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Center for Teaching Excellence

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Past Recipients

Carolina Core Online: Teaching Innovation Grants in Distributed Learning Course Development

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) with support from the Office of the Provost, awarded grants for the development of exemplary Carolina Core courses for distributed learning (DL) delivery. Currently, fewer than 30% of Carolina Core courses are offered online or in a blended format. The goal of these grants is to provide students with a greater variety of high-quality DL options for fulfilling their Core requirements. This goal will be accomplished by providing funding of up to $6,000, expert instructional design assistance, pedagogical resources and technological support to faculty to create new DL Carolina Core courses or convert existing Core courses for DL delivery.

Award Recipients 2016-2017

Mark Cooper, Film and Media History (FAMS 300)

Mark Cooper will develop for online delivery, Film and Media History, which fulfills the Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Historical Thinking requirement in the Carolina Core. The course surveys the development of cinema and related mass media. Since its inception in 2009, it has been offered only in a face-to-face delivery mode at the Columbia campus. Through this grant, Cooper will convert it to a 100% asynchronous course scheduled to be offered online first during the summer of 2018. Through videos highlighting key issues and examples from the past two millennia of media history, he will provide students well beyond the Columbia campus with a rich learning experience that was previously available only to students in the traditional face-to-face course. In addition, on-campus students will enjoy self-paced, flexible access to a high quality Carolina Core course.

Mark Cooper

Cooper

Kathryn “Kay” Edwards, European History from Ancient Times to Mid-Seventeenth Century 
(HIST 101)

European History from Ancient Times to Mid-Seventeenth Century is a broad survey course that fulfills the Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Historical Thinking requirement in the Carolina Core. Currently offered in traditional and blended formats only, this high-enrollment course explores how early societies understood their world and tried to establish security within it. Dr. Edwards will use online tools and best practices to actively engage her students and enable them to express historical thinking and argumentation in more diverse and efficient ways. Having taught this course face-to-face for many years, she looks forward to incorporating rich digital resources and interactive web-based materials into the curriculum, encouraging students to assess sources critically and appreciate how these sources form our narratives about the past.

Kathryn "Kay" Edwards

Edwards

Mark Minett, Introduction to Film and Media Studies (FAMS 240)

Introduction to Film and Media Studies is a foundation course that meets the Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding Carolina Core outcome. Introducing students to the study of moving image media, students in this course analyze and discuss numerous examples of film, television, and web-based media. As such, online delivery will enhance learner opportunities to access these materials. In addition, Dr. Minett will incorporate into this course digital tools for communication between students, enabling them to master course objectives, craft and deliver effective arguments, and engage with the mediums about which they are learning. A pre-requisite for Media Studies majors and popular course option for others, the online version of FAMS 240 will enable a broad range of students to access this unique course.

Mark Minett

Minett

Carla Pfeffer, Sex and Gender (SOCY 301)

Carla Pfeffer’s project will transform the popular Sociology of Sex Roles from a traditional face-to-face course to a 100% asynchronous online course. Concurrently, she will propose SOCY 301 for Carolina Core designation under the Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Social Sciences learning outcome. In this course, students develop an understanding of the ways in which sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, and other factors shape the experiences and opportunities of both individuals and groups. Additionally, they analyze social and cultural factors that lead to social inequality and subsequent cultural change. The traditional version of Sociology of Sex Roles often fills to capacity within the first week of enrollment, frequently generating a waiting list of interested students. Offering this course in an online format will respond to student demand and provide additional opportunities for students to access this important course.

Carla Pfeffer

Pfeffer


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