Jessica Hill

Interests

Research

Creativity, Play, Improv Comedy, Leadership Development, Higher Education, Transferable Skills Development, Improvisational Teaching

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Hill, J. C. (2022). It starts with a "yes, and!": Communication lessons from the improv stage.. In Wildcat Reflections. Tucson, AZ: Pressbooks.

Journals/Publications

• Hill, J. C., & Cebulski, A. R. (2022). Leadership learning through games in co-curricular settings. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2022(174), 31-41. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20497
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  Developing leaders through games in the co-curriculum provides an opportunity for creative and innovative program design across learning taxonomies. Game-based learning provides a value-added experience for busy students who are balancing competing demands on their times. Additionally, co-curricular participants are often more receptive to less-traditional pedagogy incorporating technology, social connections, and fun. This article offers practitioners insight into developing and assessing games for co-curricular experiences.

Presentations

• Nardinelli, J. A., Austin, M. W., & Hill, J. C. (2023, February). Boosting the GenEd: Scaling and Innovating Instructor Professional Development for a New General Education . Conference on General Education, Pedagogy, and Assessment. New Orleans, LA: AAC & U.
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  In the fall of 2022, The University of Arizona rolled out a new General Education program for university students. This new program involved the incorporation of high-impact practices (Kuh, O’Donnell, & Schneider, 2017) through a first year seminar course with incoming freshmen at The University of Arizona, facilitated by over 150 part-time instructors from departments and units across the UA campus were hired to teach 2-4 units of this first-year seminar. These instructors had a wide range of teaching experience and institutional knowledge, stretching from novice to seasoned in these areas. These part time instructors were overseen by 12 full time faculty, creating communities-of-practice (Wenger, 2011) of instructors working in a shared endeavor, with varied levels of teaching experience, working towards the common goal of preparing first-year students for meaningful experiences in their general education program.         In this dialogue, the presenters will briefly overview how they created a model of instructor and peer-to-peer support through these collective communities-of-practices. This support included professional development opportunities, including instructor onboarding, a series of teaching tips sent out as a weekly newsletter to all instructors, classroom observations and facilitation of feedback from team leads, weekly check-in meetings, and the use of communication software to share teaching tips, get support, and share concerns.

Other Teaching Materials

• Hill, J. C. (2023. UNIV & Honors College Faculty Monthly Meet Up: Teaching Demonstration - Play Pedagogy. W.A. Franke Honors College.
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  In fall 2023, I participated in the UNIV and Honors Faculty Teaching Demonstration by sharing some of the games, activities, and strategies I use to infuse play into my classroom. I had a lot of fun sharing some of my strategies with my peers and receiving feedback and considerations I could use to continue to improve this practice.

Others

• Henao-Munoz, J., Hill, J. C., Croman, C. M., & Thomas Jones, D. L. (2023, May). UNIV Assessment Team - Narrative & Assessment Plan. UNIV Program. https://docs.google.com/document/d/11MMAy0lC22jYL762jzp30MR02EFlC-KF4j3HU0fn_Ec/edit?usp=drive_link
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  The UNIV Assessment Team (Spring 2023) aims to design / develop an assessment plan focused on two (2) curricular aspects: 1. the Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) of UNIV 101 (5 CLOs) and UNIV 301 (4 CLOs), entry and exit courses respectively; and the General Education e-Portfolio, a meaning-making space, that seeks to demonstrate the accomplishment of the
• Hill, J. C. (2022, October). Developing undergraduate group creativity through play and improv comedy (Publication No. 2756195401) [Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. https://arizona-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1h28lag/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2756195401
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  The demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution require a workforce prepared to collaborate on the creation of new products, processes, and services in a rapidly changing economy. Driven by this context, higher education is challenged to prepare graduates with the requisite transferable skills they will need to succeed in their careers. The purpose of this action research study was to better understand how co-curricular leadership educators can prepare undergraduate students with the transferable skill of group creativity. An innovation, the Creative Leadership Design Studio (CLDS), was designed using the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of play and improv comedy to introduce students to group creativity. A design studio application allowed students to collaborate to creatively address a problem in their organizations. Through a qualitative multiple case study design, the CLDS was delivered to two groups of undergraduate students. Four sources of data were used to answer the research questions including video observations, written student reflections, researcher journal, and semi-structured interviews. Major findings suggest that the innovation helped students identify and practice the skill of group creativity. Furthermore, play and improv comedy were viewed positively as a way for students to strengthen group bonds and improve creative thinking. In reflection, students indicated that the innovation held relevance to their future careers in preparing them with multiple transferable skills including collaboration, creativity, communication, confidence, and adaptability. These findings indicate that co-curricular leadership workshops using play and improv comedy can positively influence student’s transferable skills growth.