to show LaGuardia in action?
How might high-impact practices serve as a connective, integrative strand through our varied curriculum?
Why are high-impact practices important for our students? At this time?
How might a renewed focus on high impact teaching and learning practices help us as we seek to more fully engage our students?
Where could we strengthen high-impact practices?

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ePortfolios as the 11th High-Impact Practice

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21st Century Learning

“As a pedagogy, ePortfolio and folio thinking provide scaffolding to guide learners in capturing their experiences. Further, these practices prepare learners for life in the 21st century by allowing them to develop integrative learning and build habits of mind that are central to lifelong learning.”

from "Editorial: ePortfolios – The Eleventh High-Impact Practice" (Watson, Kuh, Rhodes, Penny Light, Chen, 2016)

http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP254.pdf

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"ePortfolio is a coherent set of effective educational practices that link reflective, integrative and social pedagogy. ePortfolio practice supports learning across boundaries—inside and outside the classroom, advising pedagogies, and educational and career development. ePortfolio is also a process that, when done well, deepens reflection and dispositional and integrative learning, over time and across these boundaries. Together, those practices and processes yield an organic product—an evolving multimedia collection of artifacts, reflections, and experiences that form a digital narrative of a student’s academic journey.”

from Using ePortfolio to Document and Deepen the Impact of HIPs on Learning Dispositions (Kuh, Gambino, Bresciani Ludvik, O’Donnell, 2018)

https://www.learningoutcomesassessment.org/documents/Occ%20paper%2032Final.pdf

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Remember, high-impact practices sit alongside best practices in ePortfolio pedagogy which include:

student-centered, inquiry, reflection, and integrative learning.

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ePortfolios are a curated collection of digital student work found on the web (whether they are private or public, they are usually web-based). However, they are also:

a process
a pedagogy
a high-impact practice

Great ePortfolios don't just happen; they're connected to the teaching and mission of our educational institutions.

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Tanya Keitt

Occupational Therapy Assistant Major, LaGCC

https://lagcc-cuny.digication.com/tanya-keitt1-student-gallery/home-1

LaGuardia Community College's ePortfolio Site:

https://lagcc-cuny.digication.com/eportfolio-resource-site/students

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Luciana P. Salmi

Psychology Major, SLCC

https://shiftingminds.weebly.com

Salt Lake Community College's ePortfolio Site:

https://www.slcc.edu/eportfolio/index.aspx

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Stanford’s Integrative Portfolio Learning Lab

https://eportfolio.stanford.edu/eportfolio-gallery

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What makes ePortfolios a High-Impact Practice?

(hint: they’re more than just a website!)

Ownership
Making Learning Visible
Longitudinal Capacity
Identity Development
Reflective Practice

Kuh, G. D., Gambino, L. M., Bresciani Ludvik, M., & O’Donnell, K. (2018, February).

Using ePortfolio to document and deepen the impact of HIPs on learning dispositions (Occasional Paper No. 32). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute

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Questions to Consider: ePortfolios at LaGuardia

What does the ePortfolio make visible?
How do these ePortfolios help you to see a student's learning in a different way than a single assignment?
How do these students connect different aspects of their learning?
Which of the characteristics of a high-impact practice are evident to you as you look at these ePortfolios?
How can ePortfolios serve as a space for engaged life-long learning, reflection, integrative learning, and dialogue?
How are ePortfolios more than just a place to deposit assessment artifacts?
How can you connect to ePortfolio work on campus? What are the spaces for learning about ePortfolio?

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Resources & Further Reading

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HIPs in Action at University of Waterloo

See the HIPs in action, from a classroom perspective:

https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/support/integrative-learning/high-impact-practices-hips-or-engaged-learning-practices

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Specific Readings and Resources on High-Impact Practices and ePortfolios

Eynon, Bret and Laura M. Gambino. Catalyst in Action: Case Studies of High-Impact ePortfolio Practice. Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2018.

Eynon, Bret and Laura M. Gambino. High-Impact ePortfolio Practice: A Catalyst for Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning. Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2017.

Kuh, George D., Laura M. Gambino, Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, and Ken O’Donnell. Using ePortfolio to Document and Deepen the Impact of HIPs on Learning Dispositions. (Occasional Paper No. 32). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).

https://learningoutcomesassessment.org/documents/Occ%20paper%2032Final.pdf