HIP (High Impact Practices)

High Impact Practices (HIP) are instructional activities in higher education recognized for their ability to significantly enhance student engagement and academic achievement. These practices have gained traction as they are shown to positively influence student retention, performance, and long-term learning perspectives. Key examples of HIP include first-year experience courses, which help students transition to college life, and capstone projects that allow students to apply their learning towards meaningful scholarly work at the end of their studies. Other notable HIPs include service learning, internships, undergraduate research, collaborative projects, and writing-intensive courses.

The common thread among these practices is their demand for active student involvement, moving beyond traditional, passive learning methods. Institutions are encouraged to incorporate HIPs into their curricula to foster a deeper commitment to learning and critical inquiry among students. These practices are rooted in evidence-based research to ensure they are effective across diverse student populations. Overall, HIPs aim to elevate the quality of the college experience, inspiring lifelong learning and engagement in students.

Published in: 2021

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Subject Terms

HIP (High Impact Practices)

Abstract

High impact practices (HIP) are a relatively new concept in higher education, yet in some ways they are simply an acknowledgement that some instructional activities are more effective than others. A practice is considered high impact if it increases student engagement while also having a beneficial effect on students' academic achievement. While it is understood that not every course a student takes will involve HIP in every class meeting—otherwise the term would lose its value, since everything would qualify as high impact—a number of organizations have begun to recommend that students be exposed to these practices at least once or twice during their undergraduate studies.

Overview

Most college graduates can look back on their time at university and point to a handful of experiences that were particularly influential on their scholarly development, or forced them to broaden their understanding of the world and deepen their commitment to learning. The experience might have been an internship that opened their eyes about what working in their chosen field could really be like, or a semester spent studying in another country and experiencing a new culture and language firsthand. For others, their recollection might involve time spent volunteering in their local community as part of service learning project, or participating in a first-year experience seminar that helped them become acclimated to the unique demands of college life. All of these experiences are memorable precisely because they had a significant effect on the student—an effect that goes far beyond what one learns by simply showing up for class each day and taking notes. For most of higher education's history, these types of activities occurred more or less at random, and there was not an overarching definition that could describe them in all of their diverse manifestations. Only recently have college and university administrators realized that what all of these experiences have in common is their tendency to leave a lasting impression on those who are exposed to them. This has led to an effort to better understand what goes into creating a high impact practice, and how the process of exposing all students to them can be formalized (Nichols Hess & Greer, 2016).

HIPs were first recognized by the effects they had on students. More specifically, it was noted that students who were exposed to these practices tended to perform better academically, had higher retention (meaning that they were more likely to remain in school rather than drop out), and they exhibited higher levels of engagement during and after their high impact experiences. The HIPs also seemed to change students' approach to learning for the long term, giving them new perspectives and skills that they could use in later life; for example, many students report that going through an HIP taught them to stop resisting changes and new experiences, and instead approach them with openness and curiosity.

At the same time that educational researchers and university officials sought to identify practices that produced these effects, they also needed to establish criteria that would filter out those practices that are too experimental or too idiosyncratic (meaning that they produce the desired results only for a small number of students with particular characteristics). For this reason, additional criteria needed for a practice to qualify as high impact have often been developed and applied. These can include requirements that the practice prove effective with students from a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic contexts, that the practice be based on sound research into effective educational strategies, or that the practice has been successfully implemented at other institutions. Using these types of requirements allows universities to clearly define what is meant by "high impact," and this, in turn, makes it possible to intentionally design programs and activities that possess these qualities, so they can be offered to every student (Waiwaiole, Bohlig & Massey, 2016).

Further Insights

There is no practical limit to the number of various HIPs that can be devised, but there are several that have proven to be a good fit with the higher education environment. These are so common as to almost qualify as standards or best practices within the field of HIPs. Two are easily distinguishable because they occur at the beginning and end of the undergraduate course of study, leading them to occasionally be referred to as bookends: the first-year experience course and the capstone project.

A first-year experience course is a class that differs in focus from the traditional undergraduate curriculum. Instead of focusing solely on academic content such as mathematics, literature, history, and so forth, the first-year experience course is meant to help students become adjusted to their new status as college students. Higher education is a very different place from high school, with its own unique challenges and expectations (Adams & Wiley, 2017). It is also, for many students, their first experience of living on their own, away from their parents for an extended period, with all that this entails: cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, paying bills, and so on. All of these new experiences can be overwhelming for students, particularly when combined with the demands of their classes.

