LOCAL EDUCATION NEWS — Four Motlow State faculty members were recently selected to be part of the inaugural HIP (High Impact Practices) Ambassador cohort and will attend the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) 2022 HIP Conference in January.

“Motlow is well represented in the first cohort of HIP Ambassadors, and we are extremely proud of these faculty members and their work with High Impact Practices,” said Charle Coffey, interim executive vice president of Student Success and Academic Affairs at Motlow.

Ambassadors from Motlow include Curriculum Chair for Motlow’s Education program Debbie Simpson, Assistant Professor Charles Whiting, Assistant Professor Andrea Green, and Dean Walter McCord.

“I am thrilled to be named a HIP Ambassador for the inaugural HIP cohort,” said Whiting. “I am passionate about the importance of including experiential learning into my courses. This process prepares our students for real-world jobs.”

HIP Conference focuses on reducing student equity gaps

The 2022 TBR Statewide HIP Conference is an opportunity for faculty, staff, and administrators to come together to share evidence-based high-impact practice implementation and assessment. A focus of the statewide conference will be to highlight ways institutions can utilize teaching and learning centers to support faculty in providing quality HIP courses that reduce student equity gaps.

“High Impact Practices are strategies that engage students and encourage them to utilize higher level thinking skills to enhance learning. HIP ambassadors move students beyond remembering facts to analyzing and creating and evaluating information,” explained Simpson.

Ambassadors enable students to process and make sense of new information as it becomes part of them. HIP are evidence-based teaching and learning practices that have been widely tested and shown to be beneficial for college students. Characteristics of high-impact activities include: setting appropriately high expectations of students; interaction with faculty and peers about substantive matters; experiences with diversity; frequent feedback; reflection and integrative learning; real-world applications; and demonstrated competence.

“These connections to real life assist the students in understanding the relevance of the material presented in the course which, in turn, increases the student’s persistence toward their academic and life goals,” said Simpson.

Learning outside the classroom

The various HIP initiatives help students to connect theory and course content to related experiences with diverse groups outside the classroom. Access to HIP in academic courses enhances a student’s development both personally and academically.

According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), examples of high-impact educational practices include: first-year seminars and experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing-intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, diversity/Global learning, ePortfolios, service learning, community-based learning, Internships and capstone courses and projects.

“I set very high expectations for the students in my courses and I tell the students that I have those expectations. Research indicates that if faculty do this, students will rise to those expectations,” said Simpson.

Motlow represents in four of 18 total HIP cohort spots

The cohort selected 18 individuals from across TBRs 13 campuses. Each individual selected represents a different category. Simpson will represent the Certifications category. Whiting represents the Technology-enhanced Learning category. Green represents the Learning Communities category. McCord will represent the Work-based Learning category.

“We had 45 applicants for 18 slots in our inaugural HIP Ambassador cohort. The excellent pool of nominees made the selection process difficult, but I am happy to announce our 2022 class,” said Heidi Leming, vice chancellor for student success at TBR. •

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