High Impact Practices in Underserved Communities: Linking Open Educational Resources and Local Non-Profit in Business Communications Course Design

Abstract

High-impact educational practices (HIPs) provide a deep and significant learning experience that can enhance academic attainment among students in higher education (Kuh, 2008). HIPS, differing from traditional educational outreach practices, are learning practices that faculty use to increase student commitment and success, specifically in underserved student populations (Valentine & Price, 2021; White, 2018). HIPs may take on different forms to align with specific priorities and course contexts. This paper discusses the development of HIPs used in redesigning a senior-level business communications course at a public four-year institution through project-based learning and connecting students with a local non-profit organization. Faculty utilized HIPs in a course redesign to combine collaborative assignments and projects, community-based learning, and undergraduate research in a writing-intensive course project. Open Educational Resources (OER) were selected for this course. We suggest that HIPs combined with OER can promote increased levels of student engagement and development, especially for the underserved community.