The Center for Teaching Excellence welcomes your suggestions for presenters and programming aimed at improving teaching and learning at USC. Please share your thoughts. We’d love to hear your ideas! Submit Professional Development Recommendation
Webinar 
Wednesday, October 1, 1:10pm - 2:00pm - Virtual
The Virtual Environments Community of Practice is planning ways to integrate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality into teaching and learning environments at USC. Meetings are open to faculty, staff and students. Register
Wednesday, October 1, 2:00pm - 3:00pm - Webinar
Panopto is an all-in-one video management platform built into Blackboard Learn. In this session, attendees will learn how to create and manage video learning content in Panopto that can be easily integrated into Blackboard courses. Register
Wednesday, October 1, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - Webinar
How do you conceptualize learning? How do you guide your students toward integrating new knowledge and skills into their existing ideas and abilities? In this session, you will review key principles of cognitive constructivism, social constructivism, and connectivism and strategies to apply them to our teaching to enhance student learning. You will then reflect on how these strategies could affect your students’ learning experience and how you might apply them to your own teaching practices. Register
Thursday, October 2, 11:40am - 12:55pm - Webinar
The responsibilities of all educators typically include grading student work. Yet ensuring that grading is both objective and efficient involves specific strategies and reflection on important considerations in advance, including aspects of which one may not be aware. Educators at any level need to define what their “grading philosophy” is for the course, and use practices, strategies, and techniques best suited for the specifics of the course and the purpose of the assessment itself. Grading should be viewed and valued as a method for providing constructive feedback to students, with feedback types differing depending on the assessment type. How to develop your grading philosophy, incorporate relevant techniques while grading different types of assessment styles, and provide effective feedback will be discussed in this workshop. Register
Thursday, October 2, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - In-Person
Are you equipped to provide accessible content that meets the needs of all your students? Come prepared - with your laptop (if possible) - to gain hands-on experience of applying digital accessibility best practices during this session.
This workshop will provide guidance for applying accessibility practices to your documents appropriately and how to prevent potential barriers people experience due to disabilities. An overview of disabilities and the challenges they cause will be provided including types of assistive technologies (AT) that help alleviate those challenges.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be touched on related to its part in developing accessible content. Integrated automated accessibility checkers of Microsoft and Blackboard platforms will also be covered. These automated tools can identify accessibility issues and provide guidance to resolve them.
Attend with curiosity to help lead toward innovative and inclusive content design strategies. Leave with a strong sense of applying accessibility best practices that opens the path of better experiences for all your students.
Learning Outcome
This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence. Register
Friday, October 3, 12:00pm - 12:50pm - In-Person
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
Friday, October 3, 1:30pm - 3:00pm - In-Person
Join us for an engaging training session focused on integrating generative artificial intelligence into collaborative teaching and learning, led by Meredith Lancaster, Director of Customer Experience at BoodleBox. BoodleBox is an AI platform that allows faculty and students to work together using multiple AI models in shared workspaces.
Participants will:
Whether you're new to BoodleBox or looking to expand its use in your teaching, this session will provide practical, ready-to-apply ideas for the classroom. Register
Monday, October 6, 12:00pm - 1:00pm - Webinar
Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View (UCV) is the newest version of the Blackboard Learning Management System. With new improvements being made monthly to Ultra Course View there are exciting changes which instructors may not have seen. This is a short presentation about the most recent updates that have occurred in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View and will include information on how to stay up to date on future improvements. Register
Monday, October 6, 1:00pm - Webinar
Discover how Study Mode can enhance learning and research. This session will show you how to use AI to break down complex topics, summarize content, and support deeper understanding. Log-In to Webinar
Monday, October 6, 3:00pm -4:30pm - In-Person
The Career Champions training educates and empowers campus faculty and staff on best practices to have career conversations with students. Career Champions Module 1 serves as a foundation, reviewing career development, our roles in a career ecosystem, and resources.
