The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SoTL (pronounced “sō-tul”), is an area of research dedicated to documenting, exploring, and sharing what’s effective in our classrooms. And by effective, I mean the work we do to improve our teaching and to improve student learning. Let’s say, for example, you went to a conference during spring semester and attended a session that was equally devoted to content and pedagogy. Feeling inspired, you decided to try out some of the strategies, assessments, or content delivery methods you heard about. Teaching two sections of the same course this fall, you decide to use the new methods in one section and continue doing what you’ve always done in the other section with the goal of comparing student persistence or academic success. Making a shift like this in your teaching, documenting what happens, and sharing it with the rest of us is the exact kind of work that comprises SoTL.
Continue reading “Kickstart Your Writing Agenda with SoTL”
Faculty Awards 2023-2024
The TIP Blog is excited to kick off the 2024-2025 academic year celebrating the outstanding achievements of our faculty members who have recently been honored with excellence in teaching, research, and service awards. These educators have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to student success, innovative teaching methods, and passion for their subjects. Join us in congratulating them on their well-deserved recognitions. Please also join us on Wednesday, August 28th from 12:45-1:45PM in Admin 202 for a lunch (provided) and learn panel to hear more about practical insights on planning, designing, and delivering course content that have proven highly effective in their classrooms.
Continue reading “Faculty Awards 2023-2024”
Navigating the Future of Learning with Gen AI
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 are likely to guide your AI Use policies in your classrooms. Here’s how to communicate your expectations clearly to your students.
Continue reading “Navigating the Future of Learning with Gen AI”
Responding to Ally Accessibility Scores in Your Courses
The USC Upstate Accessibility Commitment aims to ensure students, faculty, and staff have access to all spaces and materials where learning takes place. Luckily, Blackboard Ultra has made faculty’s role in fulling this commitment easier than ever. The university-adopted quality assurance program holds all courses to a high standard of accessibility, including expectations that all documents use heading style formats, color contrast, and accessible tables; that videos have accurate closed captions; and that audio files or recordings have transcripts to ensure barrier-free learning opportunities for all students. It may sound like a lot of work to manage and create accessible content, but all of our content tools, from Adobe to Word to Blackboard Ultra, have embedded checks and remedies to help us achieve our accessibility goals. Let’s get started!
Continue reading “Responding to Ally Accessibility Scores in Your Courses”Summer CV Refresh
As you’re basking in the summer sun or working on your summer teaching or research, make time to update your CV and accompanying materials. The CV is often a summary or a snapshot of all your academic achievements and in the life of a faculty member, a lot can change in a year. If you’re in the first part of your career, your CV might focus on your doctoral research, any publications or submitted scholarly work, courses you taught as a TA or adjunct before joining the faculty, conferences you’ve attended, and service you’ve completed.
Continue reading “Summer CV Refresh”Getting the Most from Your Learning Evaluation Survey Data
As the semester closes out and we move into summer, I like to set aside some time to wade into the student learning evaluations for my classes. Despite the efforts to make student learning meaningful and enduring each semester, I still find myself filled with a certain familiar sense of angst as I click the reports and dig in. I wonder if they got what they needed from my courses, if I could have done more or taught differently, or if they had big moments of discovery and affirmation.
Continue reading “Getting the Most from Your Learning Evaluation Survey Data”