First generation college students—those who are the first in their family to attend college—can be especially challenged by their introduction to college living because they do not have the benefit of receiving advice from parents and other relatives who remember what it was like to start out in college. A first-year experience course addresses all of these issues, providing students with information and support to help them learn how to navigate the world of higher education independently, instead of having to figure everything out on their own. This makes it more likely that students will stay in school rather than dropping out, and it helps them to perform at a higher level in their regular classes (Hendrickson, 2016).

A capstone project, in many ways, celebrates the culmination of one's college experience, in the same way that a first-year experience course celebrates its beginning. Too often in the past, students felt that their last few semesters at college were an underwhelming or even forgettable experience, as they filled out their remaining course requirements and gradually spent less time focusing on class assignments and more time preparing to enter the world of full-time employment. The capstone project exists to help students avoid this anticlimactic conclusion to their academic career, by asking them to engage in a project of scholarship that requires them to apply the knowledge and skills that they have developed as college students.

Capstone projects may take the form of a research paper or thesis, an exhibition of one's art, or some other demonstration of what has been learned and how it can be applied. Programs of study that require a capstone tend to encourage students to focus more on their field from the perspective of a professional with a career based on the application of the theories studied in college. In other words, when students have a capstone requirement looming over them as they take classes and complete their assignments, they are frequently asking themselves how the material they are studying might be used in their capstone. Applying studies to real questions or issues prevents academic learning from remaining as abstract concepts (Bonet & Walters, 2016).

Issues

Another category of HIP that is encouraged by institutions of higher education is service learning, also known as community-based learning. Service learning is intended to involve students in their local communities by having them volunteer with projects and agencies that are pursuing activities important to the student. Examples of such activities could include urban agriculture and community gardens, fostering literacy in early childhood, developing recycling programs in conjunction with small businesses, or even establishing programs to connect senior citizens with young people for social support. The purpose of service learning is to encourage students to develop the habit of giving back to society through volunteer work, and to teach students to apply what they have learned in order to improve the lives of others.

Service learning, however, can provoke negative responses from community members opposed to certain types of programs. Reactions against student involvement in controversial social causes, such as civil rights advocacy or reproductive rights (Kilgo, Ezell Sheets & Pascarella, 2015), may contribute another aspect of real-world experience to an HIP.

The education literature commonly recognizes ten practices that have consistently been shown to have a high impact on student success. Some of these have been discussed already, such as capstone projects, first year experience courses, community/service learning, internships, or studying abroad for a semester. Other HIPs among the top ten are undergraduate research, collaborative projects, learning communities, and courses designed to be writing-intensive.

Undergraduate research courses are those that provide students with some type of opportunity to make their own contributions to scholarship by conducting research, collecting data, analyzing the data, and then presenting their results (Cobane & Jennings, 2017). This may occur in a laboratory class such as chemistry or biology, or it could be incorporated into a more traditional class as a special project.

Collaborative projects require students to work with their peers, usually in small groups, to accomplish a task such as writing a research paper, preparing a presentation on a scholarly topic, or some other form of academic exercise. Much of the purpose of these collaborative projects is to prepare students for the type of work they will encounter in the real world, where most people must collaborate with others on a regular basis. Without exposure to projects like this, it becomes too easy for students to grow accustomed to working independently, which is often simpler than having to communicate with peers, negotiate how to approach an assignment, and compromise on how the work will be done (Ribera, Miller & Dumford, 2017).

Learning communities are one of the more unusual types of HIPs, and students encounter them less often because they are difficult to set up and to coordinate on an ongoing basis. A learning community is made up of a mix of students and professors, but it exists outside the context of a particular class. Instead, it is organized around a specific topic or theme, and the members of the community interact with one another to better understand how this theme plays out in higher education and the world at large. There can be learning communities that focus on social justice, professional ethics, and philosophical inquiry, to name but a few.

Lastly, writing-intensive courses are an HIP designed to provide an alternative to the standard course structure of lecture, reading, and multiple choice tests. Instead, students in writing-intensive courses are assessed based on their completion of several major writing assignments that demand greater effort than is typical in an undergraduate curriculum. The hope is that students will become inspired to produce their best work by having the freedom to explore topics of their choosing in the format of a longer assignment, and that completing the work will give them a taste of what a career in academia might be like (Keup, 2016).

