In this workshop, you will learn the basic functionalities that you will need to grade and provide feedback to students in Blackboard. We will discuss the types of grading options, how to access completed assignments, and how to organize and manage the grade center. This workshop is intended for instructors and graduate students with limited experience using Blackboard, but all who teach may attend. We will be discussing Blackboard Original Course View only.

This is the third in a series of three workshops on Blackboard Original Course View basics. You do not need to attend all three workshops. The other workshops will cover Blackboard Fundamentals and Assessments and Activities.  Register

This workshop, the first in the series, will provide participants the opportunity to establish the group dynamics essential to successfully developing mentorship ability. Participants will have the opportunity to develop their own philosophy of mentoring as a part of the program and prepare for upcoming workshops within the Entering Mentoring sequence.

This is a required session for the Entering Mentoring certificate of Completion.   Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

Come develop a deeper understanding of inclusive excellence and why it is central not only to how we prepare students to lead, but also to how we engage all members of our USC community. Learn about the ways in which the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion seeks to operationalize inclusive excellence, as well as how we intend to use our equity and inclusion strategy to track the University’s effectiveness in four primary areas: compositional diversity, achievement, engagement and inclusion.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence.   Register

The Resilience in the Classroom training is a 50-minute training that focuses on three major components of resilience:

• Self-compassion
• Dealing with failure, and coping skills, and
• How to incorporate these components into the classroom.

Resilience is associated with academic success and psychological well-being. This session will help instructors identify how they can strengthen students' resilience and help them adapt to change and hardships by integrating these core competencies into their curriculum.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency.  Register

Artificial Intelligence(AI) software programs such as ChatGPT powered by OpenAI have been created in an effort to enhance the human experience by eliminating barriers to access to information. AI is a tool that some equate to the creation of the calculator or the internet. This presentation will explain what Artificial Intelligence is as it pertains to its possible use in Higher Education by our students, faculty, and staff. We will also briefly discuss why students may be inclined to use programs like ChatGPT and how we can better adapt our course material to either incorporate the use of AI or make it nearly impossible to use on assignments in the first place. Ultimately, we believe that AI is not the end of Higher Education but, rather it's a new beginning.  Register

The main goal of this workshop is to provide colleagues with a framework guaranteed to allow any concept from any discipline to be delivered successfully in a flipped format. First, we determine 'WHAT is Flipping?' Really! Does it mean stand on your head? Next, we explore 'WHY is Flipping so popular with Students? With Faculty? With Administration?' Then, we briefly discuss WHEN, WHERE and HOW to use the Flipping technique verse Flipping Course Design. This will include consideration of program learning goals, course learning objectives, and student evaluations.

Finally, participants will be guided through the innovative F.A.B. framework as they plan a flipped classroom experience for a concept topic of their choice. Personal teaching philosophy, teaching persona, and preferred learning environments/themes will be discussed and integrated.

Note: It is recommended participants select either their toughest concept or a gateway concept for the workshop activity. No prep work is required.  Register

Are there special considerations to keep in mind when teaching and mentoring with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)? This presentation will focus on lessons learned from teaching and mentoring using a DEIA lens. The session will include an opportunity for participants to ask questions, and share their perspectives on and experiences with teaching and mentoring students, especially from underrepresented backgrounds.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence.  Register

You may have heard (or uttered) the comments, 'My students don't turn in assignments or don't show up to class meetings. How do I get my students to care about my class?' Current and upcoming students in higher education have weathered an extreme and singular event - trying to learn in high school and college during a global pandemic, remotely, and often lacking the resources, skills, and learning 'toolkits' that pre-pandemic students generally had available for them. Students seem to be disengaged, disinterested, and lacking any real motivation to do well in their classes. And with the constant presence of distractions from technology, students' attention spans are shorter and communication skills are in decline. It feels much more difficult to engage today's students in the traditional classroom setting.

Fortunately, there are specific strategies that you as an instructor can use to enhance your teaching, engage students from the first class, and maintain that engagement throughout the semester. We'll discuss the multitude of aspects that are impacting our students' engagement and motivation and share our own experiences with these. Learn about how these facets of motivation then can translate into instructional choices and techniques you can use to develop a personal connection with your students, encourage student involvement in your class and investment in their learning, and expect (and receive!) excellence from your students. These strategies to engage students can be applied in small classrooms as well as in large lecture-hall style courses. Join us to learn how to create that positive, engaging learning environment where students 'show up' in every meaning of the word.
 
