For Faculty

Whether they’re called “senior capstones” or some other name, these culminating experiences require students nearing the end of their college years to create a project of some sort that integrates and applies what they’ve learned. The project might be a research paper, a performance, a portfolio of “best work,” or an exhibit of artwork. Capstones are offered both in departmental programs and, increasingly, in general education as well.

Capstones can include integrating general education requirements or be attached to major/discipline specific programs. Faculty should be provided support for the mentoring and teaching often required in capstone courses or projects.

Capstones are as diverse as undergraduate programs themselves:

• Undergraduates in public health studies might develop a tenable plan for a local health initiative
• Undergraduates in history might produce a report about local history or biography based mainly on primary sources
• Undergraduates in cinema might produce a short animated documentary film
• Undergraduates in education might produce a course design with syllabus and sample assignments and assessments
• Undergraduates in engineering might create apparatus to retrieve materials from the deepest regions of the ocean
• Undergraduates in marketing might design an ad campaign that is also a public service announcement
• Undergraduates in bio-chemistry might conduct a  study of the distribution of mold in a given environment and report on teh impact of such distribution on those exposed to it

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

• Organized Study Groups
• Team-Based Research Projects
• Service Learning Assignments
• Research with Shared Data Sets

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Examples of HIPs 5:

In class collaborative assignments

• Douglas Adams, associate professor in the department of Sociology and Criminology, and Erica Estes, Director of Employer Relations for Fulbright College, gave a presentation titled, “3 Questions: Using HIP Collaborative Class Assignments and Life Design” at the HIPS retreat.

The older idea of a “core” curriculum has evolved into a variety of modern forms, such as a set of required common courses or a vertically organized general education program that includes advanced integrative studies and/or required participation in a learning community (see below). These programs often combine broad themes–e.g., technology and society, global interdependence–with a variety of curricular and co-curricular options for students.

While the Common Intellectual Experiences evolved from the idea of a “common core,” they have expanded to include student goals and learning outcomes.  These common experiences may come in the form of a single event such for a particular group of students or a large program such as those designed for specific majors.

Common intellectual experiences help students in at least four ways:

• Helps with relationship forming
• Helps to expose students to diverse perspectives
• Helps in the application of learning
• Helps provide opportunities for reflection

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Many colleges and universities now emphasize courses and programs that help students explore cultures, life experiences, and worldviews different from their own. These studies—which may address U.S. diversity, world cultures, or both—often explore “difficult differences” such as racial, ethnic, and gender inequality, or continuing struggles around the globe for human rights, freedom, and power. Frequently, intercultural studies are augmented by experiential learning in the community and/or by study abroad.

Diversity and Global Learning allows students to:

• Explore cultures, life experiences, and worldviews
• Improve their ability to work well with others
• Foster a deeper and broader commitment to collaborate to solve global problems
• Expand the inclusiveness of marginalized populations in public-policy setting
• Provide students with the opportunity to learn about people with different languages, religions, politics, genders, and cultures
• Provides tools for communication and cooperation in a world where global interaction and travel is commonplace

This HIP can take the form of a required core class, or as opportunities to participate in student organizations and campus events.

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Examples of HIPs 7:

Building Intercultural Competence in Student Learning

• Jacquelyn Wiersma-Mosley, Associate Professor in the School of Human Environmental Sciences, and Brande Flack, Director of Retention at the Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education, gave a presentation titled “Building Intercultural Competence in Student Learning” at the HIPS retreat.

Create – The University of Arkansas has adopted WordPress as “THE” tech supported platform on campus for ePortfolios. 
Resources – The ePortfolio textbook is online and free of charge.

ePortfolios are the latest addition to AAC&U’s list of high-impact educational practices, and higher education has developed a range of ways to implement them for teaching and learning, programmatic assessment, and career development. ePortfolios enable students to electronically collect their work over time, reflect upon their personal and academic growth, and then share selected items with others, such as professors, advisors, and potential employers. Because collection over time is a key element of the ePortfolio process, employing ePortfolios in collaboration with other high-impact practices provides opportunities for students to make connections between various educational experiences.

ePortfolios (or digital portfolios) are used to collect evidence of student learning over time.  They can be used for student learning, assessment, professional development, and employment.  They assist students in collecting, selecting, organizing, and reflecting on their own material.  Students should understand the purpose of the portfolio and be able to feel as sense of ownership of the content.

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Many schools now build into the curriculum first-year seminars or other programs that bring small groups of students together with faculty and staff on a regular basis. The highest-quality first-year experiences place a strong emphasis on critical inquiry, frequent writing, information literacy, collaborative learning, and other skills that develop students’ intellectual and practical competencies.  First-year seminars can also involve students with cutting-edge questions in scholarship and with faculty members’ own research.

