High-Impact Teaching Practices and Undergraduates’ Political Efficacy

Abstract

The scholarship supports the effectiveness of high-impact practices (HIPs) to advance undergraduates’ political knowledge and engagement. A line of inquiry asks which type of HIPs is the most effective, especially for core (required) courses with students from a variety of degree programs. In 2022, many students are from Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2000. Surveys of this generation find distinct learning preferences and a lack of political efficacy (or a limited sense of government responsiveness). Core government courses provide a means to address learning preferences with HIPs, as well as increase political knowledge and a sense of efficacy. Initially, a quasi-research project interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this exploratory study compares two HIPs—embedded service learning and Town Hall Meeting model–and political efficacy measures of students across time and type of class. A significant body of work is devoted to service learning but scholarly investigations of the Town Hall Model are more limited. Comparing two HIPs and applying a political efficacy measure offers a guide for future research and contributes to scholarly conversations regarding the most effective teaching strategies for undergraduate students taking core government courses.

Keywords:

• High-impact practices
• political efficacy
• Generation Z

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marcie L. Reynolds

Marcie L. Reynolds is an assistant professor in the Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy department at Tarleton State University. Her research investigates democratic participation dynamics between citizens and their governments.