High-Impact Practices
The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), based on the research of George Kuh (High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, AAC&U, 2008), has identified ten top institutional practices in Higher Education that most likely to lead to lasting learning and ongoing engagement of students.
Click here for the AAC&U High-Impact Educational Practices
The University of Toledo offers students the chance to participate in these high-impact practices in multiple ways. By following the links on this page, faculty can find the resources to make their own teaching practices high-impact. For example, the Office of Undergraduate Research funded 60 summer and academic year student research projects by undergraduates this past year and offered faculty members support on how to engage students in this critical work. Undergraduate researchers present their work both on campus and at regional and national conferences. And, students don’t have to wait until they are seniors to participate. The First Year Summer Research Experience funds students during the summer after their first year of college who pursue research on a topic they are passionate about with a faculty mentor who shares their vision.
A number of UT colleges offer Living Learning Communities by partnering with Residence Life. Living Learning Communities are on-campus housing-based communities of students living together in the same residence hall who share similar academic or special interests. These communities extend learning outside of the classroom and promote intellectual, social and personal growth. For example, the Multicultural Emerging Scholars Program engages students in an intense orientation to college in the summer before their first year of college, and extends that community programming and shared experiences throughout their first year.
All students at the University of Toledo take courses designed to support common intellectual experiences, cultural competency, and global awareness as part of the University of Toledo Core Curriculum. Service Learning courses bring students, faculty, and community partners together to mutually seek solutions to local problems. Students can also develop these competencies and perspectives by participating in Education Abroad, a UToledo office offering opportunities and scholarships for students to participate in a number of global learning opportunities including Short Term, Faculty-Led Programs, Direct Exchange Programs, University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC) Programs, International Studies Abroad (ISA) Programs, Semester at Sea, and more.
Students and faculty also work together in a number of experiential learning ventures, including internships and co-ops. The Office of Career Services helps faculty who want to help their students get the kinds of hands-on learning that prepares them for their future careers.
The following publications are offered by the AAC&U to provide further information on particular practices and to showcase the research that provides evidence they work:
High-Impact ePortfolio Practice
This book outlines how to deploy the ePortfolio as a high-impact practice and describes widely applicable models of effective ePortfolio pedagogy and implementation that demonstrably improve student learning across multiple settings.
The Leap Challenge
This special double issue focuses on the LEAP Challenge, the next phase of AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative. Articles present the LEAP Challenge and, through exploration of a variety of campus exemplars, its central concept of Signature Work.
The Leap Challenge: Educating for a World of Unscripted Problems
The LEAP Challenge builds on a decade of LEAP reform efforts on campus to advance Essential Learning Outcomes and high-impact educational practices for all students.
America's Unmet Promise: The Imperative for Equity in Higher Education
This publication makes the case for the urgent need to expand access to and success in high-quality educational programs for students traditionally underserved in higher education.
General Education Maps & Markers: Designing Meaningful Pathways to Student Achievement
This book provides clear principles and guidelines to ensure that general education fosters the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes and key proficiencies important for long-term success.
Investing in Success: Cost-Effective Strategies to Increase Student Success
This publication provides advice and planning tools to help educational leaders invest in high-impact practices, despite budget constraints.
Assessing Underserved Students' Engagement in High-Impact Practices
This publication presents findings from a national study conducted by AAC&U researchers to investigate the impact of engagement in high-impact practices on traditionally underserved populations (defined here as first-generation, minority, transfer, and low-income students).
Ensuring Quality & Taking High-Impact Practices to Scale
Building on previous AAC&U reports, this publication presents research on specific educational practices correlated with higher levels of academic challenge, student engagement, and achievement.
The Lumina Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP): Implications for Assessment
This publication provides an in-depth exploration of the latest models for assessing the advanced college-level learning outcomes articulated in the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP).
Civic Engagement & Student Success: A Resonant Relationship
This issue of Diversity & Democracy highlights current research on the connections between civic engagement and student success, defined broadly across a range of outcomes.
Frontiers of Faculty Work: Embracing Innovation & High-Impact Practices
This issue centers on how faculty are using high-impact educational practices in individual classrooms across an array of disciplines.
Lessons on Systemic Reform from the LEAP States Initiative
This issue features educational and curricular reform work of institutions and state systems involved in the LEAP States Initiative—focusing on how selected state systems are using the LEAP essential learning outcomes as a shared framework for student achievement, accountability, school-college alignment, and underserved student success.