Join us to hear from faculty and staff from UofSC who have incorporated Virtual Environments technologies into the classroom. Learn how they are incorporating 360o video, augmented reality, and virtual reality into class assignments and demonstrations. Each of the panelists are recipients of CTE Virtual Environments grants and will discuss how they have have used their awards to invest in the technology and other resources to support their VE/VR projects in the classroom. They'll briefly discuss their projects; student engagement and learning outcomes; and lessons learned.Following the panel discussion, CTE's virtual reality graduate students will conduct hands-on demonstrations of the Oculus Quest and HTC VivePro immersive virtual realty technologies.  They can help you brainstorm how you could add this powerful learning tool into your classes and can help you find apps to engage your students in your discipline.

For a full day of VR activities, CTE is hosting the Virtual Environments Interest Group, which you are invited to attend from 12 - 1 pm.   RSVP

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of experiential learning for students – how it increases student satisfaction and success, and helps them put complex concepts in a real-world context and deepens understanding. You may also be aware that UofSC promotes experiential learning opportunities through engagement in community service, peer leadership, research, study abroad, and professional engagement such as internships. But how might that translate into an online course?

This special workshop explores how faculty can incorporate meaningful experiential learning activities into online courses to provide rich learning opportunities for students. Whether you’re new to online learning or a seasoned pro, join us as we share ideas and best practices in making the most of online learning!

This workshop counts as an elective toward the Integrative and Experiential Learning certificate.   Register

This workshop is a thorough overview of Blackboard's capabilities. Learn how to log-in, add course content, create announcements and send email. Explore online course design, the discussion board, see how to set up groups and use the Grade Center. Workshop participants can bring their computer or tablet to gain first-hand experience during the workshop.  Register

This session will provide an overview of best practices for creating online course recordings. The presenters will first discuss online lecture recording options on campus, including the Office of Distributed Learning’s course production studios that are available to faculty and instructors. Next, they will present best practices to create an effective and engaging video. Then, the presenters will direct participants to and demonstrate the resources available for creating transcriptions and closed captioning to ensure the content is accessible to all students.  Register

Are you interested in teaching online courses? In this workshop, participants will learn about the design, development, and delivery of online courses. As we walk through the 3Ds: Design, Development, and Delivery, participants will be introduced to best practices for online teaching in preparation for modifying a current face-to-face course for online delivery or creating a new online course.

Participants will also learn about technology and instructional design support available to all who teach at UofSC. Please bring a copy of your face-to-face syllabus and schedule along with a laptop for hands-on activities. If you are creating a new online course, please bring whatever you have for the course.

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

The Educational Technology Showcase is an exciting forum spotlighting the latest in higher education technology used for teaching and learning. UofSC faculty and other experts from around the southeast give presentations on how they are creatively using educational technology in and beyond their classrooms to improve student learning.

On Friday, February 21, 2020 at the Russell House, you'll have the opportunity to visit with industry partners who provide and support UofSC’s instructional technologies, hear about the latest technologies in the field from sponsors and participate in hands-on demonstrations throughout the day.

We invite you to come and network with others interested in exploring educational technologies. There are no registration fees, and continental breakfast and lunch are included.  Register

The Grade Center is more than just a way to record students' grades. It is a dynamic and interactive tool, allowing instructors to record data, calculate grades and monitor student progress. In the Grade Center, instructors can provide and manage students' grades for a variety of assessments, including assignments, tests, discussion board posts, journals, blogs, and wikis. Faculty can also create grade columns for any activities or requirements that require grading but do not require submission through Blackboard, such as special projects, presentation, participation or attendance. An instructional design expert from CTE will also be on hand to tie in the pedagogy behind grading in Blackboard.  Register

This session will provide an overview of the test proctoring services offered by the Office of Distributed Learning, including the online test proctoring service provided by ProctorU. Participants will learn the advantages of and how to use ProctorU while a ProctorU representative provides a demonstration of the service.

