Jessica Hill

Interests

Research

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

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Hill, J. C., & Seemiller, C. (2025). Improv. In Moving the needle: Evidence-based strategies for developing leader capacity. Emerald Publishing.
  More info

  Using improv as a leadership development tool is a playful, engaging, and creative way to develop the capacities of leaders. This chapter highlights how improv works, the research impacts of utilizing improv in learning environments, recommendations for facilitation, and examples of improv games to help develop leadership skills and team dynamics.
• 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

• Hill, J. C. (2024, February). The Improv & Play Connection. Playposium. Los Angeles: Professors at Play and ASU ShapingEDU.
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  I submitted a proposal to present a 45 minute workshop at the 2024 Playposium put on by Professors at Play in partnership with ASU's ShapingEDU program. The focus of the workshop would be how to integrate the playful pedagogy of improv comedy into classroom activities for the purpose of creating a more cohesive, connected, engaged, and playful classroom environment. 
• Hill, J. C. (2025). Play in the Higher Ed Classroom. Faculty Learning Communities. Tucson, AZ.
• Hill, J. C. (2025, February). It's just more fun: Developing group creativity through play and improv. . Transforming the Teaching and Learning Environment Virtual Conference. Online.
• Hill, J. C. (2025, January). Play with purpose: Aligning playful pedagogy with authentic teaching.. Lilly Conference on Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning. San Diego, CA..
• Hill, J. C. (2025, March).

  Play with purpose: Aligning playful pedagogy with authentic teaching

  . Teaching Exchange SymposiumUniversity Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology.
• Hill, J. C., Elfring, L. K., & Hunt, J. E. (2025, February). Centering student well-being in the classroom.. University of Arizona Student Success Conference. Tucson, AZ.
• Hill, J. C. (2024, June). It’s Just More Fun: Developing Group Creativity through Play & Improv. Teaching Professors Conference. New Orleans: Magna Publications.
  More info

  This will be a conference presentation at the 2024 Teaching Professors Conference put on by Magna Publications. The abstract of the session reads:In order to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world, students need to be equipped with the skills to create and innovate in team settings. Preparing students with theskills to think quickly, creatively, and collaboratively can be achieved in lots of engaging ways - but why not make it fun for all involved? This session will explore how theplayful pedagogy of improv comedy along with a design studio method can help students be more confident and collaborative in creative endeavors. Come prepared toplay, improvise, and create and leave with some activities that you can use to spark group creativity in your classroom.
• Hill, J. C. (2024, October). Play with purpose: Aligning playful pedagogy with authentic teaching. UNIV Symposium.
• 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.

Case Studies

• Hill, J. C., & Croman, C. M. (2025.

  Loom quick connects: Extending play possibilities with new tools.

  (pp 94-95).
• Hill, J. C., & Croman, C. M. (2025.

  Playful ePortfolios: Not your run-of-the-mill Portfolio.

  (pp 96-97).
• Hill, J. C., & Croman, C. M. (2025.

  Wellness Wednesday: A playful wellness check.

  (pp 55-56).

Other Teaching Materials

• Hill, J. C. (2023. UNIV & Honors College Faculty Monthly Meet Up: Teaching Demonstration - Play Pedagogy. W.A. Franke Honors College.
  More info

  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.