Author
Making the Most of In-Class Reading Days
Dec. 8, 2020—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director Last week, the university approved four “in-class reading days” for the spring 2021 semester: February 23-24 and April 7-8. These days in the undergraduate and graduate school schedules are meant to encourage students and instructors to practice self-care and avoid burnout during this exceptional academic year. In this blog post,...
iDesign Support for Assessments and Spring Courses
Oct. 9, 2020—A message from our partners at iDesign: Vanderbilt Faculty, We understand your teaching and learning needs are changing. iDesign is here to support you. Here are a couple of ways we can help: Assignments, Assessments, and Proctoring iDesign is here to help you create assignments and discuss best practices for offering assessments in an online format....
Teaching with Perusall and Social Annotation – Highlights from a Conversation
Sep. 23, 2020—by Derek Bruff, Director This summer, hundreds of participants in the Center for Teaching’s Online Course Design Institute had the chance to use a social annotation tool as part of their experience in the institute. My CFT colleagues and I asked participants to read a few articles about online teaching and annotate them collaboratively, first...
Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom – What’s Working, What’s Not
Sep. 11, 2020—by Derek Bruff, Director For some instructors, the classroom looks very different this fall. Some of their students are in the classroom, but masked and physically distanced. Some of their students are participating remotely during class via Zoom. Prior to this fall, no one had taught in these conditions. The Center for Teaching staff put...
CFT Helps Faculty Prepare for Adaptive Teaching
Aug. 31, 2020—Originally posted on myVU. The Center for Teaching launched new programs this summer to help faculty prepare for adaptive teaching this fall. The centerpiece of these efforts was the Online Course Design Institute. A total of 490 faculty and other instructors completed the institute, which was offered every two weeks throughout the summer. Participants came from departments and...
Advice for Faculty Teaching First-Year Undergraduates This Fall
Aug. 11, 2020—A couple of weeks ago, while talking with some faculty who will be teaching first-year undergraduates later this month, it occurred to me that this was a very unusual year to start one’s Vanderbilt experience. I reached out to an expert the first-year experience, Melissa Gresalfi, Dean of the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons and professor of...
Online Course Development Resources – New from the CFT
Jul. 31, 2020—The Center for Teaching is excited to announce the Online Course Development Resources website. The site is designed to help faculty and other instructors design, teach, and revise their online courses, drawing on research, best practices, and existing resources from the Center for Teaching and around the web. There are two ways to engage with...
An Introduction to Online and Hybrid Teaching – New August Workshops
Jul. 29, 2020—All six sessions of the Center for Teaching’s “Introduction to Online and Hybrid Teaching” workshop in July are full, so we’re offering another eight sessions in August. See below for details and to sign up. An Introduction to Online and Hybrid Teaching Are you looking for ideas for how to engage your students this fall?...
An Introduction to Online and Hybrid Teaching, an Online CFT Workshop
Jul. 15, 2020—Are you looking for ideas for how to engage your students this fall? How to structure prompts that promote asynchronous interaction, and how to manage your class during synchronous meetings? This workshop will provide an introduction to promoting both asynchronous and synchronous interaction in your fall courses. The workshop has two components: an asynchronous, online...
iDesign’s One-Week Series on Online Teaching (July 27-31)
Jul. 15, 2020—The Center for Teaching has partnered with instructional design firm iDesign to provide faculty with additional instructional design support as preparations continue for online and hybrid teaching this fall. iDesign’s support supplements and extends the resources already offered by the CFT. Beginning later this month, Vanderbilt faculty will receive access to a hub of resources...