How to Integrate High-Impact Educational Practices (HIPs) Across Your Curriculum

High impact educational practices(HIPs)—internships, service learning, capstone projects and more—have been demonstrated to deepen learning, improve engagement, and increase completion rates—if they are systematically implemented across the curriculum. WIDS’ experience working with South Carolina’s Tri-County Technical College (TCTC) demonstrate it can be done.

What are the challenges?

While many institutions have developed HIPs, some may struggle with a systematic approach to implementing integrated, active learning practices

What are the HIP implementation challenges?

• HIPs are not based on a college-wide vision or goal.
• HIPs are developed in insolation and may not crosswalk with institution-wide learner objectives.
• HIPs are only sed in certain courses, resulting in some learners having now HIPs opportunities.

This was the situation facing TCTC.  The college had implemented numerous HIPs, but despite positive anecdotal reports:

• HIPs were not implemented systematically across the curriculum.
• The college lacked a thorough method for assessing HIPs.
• The college was not seeing a meaningful

Define standards and criteria

Merely labelling a learning activity as a “high impact practice” does not ensure results.  Rather, colleges must define the standards and criteria for developing and delivering HIPs.  

TCTC engaged WIDS to help the college review HIPs as part of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to improve student learning outcomes and success. The first phase of the five-year plan sought to:

• Requiring at least two HIPs in each of the 21 associate degree programs.
• Expanding HIPs teaching practices through a three-semester professional development program.

These goals were reached through a systematic curriculum review conducted by instructors and program designers that included:

• Analyzing program learning outcomes.
• Analyzing course competencies.
• Defining performance standards and criteria.
• Creating course learning plans to ensure consistent content across instructors and delivery formats.

The faculty also determined key criteria for designing and evaluating program HIPs including:

• Key competencies are addressed by a student signature work, e.g. case study, portfolio, etc.
• Student reflection works are connected to program and course learning outcomes.

Don’t start at ground zero—use WIDS features

TCTC defined the performance criteria for HIPS in WIDS software, using WIDS libraries and banks to easily access consistent Performance Assessment Tasks (PATs) directions and criteria.

“For many [instructors], developing signature works and HIPs was a review of existing content combined with additions of Performance Assessment Tasks and teaching plans,” TCTC’s curriculum consultant Dr. Amoena B. Norcross says.

Content designed in WIDS provides colleges with the thorough documentation needed to show program outcome success and improvement opportunities.

“[Faculty and staff] did not have to start from ground zero—they already had the design tools and the documentation in WIDS,” Dr. Norcross explains.  

“[We]could use WIDS reports to see competencies at a glance, then determine which competencies could be addressed by a student signature work,” Dr. Norcross adds.

See connections in your curriculum

One of the most exciting rewards of reviewing HIPs as part of the QEP was seeing instructors “get the connection” between program assessments and course outcomes.

“Once people really understood the purpose of the PATs, were familiar with rubrics and criteria – they wanted to revise and improve more of their content” Dr. Norcross shares.

Norcross adds that WIDS provides the means for documenting and sharing high quality teaching plans:

“Curriculum design standards are in place, as are criteria for different types of HIPs.”

Improve students’ integrated learning

As part of its QEP, TCTC used its quality criterion requiring reflection activities to ensure HIPS were aligned to the college’s new general education outcome—“improve students’ ability to integrate learning.”

The reflection activities now include a complex rubric, modified from AAC&U’s Integrative and Applied Learning VALUE Rubric, which measures the degree to which students integrate learning occurring within the HIP with:

• prior learning
• how the student learns
• and how the learning can be applied to other situations

Having successfully integrated HIPS into its curriculum, TCTC is using the performance assessments and criteria to determine whether students improve their abilities between the first and second HIPs and to inform future improvements to the HIPs professional development activities for instructors.