STATE-WIDE PARTNERSHIP TO BETTER HIGHER EDUCATION
University Center of Greenville offers South Carolina Teaching Excellence Network

Dr. Onarae Rice is an Assistant Professor in Behavioral Neuroscience at Furman University. He can be reached at
(864) 294-2205 or onarae.rice@furman.edu. For more information about the Institute, go to http://www.scten.info.

Recently, the South Carolina Teaching Excellence Network (SCTEN) held its inaugural Summer Institute at Furman University. SCTEN is the brainchild of the University Center of Greenville (UCG) in partnership with the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education to bring together instructors in public and private colleges and universities. SCTEN offers a state-wide network for sharing resources among instructors for the improvement of higher education.

SCTEN grew out of crucial support from Gail Morrison of the SC Commission on Higher Education, as well as key sponsors including the SC Foundation for Higher Education. Cooperating sponsors include the South Carolina Technical College System and South Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities. UCG was integral in the logistics of hosting and managing arrangements for the state-wide collaboration.

The culmination of the work arising from this partnership resulted in a successful week-long Summer Institute, which drew more than 30 faculty members from colleges and universities across South Carolina.

The SCTEN Summer Institute topics included designing high-quality courses, promoting active student engagement, improving lectures, developing new methods of instruction, testing and grading. Participants also worked on their classroom personalities and presentations to command respect and reflect success in the classroom.

Participants studied a variety of teaching methods, led by nationally-known leaders in the field, such as Conrad Festa, formerly of the College of Charleston and the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, and Clemson University’s Linda Nilson.

This partnership is precedent-setting for two key reasons. Currently, SCTEN provides the only higher-education networking resource for all of South Carolina. Linking together instructors stimulates an inspirational melting pot for sharing knowledge and strategies to improve teaching. The premise of the University Center of Greenville is to bring convenient and quality education to its community; providing the same resource to our state’s teachers is a natural progression.

The additional benefit of uniting resources is improving South Carolina’s higher education as a whole. The comparative growth that results from networking across regions, schools and professional fields can only help raise the bar. Nationwide rankings of South Carolina’s education system consistently call for improvement.

By uniting resources to improve our education, we improve our future. By raising the quality of our in-state colleges and universities, South Carolina receives greater recognition and national appeal, while keeping our education dollars in the state’s economy, and inspiring leaders and educators for our future.

As a participant, it was great to find resources that I could bring into my own teaching practices. After completing my second year at Furman, I sought to continue improving my instruction methods. With that in mind, I was excited when Dr. Jane Love, in the Center for Teaching and Engaged Learning, offered me a great opportunity to learn various teaching styles from some of the best educators in the state. I was even more excited about the possibility of discussing strategies with the other faculty members in attendance.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from SCTEN. I thought that the others in attendance would also be new faculty members at their respective schools. However, the majority of attendees were veteran teachers. This was fortuitous and proved to be the Institute’s hidden treasure. Seeing so many veteran teachers still willing and wanting to improve, inspired me greatly. It reminded me of how important our profession is and how great an impact we may have on our future leaders. With that foundation laid, what UCG and SCTEN offered, simply “added meat to the bone” as Dr. Nilson would say.

The Institute was intensive with sessions beginning at 9 a.m. and concluding, many nights at 9 p.m. There was a great deal of knowledge shared. The workshop leaders managed to accomplish what many of us hope to; to engage our students to the point that time no longer becomes an issue. Many of the instructors were utilizing the techniques from their lectures. We could see the techniques in practice –helping us to be better teachers so that we can ensure a successful tomorrow for our world.

I greatly enjoyed the institute and highly recommend that faculty take advantage of this opportunity. Many veteran teachers reported that they attended many teaching workshops in their day, but still found SCTEN as one of the most well-organized and knowledge-packed workshops. I have no such comparisons, but I couldn’t imagine a better one. I hope to see the University Center of Greenville spearhead this event again next year.