This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

International students who pursue degrees at USC bring a wealth of cultural experience to campus, enriching the wider student body with access to broader perspectives and preparing them for a global workforce. They also experience challenges when relocating to the US, navigating cultural differences, acclimating to the unique features of US higher education, and managing linguistic challenges. This presentation will outline diversity, equity, and inclusion issues that are relevant to our international student population. Attendees will learn about the resources on campus that international students have found critical for meeting their unique needs and assisting with their integration within our community.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence.  Register

Faculty members work is traditionally siloed off into the three categories of teaching, research, and service. While this perspective is useful, by separating our professional responsibilities into boxes, we can miss out on opportunities to use our experiences in one category to grow in others.

In this workshop, which will be geared toward graduate students but open to all, we will explore the ways in which our experiences in each of these categories can positively influence our work in the other categories. Our goals are that participants will leave with new perspectives and ideas which they can apply to continue to make connections across their professional responsibilities, and that they will be able to use these connections to articulate a cohesive story about their professional experiences and aspirations (for example, in a teaching or research statement).  Register

The Career Champions program was created to educate and empower campus faculty and staff on best practices to have career conversations with students. Career Champions Module 1 serves as a foundation and review of career development, our roles as a career Ecosystem. The learning outcomes for level 1 are as follows:

• Gain a basic knowledge of the career development theories, career decision making process and employability.
• Gain a foundation of basic helping skills to best assist students with career planning
• Learn how to assist students with goal setting regarding their career development
• Learn how to make an effective referral to the Career Center
• Learn the professional and ethical guidelines as outlined through the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE)

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.  Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how Whether you are new to backward design or looking to enhance your existing instructional practices, this webinar will provide you with practical strategies to create effective learning experiences. We will explore the powerful instructional design approach of backward design, which starts with the end in mind and prioritizes desired learning outcomes. You will discover how to align assessments with learning outcomes and design instructional strategies that support the achievement of these outcomes. Additionally, you will learn how to incorporate inclusive practices into your backward design process, ensuring that your courses are accessible and promote academic success for all learners.   Register

Are you interested in or plan to teach an accelerated course during winter or summer sessions? Join us to learn all the essential information that you need to navigate the administrative and pedagogical aspects of teaching an accelerated course. We will focus on courses that run for about 3-6 weeks and discuss key things that you and your students need to know. We will also discuss best practices for planning and facilitating a course in this condensed format and give you time to ask questions and brainstorm your own plans.  Register

The Virtual Environments Community of Practice is planning ways to integrate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality into teaching and learning environments at UofSC. Meetings are open to faculty, staff and students.

If you are interested in participating in the Virtual Environments CoP, or would like to be on the email list for further information, please email Charles Andy Schumpert at schumpca@mailbox.sc.edu.  RSVP

During their time at USC, our undergraduate students enroll in courses, participate in cocurricular engagements, hold down jobs while preparing themselves for their future careers, engage with the community, and manage their own personal challenges (AAC&U/Carnegie Foundation, 2004), but how do they make sense of these varied experiences and realize how they all interconnect? Integrative learning provides students with strategies to make connections between these within and beyond the classroom activities to help them apply their skills to new and complex problems and challenges.

This presentation explores teaching strategies and philosophies that encourage students to engage in activities beyond the classroom and then have students relate those experiences to their courses and curriculum. We will review current research and practices on integrative and experiential learning and how the Center for Integrative and Experiential Learning supports IL and EL, including the impactful role of our Quality Enhancement Plan, Experience by Design. Participants will discuss strategies for encouraging students to reflect and make interdisciplinary connections between their experiences within and beyond the classroom to promote creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving.

This workshop is a required session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.  Register

In this workshop, we will embark on an inspiring journey, where the fusion of art and engineering becomes a catalyst for transformative teaching and groundbreaking research. Join us in a dynamic exploration of how art holds the power to revolutionize engineering education. This immersive workshop unveils the untapped potential of creativity as an essential driver of effective pedagogy and impactful research. We will explore I-poems and storycrafting as examples of ways to integrate arts into our classrooms and foster students' creativity, empathy, humanity, and systems thinking.

