I. An Introduction to Writing as a High-Impact Practice
Why teach with writing?
In the emerging age of AI, many are questioning the value of incorporating writing into courses. Instructors may be wondering: is it worth it to assign writing to my students?
Research has long shown that writing contributes to transformational educational opportunities for students. Courses that incorporate writing have the potential to be what George Kuh calls a “high-impact practice” (Kuh 2008; Kuh & O’Donnell 2013). He and his colleagues at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) define high-impact practices, or “HIPs,” as those teaching and learning practices for which there is “evidence of significant educational benefits for students who participate in them” (AAC&U). Indeed, high-impact practices have been linked to improved student performance, not only with regard to grades but also retention, integration, and transfer of information (Boquet & Lerner 2016).
To be designated as a high-impact practice, an experience must (1) achieve deep learning, (2) show significant engagement gains, and (3) promote positive differential impact on historically underserved student populations. The AAC&U names ten practices that fulfill these requirements, from first-year seminars to undergraduate research. Courses that incorporate writing are one such high-impact practice.
What evidence indicates writing is a high-impact practice?
Kuh and his colleagues used several years of data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to show a strong correlation between students’ participation in high-impact practices and their own self-reported gains on outcomes of high-quality learning. His 2008 report on this research noted particularly the benefit of these practices for students who have historically faced higher barriers in higher education (e.g., first generation students and members of minority groups).
In 2013, Kuh updated his earlier findings with data from the 2012 NSSE, emphasizing that the quality of implementation matters for promising practices such as writing. Anderson et al. (2016), in a collaborative study from the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) and the NSSE that drew on data from nearly 72,000 undergraduate students, found that the quality of writing assignments matters much more than the quantity of pages assigned. Specifically, they determined that writing assignments engage students and enhance learning when they include (1) interactive writing processes, (2) meaning-making writing tasks, and (3) clear writing expectations.
- Interactive writing processes: occur when a student interacts with one or more other persons at some point in the writing process (these may be incorporated in class or as homework). “Others” here may include peers, the instructor, a family member or friend, or anyone else, such as a tutor in the Writing Center.
- Meaning-making writing tasks: occurs when students are asked to analyze, synthesize, apply, or otherwise do more than simply report what they already think or feel, or give “correct answers” to well-structured problems (see Simon 1973). Meaning-making tasks include applying a concept from class to past experience, related knowledge across courses, supporting claims with evidence, or evaluating a policy, practice, or position.
- Clear writing expectations: occur when instructors articulate the purpose, define the task, and outline the criteria for success. In other words, students should understand how and why they are learning course content through writing. For more information about making assignments transparent, visit the website for Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT).
How can instructors make courses that incorporate writing high-impact?
While research demonstrates myriad advantages associated with high-impact practices, Kuh and O’Donnell (2013) note that within any one high-impact practice—such as courses with writing—there is a great deal of variation in quality and impact.
They delineate eight common elements of high-impact practices. These elements, they argue, can help evaluate whether a particular iteration of a high-impact practice “has the necessary quality dimensions to foster student accomplishment in terms of persistence, graduation rates, and desired learning outcomes” (7-8). The incorporation of writing into a course must be done with intention, then, aiming to achieve these key conditions:
| HIP Key Element & Description | Application for Writing |
| 1. Set performance expectations at appropriately high levels.
