What is the ACUE Learning Lab? USC Upstate’s year-long partnership with the ACUE Learning Lab provides faculty with access to 11 evidence-based Quick Study Courses, offering best-practice guidance to enhance student success and engagement.
What are Quick Study Courses? Quick Study Courses are comprised of short, effective videos and implementation guides collaboratively developed with subject-matter experts. Once faculty have engaged with the content, they are prompted to complete a short reflection.
How long does it take to complete a Quick Study Course? The courses are self-paced, and can be completed in 1-2 hours.
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.
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.
Beginning with Fall 2024, new courses in the University of South Carolina Learning Management System (LMS) will be created in Blackboard Learn Ultra Course View. Based on a comparison of student activity in Ultra v. Original courses, this change has the potential to improve student engagement, increase student activity, and lead to greater student success.
The infographic below shows differences between student activity in Ultra and Original courses in Fall 2023. Significantly more students in Ultra courses spend more active hours (21 or more) in courses, turn in more course submissions, and interact with course materials than their peers in Original courses.
When it comes to students who never submit any work (tests, assignments, quizzes, or discussion posts), only 2.3% of students in Ultra courses had never submitted any work to the course, while 27.9% of students in Original courses had never submitted any work in the course. It is important to note that some face-to-face classes may not require students to turn in work through the LMS, but this alone would not account for an order of magnitude difference in student submission rates.
Already, 27.5% of all Spring 2024 online and hybrid Blackboard courses at 20% of all USC Upstate courses overall are being delivered in Blackboard Learn Ultra. The evidence from student activity and performance data suggests that faculty efforts to make this transition are likely to have a positive impact on student learning outcomes in the future.
