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High Impact Practices

Opportunities to apply and deepen your knowledge, skills and abilities

In 2022 a group of Pima Community College employees attended the AAC&U Institute on High Impact Practices (HIPs) to reinforce, scale and draw attention to the well known best practices that support student persistence and retention. Although the concept of HIPs was created with the classic university student experience in mind, community colleges have offered similar learning opportunities throughout their existence. Here at PCC we strive to provide students with opportunities to apply and deepen their knowledge, skills and abilities in meaningful ways. The goal at PCC is for all credential seeking students to successfully participate in at least two HIPs.

Hight Impact Practices at PCC

To highlight PCC’s offerings the College utilizes the AAC&Us list of High Impact Practices as an organizing mechanism, with PCC specific edits to reflect local terminology and HIPs. The PCC HIPs listed as examples in the visual below are not the only options in most cases. For general questions or connections to HIPs leads please contact the Dean of Student Success office at 520-206-6133.

Definition: A summative effort that provides learners the opportunity to showcase mastery of program learning outcomes through application. The experience may be a stand alone capstone course, or an activity completed as part of a program requirement.

Example Courses:

  • ART289 Portfolio Capstone
  • BCT290 Building & Construction Technology Capstone
  • FSS281 Capstone: Certified Personal Trainer
  • SGT203 Surgical Technologist Capstone

Definition: Student activities that engage students in learning through group work that emphasizes shared responsibility, dialogue, and problem-solving. These experiences help students develop communication, teamwork, and conflict resolution skills while deepening their understanding of course content.

Examples: PCC faculty include peer study groups, group projects and other collaborative assignments throughout the curriculum.

Definition: PCC is part of a statewide agreement for General Education referred to as AGEC (Arizona General Education Curriculum). Currently, two of the requirements are Ethnic/Race/Gender/Class awareness and Global/International or Historical awareness. The goal is for learners to explore worldviews different from their own and to develop an awareness of and appreciation for different cultures.

Examples:

  • Study Abroad
    • Germany and Ireland - Summer 2025
    • Germany and Ireland - Summer 2024
    • Ireland - Summer 2023
  • Ethnic/Race/Gender/Class:
    • AIS101 Introduction to American Indian Studies
    • POS201 American National Government and Politics
    • SOC101 Introduction to Sociology
  • Global/International or Historical:
    • CAS101IN Sustainable Futures
    • ECN150 An Economic Perspective
    • HIS141 History of the United States I

Definition:An ePortfolio is a digital collection of a student’s academic work, reflection on learning experiences, and artifacts that provide meaningful connections across courses, co-curricular activities, and personal goals.They support reflective and integrative learning while helping students develop a strong sense of identity and purpose. For students balancing school, work, and family, ePortfolios offer a flexible, empowering way to track growth, demonstrate skills, and tell their own story. They also build digital literacy and support career or transfer readiness by providing a tangible, curated record of student achievement.

Examples: PCC faculty provide opportunities for students to explore ePortfolios in Student Success and Climate Action & Sustainability courses. The College is currently researching appropriate long term platforms.

Definition: PCC offers both activities and courses to provide learners with a strong foundation for success. The activities and courses are designed to connect learners to important resources, to introduce learners to critical and reflective thinking regarding their college intentions, and to support navigation through the various systems.

Examples:

  • FYE Activities: ConnectU Orientation, Career Cafe, Popcorn with a Program, Orientation to OL Learning
  • FYE Courses:
    • HON101 Honors Colloquium
    • HRP100 Success in Health Professions
    • STU100 College Success and Career Planning
    • STU107 University Transfer Exploration, Preparation, and College Success

Definition: Learning Communities integrate courses under a common theme to support deeper learning, and include faculty and student collaboration, active learning techniques, and integrative assignments. Learning Communities support a diverse student population by fostering a sense of belonging at the College.

Examples:

  • Fall 2024 “What are We Thinking” combined WRT101S and LIB150 to investigate the history of social; media and hypothesize about the future of human connectedness.
  • Spring 2025 “When Am I Ever Going to Need Math” combined GTM105 and BCT105 to learn fun construction math.

Definition: Service Learning allows students to learn the content of a course through the process of carrying out service. By working with nonprofit and public organizations to address real, community-identified needs, students become active participants in their learning and develop civic knowledge and skills. Students see the application of their learning in real time and learn about their communities in the process.

Examples:

  • Honors Courses - HON 101, HON 210
  • Respiratory Care AAS Degree requires 25 hours of service learning
  • The Social Services Certificate and AAS Degree require service learning hours through SSE 281

Definition: Undergraduate research at PCC is a process where college students work closely with a mentor/instructor/peer to explore real-world questions through investigation, analysis, and creative thinking, producing new knowledge or insights.

Examples:

  • Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs)
    • In BIO 182 (General Biology II) students engage in authentic research experiences as part of their coursework.
  • Undergraduate Research Symposium - This is the only forum in Arizona for all undergraduate students. Submissions are welcome from students of any community college or university in the state wanting to present their original research.
  • Library Research Award - Students can submit a research paper or presentation that incorporates library resources that they have completed for a PCC course.

Definition: Work Based Learning (WBL) is an educational approach that combines course learning outcomes and real-world work experiences blending the academic knowledge and the work skills required for a successful career.

Examples:

  • Internship: An internship is a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional workplace setting.
  • Apprenticeship: An industry-driven, paid job that combines classroom training with on-the-job learning.

Definition: PCC is part of a statewide agreement for General Education referred to as AGEC (Arizona General Education Curriculum). Currently, one of the requirements is Intensive writing and critical inquiry. These courses involve the gathering, interpretation, and evaluation of evidence in written discourse.

Examples:

  • ANT112 Exploring Non-Western Cultures
  • HUM160 Intercultural Perspectives
  • LIT280 Introduction to Literature
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