Tips and hints on elevating student engagement in the classroom. In this session participants will actively participate in discussion and observe student engagement examples they can implement within their classroom.

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

Why do you have a syllabus? Do your students even read the syllabus? In this session, you will discuss purposes for the syllabus and how you can use it to convey your clear and concise course design, as well as some strategies to actively engage your students in the syllabus. Using the Transparency In Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework, you will revise your grading and assignments section to guide your students from day one! Please have access to a digital or paper copy of your syllabus in the session.  Register

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

How do you approach writing a diversity statement? What should it say and what are search committees looking for? What can be included research, teaching, and service activities, or rather values, views and future goals? Or both? What if you feel you haven’t experienced any DEIJ situations personally? This workshop will 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 contribute to an institution’s DEIJ mission, and how best to illustrate your personal commitment to DEIJ goals using facets of your own experiences.

This is a working webinar that requires you do some reflective writing in advance of the workshop. You DO have a story to tell. Learn how to write a diversity statement that stands out!  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  Register

Determining whether mentees understand core concepts about the research they are doing is critical to a productive mentoring relationship, but it is surprisingly difficult to do. Developing strategies to assess how well mentees understand the purpose of their research, the principles underpinning their research and experimental techniques, and the context of their work is an important part of becoming an effective mentor. Moreover, it is important for mentors to be able to identify causes for confusion among mentees and strategies to address misunderstandings.

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

This webinar covers how to Deliver your online course for maximum impact. Join us to learn how to build rapport with students, foster a community of learners and provide meaningful feedback. The session will end with tips to consider to facilitate an engaging and successful online course.  Register

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 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 semail Charles Andy Schumpert at schumpca@mailbox.sc.edu.   Register

The 2023 Focus on First Generation Symposium provides an opportunity for faculty to explore how to cultivate academic success, and foster well-being and sense of belonging among USC’s first-generation students.

The keynote speaker for the symposium is Dr. Terry Vaughan III, Vice President of Research at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education located in Washington, DC.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, TRIO Programs and University Libraries.  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

In this panel session, we will explore the ways in which inclusive student communities can be fostered through integrative and experiential learning. Engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection helps them connect knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world situations. All students should be given opportunities to have these meaningful experiences. How can we do that? When creating student experiences within and beyond the classroom, what must be considered to ensure the experiences are accommodating, accessible, and inclusive? What are the potential barriers to student participation and how do we overcome them? How can we structure them so that all students in a class, department, or program feel like they can participate in that experience.

The panelists will share examples of how they support their students in experiential learning to make it more inclusive. We will view this community-building through two lenses: (1) shaping experiences that are accessible and inclusive for all students, and (2) creating experiences that focus on issues of accessibility and inclusivity.

This 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

Sound art encourages visitors to experience their space with specific sound resources in a creative way. In other words, with specific sound resources, students will be able to redesign their everyday space as an interactive environment. Based on the sound art practice, MART581E will culminate in a final project, an immersive soundscape with VR technology.

Using a resources from a VE grant, students were provided with a VR development environment. During the pandemic, students made virtual soundscape projects with the professional video game development tool, Unity Editor. They created 2D RPG (Role-Playing Game() soundscape projects, which allow visitors to experience a unique soundspace as an artistic video game. With Oculus Quest2, Gopro Max, and Zoom H3-VR, the 2D soundscape project was developed into an immersive 3D soundscape project. Based on the concepts from the individual 2D soundscape projects, students created their own 3D VR soundscape projects. They learned about how to design 3D virtual soundscape projects, which provide users with a new method to understand a town, a city, and a country with specific sound resources. Learning virtual reality technology will contribute to enhancing their new media art/design skills for their future careers.  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 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

This presentation will discuss the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) , how students access and utilize services and accommodations, and how the SDRC works to support faculty, staff, and students. Examples of accommodations and services will be provided in regard to visible and invisible disabilities, permanent and temporary conditions, and the individualized impact of these conditions among students. Additionally, it will also review the transition of students with disabilities to higher education and the differences in student expectations and student responsibilities in college.

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

Don’t stress! We can help. We will cover best practices for producing lecture videos from your office or home that are both engaging and accessible. We will include tips and resources for making your video content accessible and also provide additional resources available to you here at USC.  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.

