February, 2014
The Mindful PhD: Busy-Shaming
Feb. 28, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director My Women & Gender Studies class talked about “slut shaming” recently, and I’ve since been thinking about another kind of shaming that worries me–and that I want to be careful to avoid. The flurry of popular media discussions of mindfulness (and other topics) have been accompanied by concerns about how...
Student Notetaking for Recall and Understanding: A Lit Review Review
Feb. 27, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director. Cross-posted from Derek’s blog, Agile Learning. I’m giving a talk on sketchnotes in the classroom next week at Indiana University. (I’m following John (Engaging Ideas) Bean in their speakers series, which is just a little bit intimidating.) I’ve been using sketchnotes for my own notetaking practice since 2011, and I’ve...
The Mindful PhD: Opening Our Eyes
Feb. 21, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director In the rhythm of academia, right as we began this semester, we also selected our courses for next year. I decided to revisit my course on monsters. Soon after, a friend gave me a book of original Grimm’s fairy tales–a gruesome treasure! I didn’t expect to stumble onto mindfulness while...
TAing to Thousands: A Graduate Student MOOC Panel, February 24th
Feb. 18, 2014—What is it like to serve as a teaching assistant in a course with thousands of students? On Monday, February 24th, a panel of graduate students will share their experiences serving as teaching staff in Vanderbilt’s massive open online courses (MOOCs) hosted on Coursera. “TAing to Thousands” is scheduled for 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in...
I’ve Flipped My Classroom. Now What?
Feb. 17, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director “A few years ago if I had said flipped classroom to them, most faculty would have given me a blank stare,” said Derek Bruff, director of the center and a senior lecturer in mathematics. “Now they are coming to us wanting more detail. The speed of that change and the...
The Mindful PhD: Daydream Believer
Feb. 14, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director I’ve previously written about the specific kind of meditation that leads to “Inspiration, Creativity, & New Ideas,” but I want to return to this issue. Creativity is a necessary skill in all disciplines, yet it’s among the most difficult to teach. The research on mindfulness offers a few different strategies....
Students as Producers of Disciplinary Habits
Feb. 14, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director The CFT’s recent Teaching Visit hosted by Phil Ackerman-Lieberman illustrated our 2013-14 theme of Students as Producers in a way that’s different from our previous examples. These other instances typically focus on specific course assignments that engage students in actively creating something, often directing their work toward authentic audiences...
The Power of Design: What design projects can teach our students—and us
Feb. 13, 2014—By Cynthia J. Brame, Assistant Director This year, the CFT has adopted a “Students as Producers” theme, exploring ways that instructors can scaffold their classes to help students do meaningful, creative work. Design projects, the linchpin of any engineering curriculum, illustrate some of the key benefits and lessons of helping your students be producers. I’ve...
How to (Re)frame Your Teaching for Non-academic Jobs
Feb. 12, 2014—By Andrew Greer, Graduate Teaching Fellow Attention fellow graduate students: Eventually we will seek employment outside of our programs. If you’re like me, your search is in full force. With the majority of academic applications behind me, I’ve switched my strategy to applying for non-academic jobs. This switch not only requires transforming my CV into...
The Growing Pains of the MOOC
Feb. 11, 2014—by Bernadette Doykos, Graduate Teaching Fellow [book id=” /]Over the last twenty five years, enrollment in institutions of higher education has expanded across all demographics; however, critical disparities in access persist. As a result, scholars and practitioners alike have been in search of the mechanism to enhance equity in education. Massive open online courses (MOOC)...