Peer Evaluations Can Lead to Teaching Excellence

Peer teaching evaluations can make even exceptional educators feel anxious or skeptical. But they don’t have to. As long as teaching and learning have worked together to create dynamic classroom environments, the educator and the peer observer have benefitted from this formative collaboration. And here’s how.   When we send a manuscript to a peer-reviewed … Continue reading Peer Evaluations Can Lead to Teaching Excellence

A Student-Centered Approach to Communication

A recent Pathify study reported the average click rate of emails in higher ed is less than 7%, even though email is the primary mode many institutions use to communicate important information to faculty, staff, and students. Right before the Pandemic, I also discovered that student responses to my emails had noticeably declined.  More students … Continue reading A Student-Centered Approach to Communication

Creating Constellations of Meaningful Relationships

When I was in college, one of the RAs would host a weekly watch party for one of her favorite shows, The West Wing. Most of us did not have TVs, so anyone in the dorm or anywhere on campus who heard about it and wanted to go was invited. With her RA funds, she provided … Continue reading Creating Constellations of Meaningful Relationships

Dynamic Duo: Using Blackboard Ultra Gradebook and Starfish Together

Image by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash As the semester kicks off, we’re met with an opportunity to consider the relationship between our gradebook and the Starfish early alert system. Fall of 2016 was the first time I used Blackboard Original to monitor and record students’ grades. I met with Blackboard support several times to get step-by-step guidance … Continue reading Dynamic Duo: Using Blackboard Ultra Gradebook and Starfish Together

College is Just the Place for Transformative Experiences

Transformative Experiences are one of the pillars of USC Upstate's Inclusive Pedagogy Framework - and for good reason. Attending college, like other big moments of transition in our lives, is full of exciting and nerve-racking opportunities for learners everywhere to give an emphatic or shaky yes! to the newness of people, places, and ideas. But … Continue reading College is Just the Place for Transformative Experiences