Whether they’re called “senior capstones” or some other name, these culminating experiences require students nearing the end of their college years to create a project of some sort that integrates and applies what they’ve learned. The project might be a research paper, a performance, a portfolio of “best work,” or an exhibit of artwork. Capstones are offered both in departmental programs and, increasingly, in general education as well.

Collaborative learning combines two key goals: learning to work and solve problems in the company of others and sharpening one’s own understanding by listening seriously to the insights of others, especially those with different backgrounds and life experiences. Approaches range from study groups within a course, to team-based assignments and writing, to cooperative projects and research.

The older idea of a “core” curriculum has evolved into a variety of modern forms, such as a set of required common courses or a vertically organized general education program that includes advanced integrative studies and/or required participation in a learning community. These programs often combine broad themes—e.g., technology and society, global interdependence—with a variety of curricular and cocurricular options for students.

Many colleges and universities now emphasize courses and programs that help students explore cultures, life experiences, and worldviews different from their own. These studies—which may address US diversity, world cultures, or both—often explore “difficult differences” such as racial, ethnic, and gender inequality, or continuing struggles around the globe for human rights, freedom, and power. Frequently, intercultural studies are augmented by experiential learning in the community and/or by study abroad.

ePortfolios can be implemented in a variety of ways for teaching and learning, programmatic assessment, and career development. ePortfolios enable students to electronically collect their work over time, reflect upon their personal and academic growth, and then share selected items with others, including professors, advisors, and potential employers. Because collection over time is a key element of the ePortfolio process, employing ePortfolios in collaboration with other high-impact practices provides opportunities for students to make connections between various educational experiences.

Many institutions now build into the curriculum first-year seminars or other programs that bring small groups of students together with faculty or staff on a regular basis. The highest-quality first-year experiences place a strong emphasis on critical inquiry, frequent writing, information literacy, collaborative learning, and other skills that develop students’ intellectual and practical competencies. First-year seminars can also involve students with cutting-edge questions in scholarship and with faculty members’ own research.

Internships are an increasingly common form of experiential learning. The idea is to provide students with direct experience in a work setting—usually related to their career interests—and to give them the benefit of supervision and coaching from professionals in the field. If the internship is taken for course credit, students complete a project or paper that is approved by a faculty member.

The key goals for learning communities are to encourage integration of learning across courses and to involve students with “big questions” that matter beyond the classroom. Students take two or more linked courses as a group and work closely with one another and with their professors. Many learning communities explore a common topic and/or common readings through the lenses of different disciplines. Some deliberately link “liberal arts” and “professional courses”; others feature service learning.

In these programs, field-based “experiential learning” with community partners is an instructional strategy—and often a required part of the course. The idea is to give students direct experience with issues they are studying in the curriculum and with ongoing efforts to analyze and solve problems in the community. A key element in these programs is the opportunity students have to both apply what they are learning in real-world settings and reflect in a classroom setting on their service experiences. These programs model the idea that giving something back to the community is an important college outcome, and that working with community partners is good preparation for citizenship, work, and life.

Many colleges and universities are now providing research experiences for students in all disciplines. Undergraduate research, however, has been most prominently used in science disciplines. With strong support from the National Science Foundation and the research community, scientists are reshaping their courses to connect key concepts and questions with students’ early and active involvement in systematic investigation and research. The goal is to involve students with actively contested questions, empirical observation, cutting-edge technologies, and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.

These courses emphasize writing at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum, including final-year projects. Students are encouraged to produce and revise various forms of writing for different audiences in different disciplines. The effectiveness of this repeated practice “across the curriculum” has led to parallel efforts in such areas as quantitative reasoning, oral communication, information literacy, and, on some campuses, ethical inquiry.

Students are pushed beyond basic skills such as identifying, defining, or explaining. Instructors are encouraged to challenge students engage at more complex cognitive levels, fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and the application of knowledge. Examples: Create modules that meet the complexity level of the course outcome, with assignments and their rubrics set at higher levels of learning. Incorporate content, tasks, inquiry-intensive projects and instructions that aim for more complex levels of learning, problem solving, analyzing and formulating.

Examples:

• • Create modules that meet the complexity level of the course outcome, with assignments and their rubrics set at higher levels of learning.
  • Incorporate content, tasks, inquiry-intensive projects and instructions that aim for more complex levels of learning, problem solving, analyzing and formulating.

Students engage deeply in their work over time, completing multi-part assignments that span the academic term. This sustained effort encourages the development of skills, knowledge, and perseverance.

Examples:

• • Assignments, group tasks, and community engagement activities with periodic feedback given on work.
  • Scaffolded projects, papers, presentations, and tasks that require higher levels of time invested.

Students come together in groups, teams, learning communities, and discussions.

Examples:

• • Discuss common readings and share topic-based media. Evaluate discussion group postings and encourage student replies; create a system that facilitates peer mentoring and peer reviews.
  • Meet outside of class, attend events, have mandatory interactions with the instructor.

Students must interact in settings with people of backgrounds and demographics unfamiliar to them.

Examples:

• • Assignments, activities, low stakes assessments, exams, readings, sharing relevant media and journaling observations and making connections between classes and experiences, exploring archives.
  • Interactive environments involving guest speakers, virtual reality, data, artifacts, cases, performances, demonstrations, activities, imagery and simulations.
  • Field experiences and service-learning; immersing students in diverse demographic settings, attending events and interviewing.

Students must meet with instructors (or peers) and receive suggestions at various points to discuss problems, challenges, progress, and next steps through to completion.

Examples:

• • Weekly reading and summarization tasks, discussion posts, homework problems, designs, lab reports and activities.
  • Low stakes assessments, periodic quizzing and polling modules, peer reviews with instructor feedback and scaffolded assignments with rubrics for each step.

Students must recap and elaborate upon learned concepts and how they connect at various points in the course, drawing upon materials and explaining proficiencies.

Examples:

• • Concept mapping, requirements for reflective posts and essays, portfolios, journals and visuals.
  • Logging interpretations and implications; encouraging broader perspectives through pre- and post-assessment reflections.

Students engage in activities that extend the classroom learning into practical, real-world environments. This enables them to apply theoretical knowledge to actual situations, enhancing understanding and retention of learned material.

Examples:

• • Internships, practicum, or field placements that require students apply the knowledge and skills acquired during their program of study.
  • Supervisor-mediated discussions among student workers that encourage students to reflect on and see the connections between their studies and experiences in the work setting.

Students share their learning and demonstrate competence to peers, faculty, work-setting, supervising staff, supervisor, or faculty member, panelists, boards, reviewers, committees, etc.

Examples:

• • Courses could include a required oral narrative, demonstration, production or performance evaluated by peers, instructors, or other staff members.
  • Including structured presentations, debates, exhibits or performances.