Participants will engage in dynamic discussions, hands-on activities, and collaborative exercises that harness the transformative potential of art-infused teaching and research. By embracing this creative paradigm, educators, researchers, and students alike will reveal novel pathways for cultivating the next generation of visionary engineers. This workshop promises to equip you with the tools, insights, and inspiration needed to pioneer a new era of education and research that seamlessly melds the worlds of art and engineering.  Register

Through Recovery Ally workshops, Gamecock Recovery strives to empower students, faculty and staff to make campus more accepting, engaging, and supportive of students in recovery from substance use disorder. Learn to confront myths about substance use disorder, support someone in early recovery, and advocate for a recovery-oriented campus culture.

Using a recovery oriented systems of care model, faculty and staff sessions focus on conveying campus norms in the classroom and building recovery-supportive workplaces.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency.  Register

Creating an environment of integrity within the classroom truly takes a village. Faculty, administrators, and students all play a role in maintaining an ethical campus community. This workshop will explore preventative tools to address classroom roadblocks.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

Join us for a Mutual Expectations Discussion on exploring the topic 'What's In A Grade?' in our September session. This conversation will encourage participants to examine thoughts and decisions that go into assigning a course grade, how students may interpret a syllabus item differently than how the instructor intended, and how to have a constructive conversation around that topic.

We’ll have a FREE lunch for everyone!  RSVP

Join us for a Mutual Expectations Discussion on exploring the topic 'What's In A Grade?' in our September session. This conversation will encourage participants to examine thoughts and decisions that go into assigning a course grade, how students may interpret a syllabus item differently than how the instructor intended, and how to have a constructive conversation around that topic.

We’ll have a FREE lunch for everyone!   Register

You may have heard a student comment, “I’m a visual learner so I prefer to watch videos,” which you immediately recognize as a description of their “learning style”. The idea of learning styles holds that by matching instruction to students’ preferred mode of learning or media preferences, students learn better, and there are scores of frameworks categorizing learning styles (visual/auditory/kinesthetic, imaginative vs. analytic, sensing vs. intuition, etc.). But did you know that the idea of learning styles has been definitively debunked in cognitive psychology and neuroscience research literature? The myth of learning styles has been persistent in education for numerous reasons, primarily because for decades, research findings on learning have been incorrectly interpreted, and many practitioners simply don’t know the science that disproves it. Despite the intuitive appeal, there is little to no empirical evidence that learning styles are real.

So as an instructor, what does this mean for your teaching techniques and students’ learning abilities? In this workshop, you will learn about some of the more common learning style models and their fallacies, and apply a model to your own preferences that better illustrates our understanding of student learning abilities (Felder and Silverman, 1988). We’ll also explore some of the cognitive neuroscience behind how students learn, along with techniques and recommendations for being more inclusive in your teaching style to address all abilities, not just specific “learning styles”. A broader teaching approach is needed to improve learning outcomes, one that invites students to reflect on their learning, rather than narrow their style down (Ambrose et. al, 2010).  Register

When you design your course, do you wonder whether you could be doing more to include cultural or community-based learning experiences? Do you wish you knew more about local cultural communities in South Carolina? In this interactive workshop, lessons from the Sea Islands will be explored including various examples of integrative and experiential learning activities. Participants will discuss and collaboratively craft a cultural or community-based learning experience, and the session will conclude with a formal question-and-answer session focused on addressing specific challenges participants have encountered when designing their course(s).

This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.  Register

This presentation delves into the challenges and opportunities of educating Generation Z - the digital natives who grew up in a rapidly changing world and an academic environment where inclusion and active learning was the norm. With a focus on fostering student engagement, we will explore innovative strategies and practical techniques that empower educators to inspire and motivate Gen Z students to take an active role in their own learning journey.

How does an instructor ignite Gen Z's interest in the subjects being taught? What is needed to stimulate Gen Z's curiosity and drive intrinsic motivation? Does assessment play a vital role in engaging Gen Z students?