• extended orientation
• academic seminars with uniform or varied topics
• basic study skills seminars
• discipline-specific seminars

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Example of HIPs 1:

University Perspectives 

• Kelly Westeen, Director of University Perspectives, presented “Shake (UP) Your HIPs: Reimagining the First Year Experience Course” at the HIP Retreat.

Internships are another increasingly common form of experiential learning. The idea is to provide students with direct experience in a work setting—usually related to their career interests—and to give them the benefit of supervision and coaching from professionals in the field. If the internship is taken for course credit, students complete a project or paper that is approved by a faculty member.

Internships can serve a unique purpose for each individual student.  Colleges should work to provide adequate numbers of paid internships to decrease opportunity costs for students with financial barriers.

Impactful internships typically include elements of the following:

• Clear and specific objectives and student learning outcomes
• Abundant opportunitites for students to articulate their understanding of their experiences and how those experiences have Influenced their thought and values relative to being a professional in the field
• Robust feedback on student performance
• regular and thorough program evaluation

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

• Paired or clustered courses
• student cohorts
• living-learning communities

• Students enrolled in 2 or more courses together
• Courses or environment is linked to an intellectual theme
• Analyzing reading assignments using different perspectives and disciplines

• Successful academic and social transitions
• Cultural competence
• openness to different viewpoints

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Example of HIPs 3:

The iBelieve Initiative 

• J.L. Jennings, Assistant Director of Retention, presented “The iBelieve Initiative: Exploring Factors Outside Academic Preparedness that Influence Success among African American Male College Students” at the HIPS retreat.

Many colleges and universities are now providing research experiences for students in all disciplines. Undergraduate research, however, has been most prominently used in science disciplines. With strong support from the National Science Foundation and the research community, scientists are reshaping their courses to connect key concepts and questions with students’ early and active involvement in systematic investigation and research. The goal is to involve students with actively contested questions, empirical observation, cutting-edge technologies, and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.

The goal of incorporating undergraduate research in teaching is to involve students with actively contested questions, empirical observation, cutting-edge technologies, and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.

Characteristics of excellence in undergraduate research includes:

• Scholarly faculty
• broad disciplinary participation
• Accessible opportunities for undergraduates
• Integrations with other engaging and HIP opportunities
• Institutional and monetary support and committment

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Visit the University of Arkansas’ Office of Undergraduate Research for more information on what we are doing at the University of Arkansas.

In these programs, field-based “experiential learning” with community partners is an instructional strategy—and often a required part of the course. The idea is to give students direct experience with issues they are studying in the curriculum and with ongoing efforts to analyze and solve problems in the community. A key element in these programs is the opportunity students have to both apply what they are learning in real-world settings and reflect in a classroom setting on their service experiences. These programs model the idea that giving something back to the community is an important college outcome, and that working with community partners is good preparation for citizenship, work, and life.

Service and community-based learning aim to motivate learning through:

• keeping the course work relevant and immediately applicable
• improving students’ sense of civic responsibility
• initiating reflection on their real-world settings within a classroom environment

Engaging students in service and community-based learning may come in the form of

• allowing students to select engagement based on personal interest
• attaching the activity to graded credit hours
• requiring students to complete projects over time

*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Examples of HIPs 9:

Service Learning as High Impact Practices

• Katherine Wilson, Associate Director for Student Success in the Honors College, and Febriyanti Lestari, Graduate Assistant for Service in the Honors College, gave a presentation titled “Service Learning as a High Impact Practice.”

• Engaging students in the writing process
• Creating meaning-making with writing tasks
• Providing clear expectations

* Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices

Wellness is the active process through which a person becomes aware of, and makes choices toward, a more successful existence. To this end, the Wellness HIP addresses trends, opportunities, and challenges that face the U of A campus community. Whether a student, instructor, or staff member, many factors impact both short-term and long-term wellness. Those who take the time and effort to invest in their holistic well-being—physical, emotional, spiritual, and social—are more likely to reach their personal and academic potential. All of the dimensions are interconnected and important to a well-rounded and balanced lifestyle.

Most models of wellness include at least six dimensions:

• Physical- Nourishing a healthy body through exercise, nutrition, sleep, etc.
• Mental- Engaging the world through learning, problem-solving, creativity, etc.
• Emotional- Being aware of, accepting and expressing our feelings, and understanding the feelings of others.
• Spiritual- Searching for meaning and higher purpose in human existence.
• Social- Connecting and engaging with others and our communities in meaningful ways.
• Environmental- Fostering positive interrelationships between planetary health and human actions, choices and wellbeing.

*Modified from the Global Wellness Institute website