HITPs: High-Impact Teaching Practices

High-Impact Teaching Practices are strategies designed to significantly enhance student engagement, learning, and success in higher education. These practices not only help students achieve academic goals but also foster lifelong skills and a deeper connection to the learning process. Fink (2016) identifies five key HITPs that instructors can implement to transform their teaching and create meaningful educational experiences. At East Tennessee State University, these practices are central to the Compass Core Curriculum, the university’s general education program, where evidence of using some form of HITPs is required in all courses to promote meaningful and equitable learning experiences. While HITPs are distinct from the High-Impact Practices (HIPs) developed by George Kuh—such as service learning, undergraduate research, and study abroad—they are closely aligned in their shared goal of fostering student success. HITPs focus specifically on teaching methods that transform classroom experiences, building the foundation for deeper learning and lifelong skills. By incorporating these practices, instructors can create inclusive, engaging, and impactful learning environments.

1. Helping Students Become Meta-Learners

What It Means:
Many students enter college without fully developed strategies for effective learning. Meta-learning focuses on “learning how to learn,” helping students understand their learning processes, monitor their progress, and take responsibility for their success.

Why It Matters:
By fostering metacognition and self-regulation, instructors can empower students to approach learning more effectively across all courses. For example, teaching students about the malleability of intelligence can enhance their confidence and willingness to persevere.

How to Implement:

• Introduce metacognitive exercises early in the course. Fink cites Dr. Saundra McGuire’s strategies, like the Preview, Attend, Review, Study, and Assess (PARSA) method, provide structured steps for learning. Other related metacognitive exercises are discussed later in this guide.
• Discuss the idea that intelligence and skills grow with effort and practice, helping students overcome fixed mindsets.
• Use reflective activities that prompt students to evaluate their study habits and course progress.

2. Learning-Centered Course Design

What It Means:
Traditional course design often prioritizes covering content over fostering deep learning. Learning-centered design flips this model, focusing on what students should learn and how they can demonstrate that learning.

Why It Matters:
A learning-centered approach aligns course objectives, assessments, and activities, ensuring that students achieve meaningful and significant learning outcomes. Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning encourages broader goals, such as application, integration, and personal growth, beyond basic knowledge acquisition.

How to Implement:

• Start with desired learning outcomes: What should students know or be able to do by the end of the course?
• Design assessments that authentically measure these outcomes, such as projects, case studies, or performance tasks.
• Develop activities that help students achieve these goals, like problem-solving workshops or simulations.

See the chapter of course design and backward design later in this guide for more

3. Using Small Groups in a Powerful Way

What It Means:
Small group work can enhance collaboration and learning, but its effectiveness depends on intentional implementation. For example, techniques such as Team-Based Learning (TBL) transforms groups into high-performing teams through structured, sequenced activities.

Why It Matters:
TBL encourages accountability, critical thinking, and peer learning, creating a sense of teamwork that motivates students to engage deeply with the material.

How to Implement:

• Preparation Phase: Assign readings or materials, followed by individual and group readiness tests to ensure students are prepared.
• Application Phase: Use group activities to solve complex, real-world problems, providing immediate feedback.
• Assessment Phase: Incorporate group-based exams or projects that build on earlier work.

See the sections on group work later in this guide for more on TBL and other small group learning techniques.

4. Service Learning (Community Engagement) with Reflection

What It Means:
Service learning combines academic study with community engagement, allowing students to apply their knowledge in real-world contexts while addressing community needs.

Why It Matters:
By engaging with communities, students develop practical skills, social responsibility, and a deeper understanding of course concepts. Reflection ensures that these experiences translate into conscious learning.

How to Implement:

• Collaborate with community partners to design meaningful projects.
• Assign reflective exercises, such as journals or group discussions, to help students process their experiences and connect them to course content.
• Incorporate presentations or reports where students share their insights.

See the section on Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) later in this guide for more on experiential learning.

