High Impact Teaching Practices in Introduction to Exercise Science Courses
Authors: Stenson Mary , Johnson Samantha , Caputo Jennifer , Mel Astrid , Spillios Katherine 
Published: May 2024

High impact practices (HIP) are evidence-based teaching and learning tools which improve learning and student engagement. The objective of this study was to investigate the use of HIP in undergraduate introduction to exercise science classes. The student experience in introductory major courses can impact their persistence and success in the discipline, thus the use of HIP in these courses can be formative. It was hypothesized that the number of HIP used would differ based on institution type, instructor type, and class size. It was also hypothesized that collaboration would be the most frequently used HIP due to ease of implementation in the classroom. Faculty were electronically surveyed about the type and number of HIP used in their introductory course and information relative to instructor status and class size. The sample included 182 courses. Institution types were classified as either four-year public institutions ( n = 68), four-year private institutions ( n = 97), or community colleges ( n = 17). The most common instructor type was tenured/tenure-track ( n = 100), followed by full time term ( n = 39), adjunct ( n = 2), and different instructor types teaching the class ( n = 41). Class sizes were grouped in the following categories: 0-25 students ( n = 84), 26-50 ( n = 71), 51-75 ( n = 11), 76-100 ( n = 3), 101+ ( n = 13). Instructors reported an average of 1.3 + 1.2 HIP were used in the courses. There was a significant difference between the number of HIP used and institution type (F (2, 41.73) = 3.98, p = 0.026). Instructors at four-year public (1.03 + 0.98; p = <0.001) and four-year private (1.26 + 1.14; p = 0.005) institutions reported incorporating significantly fewer HIP than instructors at community colleges (2.12 + 1.58). There was no significant difference between number of HIP used and instructor type (F (3, 5.106) = 2.56, p = 0.166). There was a significant difference between number of HIP used and students per section (F (4, 13.37) = 4.54, p = 0.016) with 0-25 student sections (1.4 + 1.18; p = 0.024) and 26-50 student sections (1.32 + 1.20; p = 0.043) having significantly more HIP used in the courses than courses with 101+ student per section (0.62 + 1.17). At the 123 institutions where it was reported that HIP were used, 79.7% used collaboration ( n = 98). These data identify the use of HIP more frequently in introduction to exercise science classes with fewer than 50 students and those taught at community colleges. As many students may begin their degrees at community colleges, this use of HIP can be supportive of students remaining in the degree track. Further, the use of HIP, such as collaboration, in smaller classes may encourage relationships that may also help students feel more positively about the degree. No funding or support mechanism was used for this project. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.