With decades of scholarship on high-impact practices, we know that learning in partnership with the research and creative community creates impact at the intersection of scholarship and teaching—and is disproportionally valuable for historically minoritized students.
Transformative Learning
With well-documented benefits from persistence and resilience to belonging and graduation, engagement can be transformative. A significant body of scholarship continues to demonstrate the value of broadening participation—and involving students as early as possible. We invite you to explore the resources included here to advance your work with students and welcome insight about additional resources.
The Future of Work
Recent white papers from the Council on Undergraduate Research highlight how engagement prepares students to meet the needs of employers in the rapidly changing future of work. To succeed, students will need critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and communication—all learning outcomes from undergraduate research.
Strategic Planning
Undergraduate research and creative work is student-centered education that makes the most of CU Boulder’s global leadership in research and creative production.
The Academic Futures report recommends that “colleges should make available research experiences...and students should be strongly encouraged to take advantage.”
The IDEA Plan calls on the university “to increase the accessibility of high-impact programming (study abroad, internships, undergraduate research).”
Common Curriculum
Following the Academic Futures recommendation to develop a common curriculum for undergraduates, a campus committee was formed to develop learning goals spanning the entire student journey. In April 2022, the committee submitted learning objectives for the campus to consider. In framing the "habits of mind" and "essential skills," the Common Curriculum aligns well with the outcomes from experiential learning, such as undergraduate research and creative work, and supports objectives highlighted in the IDEA Plan.
Habits of Mind
- Discovery
- Reflection
- Engagement
Essential Skills
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
