USF Innovative Education

Congratulations to InEd’s Dr. Koichi Sato on an upcoming publication in Teaching Professor!

His article, “From Faceless Slides to Personal Connection: A Rapid AI Avatar Workflow for Busy Faculty” introduces a practical method for adding a personalized talking AI avatar to online lectures in under 10 minutes. Designed for efficiency and scalability, the workflow allows faculty to replace faceless voiceovers with a more engaging presence across an entire course without the need for a studio or large budget.

Read:

From Faceless Slides to Personal Connection: A Rapid AI Avatar Workflow for Busy Faculty – The Teaching Professor We have all been there: sitting alone with a microphone, narrating slide after slide, wondering whether our students feel a connection to the person behind the screen. In online pedagogy, research tells us that social factors such as instructor presence are a key driver of student engagement (Gunawa...

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for Designing for Integrity: AI, Assessment Strategies & Honorlock! It was incredible to see faculty from across the university come together to explore academic integrity, assessment strategies, and the evolving role of AI in education.

We’re grateful for the discussions, collaboration, and shared commitment to student success. A special thank you to our faculty panelists, Dr. Stephanie Arthur, Dr. John Licato, Dr. Sanghoon Park, and Dr. Adriana Uruena-Agnes, for sharing their expertise and insights about AI in education and academic integrity.

And thank you to Honorlock
for partnering with us and helping make this event such a success!

May the 4th be with you ✨

The Force is strong at USF’s Innovative Education Studios, where Star Wars-inspired LED Volume technology is helping faculty create immersive, Hollywood-style learning experiences for online courses.

This is the way. 💚🤘

Read More:

The Force is strong in this studio: USF adopts Star Wars production tech At USF’s Innovative Education Studios, it feels like Star Wars Day is celebrated year‑round, with Mandalorian‑inspired technology and a healthy dose of fandom powering the work. With a growing virtual production footprint and a new DIY studio space, InEd Studios is empowering faculty to create...

Taking classes this fall? Don’t just take an elective, make it count!
💡 Learn AI.
🚀 Apply it.
🎯 Lead with it.
Start with courses that fit into your degree and build toward a graduate certificate.
Apply now: https://hubs.li/Q04dgG0S0

And we’re back at it again… 🚀

InEd is proud to have Koichi Sato, Ed.D. presenting at the Florida Online Innovation Summit 2026! His poster, “Research, Rubrics, and AI Video Evaluator,” showcases how AI + research-backed design can help faculty create clearer, more effective instructional videos, faster and at scale.

Also presenting tomorrow:

✨ Zhaihuan Dai, Ph.D. and Janine Díaz presenting “Reimagining Case-Based Learning: From Analysis to Action,” exploring creative ways to turn static case studies into dynamic, interactive learning experiences.
✨ and Marta Slaughter who is presenting “From Concept to Canvas,” showcasing how collaborative design and generative AI can transform courses into engaging, learner-centered experiences.

Big ideas. Real impact. 👏 Proud of our InEd team!

📅 April 9, 2026
More info:

Florida Online Innovation Summit Welcome to the Florida Online Innovation Summit! We look forward to being in person again for the 2026 Summit! The Florida Online Innovation Summit is an opportunity to share and discuss projects that are being implemented across the state to advance the state-of-the-art in online learning. These ar...

Tomorrow will be another great day for those attending 🎪

Here are the InEd speakers:
• Six Years of On-Demand Faculty Support and Its Impact – Victor Ventor
• Course Enhancement with Generative AI – Lindsey Mercer
• Best in Track: Under the Big Top: Creating a GenAI Faculty Learning Community – Ashley Reese

Don’t miss these sessions as our team continues to showcase innovation in online learning.

Check it out:

Participate in the Live Workshop for the Teaching Online Preparation Toolkit TOPkit is a live workshop for higher-Ed Florida public institutions looking to build or revise their professional development for online learning.

Innovative Education is taking by storm 🎪

Join us tomorrow as our team shares insights on AI, course design, video strategy, and student engagement:

• Designing with Insight: Balancing AI and Human Intuition in Course Development – Bailey Cleaveland & Laura Aguado
• The Power of Pause: Designing Chunked Video Experiences – Todd Mendenhall & Evan Peck
• The Grading Blueprint: Intentional Planning for Feedback and Learning - Angelika Fairweather & Laura Aguado
• Bring Book Club Vibes to Course Design: Social Annotation – Laura Aguado & Bailey Cleaveland
• Best in Track: From Challenges to Insights- Leveraging Faculty Feedback Data – Desiree Henderson

Check out the full agenda: https://hubs.li/Q0496nl10

Congratulations to Professor Lai-Yuen!

InEd has enjoyed collaborating with Prof. Lai-Yuen during her time as the program director for the Master of Science in Data Intelligence – a program built to lift data engineers into decision-making roles.
https://hubs.li/Q045Wl3j0

Learn about the online MSDI program here: https://hubs.li/Q045WkLY0
RSVP to Learn from Professor Lai-Yuen about MSDI during the Aprill 22 Info Session here: https://hubs.li/Q045Wr1G0

National Academy of Inventors names six USF faculty to its 2026 class of senior members University of South Florida

📣 USF Faculty! Join us for Faculty Champions: Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI. A dynamic webinar where USF instructors share creative strategies for designing authentic assessments in an AI-enhanced classroom. 💡✨ Learn how to strengthen academic integrity, move beyond traditional testing, and prioritize meaningful student learning in the age of generative AI.

🗓 Date: Fri, Oct. 17, 2025
⏰ Time: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
📍 Location: Microsoft Teams (virtual)
🔗 Register now and be part of the conversation!

⏳ Final Hours! These amazing AI courses closes tomorrow.

This is your last chance to enroll in two free, self paced, fully online AI microcourses from USF:

🤖 GenAI in Action: Impact and Possibilities
📅 Feb. 28 | ⏱ 6 hours

💬 AI Whisperer: A Microcourse in Crafting Prompts
📅 Feb. 28 | ⏱ 3 to 4 hours

If AI is already shaping your work, you need to understand it. If it is not yet, it will be. These courses give you practical, real world skills you can apply immediately.

🔗 https://hubs.li/Q0450Rhb0
🔗 https://hubs.li/Q0450QSl0

Big congratulations to InEd’s Daniel Jordan and Marta Slaughter, who will be presenting at the national OLC Innovate Conference next week! 🎉

Their virtual session, “Passing the Baton: How Instructor Orientation Modules Sustain Online Course Quality,” highlights how thoughtfully designed instructor orientation modules and course pages give TAs and adjunct faculty a clear game plan, strengthening collaboration, boosting instructor confidence, and ensuring consistent, high quality online learning experiences.

Check them out when they present on March 4th!

More info about OLC Innovate: https://hubs.li/Q044PH-T0