Events
Engaging in instructional development is a key component of the architecture of engagement at USU. The Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence brings instructors together from across the USU system to build a community of teaching excellence. Those who engage in ETE events gain new insights into insights into evidence-based teaching approaches, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and community support for a culture of teaching excellence. ETE holds several conferences, learning circles, sparkshops, and other events throughout the year.
Learning Communities
Learning Circles
Small learning communities of instructors that meet virtually throughout a semester to dive deeper into instructional methods and pedagogy.
Sparkshops
ETE Sparkshops were created to "spark" creative ideas and methods for instructors. Sparkshops are about 45 minutes in length and are designed to "spark" group discussion. Topics for Sparkshops are requested by instructors and vary between events.
EmpowerED: Enhancing Teaching Expertise Workshops
EmpowerED: Enhancing Teaching Expertise Workshops equip faculty, instructors, and graduate students with practical tools and innovative strategies to create engaging, inclusive, and effective learning environments.
Annual Events
New Faculty Orientation & Foundations of USU Teaching
Foundations of USU Teaching is designed for new USU instructors to connect to resources and collaborators at the University. The Foundations of USU Teaching (afternoon) event is paired with the New Faculty Orientation (morning) and is held the Monday before the ETE Conference.
ETE Conference
The Empowering Teaching Excellence Conference is held annually in August on Logan campus. The conference is designed to energize our teaching excellence community. Sessions are focused on teaching approaches and innovative technologies utilized at USU and provide resources for instructors to implement similar approaches for the new academic year.
Springboard to Action
The Springboard to Action Series is a yearly workshop in March designed for USU instructors to dedicate the day to implementing a practice in their teaching that they had been planning on. Each Springboard workshop has a different theme and is held both in person and virtually.
eLearnX
The eLearnX Conference is a three-day event on Logan campus that provides a hands-on deep dive into the teaching tools and methodologies of online, virtual, and hybrid instruction. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Instructional Design and Innovation (CIDI) and occurs annually in May.
Affiliated Events
Concurrent Enrollment Workshop
The Concurrent Enrollment Workshop is designed to provide our CE Instructors with the opportunity to build community, find resources available to them, and explain how they fit into USU's goal of teaching excellence. This event is sponsored by the Registrar's Office and is held virtually in March.
Weaving Our Stories Conference
Weaving Our Stories Conference provides best practices for and insights into supporting Native American student success.
Teaching for Student Success
The Teaching for Student Success series exposes faculty to best practices to support student success and academic belonging. The series also introduces faculty to the range of success supports available to faculty and students.
ETE Supported Events
Teaching Documentation Workshop
The Teaching Documentation Workshop is designed for second through fifth-year tenure-track faculty members preparing a promotion and tenure dossier. The purpose of the workshop is to provide mentoring and support in documenting teaching and pedagogy. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and held annually in May.
Habits of Mind Integration
Habits of Mind Integration is a two-day workshop that provides an individualized look at habits of mind resources on campus and strategies instructors can utilize in their courses. At the end of this experience, instructors will have a practice ready to implement in their course to promote student success. This event is sponsored by the Office of Academic Belonging & Learning Excellence and is held annually in May.
T4L Conference
The Teaching for Learning Conference (T4L) is an annual regional conference, which is a collaboration of faculty developers, instructional designers, faculty members, and administrators dedicated to enhancing teaching and learning in higher education across the intermountain region. T4L is organized by the Intermountain Consortium for Faculty Development (ICFD).
Upcoming ETE Events