200 educators attend 2nd annual TBR Statewide High Impact Practice Conference for student success

Two hundred college faculty and staff from across Tennessee participated in the second annual TBR Statewide High Impact Practice Conference Thursday, conducted and led by the TBR Office of Student Success.

High Impact Practices are data-driven teaching, advising and experiential practices that help our students learn, advance and graduate. The integration of HIP activities into the curricular and co-curricular work of our colleges results in the graduation of more globally aware, solution-oriented and workforce-ready students.

HIPs in the College System of Tennessee include Honors Education, Learning Communities, Study Abroad, First-Year Seminars/Experiences, Certifications, Work-based Learning, Undergraduate Research, Technology-Enhanced Learning and Undergraduate Research.

The one-day Nashville conference was an opportunity for faculty, staff and administrators to come together to hear and share best practices in HIP implementation and assessment. One focus of the conference was a closer examination of ways to close student achievement and equity gaps. Others were on quality assurance and relational advising, or success coaching, in which advisors work with students to remove obstacles and jump the hurdles that life outside the classroom presents.

“Our second year for hosting the high impact practices conference proved to be even more successful than the first,” said Dr. Heidi Leming, the College System’s vice chancellor for student success. “This year’s focus on quality assurance and closing equity gaps provided our faculty with information that will continue to raise the bar for how we deliver instruction and services.”

Keynote speakers were Dr. Shanna Jaggars, assistant vice provost at The Ohio State University, and Dr. Vijay Pendakur, dean of students at Cornell University. Jaggars opened the conference with a discussion on the details and issues involved in integrating high impact practices across an institution and assessing the outcomes. Pendakur presented a framework for understanding the current generation of college students and a set of interventions and design strategies that can help optimize student success.

Session topics included improving honors education, facilitating seamless college transitions, documenting work-based learning, advancing undergraduate research, recruiting and retaining diverse student populations, using data to identify areas for improvement, creating a mentoring culture for student success, service learning essentials, developing inclusive student services, technology-enhanced learning, and relational advising.

Faculty from across the state were given opportunities to join Faculty Learning Communities that will connect them with colleagues statewide, and briefed on the purposes and how to apply for Student Engagement, Retention and Success Initiative (SERS) grants.