As Gen AI (GAI) tools proliferated across the globe during the last few semesters, did you find yourself panicked, excited, or feeling a bit of both? Were you overwhelmed by the implications for academic integrity or overcome by a sense of wonder at the boundless potential to innovate our teaching, learning, and research? Your reactions … Continue reading Navigating the Future of Learning with Gen AI
What Students Want
At the start of each semester, CAIFS hosts a very short and optional Blackboard Ultra Quick Start course for incoming students. The goal of the course is to invite students to explore the LMS and try out the discussion board, assignment submission, and Yuja video quiz so they have some level of familiarity and comfort with the learning environment before classes begin. The discussion board prompts students to discuss how comfortable they are … Continue reading What Students Want
AI Spark Tips: From Curiosity to Confidence: Improving Assignment Instructions with the OLC Course Review Assistant GPT
If you’re curious about ChatGPT.Edu but haven’t quite figured out how it fits into your teaching, you’re not alone. AI suggestions for course materials can fall flat when using a generic AI, but you may be surprised by what you find when you use a customized GPT designed by instructors for instructors. The Online Learning … Continue reading AI Spark Tips: From Curiosity to Confidence: Improving Assignment Instructions with the OLC Course Review Assistant GPT
AI Spark Tips: When Students Ask at 2 a.m.
How Blackboard's AVA Supports Learning Without Replacing You We've all done it. We know the answer is in the user guide or instruction manual, but we don't want to skim the whole document. Students feel the same way about the course syllabus. They know the answer is in the syllabus, but they don't know where … Continue reading AI Spark Tips: When Students Ask at 2 a.m.
5 Practices for Winter Well-Being
And just like that, Fall 2025 is drawing to a close. Over the past semester, you’ve published articles, presented at national and international conferences, completed—or begun—the ACUE Effective Teaching Certification, experimented with GenAI, made your courses more accessible, and shared your ideas and expertise with students and colleagues—all helping to make USC Upstate a more … Continue reading 5 Practices for Winter Well-Being
Blackboard Day 2026: Accessible Learning
Join us January 7, 2026 for our 7th Annual Blackboard Day in the Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center, Room 310, by accessing Zoom in the CAIFS PD Course, or by using the Zoom Link! Register Now 9 am to 9:45 am Welcome and Blackboard Learn Ultra Updates Join the Blackboard Support Team to learn … Continue reading Blackboard Day 2026: Accessible Learning
AI Spark Tips: Where AI and Learning Science Meet
In her most recent newsletter, "From Crutch to Coach?" Dr. Philippa Hardman, a scholar at the University of Cambridge, asks, does generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) "actually make us more capable, or just faster at outsourcing our thinking?" As we race to keep pace with AI-driven change, it can be hard to keep up with the … Continue reading AI Spark Tips: Where AI and Learning Science Meet