Background

A high impact practice is a pedagogical approach which requires an investment of time and energy over an extended period that has unusually positive effects on student engagement in educationally purposeful behavior (Kuh, 2010). High impact practices are evidence-based teaching and learning practices that have been widely tested and shown to be beneficial for college students (Kuh, 2008). Characteristics of high-impact activities include: setting appropriately high expectations of students; interaction with faculty and peers about substantive matters; experiences with diversity; frequent feedback; reflection and integrative learning; real-world applications; and demonstrated competence.

High impact practices support the work of the Complete College and Drive to 55 initiatives in Tennessee by connecting existing teaching and learning initiatives through intentional course design and data collection. The integration of HIP activities into the curricular and co-curricular milieu of the TBR  colleges will result in the graduation of more globally aware, solution-oriented, and workforce-ready students. To date, TBR data has shown that integrating HIPs into campus and course design results in higher student academic attainment and completion rates.

 

Data from NSSE’s annual reports have consistently displayed positive gains in the percentage of students’ self-reported perceptions on educational achievement and engagement through high impact practices. The Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) has also identified promising practices drawn from empirical evidence (CCCSE, 2011).  Furthermore, the cumulative effect of student participation in multiple high impact practices increases the probability of academic success and research has shown that HIP increases engagement for underrepresented populations (Finley and McNair, 2013)

As campuses attempt to infuse high-impact practices (HIPs) into the undergraduate experience, widely accepted operational definitions help focus campus teams responsible for implementation of certain HIPs. Consistent definitions allow for analysis of student participation in HIPs possible across all TBR institutions. The development of TBR’s HIP Taxonomies was the first step to making this possible. The taxonomy not only defines a minimum definition for each practice, but also provides a framework with program elements defined across a series of milestones in the development of the HIP on campus. This taxonomy can be used by institutions in their self-study to identify areas for growth of HIPs that the institution identifies as making the greatest impact for their students.

The self-study should be a collaborative process that involves various stakeholders in order to accurately determine the current HIP milestone level. At the System level, the minimum definition is used by the Data Standards Committee to identify how to code the experience in Banner. The Data Standards Committee defines the process to code the HIP in Banner, and campuses are asked to continuously engage in the work of coding courses. Data is pulled from across the system on student involvement in HIPs to assess the impact on student retention and completion, particularly among underrepresented students

1. Curricular Intentionality – placement of HIP within the curriculum as part of graduation requirements; identification of desired outcomes
2. Campus Integration - Develop collaborations between academic and student affairs to achieve equitable opportunities
3. Pervasiveness of Practice - Introduce HIPs early and often
4. Institutional Context – HIPs are scaled on a campus dependent upon campus demographics
5. Student Communication - Articulate the value of high impact practices to students; describe the ways HIPs contribute to student success and life after college
6. Data and Assessment - include multiple and varied sources of data in the inquiry process

HIP Ambassador Monthly Connection Calls

 

HIP/Mindset Campus Speaker Request

Fill out the request form for Dr. Heidi Leming to present on HIP or Mindset topics at your campus convocation, in-service training, or other event in Fall 2024. 

 

Recordings

 

 

 

Taxonomies

Minimum Definition of Practice

Academic advising is a proactive and collaborative relationship between the student and the advisor that promotes teaching and learning. Advisors will assist students to identify and cultivate their strengths while recognizing and addressing barriers to student success.

The engagement is student-centered with an intentional focus on building a positive rapport, fostering inclusion, and providing an equitable experience with all students. Through informed decision making, and a dynamic process of mutual discovery and self-determination, advisors guide students through curricular pathways toward the successful completion of academic and career goals while encouraging lifelong learning. “Advising is not merely providing advice. Rather, advising is a helping [and reciprocal] relationship between two people" (Schuh, John H., Jones, Susan R., Harper, Shaun R., and Associates (Eds.), 2011).