To answer these questions, we begin by exploring this generation's academic portfolio (purpose, preferences, needs, experiences). Insight into their motivations, aspirations, and learning styles, from a practical perspective is shared. This leads us to discover the role critical thinking, creativity, and self-directed learning play in course design. The incorporation of technology and interactive tools as well as project-based learning, collaborative activities, and real-world applications among other common assignment types are discussed to emphasize the importance Gen Z places on classroom experience.

Our focus then shifts to effective and actionable strategies which encourage Gen Z students to become active participants in their education. Discussion surrounds building authentic connections with Gen Z students, fostering a positive and inclusive classroom environment, and leveraging their passion for social causes and global issues. Time saving alternative assessment methods which focus on holistic evaluation, such as portfolios, presentations, and real-world projects, enabling students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in a more meaningful and authentic way are also discussed.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

In partnership with faculty and staff from USC, the Center for Teaching Excellence has developed a set of quality standards for online courses. These standards are useful for various purposes, such as conducting self-reviews of courses, designing online courses, assisting faculty with course design, and conducting internal peer reviews by units. This session offers an opportunity to learn about the standards and explore ways to leverage them in order to design exceptional online courses.  Register

Join us for an improvisational theatre workshop open to all university faculty, staff, and students who want to make their classrooms more lively, engaging, and fun. Participants will learn basic improv frameworks and practice these skills with other novice improvisers. Research shows that teachers with improvisation training are more engaged in their teaching, are better communicators, better at planning what and how to teach, and develop the skills required to interact with students as individual learners within instruction. Discover more about improvisation techniques and how they may impact your instruction. Register

Like an actor on stage, an instructor with a vibrant, dynamic voice in the classroom communicates information in an engaging way that inspires students. In this workshop, learn practical exercises to speak with vocal ease and variety. Find out how you can develop a stronger presence in the classroom. Part 1 will focus on breath support, vocal projection and presence. Part 2 will highlight communicating with variety and clarity.  Register

The Center for Teaching Excellence is pleased to announce the 14th Annual Oktoberbest: A Symposium on Teaching. All USC faculty, instructors and graduate teaching assistants are invited to attend this free, in-person, one-day symposium focused on sharing best practices in teaching.

At Oktoberbest you'll hear innovative teaching ideas and best practices implemented by your colleagues at USC. This teaching symposium features engaging and informative presentations on innovative approaches to teaching, assessments, course design, creative student learning opportunities, and successful implementation of new strategies and best practices.

Oktoberbest is free to all who teach or support teaching at USC, but is not open to the general public. Register

The Career Champions program was created to educate and empower campus faculty and staff on best practices to have career conversations with students. The learning outcomes for level two are as follows:

• Gain knowledge around experiential education
• Identify different opportunities in the Career Center and beyond available for students to gain experience
• Identify ways to help students discover what opportunities they are interested in and know where to find them
• Gain knowledge in how to support students while they are involved in their experience to make it more impactful
• Articulate ways on how to encourage reflection during and after the experience
• Identify ways on how to handle concerns that can arise while a student is participating in an experiential education opportunity

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.  Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

In this session we will discuss the academic misconduct trends we are seeing online and in person with our students. Additionally, we will discuss how to identify and address these common violations while maintaining a productive instructor/student relationship.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

Good communication is a key element of any relationship, and the mentoring relationship is no exception. As mentors, it is insufficient to say we know good communication when we see it. Participants will learn how to identify the key characteristics of effective communication and practice these skills with other participants. At the end of workshop, participants will be better prepared to provide constructive feedback to mentees, engage in active listening, communicate across diverse dimensions (disciplines, ethnicities, positions of powers), and formulate strategies for improving their own communication style.

This is an elective session for the Entering Mentoring certificate of Completion.  Register

Like an actor on stage, an instructor with a vibrant, dynamic voice in the classroom communicates information in an engaging way that inspires students. In this workshop, learn practical exercises to speak with vocal ease and variety. Find out how you can develop a stronger presence in the classroom. Part 2 will highlight communicating with variety and clarity.  Register

The Virtual Environments Community of Practice is planning ways to integrate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality into teaching and learning environments at UofSC. Meetings are open to faculty, staff and students.

