As the semester comes to a close, I often think about what successes I had in my courses, which students really surprised and inspired me, and where I might adjust my design and delivery to cultivate more of that excitement, potential, and promise among learners. If you find yourself feeling the same way, check out the suggestions below to bring your year to an intentional close and start looking ahead to Fall 2025! <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
-Which skills for success did students already have when they arrived in my class? How did I connect those skills to course content? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Which new skills did they struggle with the most? Why? Did any teaching practices prove effective for improving that skill? Can I lead with that effective practice next time I teach the skill? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
-What one thing in my course am I most proud of? Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your students are like mine, they usually like to see an exemplar or a successfully completed assignment. With all of the work fresh in your mind, go back and identify exemplars you can use as examples next time you teach the course. Be sure to email the student who submitted the work and ask permission to use it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did something exciting, challenging, or unexpected happen in one of your courses this semester that you\u2019d like to bring to the wider academic community? Can you collaborate with a colleague(s) or student(s) to document it? Kennesaw State\u2019s<\/a> Center for Excellence in Teaching describes the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as \u201csystemic inquiry into student learning and\/or one\u2019s own teaching practices in higher education, situated in context and involving methodologically sound research methods, peer review, and dissemination of scholarly work.\u201d If you have something in mind that you\u2019d like to publish or present on, explore the USC Upstate SoTL Libguide<\/a> for journals and conferences and start planning for the year ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thinking about some light professional development this summer to catch up on all things AI? As part of our ongoing partnership with ACUE<\/a>, all faculty (up to 500) now have access to the ACUE Commons<\/a>. The ACUE Commons is where faculty can complete ACUE Learning Lab Quick Study self-paced courses. These courses can be finished in one sitting, are chock full of experts modeling and using the latest tools, and will award you badge that can easily be added to your LinkedIn page. Contact me at reeveslg@uscupstate.edu<\/a> if you have questions. Below is a list of courses you won\u2019t want to miss! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Or if you\u2019re ready to take the next step in professional development, keep an eye out for recruiting emails for future full-course ACUE cohorts starting in August and January 2026. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Teaching is equally hard and rewarding work that keeps us on the move for the best part of the year. One thing I\u2019ve come to love about USC Upstate is its celebratory spirit, which is on full display at the end of the academic year. Be sure to swing by celebrations, awards ceremonies, retirement parties, and other events that recognize, affirm, and cheer for the outstanding work that faculty have achieved this year. You deserve it! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the semester comes to a close, I often think about what successes I had in my courses, which students really surprised and inspired me, and where I might adjust my design and delivery to cultivate more of that excitement, potential, and promise among learners. If you find yourself feeling the same way, check out … Continue reading That’s a Wrap! 5 Ways to End the Academic Year<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,42,48,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acue","category-facultydev","category-student-success","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/baim-hanif-pYWuOMhtc6k-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1921,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/1921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uscupstate.edu\/tip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Make it an ACUE Summer <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Celebrate <\/h2>\n\n\n\n