High-Impact Practices
Learning Community
The key goals for learning communities are to encourage integration of learning across courses and to involve students with “big questions” that matter beyond the classroom. Students take two or more linked courses as a group and work closely with one another and with their professors. Themed learning communities enhance student learning by cultivating interdisciplinary understanding and integrative learning. The theme of each learning community provides a foundation for curricular connections between disciplines, and out-of-classroom experiences enhance the academic experience. Some deliberately link “liberal arts” and “professional courses”; others feature service learning.
*Modified from AACU High-Impact Educational Practices handout & Kuh (2008) High-impact educational practices
High-Impact Practices In Action
Short Takes: Let Us Farm
The U of A freight farm sits among residence halls in the quad, quietly growing heads of lettuce in a freight container to feed the campus community. More than 12,700 heads of lettuce have been harvested by the two student workers operating it and have been consumed at dining facilities across campus. For the students, it’s a living lesson in sustainability, hydroponics and the importance of local produce. For campus, farm to table never had a shorter commute.
University of Arkansas Housing’s Living Learning Communities (LLCs)
Living Learning Communities (LLCs) are residential programs available to first-year students based around different interests. You can see the complete list of LLCs available at https://housing.uark.edu/llc
Short Takes: Retail Innovation
Students and faculty at the University of Arkansas are building the future of retail by creating and testing new technologies at the McMillon Innovation Studio, a first-of-its-kind public, interactive university retail lab. The lab will promote education and collaborative research on the integration between physical and digital shopping while incorporating major business functions such as operations, logistics, buying and merchandising.
We Want You To
Send us your HIPs!
Have you turned a high impact practice into reality at the University of Arkansas? Let us hear what you’ve done!
