Location
We are located on the 9th floor of the Armour Academic Center, in what was previously METC space. You can contact us any time by emailing CTEI@rush.edu.
Mission
The Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation, under the division of Academic Affairs, supports and enhances teaching at Rush University by promoting teaching excellence and innovation, and student engagement throughout all learning experiences at the university. This is accomplished through faculty education and consultation, program consultation on curricular and programmatic enhancement, and support of the university’s mission regarding strategic teaching initiatives.
What do we do?
Provide support for all teaching modalities
The center provides workshops on various subjects that provide new skills or enhance current skills related to teaching, and one-on-one support for faculty to improve their face-to-face, blended, or online courses. Additionally, the center offers regular training for online teaching through the Online Teaching & Course Design class (OTCD) at least 3 times per year in Fall, Spring, and Summer.
Assist colleges and programs
Center staff members provide services for colleges and/or programs that are considering changes to their curriculum or pedagogical practices. Those services can include support for new teaching modalities or assistance with curriculum development, mapping and alignment of content with objectives and assessments. The center assists colleges and/or programs with student learning outcomes and assessments by using student performance data to make decisions on curricular or pedagogical change to improve outcomes and assessment performance.
The hub of innovation
CTEI is a department focused on the use of technologies to enhance teaching and course experiences. The staff members provide primary faculty support of the university’s learning management system (LMS), as well as initiate and support educational technologies used in courses and programs. CTEI staff members regularly explore new and more innovative ways of teaching and remain current on the most up-to-date advancements in the educational technology landscape.
Ensure quality online learning experiences
The center works with faculty members to ensure their online courses meet or exceed Rush University standards for online course design and online teaching. Center staff members work with colleges to provide support as requested, by college administrators and work in partnership with the units to ensure online courses are of the highest quality possible. The center is also involved in Quality Matters reviews of certain courses.
Are you Rush University Faculty? If so, find out how our faculty is involved in what we do and how you might be able to get involved as well.
Important Systems Updates
Blackboard will be unavailable for a system update beginning at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, December 20. The system should be restored no later than 12 p.m. on Saturday, December 21.
All aspects of Blackboard will be unavailable during this period, including Panopto videos, course materials and grades.
Please direct any questions or concerns to cteihelp@rush.edu.
Important Information Regarding Panopto Videos
Auto Archiving of Panopto Videos
Beginning December 21, Rush will implement a retention policy for Panopto recordings. Any recording that has not been viewed by either students or faculty in more than three years will be removed automatically. Once removed, the recordings will no longer be accessible by either faculty or students and will not be recoverable.
This archiving will be a continuous process that is automatic by Panopto, so faculty members will need to be aware of the age of their videos, and they should download them when they are getting close to the three-year mark if they wish to keep a copy.
Recordings that are more than three years old but are still in active use in courses will not be removed.
If you would like to keep any recordings that have not been viewed in more than three years from the dates of creation, please use these instructions to download them as MP4 files.
For assistance, questions or concerns, please email CTEI@Rush.edu.
Sign up for the next Online Teaching & Course Design class
Interested in learning new teaching skills or technologies? See what we offer and how to participate.
Interested in the learning technologies offered at Rush University for our faculty? Check this link regularly for updates or to request a technology.
In this section, you will find a variety of helpful resources, such as Blackboard tutorials, information about teaching strategies, dealing with student issues, educational research, and much more! Visit often as this will be updated regularly.
Within this link you will find the Rush University standards, helpful resources for teaching blended and online, and information about training offered for online and blended teaching.
CTEI Staff and Contact Information
