With the nationwide rise in tuition and a grim economic outlook, the role of higher education has become an increasingly important topic of debate. Does higher education still matter? Do all the students that pursue a bachelor’s degree really need it?
In the midst of this debate, colleges struggle to offer an advantage over their competition, which is no longer rooted only in curriculum and professors. To compete, universities must offer high-impact learning that provides educational experiences beyond the classroom.
DU, although a leader in high-impact learning, can push forward a high-impact learning movement with increased opportunities and curriculum changes.
“High-impact learning happens when students are actively engaged in the educational process, when their learning goes beyond the classroom to be applied in their personal and work lives,” states a Texas A&M University publication explaining the importance of high-impact learning. The practices that provide such high-impact learning are varied. They include first-year seminars, writing-intensive courses, undergraduate research and study abroad programs, as well as many other practices.
The future of higher education lies in implenting these practices. They push students to not only learn concepts, but also apply these concepts to real-world situations, which is oftentimes the challenge of students entering the workforce. As a result, students who use these practices are oftentimes much more successful than students who only take courses that don’t involve any high-impact practices.
For example, an overwhelming number of studies show that students that study abroad have higher graduation and employment rates than students that didn’t study abroad. To encourage student success, colleges must focus more on offering and encouraging high-impact practices.
DU is a leader in high-impact learning. We send the highest percentage of students abroad nationwide and have a required freshman seminar, writing curriculum and core curriculum. There are many undergraduate research opportunities, most degree programs offer capstone projects and there are a variety of living communities for freshmen and sophomores.
However, DU can and should improve high-impact learning in many aspects both to ensure a more rounded educational experience and to pull in more prospective students. The existing common curriculum has the potential to connect students more to their studies and ensure professional success. The scientific versus analytical inquiries provide a strong basis for the common curriculum.
However, the different required courses oftentimes aren’t well-explained. As a result, students take the courses solely to fill requirements, without actually applying their goals.
DU should work to ensure that students are constantly applying their common curriculum courses throughout their education, potentially through a required unit in every student’s existing freshman seminar. This unit should be an in-depth explanation of the basis of the common curriculum and could incorporate group projects of students from a variety of majors to encourage discussion on why each course matters.
This way, a student studying science could engage with a student studying business to explore the curriculum base. DU could also provide all professors with information about the basis of the common curriculum so it can be incorporated into every degree program.
There is also a lack of collaborative assignments and projects at DU. Many degree programs have group projects as a basis of their courses. The business program even offers group project competitions that occasionally provide monetary reward. Yet, there are still many programs that don’t require students to work together, even though group collaboration is an extremely important aspect of most careers.
DU should be more active in providing collaborative educational opportunities. This could be done through the common curriculum by making a “collaboration” requirement. For example, a student could take an SI: Society class that has the required group element or a student could choose to take a collaborative lab course. Students would increase their collaboration skills and would not have to take more classes under the Common Curriculum.
Finally, DU should be more active in offering service-learning through existing degree programs. For example, DU could offer a program similar to degree distinction which could be completed through service-learning in a student’s major or minor. So, a Spanish major student could volunteer at a Denver organization that requires Spanish-speaking to receive service-learning distinction. This encourages students to apply their studies to real-world situations while representing DU in the greater Denver community.
These are just a few examples of potential improvement in high-impact learning at DU. They offer realistic changes and opportunities to improve students’ academic and professional success. Ultimately, lack of high-impact learning is a nationwide issue. DU, if it increases high-impact learning through the mentioned changes, can become a spearhead in a nationwide movement to better prepare students for professional life.
