This resource offers classroom-level strategies faculty and instructional academic staff may apply in any course, regardless of modality or course size.
AAC&U’s High-Impact Practices
The Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) identified eleven “High-Impact Practices” (HIPs) associated with measurably higher rates of student engagement, learning, retention, and completion. However, it is not simply doing these activities that makes the difference for student outcomes. It is how they are done with a focus on high expectations, sustained effort over time, meaningful interaction with faculty and peers, exposure to people and ideas different from one’s own, frequent and timely feedback, structured opportunities to reflect, real-world relevance, and a public demonstration of what was learned. A practice is “high-impact” to the extent it delivers these conditions for students.
While most of the eleven HIPs are intended to be implemented at the program level, the ten strategies in this resource are designed for any instructor to start implementing today, in any course, at any class size, in person or online.
This resource offers concrete steps to take before your next class meeting or module opens and provides four ways to adapt it: in-person or online, in a small class or a large one. “Small” assumes roughly 30 or fewer students where individual contact is feasible; “Large” assumes a lecture-hall-sized course (roughly 75+) where activities need to scale without adding grading burden. “Online” examples cover both synchronous and asynchronous formats. Use those that matter to your course and adapt them to your specific context.
Of note, the connection between all of these is that none require redesigning the course, instead, they are all interactions that happen regularly (returning work, taking attendance, answering a question), but handled with the awareness that this particular interaction or moment might be the one that matters to this particular student.
The 10 Practices
It is encouraged to implement these HIPs examples into the first three weeks of a course, because how students experience the start of a course is one of the strongest predictors of whether they stay engaged, seek help when they struggle, and ultimately complete the course successfully. The overarching trend across these practices is on creating visibility into how students are doing and providing enough psychological safety that students will engage with offered support while there is still time to change the student success trajectory in a course, thus maintaining and advancing their academic momentum.
1. Make yourself visible and reachable to students
A short welcome message, whether an email, a recorded video, or a first-day slide that shares something human about you (why you teach this subject, one thing outside class you care about) does more than build rapport; it signals that this is a class where students are seen as people, which research on belonging shows meaningfully affects persistence. Pair that with explicit, written expectations for how communication works: where announcements go, how fast you’ll respond to email, when and how to reach you, and what students should do the moment they’re confused or falling behind. Combining these two in the first week along with small, specific, personal gestures once the term is underway (a two-minute comment, a specific line on a paper, a “you handled that better than you think you did”) show students you are available to them as their questions arise.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
A two-minute personal share at the start of class (why you teach this, one thing you care about outside class) plus a syllabus slide on response times and how to reach you. Easy to also do the “deliberate gesture” version live and often — catch one student after class each week.
Put the human element in a short recorded welcome video or a first-day slide, since you won’t get to everyone in person. Write the communication rules into the syllabus and repeat them verbally day one (where are announcements posted, expected email turnaround time, what to do the moment they’re confused). Do a handful of personal noticing of students each week. You don’t need all 200, just a rotating few each week.
Online
Combine the video/slide with a live moment in the first session of “here’s why I teach this” on camera. Post communication norms in chat and pin them. Use breakout rooms or a private message for the individual “I see you” gesture.
This is where the welcome video matters most because it’s often the only “face” students get. Pin communication norms in Canvas (not just the syllabus) since students won’t dig for it. Personal gestures become a short, specific comment in a discussion post reply or a one-line personalized note in feedback.
2. Make Expectations and Standards Transparent
Make expectations visible to students, not left implicit for them to discover. The Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework finds that explicitly stating an assignment’s purpose, task, and evaluative criteria measurably improves student performance, particularly for first-generation students, without making changes to the assignment itself. The focus is simply on making the assignment prompt clearer for students. Before you next hand out or post an assignment, add three short sentences: why it matters (purpose), exactly what students will do (tasks), and what a strong response looks like (evaluative criteria) or share a rubric with student friendly language.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
Spend the first five minutes of class walking through the assignment prompt for the upcoming assignment, have students explain the assignment to each other, and/or have them tell you what it is they think you are asking them to do and why.
Project the purpose/task/criteria on a slide when you assign the paper or exam; run a quick poll (using Vevox) asking students to guess what’s being graded, then reveal the rubric, or post the learning outcomes for the course and have students vote on which ones they think the assignment addresses.
Online
In a synchronous seminar, screen-share the assignment prompt to discuss the task or share the rubric and co-annotate a sample response live with students using chat or a shared whiteboard.
Post a three-minute screencast in the Canvas module walking through purpose, task, and criteria, by which they will be graded. Tell students about where other students routinely struggle or common pitfalls to avoid.