While the various types of HIP can differ from one another markedly, what they have in common is that they force students to take an active role in their own education. HIPs are unique because they cannot be undertaken simply by passively receiving course content from the instructor; each student must make the decision to engage with the topic, find some aspect of it that intrigues them, and then pursue greater understanding of that aspect with all of their energy and initiative.

In a very real sense, HIPs represent an attempt by higher education faculty and administrators to raise up the college experience from the drudgery that it so often becomes, and impose a higher standard of excellence, one that approaches what higher education was meant to be. It is true that not all students are prepared for the demands of HIPs, but this is precisely the point of making them a required part of higher education (Hatch, Crisp & Wesley, 2016). Higher education, and education in general, is not intended simply to impart facts but to inspire students with a lifelong love of learning, and a willingness to engage with life mentally, physically, and in every other sense. If higher education only required students to complete work that they are familiar with and ready for, then it would serve little purpose. It must, at least from time to time, push students to go beyond their comfort zone and leave behind that which is familiar, so they can discover what they are capable of.

Terms & Concepts

Capstone Project: A form of HIP in which a student undertakes a learning activity near the end of his or her degree program, as a means of applying what has been learned at college and providing both closure and a sense of accomplishment.

Community-Based Learning: An HIP that involves students in their local communities by encouraging them to learn about the needs of the community and then put their scholarship to work by volunteering to help meet those needs.

Evidence-Based: A description of practices that are developed using the findings of properly conducted scholarly research, rather than guesswork, trial and error, and other unreliable methods.

Learning Community: An HIP that assembles a group of students and faculty to explore scholarly issues across the boundaries of particular courses or fields of study. For example, a learning community made up of students and professors from chemistry, biology, engineering, and other areas might meet periodically to discuss how women are represented in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields.

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE): An annual survey conducted among several hundred colleges and universities to assess levels of participation by students in activities at their schools that are designed to enrich their education.

Retention: A measurement of the number of students who remain in college over time, rather than dropping out. Colleges employ HIP and other strategies to help increase retention rates and to support students academically.

Bibliography

Adams, K., & Wiley, P. (2017). Kicking ASSessment: Using information fluency assessment to expand librarian roles, engage in high-impact practices, and create sustained contact with online learners. Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, 11(1-2), 226–236. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=121839420&site=ehost-live

Bonet, G., & Walters, B. R. (2016). High impact practices: Student engagement and retention. College Student Journal, 50(2), 224–235. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=116190972&site=ehost-live

Cobane, C. T., & Jennings, A. (2017). Lessons from honors: National scholarships, high-impact practices, and student success. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 8(1), 39–44. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=124406900&site=ehost-live

Hatch, D. K., Crisp, G., & Wesley, K. (2016). What's in a name? The challenge and utility of defining promising and high-impact practices. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2016(175), 9–17. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=117809534&site=ehost-live

Hendrickson, B. (2016). Studying and supporting writing in student organizations as a high-impact practice. Across the Disciplines, 13(4), 1. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=123519985&site=ehost-live

Keup, J. R. (2016). Peer leadership as an emerging high-impact practice: An exploratory study of the American experience. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 4(1), 31–50.

Kilgo, C., Ezell Sheets, J., & Pascarella, E. (2015). The link between high-impact practices and student learning: Some longitudinal evidence. Higher Education, 69(4), 509–525. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=101501134&site=ehost-live

Nichols Hess, A. K., & Greer, K. (2016). Designing for engagement: Using the ADDIE model to integrate high-impact practices into an online information literacy course. Communications in Information Literacy, 10(2), 264–282. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=508439773&site=ehost-live

Ribera, A. K., Miller, A. L., & Dumford, A. D. (2017). Sense of peer belonging and institutional acceptance in the first year: The role of high-impact practices. Journal of College Student Development, 58(4), 545–563. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=123843532&site=ehost-live

Waiwaiole, E. N., Bohlig, E. M., & Massey, K. J. (2016). Student success: Identifying high-impact practices. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2016(175), 45–55. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=117809541&site=ehost-live

HIP (High Impact Practices)

On this Page

Subject Terms

HIP (High Impact Practices)

Abstract

Overview

Further Insights

Issues

Terms & Concepts

Bibliography

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