Part 1: What Makes a Practice “High Impact”?

 In the previous post, we explored an important distinction: High-Impact Practices are more than a label. An internship, group project, ePortfolio, research experience, or service-learning activity is not automatically high impact simply because of what it is called.

What matters is how the learning experience is designed.

Across different HIPs, eight essential components create the conditions for deeper learning, stronger student connection, and meaningful achievement. These components help faculty move beyond asking, “Which HIP can I add?” and instead ask, “How can I design an experience that helps students do meaningful work and understand what they are learning?”

1. Set high expectations

Students need to know what meaningful, high-quality work looks like. High expectations are not about assigning more work; they are about asking students to engage in challenging, purposeful work and providing a clear path for doing it well.

Make expectations visible through clear assignment instructions, examples, rubrics, and an explanation of how the work connects to course outcomes and future goals.

2. Require sustained time and effort

High-impact learning develops over time. Students need opportunities to return to an important question, project, problem, or performance—not simply complete a one-time task.

A semester-long inquiry project, research process, ePortfolio, field-based assignment, or staged community project can give students time to build knowledge, encounter challenges, and improve their work.

3. Build meaningful interaction

Learning is strengthened when students interact substantively with faculty, peers, and, when appropriate, community partners, supervisors, or professionals.

This is more than placing students in groups. Meaningful interaction includes purposeful discussion, defined collaborative roles, project conferences, peer review, mentoring, and guided opportunities to learn from others.

4. Create encounters with difference

High-impact experiences invite students to engage with perspectives, people, ideas, or contexts different from their own. This might involve analyzing a problem from multiple stakeholder perspectives, working with a community partner, considering whose voices are represented in a field, or engaging competing interpretations of an issue.

The goal is not exposure alone. Students need structure, preparation, and reflection so that encounters with difference become opportunities for deeper learning.

A practical starting point

Choose one significant assignment in your course and ask:

• Are expectations clear and appropriately challenging?
• Do students have enough time to develop and revisit their work?
• Are they learning with and from others?
• Are they asked to consider perspectives beyond their own?

Small design changes can make an existing assignment more meaningful, more supportive, and more likely to produce high-impact learning.

In Part 2, we will explore the remaining four components: feedback, reflection, real-world relevance, and public demonstration of competence.