The learning outcomes for Level 1 are as follows:
This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning. Register
Monday, October 6, 3:00pm - 4:00pm - Webinar
This session is designed for course survey compilers to discuss reporting needs for the upcoming cycle in a collaborative group setting. We’ll review available report formats, address common data requests, and provide guidance to ensure you have the tools and information needed to support your departments effectively. Register
Tuesday, October 7, 1:00pm - 2:00pm - Webinar
Discover how to harness Blackboard Ultra’s built-in AI tools to save time, spark creativity, and enhance student engagement. This hands-on workshop will introduce powerful features like the AI Design Assistant, AI Test Generator, and AI-powered Rubric Generator. We’ll provide a live demo and plenty of time for questions, so you can explore how to confidently integrate AI into your own courses. Join us and take the first step toward becoming an AI-savvy educator! Register
Tuesday, October 7, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - Webinar
Enhance your teaching approach with innovative content creation and course design. This webinar offers educators practical insights into using Generative Artificial Intelligence to develop lectures, instructional materials, and course structures tailored to the needs of 21st-century learners. From reimagining traditional content delivery methods to incorporating creativity and interactivity into materials and course frameworks, participants will explore innovative approaches that utilize the power of Generative AI. Discover how Generative AI can enhance engagement, foster deeper understanding, and inspire interest in your students.
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
This is a required session for the Teaching and Learning with Generative Artificial Intelligence digital badge. Register
Wednesday, October 8, 10:50am - 11:40am - Webinar
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
Wednesday, October 8, 12:00pm - 1:00pm - Webinar
Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View (UCV) is the newest version of the Blackboard Learning Management System. With new improvements being made monthly to Ultra Course View there are exciting changes which instructors may not have seen. This is a short presentation about the most recent updates that have occurred in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View and will include information on how to stay up to date on future improvements. Register
Wednesday, October 8, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - In-Person
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) community of practice provides an intentional space for discussion regarding accessibility in teaching and learning at the university. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to join. Register
Monday, October 13, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - Webinar
Fanfiction, although often reserved for extracurricular spaces, allows writers to create new identities, narratives, and meanings by repurposing stories, themes, and characters. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to fanfiction as a meaning-making tool and engage with strategies that encourage learners to take ownership of their learning through storytelling. Leveraging fanfiction in the classroom can encourage students to internalize course information through reflection and increase the relevancy of course concepts to their lived experiences. Register
Tuesday, October 14, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - In-Person
A key goal of mentoring is to help mentees identify and achieve both academic and professional objectives. While learning to conduct disciplinary research is an important academic outcome in research mentoring, there are many other factors that will shape a mentee’s future career. Mentors should intentionally support their mentees in achieving these broader outcomes as well.
This is an elective session for the Entering Mentoring certificate of completion. Register
Wednesday,October 15, 11:00am - 11:50am - Webinar
Accurate captions are essential for creating accessible online courses. In this webinar, you'll learn practical techniques for editing and refining auto-generated captions across popular platforms used at USC, including Panopto, Zoom, and YouTube. Discover how to correct common captioning errors efficiently, follow best practices to ensure ADA compliance, and significantly improve the clarity and engagement of your instructional videos. Register
Wednesday,October 15, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - Webinar
In this second of three webinars about Blackboard analytics, explore opportunities for making just-in-time course improvements and giving students support during the semester. Blackboard provides a number of options for collecting and understanding student data to make just-in-time adjustments to meet students' needs. In this session, participants will become familiar with the types of reports and tools in Blackboard to support student success in addition to how to leverage those reports and tools during the semester. Register
Thursday, October 16, 11:40am - 12:55pm - Webinar
Graduate students must handle a myriad of responsibilities during the span of their graduate studies (e.g., teaching, research, coursework, etc.). Meeting the high expectations of these academic demands is challenging at best, and for many, stressful, overwhelming, and guilt-inducing due to the competing demands of their professional and personal life. How to balance and find time for each of these facets is not a skill that graduate students automatically know! Learning how to realistically define both short-term tasks and long-term goals and how to prioritize are key to beginning to find your balance.
This workshop will help you learn to recognize different levels of stressors in your life by interactively applying the Covey Time Management Matrix and other reflective-thinking tools to your own situation. Advice for managing your workload, prioritizing your responsibilities, and identifying personal traits and time-sinks that may be contributing to this imbalance will be given, and discussion with other participants will be encouraged to help you begin to gain perspective on your graduate school experience. Register
Thursday, October 16, 11:40am - 12:55pm - In-Person
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 is a required session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning. Register
Friday, October 17, 8:00am - 3:30pm - In-Person
The 16th Annual Oktoberbest Symposium celebrates teaching success at USC, actively engages attendees in professional development sessions that enhance innovative teaching practices, and establishes and fosters meaningful connections. The Oktoberbest agenda features engaging sessions, led by your USC colleagues, on innovative approaches to teaching, assessments, course design, and creative student learning opportunities.