3. Give Frequent, Low-Stakes Feedback
HIPs succeed partly because students get regular signals on where they stand long before a high-stakes exam or final paper. Low-stakes, frequent checks catch misunderstandings while they are still fixable while also lowering student anxiety that stems from only being evaluated on high-stakes work. Add one ungraded or low-point comprehension check to your next class or module such as an exit ticket, a one-minute paper, or a short auto-graded quiz. Be sure to respond to the pattern of answers within 48 hours.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
End class with an index-card or virtual “muddiest point”: students name the least-clear concept; you scan the cards and open next class with a five-minute clarification.
Mid-lecture, ask a conceptual question through Vevox (UWM’s student engagement tool), show results live, and address the most common misconception on the spot.
Online
Post a “check your understanding” discussion prompt due 24 hours before a synchronous session so you can tailor that session to learning gaps.
Build a short, auto-graded, unlimited-attempt Canvas quiz per module with immediate answer feedback; review the item analysis to see what needs re-teaching or include a question on what was the hardest part of their learning this week.
4. Make the First Feedback Experience a Vote of Confidence
The tone of the first piece of feedback a student gets sets their expectation for the rest of the semester. On the first graded (even low-stakes) assignment, name something done well, point to one or two specific things to improve, and frame this as a starting point in their learning journey. Add the one “wise feedback” sentence to critical comments, such as, “I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards and I believe you can reach them.” The framing changes how the same criticism lands or is heard by students, especially for students used to being underestimated. It shifts student focus from “I am not good enough” to “someone thinks I’m capable of more.”
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
Fully individualized feedback is realistic here: write the wise-feedback sentence once, then adapt it. Worth doing on every early assignment, not just the first.
You can pair written feedback with a quick verbal check-in when handing work back such as “I meant what I wrote here.” It takes five seconds and reinforces the written comment. Further, providing a summary review of feedback in terms of what you saw in student work across the course can help students not feel isolated in their learning trajectory.
Online
Written feedback is your main channel, so the wise-feedback sentence carries more weight than it might in person (no tone of voice to soften a low grade). A 30-second video recorded note is a low-effort way to make first feedback feel personal.
Build the wise-feedback sentence into a rubric or feedback bank so it can be inserted quickly across many papers without becoming generic. This can be paired with at least one truly specific comment per student, so it doesn’t read as boilerplate. Consider training TAs on the formative-not-evaluative framing for the first assignment specifically.
Close, low-barrier contact with faculty is one of the most reliable predictors of persistence, especially for first-generation and historically underserved students, but it rarely happens unless it’s built into the course rather than left to “stop by office hours if you have questions.” Replace one standard office-hours reminder with a specific, low-barrier invitation, whether a brief required check-in, a sign-up link, or a targeted message to a student who is struggling. To start this process, a brief daily check-in activity or Vevox poll can be conducted to gather attendance, but also remind students you see them holistically and not just as students.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
Require a brief five- to ten-minute individual or small-group check-in with every student sometime in the first month, even just to discuss course goals.
Hold ten minutes of “office hours in the hallway” right after class in addition to your scheduled hours, and announce it explicitly, or offer a rotating sign-up for a few students each week.
Online
Schedule brief ten-minute one-on-one video check-ins via a sign-up link, or host a small synchronous drop-in session.
Send personalized (not mass) Canvas messages to any student who missed a checkpoint or scored low on a formative check, inviting one specific next step, like a ten-minute slot that week.
6. Monitor Student Engagement Data from Day One
Whether it’s Vevox, or a Canvas course analytics, using a live polling/response tool in the first few weeks while also monitoring course analytics to find students who have yet to engage with content in Canvas does two things at once: it gets students participating before participation feels risky (an anonymous poll is a much lower bar than raising a hand), and it gives you engagement data early enough to act on it. Reach out to students who have not engaged in the first week or two, while it’s still an easy fix, rather than discovering in week eight that a student has been quietly checked out the whole time. Instructors are the variable in a student’s day that can tip things one way or the other, and that can happen in a single interaction, not just a grand gesture. Notice a specific student out loud once (“that question changed the whole discussion”), and if someone misses class, fails a quiz, or goes quiet, send a short low-pressure message the same day, not next week. “I noticed you weren’t in class, everything okay, here’s what you missed” positions instructors as student champions as opposed to waiting for students to self-correct. Knowing that you care enough to intervene can make a different for a student.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
You may not need a polling tool given attendance and engagement are visible by week two just from watching the room. The discipline is following up same-day in the first two weeks and naming what you noticed directly to that student.
