High Impact Practices Across the Disciplines: A Digital Narrative of First Year Experiences
Jennifer Helms Culhane, Mary Ann Lewis, Virginia Tech
Abstract
The Virginia Tech First Year Experiences initiative is a discipline based, pre-professional model that incorporates
faculty and staff from departments spanning seven colleges that offer undergraduate degrees and university studies
and other campus resources including the Library, VT Engage (service based learning initiative), Career Services,
and Housing and Residential Life. First Year Experience Seminars are one of the ten high-impact practices that
support student learning and engagement in college (Kuh, 2008). A recent study found that across the nation First
Year Experience Seminars incorporate anywhere from two to four high-impact practices (Young & Hopp, 2014).
This practice presentation will illustrate the multiple high-impact practices incorporated into the First Year
Experiences initiative at Virginia Tech through a digital narrative to capture the details of faculty experience
teaching and learning with first year students.
Literature Review
Kuh (2008) introduced ten high-impact practices that have been found to increase student engagement and positively
benefit student learning and success. These ten teaching and learning practices are first year seminars and
experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing-intensive courses, collaborative
assignments and projects, undergraduate research, diversity/global learning, service-learning/community-based
learning, internships and capstone courses and projects (Kuh, 2008). First year seminars and experiences have been
classified into a typology consisting of five descriptions: 1) extended orientation, 2) academic with uniform content,
3) academic with variable content, 4) pre-professional or discipline-linked, and 5) basic study skills (Brownwell &
Swaner, 2010). Students have been found to have higher persistence, higher graduation rates and somewhat higher
GPA and academic achievement when enrolled in first year experience seminars (Brownwell & Swaner, 2010). In
addition to academic measures of success other characteristics to student success are found, such as interaction with
faculty, faculty support, knowledge of campus resources, time management and campus involvement (Brownwell &
Swaner, 2010). In addition to the benefits of first year seminars and experiences, when multiple practices are
integrated into the curricula student learning and engagement opportunities and outcomes are shown to increase.
Young and Hopp (2014) found that institutions nationwide that incorporate first year seminars and experiences
integrate two to four additional high impact practices in the curricula.
Goals and Objectives
The goal of this practice presentation is to introduce the diversity of high-impact practices that are currently
integrated into the curricula of a discipline focused First Year Experience initiative. In doing so, the pedagogical
practice of faculty teaching and learning within the innovative and effective First Year Experiences initiative which
represent multiple disciplinary majors will be illustrated. The digital narrative format will allow for a rich
description of multiple courses with the experiences of faculty intricately woven into the presentation. In addition to
a dynamic open conversation to learn from each other, participants who attend this session will be able to:
 Identify multiple high impact practices and examine domain specific pedagogy integrated in practice across the
disciplines.
 Determine the value of high impact practices and identify criteria for intentional and meaningful integration.
 Integrate innovative student learning opportunities in their programs/courses based on effective examples
shared in practice.
Description of the Practice
The practice to be exemplified is the inclusion of multiple high-impact practices that span the disciplines of all seven
undergraduate degree awarding colleges and university studies at Virginia Tech by describing, in rich detail, the
practice of faculty teaching courses in the First Year Experiences initiative. The Virginia Tech First Year
Experiences initiative fits the typology of pre-professional/discipline linked skills. High-impact practices that will
be explored in this presentation include: first year seminars, learning communities, undergraduate research, common
intellectual experiences, collaborative projects, writing intensive courses and approaches to integrate multiple
practices across the courses (AACU, 2015). Common student learning outcomes specific to the initiative that will
be explored are problem solving, integration of learning and inquiry skills. These learning outcomes are the
cornerstones for the design of engaging pedagogies, collaborative learning and experiential learning opportunities.
Discussion
When designing high-impact practices for first year students, approaches that lead to higher success include
incorporating collaborative teaching, campus based resource networks, connecting skills learned to future student
success, intentional course design, providing mentoring and creating opportunity for reflection (AACU, 2009).
Along with incorporating high-impact practices, faculty and administrators should integrate high student
expectations and allow for the support needed to achieve these expectations. Expectations for student learning are
best communicated through student learning outcomes and objectives that are aligned with the mission and goals of
the program and institution. Continuous assessment of student learning and engagement is necessary to measure the
effectiveness of incorporating high-impact practices both individually and in an intentionally combined design.
References
Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), Outcomes of high-impact educational practices: A
literature review (Washington, DC: AACU, 2009) 12(2).
Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), The LEAP challenge: Education for a world of
unscripted problems (Washington, DC: AACU, 2015) 101(1).
Brownwell, J.E., & Swaner, L.E. (2010). Five high-impact practices: Research on learning outcomes, completion,
and quality. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Kuh, G.D., (2008). High-impact practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter.
Washington, DC: The Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Young, D.G., & Hopp, J.M. (2014). 2012-2013 National survey of first-year seminars: Exploring high-impact
practices in the first college year. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina National Resource Center for The
First-Year Experience & Students in Transition.