Students must be challenged beyond their current ability levels. This is often referred to as moving out of the “comfort zone” and pushing past fear and anxiety into the “learning zone.” |
Instructors should aim for the writing task to be just challenging enough so students don’t feel bored, but also don’t feel the task is impossible. |
| 2. Involve significant investment of time and effort by students over an extended period of time
Projects and assignments that span the length of an entire course allow students to wrestle with a challenge over time and across various components. |
Larger, high-stakes writing tasks must be “scaffolded” (built up through lower-stakes tasks that prepare them). For example, a large end-of-term paper may be scaffolded by first having students complete a brainstorming activity, proposing a topic, constructing an outline, and writing a first draft. |
| 3. Incorporate interactions with faculty and peers about substantive matters
Students benefit from interacting with others in and about the learning process. |
Peer review is an excellent way to incorporate interaction into the writing process for a high-stakes writing assignment. Individual conferences with students outside of class time about an ongoing assignment can also benefit students. |
| 4. Experience and engage with diversity
Students benefit from being exposed to and contending with people and circumstances that differ from those with which they are familiar. |
Writing assignments may ask students to consider readings from authors with differing backgrounds, identities, or viewpoints, reflecting on connections (or disjunctions) with their own lived experience. Peer review can also be an opportunity for students to work with peers from different backgrounds. |
| 5. Involve continuous feedback on performance
In order for students to benefit from a high-impact practice, they need frequent, timely, and constructive feedback. |
Students benefit from feedback that occurs at multiple stages of the writing process that focus on areas for growth (rather than simple criticism). For example, instructors may provide feedback on students’ topic choices for a writing assignment, or more extensive comments on drafts. While this can be labor intensive, there are ways to keep feedback sustainable. Check out our section on feedback for specific strategies. |
| 6. Incorporate periodic, structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learning
Students benefit from the opportunity to engage in metacognitive reflection on their own learning. |
Students may be asked to reflect on the writing process or a particular writing product. For example, an instructor may ask students to write a 1-page “cover memo” or “writer’s memo” to include at the beginning of a high-stakes assignment in which the students reflect on the process of writing the assignment and how they feel about the final draft. |
| 7. Offer opportunities for students to discover the relevance of learning through real-world applications
Students benefit from opportunities to connect course concepts and broader learning to their own experiences in the world. |
One way to make writing assignments “meaningful” (Eodice et al. 2016) is to task students with making connections between course concepts and their own lives and experiences. |
| 8. Involve public demonstration of competence
Students benefit from informal and formal presentations that demonstrate their understanding. |
Sharing the results of a writing assignment allows for students to demonstrate their understanding and also for peers to learn from one another. Presentations (imagined broadly) may involve an oral presentation or the creation of a research poster or multimodal product or portfolio. |
Ensuring that a course meets all these elements can certainly be intimidating. Not sure where to start, or getting lost in the process? Meet with a UW-Madison Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) team member.
What learning outcomes does writing help students achieve?
When implemented with thought and intention, high-impact practices such as writing contribute to students meeting what Schneider (in the introduction to Kuh, 2008; see also, LEAP) calls “Essential Learning Outcomes.” The AAC&U argues that gaining these learning outcomes will help prepare students for twenty-first-century challenges:
- Knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world, focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring
- Intellectual and practical skills, practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance
- Personal and social responsibility, anchored through active involvement in diverse communities and real-world challenges
- Integrative and applied learning, demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems
References
Anderson, Paul, Anson, Chris M., Gonyea, Robert M., & Paine, Charles. (2016). How to create high-impact writing assignments that enhance learning and development and reinvigorate WAC/WID programs: What almost 72,000 undergraduates taught us. Across the Disciplines, 13(4).
Boquet, Elizabeth, & Lerner, Neal. (2016). Introduction to ATD special issue on WAC and high-impact practices. Across the Disciplines, 13(4).
Eodice, M., Geller, A. E., & Lerner, N. (2016). The meaningful writing project: learning, teaching, and writing in higher education. Utah State University Press
Kuh, George. (2008). High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges & Universities.
Kuh, George D. & O’Donnell, K. (2013). Ensuring quality & taking high-impact practices to scale. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges & Universities.
Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP). (Unknown). The essential learning outcomes. Association of American Colleges & Universities.
Schneider, Carol Geary. (2008). “Introduction: Liberal education and high-impact practices: Making excellence – once and for all – inclusive.” In George Kuh. High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. 1-8.
Simon, Herbert A. (1973). The structure of ill-structured problems. Artificial Intelligence, 4(3-4), 181-201.
Wilkelmes, Mary-Ann (2009-2023). Transparency in Learning & Teaching. www.tilthighered.com.