If you are interested in participating in the Virtual Environments CoP, or would like to be on the email list for further information, please email Charles Andy Schumpert at schumpca@mailbox.sc.edu.  RSVP

Technology misuse in the classroom has become so pervasive that we must rethink whether our energies should be spent fighting it or whether to work with students on a new paradigm. Yet struggles around technology are also the most obvious symptom of a much larger problem of many students' inability to focus and the value many of them hold for multitasking.

Based on the recent text: Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It by James Lang, this break-out session will address the pervasive problem of distracted students, including how to use research on the effects of the technology students use as a distraction (cell phones), or as classroom tools (laptops).

Lastly, in this presentation, attendees will explore the various methods of how to foster better attention from students in the classroom and begin to 'shift our thinking away from preventing distraction' (Lang, 2021).

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

Many flipped classroom implementations focus on moving content out of class meeting time, but either continue to lecture in class or apply general active learning techniques instead of maximizing the ability to provide guided learning during class meetings. One way to maximize student engagement is through a project-based approach to teaching. This assessment method is a meaning-based, top-down approach that easily allows students to focus on larger thematic issues instead of just surface level facts and figures.

In this session, we will introduce teaching strategies for both flipped classroom and project-based approaches. We will discuss the benefits of their intersection and examples of how this can be implemented. You will have the opportunity to reflect on your own assessments and course design to consider how you could utilize these approaches.   Register

A teaching philosophy statement provides a concise description of an instructor's teaching approach, methods, and experience. Colleges and universities request a teaching philosophy statement from applicants for faculty positions, and some higher education institutions require one as part of the tenure and promotion consideration process.

What is your teaching philosophy? What should you write or include? What if you have limited teaching experience? This workshop series will help you articulate your teaching philosophy in a concise, effective essay. We will discuss the statement's purpose, best practices and strategies for composing the statement, incorporating time for individual brainstorming and writing, and conclude with group discussion and feedback.

This is a working webinar, incorporating time for group discussion and individual writing. For you and other participants to benefit the most in the short time available, this workshop requires that you do some reflective writing in advance of the session. Participants will leave with an outline of their statement and guidelines to continue crafting it.  Register

The Resilience in the Classroom training is a 50-minute training that focuses on three major components of resilience - self-compassion, dealing with failure, and coping skills, and how to incorporate these components into the classroom. Resilience is associated with academic success and psychological well-being. This session will help instructors identify how they can strengthen students' resilience and help them adapt to change and hardships by integrating these core competencies into their curriculum.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency. Register

Don't stress! We can help. We will provide valuable tips, resources, and best practices to enhance your video production, focusing on producing engaging, effective, and accessible lecture videos from your office or home. Register

Through Recovery Ally workshops, Gamecock Recovery strives to empower students, faculty and staff to make campus more accepting, engaging, and supportive of students in recovery from substance use disorder. Learn to confront myths about substance use disorder, support someone in early recovery, and advocate for a recovery-oriented campus culture.

Using a recovery oriented systems of care model, faculty and staff sessions focus on conveying campus norms in the classroom and building recovery-supportive workplaces.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency.  Register

Everything in academia - and in our lives - requires time. Organization of your time-work-space is a complex psychology to master, and requires determining your values and thinking about your personal vision and mission. How good are you at managing your time?

In this workshop, you will learn how to effectively implement project-forward and backward-looking skills to craft written plans and chart projects that must be managed while balancing responsibilities that are unique to graduate students and academics. Creating your daily 'To-Do' List, setting clear priorities, staying on track and determining your key result areas will allow you to focus and overcome procrastination. By creating blocks of time that are resistant to interruptions, you can batch your tasks, including grading tasks, scholarly reading, studying, remembering more and accomplishing more as you implement helpful techniques that dually serve as an investment in personal development.  Register

How can you create open and transparent assignments to better guide all of your students? In this session, you will learn about the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TiLT) framework for assignment design and how it can increase student success for all of your students, but especially your first-generation students and students from minoritized groups. You will then utilize the purpose, task, criteria model to outline or revise one of your own assignments. Register

An important goal of any mentoring relationship is helping the mentee become independent; yet, defining what an independent mentee knows and can do is often not articulated by the mentor or the mentee. Defining what independence looks like and developing the skills to foster that independence are important to becoming an effective mentor. Defining independence becomes increasingly complex in the context of a larger research team.