Oktoberbest is free to all who teach or support teaching at USC, but is not open to the general public.
The Oktoberbest keynote address will be given by Thomas J. Tobin, Ph.D., Senior Teaching and Learning Developer, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Register
Monday, October 20, 1:10pm - 2:00pm - Webinar
Do you want to learn techniques for involving your learners in your course? In this session, you will discuss strategies for active learning and student engagement that will help advance learning for everyone, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). You will engage with small teaching strategies to design learning activities that can enhance engagement as soon as your next class! Register
Tuesday, October 21, 10:00am - 11:00am - Webinar
The Career Champions program was created to educate and empower campus faculty and staff on best practices to have career conversations with students. Level 2 Provides engaging and enlightening information on how to engage students in conversations about experiential education opportunities that align with their Career goals.
The learning outcomes for Level 2 are as follows:
This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning. Register
Tuesday, October 21, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - Webinar
Engaging students through interactive and dynamic activities is essential for fostering a stimulating learning environment. In this webinar, educators will explore how to leverage Generative Artificial Intelligence to enhance their teaching practices and create impactful activities for 21st-century learners. From designing collaborative projects to incorporating AI-generated prompts and feedback, participants will discover innovative ways to integrate Generative AI into their instructional activities.
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
This is a required session for the Teaching and Learning with Generative Artificial Intelligence digital badge. Register
Wednesday, October 22, 10:00am - 11:15am - Webinar
Even the most seasoned instructors can lose sight of the original spark that brought them to teaching. This session invites participants to pause, revisit their teaching philosophy and name the core values that guide their instructional choices. We will introduce the Educator Reflection Wheel, a practical tool that encourages reflection in seven key areas: Student Engagement and Inclusion, Pedagogical Clarity, Celebration, Environment, Professional Identity, Feedback and Assessment, and Time Management.
Guided activities will move us through three stages. First, a brief free write helps each participant reconnect with the personal and professional purpose that shapes their work. Second, small groups use the Educator Reflection Wheel to map strengths and growth areas. Finally, individuals draft one concrete action step that will bring their values to life in an upcoming course. Participants leave with a refreshed sense of purpose and a simple plan for intentional teaching. Register
Friday, October 22, 10:00am - 2:00pm - In-Person
Get Ready — The USC & Anthology: The Impact Tour is Back!
We're excited to announce that our amazing partners at Anthology are hitting the road and heading back to USC for another incredible campus tour!
Schedule
What's on the Agenda?
We'll be diving into:
Show Off Your Innovation!
Our friends at Anthology want to spotlight the awesome work related to Blackboard happening across each USC campus. Got a cool project, creative
Blackboard use case, or a unique way you're using the AI Design Assistant? We want to hear from you! Share your story here by Wednesday, October 15!
P.S. Did we mention lunch is on us?
Let's celebrate, collaborate, and innovate together. We can't wait to see you on tour!
Registration is Live!
Registration is officially open! Lock in your spot before it's gone - you won't want to miss this!
Thursday, October 23, 1:00pm - 2:30pm - Virtual
The Generative Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice (GenAI CoP) at the University of South Carolina is a collaborative initiative designed to explore and discuss the implications of GenAI in higher education. This community brings together faculty, staff, and graduate students to share insights, strategies, and experiences related to the integration of GenAI across administration, research, teaching, and learning. Register
Tuesday, October 28, 11:45am - 1:00pm - In-Person
Join us for a Mutual Expectations Discussion on exploring the topic “Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the College Campus” in our October session. This discussion will explore what participants think about how AI should be used on campus. When is ChatGPT appropriate and when it is not? What is being used today beyond ChatGPT? Should we have common expectations as a campus community on what and when we will use AI for? Join this fun discussion with fellow students and faculty!