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

Professional Association Resources

Additional Resources

 

 

Minimum Definition of Practice:

Certifications are identifiers that a student has completed a qualification for an industry or a particular skill area. Certifications identified in this taxonomy refer to credit-bearing courses that curricularly enable a student to take an assessment leading to industry-recognized certification.

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

2023 Archived Connection Calls

Minimum Definition of Practice:

A course intended to enhance the academic and social integration of first-year students by introducing them to essential skills for college success and a supportive campus community comprised of faculty, staff, and peers. FYSs often place a strong emphasis on critical inquiry, frequent writing, information literacy, collaborative learning, and other crucial competencies. Some FYSs also feature rigorous discipline-based content.

TBR Taxonomy Resources

Professional Assoc. Resources

Additional Resources

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Archived Connection Calls

2022 Archived Connection Calls

Minimum Definition:

Global and cultural awareness courses are credit-bearing experiences in which students learn how to communicate across cultures while developing an understanding of global interdependence and how it is influenced by culture – understood as the values, beliefs, practices, traditions, heritage, rituals, and behaviors held by groups of people. These courses will provide tools to increase students’ critical analysis of the global and intercultural nature of society and practice ethical reasoning to successfully navigate this world.

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

File Global Cultural Awareness Taxonomy (2024) File HIP Taxonomy Direction Sheet

 

Additional Resources

Global/Cultural Awareness HIP Video

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Archived Connection Calls

2022 Archived Connection Calls

Minimum Definition of Practice

Honors education is characterized by in-class and extracurricular activities that meet the needs and abilities of the students it serves through practices that are measurably broader, deeper, or more complex than comparable learning experiences typically found at institutions of higher education. Honors experiences include a distinctive learner-directed environment and philosophy, provide opportunities that are appropriately tailored to fit the institution's culture and mission, and frequently occur within a close community of students and faculty (adapted from NCHC, 2016).

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

Additional Resources 

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Archived Connection Calls

  • March Roundtable Discussion Recording Here
  • April  Roundtable Discussion Recording Here
  • October Call: Honors Education in Online Environments - Recording Here
  • December Call - Recording Here

2022 Archived Connection Calls

Minimum Definition of Practice

The same groups of students taking two or more classes concurrently for academic credit and engaged in a substantial amount of time in common intellectual activities, within and outside the classroom, with intentional curricular connections.

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

List of Professional Association Resources

2023 Monthly Connection Calls

  • April 25: Using D2L to Engage Students in Learning Communities [Not Recorded]
  • March 14: Growth Mindset Recording Here (Passcode: 1!TnF?VL)

2022 Monthly Archived Connection Calls

Minimum Definition of Practice

A mutually beneficial relationship between a specified student group (i.e. mentee) and a more experienced student (i.e. mentor) who engages with the mentee in a structured helping capacity to cultivate strong relationships and provide peer-to-peer support. In many cases, peer influence is stronger than that of the expert. (e.g. student services practitioner/faculty member) (Trip, 2000).  Through role modeling and sharing authentic stories of success and failure, the mentee gains the skills and support needed to navigate the college campus. In addition, through systematic training, the mentor gains transferable leadership skills and meaningful professional experiences that can be used to complement and positively affect the retention, academic success and educational experience of the mentee. (Newton& Ender 2010;  Terrion, & Leonard 2007).

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

Additional Resources

 

Minimum Definition of Practice:

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Curriculum includes structured field-based “experiential learning” alongside community partners, which reinforces course learning outcomes. Within the TBR System, credit-bearing service-learning designated courses are incorporated into general education or college core requirements for a degree program.

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

SRVC 

SRVC is the online platform where students can search for service opportunities throughout the state and record their volunteer and service-learning hours. To access the platform, students should go HERE.

