Higher education has struggled with defining the capstone, understanding the purpose or the desired outcomes of the experience, and agreeing on how to assess characteristics of a successful experience.

Communicating the Goals of Capstones

George Bernard Shaw once said, “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”  Over the next year, as 2018-2020 CEL research seminar participants continue to contemplate the future of the capstone experience, we cannot…

Can we teach curiosity?

Curiosity might be bad for cats, but it is essential for human learning. As Eleanor Duckworth notes, “What you do about what you don’t know is, in the final analysis, what determines what you will know” (The Having of Wonderful…

High Impact Undergraduate Experiences and How They Matter Now

The Center for Engaged Learning and the Elon Poll recently collaborated on a national survey of nearly 1,600 U.S. college graduates, age 18-34, to: Explore how commonly graduates experienced high impact undergraduate experiences, including meaningful relationships with faculty, undergraduate research,…

What is Immersive Learning?

As Elon University’s newest Center for Engaged Learning Scholar, I am embarking on a two-year study of what constitutes “immersive learning” in higher education. I have been interested in this topic for quite a while, although I don’t think I’ve…

Federal- and institutional-work-study programs are uniquely positioned to address access, equity, and inclusion by creating an innovative path for students to engage in a high impact practice.

Tackling Inequitable Opportunity Structures in HIPs

As of 2017, 41- 43% of full-time undergraduates who are between the ages of 16 – 24 – and who are not considered heads of households or supporting dependents – are working. When comparing the rates of employment for these…

If we use the right pedagogies and create supportive environments, we as educators could... come to view learning as an opportunity to raise more conscientious, ethical, and caring human beings.

TLTHE Special Issue on Partnerships as Experienced by Students

In this post I focus on Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education (TLTHE)’s recently published issue entirely dedicated to student perspectives on pedagogical partnerships. As student-faculty partnership becomes part of institutional teaching and learning cultures around the world, it…

Nicole Galante presenting Professional Writing & Rhetoric research at Elon University's Spring Undergraduate Research Forum

Salient Practices of Mentoring Undergraduate Research [in Writing]

Based on an extensive review of literature on Undergraduate Research mentoring, Jenny Olin Shanahan, Elizabeth Ackley-Holbrook, Eric Hall, Kearsley Stewart, and Helen Walkington (2015) identified ten salient practices of mentoring that offer undergraduate researchers intellectual, personal/emotional, and professional socialization support….