High-impact practices (HIPs) are an evidence-based way to increase student engagement and close equity gaps. Research demonstrates that experience with HIPs benefits all students, deepening learning and personal development, increasing retention, and promoting academic success. This is especially impactful when working with students from demographic groups that are, historically, underserved by higher education.

• Capstone Experiences - capstone experiences can include writing assignments, portfolios, presentations, role-playing, and performances.

• Collaborative Assignments and Projects - examples include study groups within a course, team-based assignments and writing, cooperative projects, and research.

• Common Intellectual Experiences - organized general education programs bring students together to share in foundational learning experiences, sometimes including learning communities, integrated studies, and honors collectives. 

• Diversity/Global Learning - education abroad is one example of global learning, also included are courses that allow students to engage in conversations about world issues without ever leaving campus. 

• ePortfolios -  enable students to electronically collect their work over their years in a program and reflect on their personal and academic growth. Also can be shared with others, such as professors, advisors, and potential employers

• First-Year Seminars and Experiences - encourage frequent writing, critical inquiry, and collaborative assignments to build students’ information literacy and engage with current scholarship

• Internships - Internships are learning activities that “[integrate] knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting.

• Learning Communities - allows students to build relationships with peers and faculty members who share common interests and feel more engaged in campus life, especially at larger institutions (Schmidt & Graziano, 2016).

• Service Learning, Community-Based Learning - Service-learning courses leverage an experiential approach, combining meaningful community engagement, classroom instruction, and reflection.

• Undergraduate Research - assignments for collaborative projects that promote hands-on learning and work under the supervision of a research mentor who provides timely guidance and feedback (Bhattacharyya et al., 2018; Lopatto, 2010).

• Writing-Intensive Courses - prompt students to practice their written communication skills by drafting (and revising) different assignments for different audiences.

These practices can take various forms, depending on learner characteristics, instructor strategies, and contexts. When integrating HIP pedagogy principles into courses, Kuh and O’Donnell ( 2013) developed eight key elements of HIPs as useful guides.

1. “Performance expectations set at appropriately high levels

2. Significant investment of time and effort by students over an extended period of time"

3. Interactions with faculty and peers about substantive matters"

4. Experiences with diversity, wherein students demonstrate intercultural competence and empathy with people and worldview frameworks that differ from their own"

5. Frequent, timely, and constructive feedback"

6. Periodic, structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learning"

7. Opportunities to discover the relevance of learning through real-world applications"

8. Public demonstration of competence” (Kuh and O'Donnell, 2013)

Tips/Best Practices

• High-Impact Practices / AAC&U