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Brush up on Some Essential Brightspace skills
Aug. 4, 2020—Brush up on some essential Brightspace skills before teaching in an online or hybrid format this fall. Join Stacey, the CFT’s Assistant Director for Educational Technology, on Zoom for workshops about Brightspace tools including Discussions and Grades/Feedback. You can register and learn more about the available workshops on the Brightspace workshops page. If you will be...
August Workshops from the Center for Teaching
Aug. 3, 2020—For faculty and other instructors looking for a lot of ideas for teaching this fall in a short amount of time, the Center for Teaching is offering a variety of online workshops in August. Some workshops are focused on teaching with Brightspace, Vanderbilt’s course management system, while others focus on other aspects of adaptive teaching in...
Rethinking Assessment Strategies and Procedures
Jul. 29, 2020—By Julie Johnson, Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Computer Science With major changes planned for the fall semester, many of us have had to rethink our assessment strategies. One aspect you may have overlooked is the handling of graded student assignments. A simple homework can generate a chain of...
Teaching Assistant Orientation
Jul. 27, 2020—Many graduate students are awarded teaching assistantships, and while teaching assistant (TA) duties vary across departments, they all demand considerable skill and knowledge. These duties can include grading, consulting with students during office hours, leading discussion or problem sessions, teaching labs, or giving lectures. To assist new TAs as they prepare for their duties, the Vanderbilt...
Did you know that Brightspace Support at the CFT can assist with online teaching questions beyond technical difficulties?
Jul. 22, 2020—The Brightspace team has expertise in a variety of tools found in the Brightspace platform. We’d love to help with understanding how to use Brightspace tools to maximize student learning, choosing appropriate tools for your course goals, structuring your gradebook, and much more! We encourage you to reach out to the Brightspace Team at brightspace@vanderbilt.edu as...
Resources for Teaching Online, Hybrid, and Socially Distant Classes
Jul. 21, 2020—By Heather Fedesco, CFT Assistant Director Thinking about the fall semester and what our teaching will be like raises two very extreme responses. On the one hand, everything feels so uncertain. Will my class be entirely online? Where will my students be taking my course – on campus, in a different time zone, in a...
Junior Faculty Spotlight: Daniela D’Eugenio
Jul. 20, 2020—Each year, the CFT Newsletter highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. This month, Daniela D’Eugenio, French & Italian, talks about some of the most useful lessons she has learned from the Fellowship. As a Senior Lecturer of Italian in the Department of French and Italian and affiliated faculty for the Certificate in Second Language Studies, I...
Suggestions for online teaching at Vanderbilt
Jul. 16, 2020—By Dr. Adriane Seiffert and Dr. Ashleigh Maxcey, Vanderbilt University Department of Psychology The following are thoughts, reflections, and suggestions on teaching online based on our experiences teaching courses over Maymester and Summer 2020. We hope they help you plan your online course as we can all strive to deliver top-notch courses this fall. Discuss...
Celebration of Learning Spotlight: Progress of Sustainable Fashion in Our Daily Lives
Jul. 15, 2020—On February 13, 2020, the Center for Teaching held a Celebration of Learning, an exhibition of students as producers. The event featured students from all over campus sharing what they learned, created, designed, and discovered. Madeline Repath, Angelica Park, Mathilde Caindec’s project was two parts: a sustainability guide and a reflection. Each team made a guide that encourages students...
NEW Online Course Visits Program!
Jul. 13, 2020—Seeing others teach can be a valuable way help us grow our own teaching practice. For years, the CFT has hosted teaching visits for Vanderbilt faculty, post-docs, and grad students to observe their colleagues’ face-to-face classes (such as during the Open Classroom event). In hybrid and online courses, a significant amount of teaching is done digitally, in...