This is a required session for the Entering Mentoring certificate of Completion.  Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

Join us for a Mutual Expectations discussion on exploring the topic 'Inclusiveness in the Classroom' in our October session. This session will be a facilitated dialogue amongst participants examining what inclusiveness in the classroom means to them, what barriers may be in place that slow inclusiveness, and how we collectively work together to be more intentional in inclusiveness efforts.

We’ll have a FREE lunch for everyone!  RSVP

Utilizing integrative learning principles, the presenters will share examples of how high impact practice (HIP) characteristics are incorporated across different disciplines and identify classroom assessment techniques (CATs) that can be applied across a variety of academic settings. Participants will have opportunities to share examples of reflection and integrative learning principles in the design of assignments and appropriate assessment methods for their classroom.

This workshop is a required session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.  Register

Join us for the 3rd module of Career Champions. In this session we'll learn about the career competencies employers are looking for within our students and how to incorporate those into our academic lessons, student employment, internships, etc. You'll also know how to help students see these competencies within themselves and how to advocate their talents, abilities, and experiences.  Register

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.

To achieve optimal student learning and integrity in an academic environment, it is essential that instructors understand the importance of maintaining their students' interest and cultivate intellectual autonomy. It is through intellectual autonomy that students can begin to internalize the associated values of integrity and take responsibility over their own learning (Twomey et al., 2009). In the contemporary era of higher education, behaviors connected to cheating and plagiarism have made it a bigger challenge in guiding students to reach the level of intellectual autonomy that instructors would hope for.

Given the new norms and nuances of essay mills and contract cheating, the economics and consumerism related to academic dishonesty continues to expand. In this presentation, attendees will explore how effective teaching and learning strategies will assist in responding to what has become a pedagogical enterprise. Additionally, through these strategies, attendees will improve their teaching and student learning by creating a sense of community and becoming more transparent in their communication with students.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

The South Carolina Honors College is the top ranked public honors college in the nation. The college has achieved this recognition through having one of the most robust honors curriculums in the country and working with talented faculty to offer amazing courses. If you've ever wondered how to offer an honors course, what kinds of honors courses are offered at USC, or what makes for an honors experience, then we want to talk to you!

This presentation will explore these questions by introducing the South Carolina Honors College and the defining characteristics of its students, curriculum, and beyond the classroom opportunities. The session will be a valuable resource for faculty looking to propose and develop an honors course; additionally, it is an opportunity for faculty who have taught honors to learn more about the honors curriculum, unique resources, and how they can hone their approach to honors education. Register

Faculty job postings regularly request a diversity statement, in addition to teaching and research statements. These written essays from job applicants help faculty search committees identify candidates who have the skills, experience, and/or willingness to engage in activities that enhance campus diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

How do you approach writing a diversity statement? What should it say? What can be included - research, teaching, and service experiences and activities, or values, views, and future goals? What are search committees looking for, and what if you haven't experienced any issues personally? This workshop will help guide you in exploring your personal experiences and help you determine what to emphasize and include in your statement. You will learn what aspects of faculty life and academia contribute to an institution's DEI mission, and how best to illustrate your personal commitment to such DEI goals using the various facets of your own experiences.

This is a working webinar, requiring that you do some reflective writing in advance of the workshop, so that the workshop can include individual writing, group discussion, and feedback. Participants will leave with an outline of their statement and guidance to continue crafting it.

You DO have a story to tell. Learn how to write a Diversity Statement that stands out!  Register

Graduate teaching assistants and instructors are defined as much by their character as they are by academic achievements. This workshop aims to empower Carolinians to be responsible teaching assistants and instructors that uphold the core values of our academic community.