5. Being a Leader with One’s Students

What It Means:
Effective teaching involves more than delivering content—it requires creating a relationship of trust, respect, and collaboration with students. Teachers act as leaders, inspiring and enabling students to achieve high-quality learning.

Why It Matters:
Students thrive in environments where they feel supported, understood, and motivated. A strong teacher-student relationship fosters engagement and builds confidence in students’ abilities.

How to Implement:

• Demonstrate genuine care for students by learning about their goals and challenges.
• Use motivating feedback that balances high expectations with encouragement.
• Model transparency and fairness in grading, communication, and class policies.
• Create opportunities for students to take ownership of their learning, such as through leadership roles or self-directed projects.

The “Secret Sauce” Behind High-Impact Teaching Practices (HITPs)

Fink’s High-Impact Teaching Practices outline practical strategies that promote significant learning, such as fostering metacognition, collaborative learning, and effective course design. These strategies succeed because they are rooted in research and theory about how people learn. The “secret sauce” detailed below provides the research-based underpinnings of these practices, offering a deeper understanding of why they work and how they can be adapted to maximize their impact. By connecting HITPs to foundational learning theories, instructors can more intentionally design courses that engage students and support their success.

Active Engagement
Learning requires cognitive activity, not passive absorption. According to Information-Processing Theory, students must actively work with, code, and organize new information in working memory for it to be stored in long-term memory. Lecture alone is insufficient; students need opportunities to actively engage with material.

Collaborative Learning
Social Constructivism highlights the social nature of learning. Students benefit from working collaboratively, whether in small groups or whole-class activities. Peer-level explanations can scaffold understanding, while exposure to diverse viewpoints deepens comprehension and broadens perspectives.

Constructing Understanding
Students learn more effectively when they build their own understanding, guided by expert facilitation. Instead of presenting conclusions outright, instructors can lead students to discover and construct meaning collaboratively or individually. Practices like guided inquiries exemplify this constructivist approach.

Optimal Challenge
Learning happens when students are challenged at the right level—not so easy that nothing new is learned, and not so difficult that they become overwhelmed. Effective HITPs include scaffolding strategies such as clear instructions, peer collaboration, feedback on manageable steps, and examples to support success. Deep, cognitively challenging tasks foster richer, more permanent learning.

Connecting to Prior Knowledge
Schema Theory suggests that students retain information better when it connects to existing knowledge structures (schemas). Activating these schemas helps students relate new material to what they already know, improving retention and understanding.

Retrieval Practice
Practicing information retrieval strengthens memory and reinforces learning. Retrieval builds pathways for accessing information, making it more robust and accessible. Techniques include quizzes, comprehensive exams, cognitive mapping, and interleaving new and old material in activities.

Progression from Familiar to Challenging
The “5-E” model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) provides a structured framework for learning. Students start with familiar content, explore new material, explain it in their own words, apply it to novel situations, and evaluate their own or peers’ understanding, progressively deepening their learning.

Psychological Safety
Learning flourishes in environments where students feel safe and supported. Anxiety, stress, or a sense of threat can block cognitive processing, hindering learning. Strategies to foster psychological safety include:

• Low-stakes grading with opportunities for revision.
• A warm, inclusive classroom climate.
• Collaboration-friendly activities with gentle warm-ups.
• Avoiding microaggressions and addressing bias.
• Scaffolding instruction to ensure accessibility.

These principles collectively create a learning environment where HITPs can thrive, promoting both engagement and equity.

Implementing even one of these High-Impact Teaching Practices (HITPs) can significantly enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. Incorporating multiple HITPs creates a synergistic effect, transforming classroom experiences and supporting meaningful, inclusive learning for all students. While this section provides an overview of HITPs, you will encounter specific examples of these practices woven throughout this guide. These resources are designed to help you bring HITPs into your own teaching, aligning with ETSU’s Compass Core Curriculum and its commitment to high-quality, equitable education.