Free lunch is provided and RSVP required! Sponsored by the Carolina Experience, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity
This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Understanding USC Student Populations. Register
Tuesday, October 28, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - Webinar
Assessments just got a major upgrade! This webinar explores how Generative Artificial Intelligence can transform your assessments from rote memorization exercises to engaging experiences that promote deeper learning. Discover how to generate assessments that align with your course learning outcomes to foster creativity, critical thinking, and personalized learning experiences.
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
This is a required session for the Teaching and Learning with Generative Artificial Intelligence digital badge. Register
Thursday, October 30, 10:00am - 11:30am - In-Person
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 for themselves and articulate their talents, abilities, and experiences.
Learning outcomes for Level 3 are as follows:
This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning. Register
Thursday, October 30, 10:05am - 11:20am - In-Person
This session will primarily focus on transfer and sophomore college year experiences,
with some additional emphasis on junior year students. With the recent launch of Carolina
Experience in 2024, a heightened emphasis is placed on continuity across the entirety
of USC student experiences through increased sense of belonging and career readiness.
To help in these endeavors, longitudinal qualitative and quantitative data collected
from the Student Success Center has been instrumental in better understanding these
target populations.
What are the experiences of transfer and sophomore college students? What are the
biggest challenges they face and what do they most look forward to? How does this
align with the national research on these populations? And most importantly- how can
this scholarly literature, theoretical context, and localized data be used to support
the overall USC student experience at USC and in support of engagement, including
experiential learning, and career readiness?
We will go over the assessment findings and what specialized resources are already in place at USC to support these populations, as well as provide recommendations for instructors and course-based activities utilizing evidence-based approaches. Finally, we will wrap up this session with group discussion on suggestions to further support the target populations through the Carolina Experience, including additional ways for campus stakeholders to get involved.
This workshop is a required session for a certificate of completion in Understanding USC Student Populations. Register
Friday, October 31, 9:40am - 10:30am - Webinar
How can online course design foster meaningful interaction and lasting learner engagement? Effective online learning begins with intentional design. This session introduces the HIDOC framework—a practical, eight-part model for creating clear, aligned, and accessible online courses. Participants will explore each component of HIDOC and gain actionable strategies for designing courses that are intuitive to navigate, promote sustained student investment, and simplify course management for instructors. Register
Friday, October 31, 11:45am - 1:10pm - Webinar
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 webinar will help you articulate your teaching philosophy in a concise, effective essay. We will discuss the statement’s purpose, different aspects of your teaching experiences that can be included, and best practices and strategies for composing the statement.
NOTE: This is a working webinar, requiring that you do some reflective writing in advance, so that the webinar itself can include individual writing, group discussion, and feedback. Participants will leave with an outline of their statement, written components, and guidance to continue crafting it. Register
Monday, November 3, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - Webinar
This session focuses on developing modules in Blackboard that are intuitive, accessible, well-organized and in alignment with learning outcomes. Participants will explore how to structure content, build consistency across course themes and select activities that promote active learning and retention. Register
Monday, November 3, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - Webinar
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
Tuesday, November 4, 10:05am - 10:55am - Webinar
This session focuses on evidence-based practices that promote authentic engagement in asynchronous courses. Participants will explore strategies for increasing instructor presence, designing purposeful interactions and delivering feedback that builds trust and fosters learner motivation. Whether you are refining an existing course or preparing a new one, this session offers practical tools to enhance connection participation and student success in fully online settings. Register
Tuesday, November 4, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - In-Person
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
Tuesday, November 4, 2:00pm - 3:00pm - Webinar
In this session you'll learn how to transform your Blackboard Learn Ultra course from ordinary to extraordinary! Discover how best to organize your content to make your course visually engaging and user-friendly and then take it a step further with customization to add some pizazz. Whether you're looking to streamline your course structure, add some creative touches, or both, this session will give you the tools to make your course stand out. Register
Wednesday, November 5, 9:40am - 10:30am - Webinar
Do you have a desire to help your learners become more motivated to do well and persist through challenges? Join us to learn how to leverage motivation and emotion to create positive, engaging learning environments. You will analyze motivational theories and strategies to determine what might be able to best help your learners in your context. Register
Wednesday, November 5, 1:10pm - 2:00pm - Virtual
The Virtual Environments Community of Practice is planning ways to integrate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality into teaching and learning environments at USC. Meetings are open to faculty, staff and students. Register
Thursday, November 6, 10:05am - 11:20am - Webinar
Engaging in conflict is challenging whether you are an experienced instructor or new to your role. A common 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. We will identify what our fears are about classroom disruption and use case study examples to practice strategies to stretch participants' comfort zones. This workshop will also explore Gerald Amada's research from Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom and provide participants with tangible strategies to prevent and respectfully address disruptive behavior.
