Thursday, March 1, 2018

Public Thinking Event: considering high impact opportunities




On February 28, we held a Public Thinking Event, where students responded to prompts about “high impact” programs. In particular, they took a look at study abroad, community engagement, undergraduate research programs, and internships.

These days, universities spend considerable time talking about High Impact Community Engagement Practices, also known as HICEP, and other activities that get students deeply involved in various things. The idea is that students achieve better overall results when and if they are deeply engaged in special projects.

I was thus curious on what the students thought about some of the programs on campus. It turns out that when presented with those four options, students were most interested in internships and community engagement. The internships were highly valued because students liked the idea of getting experience and an early start on their careers. Community engagement was valued, because service gave the students a sense of purpose.

I was intrigued by their choices of interests, and at the same time, I was curious on why study abroad and undergraduate research were rated lowered. I'll follow up on that concern in a later event.

Related:
Spring 2018 Programming

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