Presentation Learning Outcome(s)

• Participants will understand how body posture affects presence
• Participants will learn exercises that promote vocal and physical ease
• Participants will know how to increase their vocal dynamics  Register

Even in classes that discuss inequality and seek to center antiracism, the struggles outside our front door seem distant to some students, while others feel frustrated with pedagogy that feels disconnected from their lived experience. Grounded pedagogy seeks to provide local context to wider struggles and bridge the gap between students with disparate experiences. Grounded pedagogy involves three components: it is located in the university’s built environment, it is supported with data, and it links past and present.

You can use grounded pedagogy in the context of a law clinic that serves children charged in Family Court in Columbia, though it could be applied in any course that engages with issues of inequality and seeks to broaden students’ understanding of social justice. Grounded pedagogy guides students to understand the social context of the Columbia community without pathologizing it, which often occurs when students seek to understand clients and their cultures untethered from specificity and historical perspectives.

This context is particularly important for students who resist notions of systemic racism or oppression and in political environments that currently want to curtail discussion of those issues. In this presentation, the facilitator will draw on their experiences as a clinical law professor to demonstrate how a richer understanding of the local context of clients served can help students think beyond silos and better understand wider struggles from justice.

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

Online courses are becoming increasingly popular at USC. As we move toward offering more online courses, students with disabilities may get left behind. Online course accessibility is important as we extend our reach and course offerings to a variety of students near and far. Join this presentation to discuss tips for creating accessible course content. After attending the presentation, you will be able to identify and utilize accessibility techniques and strategies in your online courses.

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

In partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences Theme Semester, the CTE is offering a series of improvisational theatre workshops for 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. These sessions are drop-in sessions meaning that you can attend all three or just attend one or two. Discover more about improvisation techniques and how they may impact your instruction. In the spirit of the Theme Semester, come and PLAY with us.   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

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

ChatGPT is controversial. Some schools have outright banned the use of ChatGPT, and many instructors have serious concerns about how students’ use of ChatGPT may negatively impact learning. In contrast, other instructors have actively embraced ChatGPT, incorporating ChatGPT into their courses, and – in some cases – building courses around ChatGPT and related applications.

This presentation will outline when ChatGPT may be useful, and when ChatGPT may not be useful. In cases wherein ChatGPT may be useful, how instructors may consider incorporating ChatGPT into their course offerings will be discussed. In cases wherein ChatGPT may not be useful, how instructors may consider modifying their courses in ways to minimize any negative impact of ChatGPT will be discussed.  Register

Ever wonder what students are truly learning through their research experience? Want to help guide them in that process of self-reflection? Undergraduate research is a well-established high-impact educational practice, and the more that students reflect on the experience, the more impactful it will be.

In this roundtable session, we will focus on how research advisors can support student reflection at appropriate and meaningful points in their students' experience. It will introduce the three domains of learning and their application to student reflection at each stage of the Seven Ps of Research. Using these tools, participants will reflect-in-action to develop tangible ideas for promoting a unique and personalized learning experience for each student.

This is an elective 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

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

During this webinar, you will apply practical strategies to redesign components of your course using the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for course content, activities, and assessments. UDL is a research-based framework that instructors can use to promote inclusivity in course design to improve learning experiences for all students. We will discuss UDL and how you can apply the principle of Representation to course content, the principle of Engagement to course activities, and the principle of Action and Expression to course assessments. Please come to the webinar prepared to discuss your current course content, activities, and assessments.

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

In partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences Theme Semester, the CTE is offering a series of improvisational theatre workshops for 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. These sessions are drop-in sessions meaning that you can attend all three or just attend one or two. Discover more about improvisation techniques and how they may impact your instruction. In the spirit of the Theme Semester, come and PLAY with us.   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 workshop is a required session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments. Register

Reflecting upon your mentoring relationships is a vital part of becoming a more effective mentor. This is especially important immediately following a mentor-mentee training sequence like Entering Mentoring as it allows you to consider how to implement changes in your mentoring practice based on the training you have received. The ability and practice of reflecting on your mentoring at regular intervals is strongly encouraged.

This workshop is a requirement for the Entering Mentoring certificate of Completion.  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 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 semail Charles Andy Schumpert at schumpca@mailbox.sc.edu.   Register