This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Fostering Proactive Learning Environments. Register
Thursday, November 6, 11:40am - 12:55pm - Webinar
Are your students sometimes mystified by their grades, or perhaps lacking motivation to take ownership of their learning? Have you ever wanted to help your students become more effective learners? Today’s students come to college with widely varying academic skills, unaware of the study skills needed to meet college-level expectations for learning.
Metacognition is the practice of “thinking about thinking”: the awareness and ability of learners to identify their cognitive processes and make changes to their learning behaviors (Lovett, 2008). Promoting metacognition can increase students' understanding of how learning works, teaching students how to understand what caused their successes or failures and direct their own learning (Brownlee, Purdie, & Boulton-Lewis, 2001).
This webinar will go beyond the basics of metacognition and explore how to use metacognitive techniques to help students monitor and regulate their own learning, providing you with concrete strategies and adaptive instructional materials for incorporating into your course. Register
Monday, November 10, 10:00am - 10:50am - Webinar
Zoom is no longer just for meetings! Join us to discover how Zoom can serve as an all-encompassing collaboration tool, offering a multitude of capabilities for both instructional purposes and daily productivity. Register
Monday, November 10, 11:00am - 11:50am - Webinar
Discover practical tips and proven strategies to create professional-quality video lectures that captivate students and enhance online learning. This webinar covers essential techniques for video production—from effective recording methods and equipment selection to engaging presentation styles—helping educators confidently produce impactful instructional videos. Transform your online courses by learning to craft clear, compelling, and accessible video content that resonates with your audience. Register
Monday, November 10, 12:00pm - 1:00pm - Webinar
Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View (UCV) is the newest version of the Blackboard Learning Management System. With new improvements being made monthly to Ultra Course View there are exciting changes which instructors may not have seen. This is a short presentation about the most recent updates that have occurred in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View and will include information on how to stay up to date on future improvements. Register
Tuesday, November 11, 10:00am - 11:15am - Webinar
Discover how Zoom's AI Companion enhances every aspect of the Zoom platform and more. Learn how to tailor Companion's security and limitations to your needs, and see how it can simplify and boost your instructional and daily productivity. Register
Tuesday, November 11, 1:15pm - 2:05pm - Webinar
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
Wednesday, November 12, 10:00am - 11:30am - In-Person
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 for themselves and articulate their talents, abilities, and experiences.
Learning outcomes for Level 3 are as follows:
This workshop is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Integrative and Experiential Learning. Register
Wednesday, November 12, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - Webinar
In the final of three webinars about Blackboard analytics, review your course for the spring based on data available in Blackboard. During this presentation, we will review where to access information in your Blackboard course that you can use while planning for your next offering and provide examples of holistic course revisions you could make. Participants will practice drawing conclusions regarding course changes based on sample data sets and set a plan for reviewing their own courses at the end of the semester. Register
Thursday, November 13, 11:45am - 1:00pm - In-Person
This Mutual Expectations discussion will focus on the benefits and practical steps that faculty/staff can take on developing meaningful professional relationships with one another. How students can approach faculty, why developing professional relationships matters, how this may be different than a mentor relationship and more. Join this fun discussion with fellow students and faculty over a free lunch!
Sponsored by the Carolina Experience and the Center for Teaching Excellence
This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Understanding USC Student Populations. Register
Thursday, November 13, 2:50pm - 4:05pm - In-Person
Are you unsure how to create a learning environment suitable for having challenging conversations? Do you want to encourage and support your students to be more comfortable with discomfort? In this session, we will discuss how your learning space can emphasize personal and academic growth through challenge and discomfort while maintaining respect. You will learn about the concept of brave spaces, reflect on your own biases, comfort levels, and practices around supportive discussion facilitation, and develop actionable strategies to create or maintain brave spaces.
