High-Impact Educational Practices

High-impact educational practices refer, specifically, to a group of eleven educationally purposeful practices that according to a growing body of research correlate with positive educational results for students from varied backgrounds. The benefits are particularly strong for students furthest from educational justice (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie & Gonyea, 2008; Cruce, Wolniak, Seifert & Pascarella, 2006).

Why do these practices work?

Kuh (2008) lists several reasons why these experiential learning practices are unusually effective:

• The practices all require students devote time and effort toward purpose-driven tasks. Many of the tasks require daily decisions that deepen student’s commitment to the activity and their chosen program.
• The practices put students in situations where they will have substantive interactions with peers and faculty, often over an extensive period of time. Other research has pointed to the value of such relationships to outcomes and attainment (Felten & Lambert, 2020).
• Participating in one or more practices puts students in diversity-rich experiences and opportunities to engage with peers and faculty who are different from themselves. This increases 21^st century skills such as allowing practice in leveraging social and cultural differences to create new ideas.
• Frequent feedback is critical in scaffolding learning; in almost every practice students typically receive almost continuous performance feedback.
• Participating in the practices in different settings gives students “opportunities to integrate, synthesize and apply knowledge essential to deep, meaningful learning experiences.”

Students are most likely to participate in a practice if they believe faculty value the activity and feel it is important that they do so.  (NSSE data, 2007).  This effect also begets itself – the more that faculty and staff on campus believe in the benefits of these practices, the more additional faculty will be likely to devote their own time and energy to them,

In sum, the eleven high-impact practices reflect more than two decades research in how to shape the body of research around the value of active, engaged and collaborative learning into actual curriculum and pedagogy (Kuh, 2008).

Link to summary of the eleven practices

Professional development opportunities

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Additional resources and scholarship

Read Kuh’s report on high impact practices

References

Cruce, T., Wolniak, G.C., Seifert, T.A.D., &  Pascarella, E.T. Impacts of good practices on cognitive development, learning orientations, and graduate degree plans during the first year of college.  Journal of College Student Development 47 (2006), pp. 365-383.

Felten, P., & Lambert, L.M. (2020). Relationship-rich education: How human connections drive success in college. John Hopkins University Press.

Kuh, G.D. (2008). High-impact educational practices:  What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter.  Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Kuh, G.D., Cruce, T., Shoup, R., Kinzie, J., & Gonyea, R.M. Unmasking the effects of student engagement on college grades and persistence. Journal of Higher Education 79 (2008), pp. 540-63.