Teaching Innovation Award

Hailey Hancock

Hailey Hancock, assistant teaching professor in the College of Education, Health and Human Development’s Department of Education, is the recipient of the Teaching Innovation Award. The award recognizes a faculty member who has incorporated novel teaching practices that have a measurable impact on student success and the potential to be applied across disciplines. Sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, the award comes with a $2,000 honorarium.    

Hancock is known for strong commitment to teaching and for bringing energy and innovation to her classes, her nominator wrote. 

For example, when Hancock was invited to revise and teach a required course on managing the learning environment for K-8 educators, she focused on creating learning opportunities that would build students’ teaching tool kits. Recognizing the value of experiencing and observing multiple teachers, she adjusted the syllabus to include multiple classroom observations. To further broaden students’ understandings of the complexities of the teaching-learning classroom, she also added virtual simulations and arranged for her students to visit a local middle school and meet with an administrator, counselor and school resource officer.  

Hancock also models best practices, including exploring differentiation to meet individual learners’ needs, scaffolding concepts and integrating technology, her nominator wrote. In addition, she has incorporated active-learning instructional strategies into her methods class.