Director of Graduate Studies Recognized as Social Learning Innovator at 2024 Hypothesis Awards

Dr. Ashley Love, director of Graduate Studies at the Dreeben School of Education, was recognized as one of 12 award winners at The Social Learning Innovator Awards 2024 hosted by Hypothesis.

Hypothesis is an online annotation tool whose mission is to “enable conversations over the world’s knowledge.” The tool is currently utilized by over one million users who are striving to build universal collaboration through social annotation. This year, Hypothesis hosted its 2024 Social Learning Innovator Awards to celebrate the educators and institutions whose innovative use of Hypothesis has created dynamic, interactive and inclusive learning environments that inspire student engagement and collaboration.

Love was honored as the winning Administrator at this year’s awards for her work integrating peer collaboration into her doctoral level courses. She and her doctoral students delivered a presentation called “Beyond the Margins: Enhancing Doctoral Education with Collaborative Social Annotation” at the Hypothesis virtual conference, showcasing how they used the tool to improve students’ experiences and learning. Love noted that whether classes are face-to-face, hybrid or online, one of the biggest issues educators are facing in higher education is whether students are actually engaged in the lesson or just going through the motions. By actively creating opportunities for hands-on engagement, she and her fellow educators hope to create social cohesion through community.

“We started trailing Hypothesis in 2023 when it was recommended by Evelyn V. Villarreal (instructional designer for the Dreeben School of Education) and found that it had a positive impact on our students’ learning experiences,” said Love. “Hypothesis made things really interactive because it allowed students to annotate on each other’s work which fostered a deeper understanding. When you are able to see other people’s feedback, not just faculty feedback, themes emerge that can enhance comprehension and retention.”

Love shared that Hypothesis was easily integrated into her classes centered on various topics such as advanced statistics, research methods and epidemiology. Each class was given the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer conversations and many students found it easy and beneficial to use as they advanced the quality of their work.

“Hypothesis enabled me to see my own drafts and the early drafts of my peers and see the improvement that we were able to accomplish throughout the semester,” shared Ricardo Rosales, veteran and UIW doctoral student. “Fostering collaboration allows for the classroom to grow together as you develop your writing and hone your scholarly writing skills.”

Love’s other presenting students Phillip Rangel, David F. Mendez, Jacqueline Zavala Aguila and Susanna Alford, noted other benefits of using tools that promote interaction with peers, including helping to accommodate different learning paces and language barriers, receiving rich feedback and challenging them to be vulnerable when exchanging ideas.

“As an educator, I think it's important to think about diverse and inclusive perspectives, and that's the wonderful message that tools like Hypothesis are able to bring out. It gives everybody a chance to be at the table and give feedback before a decision is made. It’s also given me a wonderful compass and indicative markers for more personalized learning for each of the students depending on where they’re at,” explained Love.

As a perk of her recognition, Love was invited to present at the “Social Learning Innovator Awards 2024: Unveiling Winning Strategies for Classroom Transformation” webinar, where all 12 of this year’s award recipients shared how they incorporated social learning in their classes. Click here to watch the webinar.