Use Vevox and Canvas course analytics to see engagement data of students. Scan participation data weekly and flag names for a quick individual message.
Online
Use Vevox and Canvas features for the low-stakes engagement piece where camera-off students can still respond. Track who never unmutes, never polls, and never posts in chat, and treat that the same way you’d treat an empty seat: a same-day, low-pressure check-in.
“Engagement” shows up as Canvas activity logs, discussion posts, and quiz attempts rather than raised hands — check these weekly rather than daily. A missed module or a week of silence is your “missed class” signal; send the same-day-equivalent message as soon as you notice the gap, since asynchronous silence is easy to let slide for too long.
7. Structure Peer Interaction on Substantive Work
HIP learning gains come from students working through real intellectual problems with peers, not from proximity alone. Structured interactions with defined roles, a real task, and a required product is what separates high-impact collaboration from a token “turn to your neighbor.” Take one activity you’d normally run as individual seatwork or silent reading and turn it into a structured pair or small-group task with a specific product (a shared answer, a ranked list, one sentence of group consensus) that is reported out.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
Think-Pair-Share on a discussion question, with each pair reporting one insight to the full group and commenting by either extending a point raised or adding a question.
Assign fixed “elbow groups” of three to four to solve a case using structured roles (recorder, presenter, skeptic); cold-call two or three groups to report or choose criteria to select a group such as lowest cell phone battery or person with the furthest drive today.
Online
Use breakout rooms in a synchronous session with a shared Google Doc per group and a specific deliverable due when the room closes.
Create small, fixed discussion-board pods of four to five students instead of one giant thread and require an “agree / extend / challenge” response structure.
8. Build in Structured Reflection
Reflection is what converts an experience into learning. Without a structured moment to step back and integrate what happened, even a well-designed activity risks staying just an activity where students simply move from one to the next, leading to similar feedback across similar assignments without noticeable change. Add a two- to three-sentence reflection prompt to your next assignment or end of class “what did you find hardest and why, and what will you try next time?” If possible, have students save it somewhere they’ll see again or have them return to their reflections at structured points in the semester.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
In the last five minutes of class, students write a reflection card: one thing they understood better today, one thing they’re still unsure about, and why they think that might be the case.
After a midterm is returned, give students ten minutes to complete a short written “exam wrapper” reflecting on their prep strategy (what worked well, what did not) and what they’ll change.
Online
Assign a weekly reflective discussion post connecting the week’s material to something outside class, with classmates responding. Ask “where is their value beyond this class to what we are learning?”
Embed a brief reflection field directly in the assignment submission form (“what was your process and what might you change in the future?”) that’s collected automatically alongside the work, ungraded or worth minimal points.
9. Connect Coursework to Real-World Relevance
Students invest more and retain more when they can connect why specific course material matters beyond the course. This is the piece that experiential HIPs supply structurally through engagement in communities, but a sample can be applied in any classroom. Before you next introduce a concept, spend two minutes naming a real, current, or local example of it whether a news story, a workplace scenario, a community issue, etc. and invite students to bring their own examples next time.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
Open class by asking students where they encountered this week’s concept outside class; build the discussion around two or three of their examples.
Use a short video clip or current news item as a “hook” before lecture, then explicitly return to it when introducing the content.
Online
Assign a discussion post where students find and share an outside example connected to the module, then respond to a classmate’s example.
Open each module with a short “why this matters” video or annotated example showing the concept applied in a real setting: a case, a dataset, a workplace scenario, etc.
10. Use Writing or Talking to Think, Not Just to Report
Frequent, low-stakes writing, or structured talking, in discussion-based disciplines, forces students to actively process material instead of passively receiving it. It also gives them practice articulating half-formed ideas, one of the strongest predictors of deeper learning. Insert one short, five- to ten-minute, ungraded or minimally graded writing task into your next class or module that asks students to explain a concept in their own words before discussing it aloud.
Modality
Small Class
Large Class
In-person
A five-minute free write, “explain this concept to someone who missed today’s reading,” before opening discussion.
A brief write-pair-share: students write a short answer individually, compare with a neighbor, then a few are cold-called to share or responses are invited via an anonymous Vevox prompt.
Online
A low-stakes “thinking out loud” post, explicitly framed as draft thinking rather than a final answer, due before a synchronous discussion.
A short reflective-writing field embedded in each module quiz or assignment (“in two to three sentences, explain this in your own words”) that’s skimmed, not deeply graded, but spot-checked with feedback.