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

Building community in an online course is no small feat. Doing so in a 100 percent asynchronous format is even more challenging. Come develop a deeper understanding of the importance of social presence in creating successful online learning experiences and student retention. In this session participants will discuss practical strategies and tools for building online community with and among students. Some of these strategies include creating safe spaces for engagement, applying content with student engagement in mind, leveraging reflective and interactive opportunities, and providing critical and growth-oriented feedback.  Register

In a world where updates to apps, software, and hardware are changing constantly, how do we decide when we actually need a new piece of technology? Are we incorporating technology just for the sake of using it, or is it being used to assist and meet our needs? This workshop will discuss some methods and steps that can be used to select what technology best fit your needs.

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

As more and more courses are offered online, how can we create and maintain an environment in which online students feel cared for and cared about? What faculty behaviors convey caring to students taking online courses? After an extensive literature review, we surveyed College of Nursing graduate students and followed up with focus groups.

In this workshop, we will discuss the top 10 faculty caring behaviors identified by our students and provide suggestions for their implementation in online courses. Although our inquiry was made within the context of online nursing graduate education, we feel that the findings will apply to online teaching and learning in other disciplines and educational settings as caring is a basic human value and need.

We hope that this workshop will be an opportunity for sharing of caring teaching strategies, and we look forward to learning from our colleagues across the University.  Register

Discussion boards are still a deterrent and annoyance to many faculty. The concerns - too many posts to grade or 'crickets' - no on is posting at all! And you've spent so much time crafting the right questions and posting early. Sound familiar?

In Teaching Students to Lead and Learn Online Discussions  we'll talk about working with your students to both contribute questions and run the discussion board each week. We'll discuss using small teams to large groups (dependent upon enrollment) and conclude with tools to begin. A Q&A session will follow.  Register

This drop-in demo will provide you with a basic introduction to virtual reality (VR). You’ll have an opportunity experience VR apps with the HTC Vive and Oculus Quest VR headsets. Come learn how VR can be implemented in your course!   RSVP

Research literature on the effectiveness of discussion boards on engagement specify that responsibility lies with instructors to create atmospheres that support, encourage, and foster high quality discussions in online courses. Students report high levels of satisfaction with their online courses when they are socially active and participate in online discussion boards. This workshop will focus on methods, strategies, and tools that can be used in online courses to enhance engagement and participation.   Register

The presentation will address the educational applications of virtual reality and 360° videos and how they can be an effective tool to increase engagement, which several studies have shown is considered an important predictor of student achievement. The presenters will begin by describing how they are working to assist interested faculty to select or create virtual reality experiences and 360° video for their courses. They will also provide examples of ways in which to implement virtual reality and 360° videos into courses to increase learner engagement with course content as well as share existing resources.

The presentation will end with a demonstration of a 360° video and participants will also have some time to use the Oculus Quest and experience the apps discussed. Participants will leave the presentation with a better understanding of how to incorporate virtual reality and 360 videos in their courses, a list of resources for existing resources (virtual reality apps and 360° videos) appropriate for use in higher education courses, and the presenters’ contact information should they need assistance with incorporating these technologies into their courses.

Please note that you do not have to have any experience using virtual reality or 360° videos to attend this session. In addition, CTE has both 360° video cameras and virtual reality equipment available for faculty to borrow.  Register 

In this workshop, participants will learn how to add content and use Blackboard for assessments and assignments. Join us and learn how to utilize these useful features and tailor them to the way you teach. An instructional design expert with CTE will also be on hand to share wisdom about the pedagogy behind the technology.  Register

Learn about the collaboration tools available through Blackboard. In addition to encouraging class communication and collaboration, these tools can allow students to share information in creative ways. Workshop participants can bring their computer or tablet to gain first-hand experience during the workshop.  Register

Planning on converting your face-to-face course to either an online or blended format? Perhaps you’re responsible for reviewing proposals for your department or college/school through the change in delivery format approval process? Are you a little fuzzy on the whole process??? Mystery solved! This webinar will provide you with an insider’s view on online course approval the process, and give you an update on the recently-streamlined checklist that the Faculty Senate’s Subcommittee on Instructional Development (InDev) uses to review and approve courses for online delivery.

Whether you’re new to online learning or a seasoned pro, join us as we share ideas and best practices in making the most of online learning!.  Register