Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation | About

CTEI sign

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

Please check back for any upcoming system updates.

Please direct any questions or concerns to cteihelp@rush.edu.

Sign up for the next Online Teaching & Course Design class

CLUB Basic Training

The CTEI Instructional Design team will provide training every other week in AAC 450. The basic training will be the same for each session.

Monday	October 7	3:00 - 4:00 pm
Tuesday	October 22	1:00 - 2:00 pm
Wednesday	November 6	12:00 - 1:00 pm
Thursday	November 21	8:00 - 9:00 am

Please choose a day and time convenient for your schedule and just drop-in to the training. If you choose to, you can come to more than one training session. However, attendance at only one session will be necessary to fulfill the training requisite for scheduling the CLUB rooms for teaching.

Any questions regarding the training can be emailed to CTEI@rush.edu.

CTEI Training

Interested in learning new teaching skills or technologies? See what we offer and how to participate.

Learning Technologies

Interested in the learning technologies offered at Rush University for our faculty? Check this link regularly for updates or to request a technology.

Educational Resources

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.

Online & Blended Learning

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.