2010
What Is the Future of Mobile Computing in Teaching at Vanderbilt?
Feb. 8, 2010—According to the 2010 Horizon Report, a report issued by the the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) identifying emerging technologies likely to impact institutions of higher education in the near future, “mobile computing” is going to play an increasingly important role on campuses in the next two years. (Please note that...
Now is a great time to schedule mid-semester feedback!
Feb. 5, 2010—The feedback students provide about your teaching on their end-of-semester course evaluations can be valuable in helping you improve and refine your teaching. Soliciting mid-semester student feedback has the additional benefit of allowing you to hear your students’ concerns while there is still time in the semester to make appropriate changes. A Small Group Analysis...
Notes from Last Week’s “Teaching First-Year Students” Conversation on Teaching
Feb. 3, 2010—On January 26, 2010, the CFT held a conversation on teaching titled “Teaching First-Year Students: The Myth of First-Year Enlightenment.” About twenty faculty, staff, and students participated in the discussion. This was the description of the workshop: The popular vision of the first year experience is one of personal, ethical, and intellectual awakening. However, in...
Tools for Teaching, 2nd Edition, by Barbara Gross Davis
Feb. 1, 2010—Tools for Teaching, 2nd edition, by Barbara Gross Davis, Jossey-Bass, 2009. From the publisher… “This is the long-awaited update on the bestselling book that offers a practical, accessible reference manual for faculty in any discipline. This new edition contains up-to-date information on technology as well as expanding on the ideas and strategies presented in the...
Snow Day? Keep Class Running with a Little Technology
Jan. 29, 2010—Worried about the effect of today’s snowpocalypse in Nashville on your teaching? This might be a good time to experiment with some technology to help you communicate with your students if you or they can’t come to class. Last fall, CFT Educational Technologist Rhett McDaniel put together a guide for instructors preparing for a widespread...
Recommended Site: ProfHacker – Tips and Advice for College Faculty
Jan. 27, 2010—Faculty members and those intending to be faculty members should check out ProfHacker, a group blog that provides tips, strategies, and advice for being productive and effective college and university instructors. The site features three new posts each weekday on such topics as using Zotero to manage one’s bibliography, how to make the most of...
Book Review: “The First Year Out” by Tim Clydesdale
Jan. 26, 2010—In researching his book The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens After High School (University of Chicago Press, 2007), Tim Clydesdale, a sociologist at the College of New Jersey, conducted in-depth interviews with 75 teenagers, many of whom he interviewed before and after their first year out of high school. The interviewees were diverse in...
Wireless in the Classroom? Advice on Policies and Strategies
Jan. 26, 2010—CFT educational technologist Rhett McDaniel has written a “teaching guide” on wireless Internet access in the classroom. Most students at Vanderbilt have a laptop, netbook, or smart phone that lets them access the Internet provided they have a Wifi signal. Should instructors encourage this during class? Should they discourage it? How can a wireless classroom...
Recent Conference Talks by Derek Bruff on Teaching with Clickers
Jan. 22, 2010—CFT assistant director Derek Bruff recently gave a few conference presentations on teaching with classroom response systems (“clickers”). At the 2010 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco, January 13-15, Derek co-facilitated a minicourse on teaching math with clickers with Adam Lucas of St. Mary’s College of California. He also organized a contributed paper session on...
Highlights from Richard Cyr’s Talks on Faculty Careers, Large Classes
Jan. 20, 2010—Richard Cyr (Biology, Penn State University) came to campus yesterday as a guest of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL). He gave two talks, an informal lunch discussion of faculty careers in the sciences and an afternoon presentation about teaching large science courses. The Center for Teaching attended both talks...