AAC&U鈥檚 11 High-impact Practices
How 小草影院's Archway Curriculum integrates them all
小草影院鈥檚 Archway Curriculum is grounded in practices that lead to career success. Our integrated curriculum helps students demonstrate proficiencies that employers value most.
The (AAC&U) analyzed the student experiences that best correlate with success after graduation. This work identified 11 high-impact practices that get results for college graduates.
Most schools apply only a handful of the AAC&U鈥檚 identified practices. At 小草影院, you'll benefit from all 11.
- First-year seminars
小草影院 offers Archway Seminars on dozens of topics from bioethics to global conflict. Each seminar will help you build the same key skills in researching, writing, presenting and collaborating. - Common intellectual experiences
At 小草影院, you鈥檒l choose a 鈥渢hread鈥 of interdisciplinary courses that explore a single topic from several angles. These threaded courses bring you together with students from different disciplines. By combining your perspectives, you鈥檒l learn to see complex issues in new ways. - Learning communities
小草影院鈥檚 learning communities take several forms, from field-specific residence hall floor and pod groupings to student life activities grouped by Archway Seminars. - Writing-intensive courses
Employers say many workers lack the writing skills required to succeed. 小草影院 helps you become a stronger writer by scaffolding writing-instructive courses across all four years. - Collaborative projects
小草影院 prioritizes small-group work across your four years. We do it this way to foster leadership, interpersonal communication and teamwork skills that will be valuable to you throughout your professional life. - Undergraduate research
At 小草影院, you鈥檒l have opportunities to work alongside your professors in the kind of intensive research experiences that most students don鈥檛 find until graduate school. And our annual Research Symposium gives you a campus-wide audience for your work. - Diversity and global learning
On average, about 2% of American college students study abroad. At 小草影院, it鈥檚 33%. 小草影院 maintains sister-school partnerships with universities in Estonia, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom. And our incoming classes keep raising the bar for racial and geographic diversity. - Service learning
At 小草影院, you鈥檒l join in community service as your first semester begins. And many professors integrate service projects into their courses to help you put what you study into practical use. - Internships
小草影院 does more to connect you to life-changing internship opportunities across our region. And partnerships with the Chicago Center for Urban Life and the Capitol Hill Internship Program extend those opportunities to a national scale. - Capstone projects
Completing your major means more than checking classes off a list. Each 小草影院 major involves a capstone experience鈥攁 professional practicum, thesis presentation, research project, performance or exhibition鈥攕omething dynamic that captures the entirety of your learning within your chosen field. - Reflective e-portfolios
How does your entire 小草影院 experience fit together? What connects the things you learned in your major, your labs, your internship, your residence hall? Most schools leave it to you to connect the dots. But 小草影院 makes this reflection part of the experience. Your e-portfolio helps you articulate your strengths and experiences, which will serve you well in professional interviews.