This is an elective session for a certificate of completion in Teaching Towards Inclusive Excellence. Register
Tuesday, November 18, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - In-Person
Through Recovery Ally workshops, Gamecock Recovery strives to empower students, faculty and staff to make campus more supportive of students in recovery from substance use disorder. Learn to: confront myths and stigma about substance use disorder; use and model acts of allyship in everyday interactions; and identify, access, and direct people to recovery resources at USC.
The Recovery Ally workshop is presented in a flipped-classroom model that includes a self-paced video module as prework (estimated 20 minutes) and an in-person session. Please review the recorded content prior to your workshop session.
This is a required session for a certificate of completion in Mental Health and Well-being Competency. Register
Tuesday, November 18, 1:15pm - 2:30pm - Webinar
A teaching philosophy statement provides a concise description of an instructor's perspective on teaching, student learning, methodologies, and implementation, and institutions typically request a teaching philosophy statement from applicants for faculty positions and as part of the tenure and promotion process.
What, then, is your teaching philosophy? What aspects should you reflect upon, write, or include? And how has the writing of this document changed as a result of ChatGPT, both in the document construction as well as your perspective on this fundamental shift in higher education? This will be a working webinar, where we will discuss strategies for composing the statement, incorporating time for theme development, group discussion and feedback, and ChatGPT prompt exploration. Participants will leave with a thematic outline of their statement, a draft of the opening paragraph, and guidelines to continue crafting it.
NOTE: For you and other participants to benefit the most in the time available, this webinar
requires that you do some reflective writing in advance of the session.
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
This is a required session for the Teaching and Learning with Generative Artificial Intelligence digital badge.
Wednesday, November 19, 10:00am - 10:50am - Webinar
Exams are critical assessments—but ensuring academic integrity doesn't have to be stressful! Join us for an engaging webinar designed specifically for USC faculty, where we'll explore multiple proctoring tools available to you, including Respondus LockDown Browser, Respondus Monitor, Instructor Live Proctoring, ProctorU, and CTE’s own in-person Testing Center. You'll leave this session equipped to choose the perfect solution that balances security, flexibility, and ease of use, ensuring exam integrity while supporting student success. Register
Wednesday, November 19, 2:20pm - 3:10pm - In-Person
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) community of practice provides an intentional space for discussion regarding accessibility in teaching and learning at the university. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to join. Register
Thursday, November 20, 10:00am - 11:00am - Webinar
Unleash the full potential of assessments in Blackboard Ultra Course View with this virtual workshop designed for faculty members. Explore how to create engaging and effective assignments and tests that not only evaluate student learning but also enhance their experience. We’ll cover the essentials of setting up assignments and tests and incorporate engaging and creative elements to add that extra flair. By the end of this one-hour session, you will be better equipped to take the assessments in your course to the next level. Register
Thursday, November 20, 1:00pm - 2:30pm - Virtual
The Generative Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice (GenAI CoP) at the University of South Carolina is a collaborative initiative designed to explore and discuss the implications of GenAI in higher education. This community brings together faculty, staff, and graduate students to share insights, strategies, and experiences related to the integration of GenAI across administration, research, teaching, and learning. Register
Thursday, December 4, 1:00pm - 2:30pm - In-Person
The Generative Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice (GenAI CoP) at the University of South Carolina is a collaborative initiative designed to explore and discuss the implications of GenAI in higher education. This community brings together faculty, staff, and graduate students to share insights, strategies, and experiences related to the integration of GenAI across administration, research, teaching, and learning. Register
Wednesday, December 10, 12:00pm - 1:00pm - Webinar
Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View (UCV) is the newest version of the Blackboard Learning Management System. With new improvements being made monthly to Ultra Course View there are exciting changes which instructors may not have seen. This is a short presentation about the most recent updates that have occurred in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View and will include information on how to stay up to date on future improvements. Register
Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View (UCV) is the latest version of Blackboard Learn. If you need assistance with UCV, attend webinars and presentations hosted by CTE Instructional Designers and eLearning Services Consultants.
CTE's professional development sessions empower educators to innovate and inspire. We record many of these workshops and post them on our YouTube Channel Video Archives.