๐Ÿฟ Welcome to Faculty Fall 2025: Binge-Worthy Teaching Begins!

This fall, weโ€™re flipping the script on professional development.
Say goodbye to boring slide decks and hello to fast, fun, and actually useful sessions that youโ€™ll want to attend.

Binge-Worthy Teaching โ€“ Lessons They Canโ€™t Stop Watching

This fall, weโ€™re reimagining faculty development as something youโ€™ll actually want to tune in to. Think: quick episodes, high-impact tips, real SPC faculty, and a few surprises along the way. Whether you're teaching online, in a lab, or face-to-face, Binge-Worthy Teaching will help you update your course design, refresh your strategies, and connect with colleagues in new ways.

Weโ€™re kicking it off with two immersive days during Faculty Welcome Week, followed by monthly 50-minute online sessions all semester long.


๐ŸŽ‰ Faculty Welcome Week 2025

๐Ÿ—“ August 19โ€“20, 2025
๐Ÿ“ Levelland Campus
๐Ÿ•˜ Each Day: 9:00 AMโ€“2:00 PM (with a 12:00โ€“1:00 lunch break)

Choose from two tracks each day to customize your PD experience:

๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Track 1 โ€“ Full Immersive Experience

๐ŸŽฌ Day 1 โ€“ Fixer Upper: Ultra Course Edition

Location: Sundown Room
Blackboard Ultra needs a little TLC? This day is all about cleaning up, redesigning, and enhancing your course layout and tools to make your course intuitive and binge-worthy.

Session Highlights:

  • Demo Day: Audit and restructure your course using Ultra folders, icons, progress tracking, and design hacks

  • Tool Time: Explore Gradebook categories, calculated columns, and adaptive release

  • Finishing Touches: Rubrics, batch edits, discussions, and progress tracking

  • Fixer Upper Bingo Card + end-of-day prize drawing

  • Course โ€œBefore & Afterโ€ demos


๐Ÿ•ต๏ธ Day 2 โ€“ Murdered My Gradebook: CSI, True Crime & Academic Integrity Edition

Location: Sundown Room
Itโ€™s a true-crime twist on academic integrity and assessment design. Solve the mystery of disengagement, detect weak spots in your gradebook, and crack the case of AI misuse.

Session Highlights:

  • Honorlock 101: Hosted by Honorlock โ€“ Learn to balance fairness, trust, and security

  • Cheat-Resistant Assessment Lab: Build AI-proof, meaningful assignments

  • Difficult Conversations: Roleplay academic honesty scenarios with peer feedback

  • Lunch: "Writers Roomโ€ with faculty-to-faculty brainstorms during lunch

๐ŸŽฎ Track 2 โ€“ Tech, Tools & Strategy Sessions

Location: Technology Center Commons & Sundown Room

Day 1 โ€“ Tuesday

  • 9:00 AM โ€“ The AI Plot Twist: Teaching in the Age of Algorithms
    Featuring Katherine Jackson โ€“ How to build AI-aware assignments, preserve integrity, and support innovation

  • 10:45 AM โ€“ Behind the Scenes: OER in Action
    Hosted by Erika Warnick + SPC Faculty Panel โ€“ How faculty are using OER to adapt and remix content to match their students

Day 2 โ€“ Wednesday

2:30โ€“3:30 PM โ€“ Choose Your Tool:

  • Gradescope (Sundown Room) โ€“ Save time grading, streamline rubrics, and provide clearer feedback

  • Turnitin (Technology Center) โ€“ Support student writing and originality with this smart feedback platform


๐Ÿ“บ Monthly Episodes โ€“ Save the Dates!

All monthly episodes are online via Teams and just 50 minutes long. Each one takes on a new format to keep things fresh and faculty-centered.

  • ๐ŸŽญ September 11 โ€“ The Variety Show: Quick Wins & First Impressions

  • ๐ŸŽ™ October 9 โ€“ The Talk Show: The Crossover Special
    Featuring panelists from Odessa College, Angelo State, and SPC

  • ๐ŸŒ November โ€“ Texas Digital Learning Week
    Featuring OER, AI, and innovation spotlights statewide

  • ๐Ÿ† December 6 โ€“ The Awards Show: Gradebook & Gold Stars
    Celebrate wins, share what worked, and close out the semester with laughs and learning


๐ŸŽŸ๏ธ How to Participate

You donโ€™t have to RSVP to every eventโ€”but we encourage you to drop in, explore something new, and walk away with a strategy youโ€™ll use.

๐Ÿ’ก Track attendance, reflections, and earn digital SPC PD badges.
๐Ÿ‘•Themes and giveaways included!
๐ŸŽ Downloadable resources, recorded replays, and bonus tools available in Blackboard

๐Ÿ‘‰ Visit the Fall 2025 PD Hub on Blackboard

Letโ€™s make teaching binge-worthy. ๐Ÿฟ