2010
Podcast Series – Time-Efficient Teaching
Feb. 26, 2010—Last year on the CFT podcast, we featured a series on time-efficient teaching. Faculty at a research university like Vanderbilt must balance a number of competing demands on their time, including teaching, research, and service. For the series, we interviewed senior faculty members at Vanderbilt and asked them to share ways they teach effectively while...
Are Teaching Statements Bunk?
Feb. 25, 2010—In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education opinion piece, Kevin Haggerty of the University of Alberta asserts that teaching statements are bunk. He argues that most teaching philosophy statements, written for the faculty job market or for promotion and tenure committees, are filled with platitudes about teaching so vague that they don’t communicate anything about...
Three Steps for Integrating In- and Out-of-Class Learning Experiences
Feb. 24, 2010—At yesterday’s Junior Faculty Teaching Series workshop, “More than 150 Minutes a Week: Integrating In- and Out-of-Class Learning,” CFT assistant director Derek Bruff shared three steps instructors can take to be more intentional about directing their students’ in- and out-of-class learning. Each step is a question instructors might ask as they design their courses: What...
The CIRTL Coffee Hour – Online, Informal Conversations for STEM Grad Students and Faculty
Feb. 22, 2010—The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is an NSF-sponsored network of six universities interested in enhancing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education through professional development of future STEM faculty. Vanderbilt is a member of CIRTL, and Vanderbilt STEM grad students, postdocs, and faculty are invited to participate in the...
Resources from Yesterday’s Workshop on Teaching Large Lecture Classes
Feb. 18, 2010—On the online “home base” for yesterday’s CFT workshop titled “Engaging Students in Large Lecture Classes,” facilitated by CFT assistant director Derek Bruff, you’ll find a variety of resources relevant to the topic, including Derek’s PowerPoint and Prezi presentations, as well as a record of questions asked by participants before and during the session via...
New Issue of the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
Feb. 17, 2010—The latest issue of the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is now available. The IJ-SoTL is a free, online, peer-reviewed journal in which faculty members from a variety of disciplines share their research into student learning and teaching practices. Although some contributors are education researchers, many are faculty members from outside...
Highlights from Last Week’s Workshop on Digital Writing
Feb. 15, 2010—During last week’s “Digital Writing: Using Social Media to Enhance the Teaching of Writing” workshop, CFT Assistant Director Derek Bruff tweeted some highlights from the panelist remarks and subsequent conversation. For those of you not following the CFT on Twitter, you’ll find Derek’s comments below. Please also visit the online “home base” for the workshop...
One Professor’s Vision of Graduate Student Mentoring
Feb. 11, 2010—On February 2, 2010, the Center for Teaching held a conversation on teaching titled “Mentoring Graduate Students in the Sciences and Engineering” featuring three faculty panelists. After the session, one of the panelists, Isabel Gauthier, professor of psychology, wrote a one-page description of her “vision of graduate mentoring,” which she allowed the CFT to share. ...
Notes from Last Week’s “Mentoring Grad Students in the Sciences and Engineering” Session
Feb. 10, 2010—On February 2, 2010, the CFT held a conversation on teaching titled “Mentoring Graduate Students in the Sciences and Engineering” featuring three faculty panelists. At the start of the session, participants were asked to share questions they had about mentoring graduate students. Each question fell into one of five broad categories, listed below. Also listed...
Highlights from Yesterday’s Workshop on the Technology Horizon
Feb. 10, 2010—CFT Assistant Director Derek Bruff tweeted some highlights of yesterday’s Conversation on Teaching titled “The Technology Horizon at Vanderbilt,” a discussion of the 2010 Horizon Report identifying six emerging technologies likely to impact campuses in the next few years. For those of you not following the CFT on Twitter, here are Derek’s comments. Rhett McDaniel...