Sense of peer belonging and institutional acceptance in the first year: The role of high-impact practices
Ribera, A. K., Miller, A. L., & Dumford, A. D.
Journal of College Student Development, 58(4), 545–563, 2017.
This study examines the role that high-impact practices play in shaping first-year students‘ sense of belonging as it relates to peers and institutional acceptance. Using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (n=9,371), results reveal troublesome gaps for historically underrepresented populations in their sense of belonging among their peers and affiliation with the institution. Yet, when students participated in certain high-impact practices (learning communities, service learning, research with faculty, and campus leadership), positive associations were found, even after controlling for other institutional and student-level characteristics. Implications for first-year programming are discussed.

High-impact practices: Promoting participation for all students
Kinzie, J.
Diversity & Democracy, 15(3), 13–14, 2012.
Certain educational activities, such as learning communities, undergraduate research, study abroad, and service learning, have been identified as high-impact practices (HIPs) because they engage students in active learning that elevates their performance on desired outcomes (NSSE 2007; Kuh 2008). When done well, these practices require students to make their own discoveries and connections, grapple with challenging real-world questions, and address complex problems?all necessary skills if students are to become engaged and effective members of their communities. The strong positive effects of several HIPs are well-documented in extant research about programs that support student learning. Brownell and Swaner conclude that high-impact practices ?live up to their name,? noting a wide range of benefits for participants (2009, 30). Participation in HIPs, including those that emphasize civic engagement, has powerful educational benefits for all students. These kinds of educational experiences are especially powerful for students who may be the first in their family to attend college, and those who are historically underserved in postsecondary education. This article briefly introduces the benefits of HIPs, examines participation in them, and suggests approaches to making these valuable practices more widespread to advance educational equity and social justice goals.

Promoting student success: Creating conditions so every student can learn
Chickering, A. W., & Kuh, G. D.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, 2005.
Accommodating diverse learning styles of students has long been espoused as a principle of good practice in undergraduate education. Much progress has been made during the past two decades in using active, collaborative, and problem-based learning, learning communities, student-faculty research, service learning, internships, and other pedagogical innovations to enrich student learning. Variable time blocks are more common--from three hours, to all day, to weekends, to six or eight weeks--to fit the desired outcomes, content, and processes. Peers tutor other students, deepening their own learning in the process. Increasingly sophisticated communication and information technologies provide students access to a broad range of print and visual resources and to an expanded range of human expertise. A wider range of assessment tools document what and how well students are learning. Despite all this activity, at too many schools these and other effective educational practices are underutilized. The suggestions offered here are drawn in large part from a study of 20 diverse four-year colleges and universities that have higher-than-predicted graduation rates and, through the National Survey of Student Engagement, demonstrated that they have effective practices for fostering success among students of differing abilities and aspirations. These institutions clearly communicate that they value high quality undergraduate teaching and learning. They have developed instructional approaches tailored to a wide range of student learning styles, ensuring that students engage with course content and interact in meaningful ways with faculty and peers, inside and outside the classroom.
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Looking across high-impact practices: First-year student democratic awareness & democratic participation
Weiss, H. A., & Fosnacht, K. J.
NASPA Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, 2016, March.
Creating educated and informed citizens for our diverse democracy has long been one of the objectives of the U.S. educational system. Traditionally, service-learning has been the primary tool for colleges and universities to promote civic outcomes; however, other practices also hold the potential to improve civic outcomes. In this study, we find that service-learning, learning communities, and research with faculty are positively and significantly correlated to two measures of democratic engagement for a multi-institutional sample of first-year students. The results have important implications for how postsecondary institutions promote civic outcomes.
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Involving online students in high-impact practices
Wang, R., Zilvinskis, J., & Ribera, A. K.
Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, New Orleans, LA, 2016, June.
Using a large-scale survey of student engagement, this study examined the extent to which taking all online courses affects senior students‘ participation rates in high-impact practices (HIPs), such as internship and study abroad. Online students‘ perceived gains in knowledge, skills, and personal development were also examined by whether or not they participated in a HIP. Overall, findings revealed that online students‘ participation rates in HIPs were relatively lower than students who did not take all of their courses online. Of the six HIPs, online students engaged most in service-learning experiences as part of a course requirement and least in study abroad. Online students who participated in a HIP reported greater gains in knowledge, skills, and personal development compared to online students who did not participate in a HIP. This study suggests institutions should pay special attention to the needs of online students and develop strategies for promoting their HIP participation.
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Civic learning and effective educational practice: A focus on service-learning and civic engagement
Kinzie, J., McCormick, A., & Stevens, M.
Association of American Colleges & Universities Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2014, January.
Fostering civic learning is a central purpose of higher education. As campuses seek to strengthen democratic engagement, it is useful to understand the extent to which students have access to the experiences that develop civic engagement skills. This session will promote discussion about educational practices that build students‘ capacity for civic learning by exploring National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) findings from an in-depth service-learning item set and the new civic engagement module. Join us to exchange ideas about results in relation to efforts to enhance service learning, strengthening connections between course content and service experiences, and outcomes associated with civic engagement skills.
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One College's Commitment to Civic Engagement
In Engagement Insights: Survey Findings on the Quality of Undergraduate Education—Annual results 2017, 9.
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Active and Collaborative Learning
In Improving the college experience: National benchmarks of effective educational practice—NSSE 2001 report, 18 - 19.
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Active and Collaborative Learning
In The NSSE 2000 report: National benchmarks of effective educational practice, 14 - 15.
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