What does it mean to be a teaching assistant and an instructor held at the high standard of ethical behavior? In this workshop, we will discuss preconceptions, misconceptions, and proper perceptions and interactions among faculty and teaching assistants. The framework of self-determination theory will be used to help participants explore their motivations and both intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing their behaviors. We will explore ways to encourage student inquiry and inclusion in learning, and ways to articulate the problem space between students and instructor(s) by discussing strategies that foster student connections in what otherwise might feel like a competitive environment. Helpful techniques, such as embedded correction that model correct terms during both in-person or email conversations, and soliciting feedback from both instructors and students, can help each be better understood.  Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

There are more than a million international students in the U.S. contributing about $38 billion to the economy in the last year, thus making international student mobility and education the 6th largest service export of the U.S. As true as those numbers might be, ample research shows that these students find it difficult to acculturate to the U.S. in many lived experiential aspects such as facing basic needs insecurities, and an inability to feel a sense of belonging on campus and the wider community.

This session will look at core facets of the Intersectionality framework (1991) by civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw in addition to other adjoining theories and perspectives while decluttering the monolithic treatment of international students in literature, research, and praxis.

Participants will be challenged to think critically about how they see international students currently and how a more humane reimagination is possible.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence.  Register

One of the most critical elements of the mentor-mentee relationship is having a shared understanding of what the objectives of the relationship are. When challenges arise in the relationship, it is likely because there has been a misunderstanding about what the expected objectives of the relationship are. Additionally, relationships and their expectations change over time as the mentee grows, meaning that frequent and consistent adjustment of the expectations of mentors and mentees is required for mentorship to be successful.

This is an elective session for the Entering Mentoring certificate of Completion.  Register

Improvement science is a dynamic, methodological approach to problem-solving, based on the idea that the performance of some 'system' is a result of its design and operation, not simply a result of individuals' efforts within that system. An improvement science approach can be used to study and improve instructional methods, courses, programs, and processes, among many other contexts. This workshop will introduce participants to the improvement science model and principles, and approaches to improvement will be presented and participants will learn examples of improvement strategies they can begin to use to start to 'get better at getting better' (Bryk et al., 2015).   Register

Join us for a Mutual Expectations discussion on exploring the topic 'Artificial Intelligence (Al) on the College Campus' in our November session. This session will be a facilitated dialogue amongst participants exploring thoughts on what role Al plays on the college campus. How Al may evolve over time and what role it could play in the classroom, out of the classroom, and how those may differ. As this topic continues to grow across society, it should provide thought-provoking conversation participants.

We’ll have a FREE lunch for everyone! RSVP

Are you equipped to provide accessible content to your students? Bring your laptop to gain hands-on experience to strengthen your answer to that question.

This session will provide a brief overview of disabilities, challenges disabilities cause, and types of assistive technologies students may use to access your content. More importantly, this session provides practical guidance for applying accessibility best practices to your documents.

Attend with your laptop containing your existing documents (e.g., syllabus) and with your head containing an open mind with a touch of curiosity. Together we will resolve a few of the most common and most important accessibility issues. Let's be a team to gain a sense of an accessible experience within this inclusive and safe learning space.

Come with an interest in creating accessible content. Leave with a strong sense that applying accessibility best practices opens the path of better experiences for all your students within our shared digital world.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence. Register

Faculty who are transitioning into a new administrative/teaching role are invited to attend this informative session. Presenters Elizabeth Rollins and Jenny Powell will center equitable practices as they discuss specific examples of working within and across university, elementary school, and community spaces supporting the success of prospective, newly admitted, matriculated, and graduating students.  Register

Have you considered trying the flipped learning approach but aren't quite sure where to start? Have you already attempted the flipped learning approach but felt like you didn't quite achieve the results you were hoping for? Or maybe you've heard about the flipped learning approach and would like to learn more about it. If so, this workshop has been designed with you in mind!

During this session, you will work collaboratively with a small group of your peers to discuss flipped learning, address the benefits and challenges of the flipped approach, and study examples of successful, and not so successful, implementations of the flipped classroom. You will discuss the basics of transforming your existing teaching practices and materials into tools that support flipped learning and identify strategies for overcoming the potential challenges of switching to this model.

This workshop will, of course, be delivered in a flipped format, so be prepared to review instructor-provided material in advance and arrive ready to contribute to group discussions. Register

The diversity in USC classrooms is rapidly increasing to include students from a range of countries and linguistic backgrounds. With all of the benefits that come from having a global classroom, there are challenges that are presented by this shift. As students try to succeed in a language that they do not natively speak and in a country where cultural differences can be confusing and overwhelming, these challenges often come to light in the classroom.

