Center for Teaching Excellence

2016 News Archive

"Getting Started Teaching Online" Program Recognizes Fall 2016 Graduates

CTE is pleased to announce the fourth cohort of "Getting Started Teaching Online" graduates. Offered with support from the Office of the Provost each semester since Spring 2015, this intensive eight-week online course introduces faculty members to distributed learning pedagogy, best teaching practices, and USC resources related to online teaching.

Faculty Receive Global Learning Grants

It's well established that studying abroad can add a valuable global dimension to students' college experience. Each year, CTE partners with the Study Abroad Office to support faculty who wish to develop innovative new study abroad courses and programs through its Faculty Global Learning grants. We are pleased to announce this year's awardees: Alicia Walker, Associate Professor in the School of Music, and John Grady, Associate Professor of Sport Management in the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management.

Teaching After the 2016 Election: Resources for Faculty

A number of faculty are concerned about classroom issues that may arise in the wake of the recent election. Whether you are concerned about addressing difficult topics, managing strong emotions that have emerged in response to the election results or assisting individual students—click here to find some resources that you may find useful.

Interactive Theatre Explores Diversity and Inclusivity in the Classroom

Peter Duffy, Department of Theatre and Dance, and Rhonda Jeffries, College of Education are collaborating with the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement to develop a series of interactive theatre workshops on addressing issues of diversity, inclusivity, and equity in the classroom.

Counting Cars to Win Best In Class

When Chandini Sankaran applied for a Teaching Innovation Grant for Integrative Learning she didn't realize that she'd become the recipient of an Economics Educators' Best in Class award. After completing the grant project, Sankaran submitted it for the Economic Educators Best in Class Award, a national award for innovative teaching methods. Sankaran was thrilled to win the award for second place.

Frass Receives Distance Education Support Service Award

CTE Senior Instructional Designer Lydia Frass has been named the recipient of the 2016 Excellence in Support Service Award by the Association of Distance Education (ADEIL) and Independent Learning. This national award recognizes one individual each year who has a record of outstanding contributions to online course development and service to faculty that have positively affected student learning at his or her institution.

Digital Humanities Award Winners Transform Class Assignments

Saskia Coenen Snyder and Shelley AJ Jones, winners of Digital Humanities Course Development Stipends for 2016-2017, both saw the stipend as an opportunity to enhance course assignments and underscore learning objectives.

"Faculty Focus" Features Janet Hudson's "Prior Knowledge as an Unexpected Obstacle to Learning"

Janet Hudson, CTE's Faculty Associate Director for Innovative Teaching, has given presentations about how a student's prior knowledge can interfere with learning. She provides additional insights and useful information in an article in the July 27, 2016 "Faculty Focus" website. Prior knowledge is essential for learning because it helps us make sense of new ideas and information. But when that prior knowledge is incomplete, confused or flawed, it can create barriers to learning

Inaugural New Faculty Academy Class Recognized

Seventeen new faculty members have been recognized for completing the University's inaugural New Faculty Academy (NFA). The Office of the Provost and the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) designed this year-long series of professional development, networking and mentoring workshops to help first-year faculty launch their careers at USC on a positive, productive trajectory.

Getting Ready to Teach Online Spring 2016 Graduates

Offered with support of the Office of the Provost, the goal of the "Getting Started Teaching Online at USC" short course is to support and develop a community of faculty who have an interest in developing and teaching high-quality distributed learning courses. On April 19th, six faculty members successfully completed the third cohort of the course, expanding the pool of faculty who feel prepared to effectively teach online courses at the university.

Provost's Distributed Learning Course Development Grants Awarded

The Center for Teaching Excellence, with support from the Office of the Provost, funds grants of up to $7,500 for the development of exemplary Distributed Learning (DL) courses that enhance the overall quality, scope, and reach of teaching and learning at the University of South Carolina. For Spring 2016, grants were awarded to Associate Professor Sharon Dewitte, Assistant Professor Kelly Lynn Mulvey and Assistant Professor Greg Springer.

The Unanticipated Obstacle to Learning

You'd think that what students already know would provide a foundation for additional learning. But sometimes, this prior knowledge can turn out to be a barrier--and their professor may not even know it. This unanticipated obstacle to learning was the subject of a presentation that Janet Hudson, Faculty Associate Director for Innovative Teaching at the Center for Teaching Excellence, explored in a workshop at Winthrop University's Conference on Teaching and Learning on February 6, 2016.

Flipped and Global Learning Grant Awards Announced

In partnership with other campus units, each year the Center for Teaching Excellence offers teaching excellence and innovation grants designed to provide resources and support for faculty who are interested in exploring new and cutting-edge approaches in their teaching. During the fall of 2015, CTE and its sponsorship partners awarded grants in two new and exciting areas, global learning and flipped course development.

Garnet Apple Award

Do you have a colleague who is an exceptionally creative and innovative teacher? Do you know someone who designs innovative courses or has developed successful new pedagogies or classroom strategies? Consider nominating him or her for the Garnet Apple Award, a new university-wide award sponsored by the Office of the Provost designed to recognize USC's most innovative teachers.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.