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Center for Teaching Excellence

2021 News Archive

Syllabus Development Made Easy

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression," British writer Andrew Grant said. That same mantra should be followed when revamping or developing your syllabus as this is the first document that your students interact with. The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) has numerous resources available to ensure our instructors have everything they need to create a strong syllabus.

The Power of Adaptation: Finding Light in Dark Times

With face-to-face interaction strongly discouraged, how would one go about spreading the joy of music? This is a challenge J. Daniel Jenkins, associate professor of music theory, had to address swiftly. In the fall of 2020, Jenkins taught online for the first time in a graduate course called "Public Music Theory." The main purpose of the course was to engage the public with music theoretical knowledge. The online structure of the class created a barrier to public and student engagement. While teaching online can cause different problems to arise, Jenkins advises educators to have patience and flexibility. While being thrown into online teaching can be a stressful situation, finding ways to keep your students motivated and engaged is rewarding.

Maintaining a High Quality of Learning when Transitioning to Online Teaching

Abhijit Guha is an associate professor of Marketing in the Darla Moore School of Business. He teaches a large MKTG 351 course (300-400 students). Abhijit took the challenge of teaching virtually during the pandemic head-on and thrived.

Engaging and Connecting with Students in a Virtual Environment

Tina Marie Devlin is an adjunct faculty member in the Arnold School of Public Health. Tina implemented many strategies during the pandemic to engage students. Her learning modules included Blackboard Collaborate Ultra lectures, short videos, journal articles, discussion board assignments, a midterm exam and a virtual group project.

RTPforME: Enhancing Professional Development and Teaching Opportunities for Medical Educators

In response to an increasing need for faculty in the medical schools to network and engage in reflective teaching practices, CTE developed the Reflective Teaching Practices for Medical Educators (RTPforME) program. In a cohort model, RTPforME consists of live, interactive webinars, asynchronous modules, one-on-one consultations with an instructional designer, and a final teaching project. Participants are provided with a Cohort Leader, an experienced instructional designer who coaches them through the program.

Carolina Online Learning & Teaching (COLT) Program Prepares Faculty to Teach Exemplary Online, Blended or Hybrid Courses

The goals of this program are to prepare faculty to teach exemplary online, blended or hybrid courses and to build their capacity in the areas of pedagogy, course design, course development, distributed delivery, and online course administration. By providing a self-paced series of micro-courses with a capstone project in a cohort model, the program is designed to maximize flexibility for participants.

Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Curriculum Grants Winners

Ten faculty members have been awarded Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Curriculum Grants to develop new courses that focus on historically marginalized populations, are intersectional, and/or expand curricular capacity for inclusive excellence.

Intentionally Designing, Developing, and Delivering Online Courses

All told, the rapid change of courses to different teaching and learning formats during COVID-19 created challenges across the education landscape. This article explores three pedagogical principles and frameworks for the design, development, and delivery of online courses.

The Unmatched Resilience of First-Generation Students

The University of South Carolina rallies behind its First-Generation students and supports various initiatives to ensure they excel not only in their academics, but in their personal and professional lives as well. Despite the many obstacles that present themselves, First Generation Students remain resilient in the face of the storm.

Prioritizing Student Success in a New Territory

Lisa Rosof has made tremendous progress in designing engaging online courses. Today, Rosof has the knowledge and skills to start from scratch and design her own online courses. Her tenacity and determination, combined with her dedication to her students, have made all the difference in the world.

Faculty Honored with 2021 Garnet Apple Innovative Teaching Award

The Garnet Apple Award for Teaching Innovation honors the University of South Carolina's most exceptional faculty who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to best teaching practices and an ongoing record of developing innovative strategies to enhance student learning in their courses. Six recipients received this year's award and are to be commended for their accomplishments.

Forming a Clear Path to Success

For Summer 2020, Anne Gulick, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, planned a fully asynchronous online version of her cross-listed course Women Writers (ENGL 437/WGST 437/ ENGL 743). This summer course is a great example of innovation and creativity in translating the learning experience that her students usually had in person to an online, asynchronous, accelerated learning environment.

Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Grant: Fostering a Better Carolina

In support of the development of innovative courses that explore issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, are community-engaged, and that are rooted in culturally responsive pedagogy and equity-mindedness, the Center for Teaching Excellence is offering Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Grants for the development of new courses that focus on historically marginalized populations, are intersectional, and/or expand curricular capacity for inclusive excellence.

Fostering Connections in Online Teaching

Jacob Rivers taught in a 100% asynchronous instructional method for the first time. Using the resources at the Center for Teaching Excellence and support from CTE Instructional Designer, Gloria Washington, he designed, developed, and taught ENGL 101. When Washington first met with Rivers in a consultation for transitioning his ENGL 101 face-to-face course to a fully online format, he was hesitant about teaching online. Rivers enjoyed teaching face-to-face and felt he might lose his special connection with his students. Rivers and Washington met at least once a week through the entire design, development, and delivery process. With the design and development of ENGL 101, Rivers made sure that his course was as engaging and rigorous as his face-to-face version of the same course.

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