This session will equip you with strategies for ensuring that your international students successfully learn the material and meet your expectations in the classroom.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence.  Register

The Virtual Environments Community of Practice is planning ways to integrate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality into teaching and learning environments at UofSC. Meetings are open to faculty, staff and students.

If you are interested in participating in the Virtual Environments CoP, or would like to be on the email list for further information, please email Charles Andy Schumpert at schumpca@mailbox.sc.edu.  RSVP

Are you looking for a teaching method that empowers students, encourages them to think critically, and isn't a lecture? In this presentation, attendees will learn the value of crafting lessons that enable students to co-construct knowledge and and engage with counter-narratives rather then listening to a lecture. After explaining the theory that drives co-construction and counter-narratives, attendees will see a model of how this process was used in our own classrooms with graduate student pre-service teachers. Then, attendees work with the presenters to discuss ways this method could be used in their own teaching.   Register

Come develop a deeper understanding of inclusive excellence and why it is central not only to how we prepare students to lead, but also to how we engage all members of our USC community. Learn about the ways in which the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion seeks to operationalize inclusive excellence, as well as how we intend to use our equity and inclusion strategy to track the University's effectiveness in four primary areas: compositional diversity, achievement, engagement and inclusion.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence.  Register

Join us at the Center for Teaching Excellence for an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) showcase between 1:10pm and 3:10pm. You will have an opportunity to explore the possibilities of VR in learning environments.  Register

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

Teaching fully online courses requires additional considerations than face-to-face teaching. Course design, development, and delivery are essential for providing students with high-quality and accessible courses. This webinar focuses on three pedagogical principles and frameworks for the design, development, and delivery of online courses. Participants will receive 10 tips for successfully teaching online.

This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

Engaging in conflict is challenging whether you are an experienced instructor or new to your role. A likely strategy is to ignore the behavior due to our own discomfort, concern over retaliation or fear that our intervention may cause more harm or disruption. Through case study examples this workshop will explore Gerald Amada's research from Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom and provide participants with tangible strategies to disruptive behavior in a confident and fair manner.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments.  Register

The Virtual Environments Community of Practice is planning ways to integrate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality into teaching and learning environments at UofSC. Meetings are open to faculty, staff and students.

If you are interested in participating in the Virtual Environments CoP, or would like to be on the email list for further information, please email Charles Andy Schumpert at schumpca@mailbox.sc.edu.  RSVP

This workshop is designed to familiarize participants with Blackboard’s Ultra Course View. eLearning Services will demonstrate how instructors can navigate an Ultra course, communicate with students, add content, find and utilize tools available in Blackboard, and grade assignments.  Register

The first half of the Support Zone training focuses on providing context for the necessity of faculty and staff being well-versed in recognizing and responding to students experiencing mental health distress. The facilitator will review definitions, national and local statistics about mental health in college students and discuss how stigma affects help-seeking behaviors. The facilitator will also discuss how COVID-19 has exacerbated the aforementioned issues. This session will also cover crisis support protocol, how to recognize signs of distress, warning signs of suicide, non-suicidal self-injury, and how to respond and intervene to a student of concern.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency.  Register

Do you teach a large subset of sophomore students? Energy is always focused on the incoming first-year and graduating students, but what about the students who are somewhere in between? Sophomores or 'second-year' students are considered an incredibly unique population and participants in this presentation will explore current and relevant research related to working with these students to learn about the 'sophomore slump'. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss support resources and strategies available that are specific to sophomores at the University of South Carolina.

This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning.  Register

The second half of the Support Zone training focuses on participants learning how to refer students of concern experiencing varying levels of distress (mild, moderate and severe), what to do if a student refuses a referral, how to maintain the students' privacy, and how to follow-up with the student. This session includes role-plays and other interactive activities to help participants practice their recently acquired skills. The facilitator will also discuss the how responding to students of concern affects faculty/staff mental health and how to respond accordingly.

This session includes a review of resources specific to faculty/staff needs and tips on dealing with COVID-19 related stressors. Lastly, the facilitator will review campus and community resources to ensure participants have a thorough understanding of what is available to students and when to use each resource.

This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency. Register