Professional Assoc. Resources

Additional Resources

Service Learning HIP Video

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Archived Connection Calls

2022 Podcast Series

SRVC Platform Digital Files

Minimum Definition of Practice

Student Employment is the practice of providing financial support through Federal Work-Study (FWS), institutional funds, or departmental funds to students enrolled in an undergraduate program in exchange for their contribution to the academic department, support unit, or community organization in which they are employed. Student employees work toward meaningful learning outcomes through the fulfillment of job responsibilities. These outcomes may include intellectual growth, development of the NACE competencies, or receipt of technical training, among other mutually agreed-upon goals (adapted from NASPA). 

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

Additional Resources

Minimum Definition of Practice:

Study abroad is a credit-bearing experience incorporated into general education or college core requirements for a certificate/degree program. Curriculum includes field-based “experiential learning” in locations outside the U.S. with an emphasis on inter-cultural understanding and communication.  Students apply what they are learning in a real-world setting and reflect on their experiences abroad as part of the course requirements.

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

List of Professional Association Resources

Additional Resources

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Archived Connection Calls

  • September 29: "Recruiting Season Advice & Help" Recording Here
  • April 27: "Tools and tricks to encourage students to study abroad" Recording Here
  • Feb. 23: “What to expect when you are expecting...to teach abroad” Recording Here

2022 Archived Connection Calls

       

Minimum Definition of Practice

Instructional practices that leverage digital technologies to enhance teaching and learning. (Digital technology is any electronic tool, system, device or resource that facilitates learning and improves student performance. Examples include, but are not limited to, social media, online games, multimedia, productivity applications, cloud computing, interoperable systems, and mobile devices. Digital technologies can be used to increase engagement, encourage collaboration, deliver support, and increase awareness and understanding.)

ePortfolios

The System recognizes that a powerful teaching tool that can be used throughout all of the High Impact strategies listed is an ePortfolio. As such, particular attention to the use of ePortfolios was provided in two webinars in fall 2015.
The new System contract with D2L will make available an ePortfolio platform at no additional cost to TBR institutions.

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

Professional Assoc. Resources

Technology Enhanced Learning HIP Video

2017 Regional ePortfolio Faculty Training

PDF icon TEL Newsletter: Spring 2022

2024 Monthly Connection Calls:

2023 Archived Connection Calls:

  • Feb. 23: Tactics 101: Using Social Media to Engage Students
  • March 23: Tactics 101: Are You Already Qualified for a TEL and Don't Know It? 
  • April 20: Tactics 1010: Using TEL HIPs in Learning Support Courses
  • Oct. 4: Technology Discoveries for the Classroom
  • Nov. 1: Technology Discoveries for the Classroom

2022 Archived Connection Calls:

Increasing Student Engagement Through the Use of Technology: recording here

Tactics 101: How to be HIP in your Teaching

Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL): What it takes to code your course as a High Impact Practice (HIP) – (2 Sessions: 4/21, 4/22) 

Minimum Definition

Undergraduate research is an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student in collaboration with a faculty member that makes a unique intellectual, scholarly, or creative contribution to the discipline, and for which the student receives academic credit either through a course or independent study. The student's contribution may be part of a new or ongoing faculty research project (adapted from CUR).

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

Professional Associations 

Additional Resources

Undergraduate Research HIP Video

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Monthly Connection Calls

  • March 30 @ 2 p.m.: Roundtable Question and Answer Session

Minimum Definition of Practice:

Work-based Learning represents credit-bearing experience that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting. Internships, practicums, clinicals, co-ops and similar experiences, integrated with a class or related to a major field of study, give students the opportunity to gain valuable applied learning and make connections in professional fields students are considering for career paths, while giving employers the opportunity to guide and evaluate talent (NACE, 2011).

TBR Taxonomy Project Resources

List of Professional Association Resources

Additional Resources

2024 Monthly Connection Calls

2023 Archived Connection Calls

HIP Resources

HIP Ambassadors
HIP Customizeable Flyer
HIP Customizable Brochure
HIP Badges
HIP QA and Coding Packet (2024)
HIP QA Rubric
HIP QA Evaluation Form (2024)
HIP Codes
HIP Videos
Documenting Learning: The Comprehensive Learner Record (Baker & Jankowski, NILOA)