Author
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)...
The Mindful PhD: Time, the Superbowl, & Bandwagons
Feb. 6, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director This past week brought a kind of harmonic convergence of mindfulness in popular culture. First, Time magazine featured “The Mindful Revolution” on the cover. Then, or perhaps simultaneously, word spread (from ESPN to the blogosphere) that the Seattle Seahawks–then heading for the Superbowl, now winners of the Superbowl–regularly practice mindfulness and yoga. This...
Learn to Produce or Produce to Learn?
Feb. 5, 2014—Vanderbilt faculty members have found a variety of ways to engage students as producers in their classes and guided students to produce work for authentic audiences. The CFT celebrated its 16th annual Graduate Student Teaching Event for Professional Development (GradSTEP) by focusing on our theme for this year, “Students as Producers.” The day started with a...
Helping scientists do science education research: A new resource
Feb. 4, 2014—Scientists who are interested in investigating learning in their classrooms can sometimes feel stymied by the unfamiliar methods and terminology and unsure about effective approaches. To supplement existing guides, the American Society of Cell Biology publication CBE—Life Sciences Education recently added Research Methods Essays to their regular repertoire. In the words of Erin Dolan and...
The Mindful PhD: After the Honeymoon
Jan. 29, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director My class is still in the “honeymoon phase,” those carefree weeks in the beginning of the semester when students and instructor alike enjoy each other’s company and insights, before any major papers or exams complicate the dynamic. Smaller, low-stakes assessments have given me a chance to provide early feedback and...
Review Sessions: A Little Goes a Long Way
Jan. 28, 2014—By Graduate Teaching Fellow, Nayana Bose Teaching assistants (TAs) are often assigned review sessions (RSs) as part of their duties. These review sessions pose some unique challenges, and in this blog post I will focus on two that I think are common across most disciplines. RSs are usually scheduled right before an exam when there...
Last Week’s ‘T.W.L.’ Conversation on Teaching Writing: Low-Stakes, Written Reading Guides
Jan. 27, 2014—Amanda Benson (Biological Sciences) talked about “Writing as Discovery: Using Low-Stakes Writing to Help Students Learn” on January 21. This lunchtime gathering was the fifth gathering in the “Teaching. Writing. Learning.” series of conversations on teaching writing. To start the conversation, Amanda acknowledged that writing can be intimidating to scientists–faculty and students alike. Her pedagogical...
BOLD Fellow Lauren Palladino Develops a Series of Online Astronomy Modules
Jan. 24, 2014—The BOLD Fellows program is designed to bring together graduate students and faculty members interested in blended and online learning. Graduate students develop online learning modules for implementation in a faculty mentor’s course and then gather data on the effects of the modules on student learning. BOLD Fellow Lauren Palladino worked with faculty mentor Dr....
The Mindful PhD: Doodling & Knitting
Jan. 22, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director Last week, I had a great conversation about class participation with SoTL Scholar Hasina Mohyuddin and my Graduate-Teaching-Fellow partner in teaching the SoTL Scholars Program Andrew Greer (both PhD candidates in the Department of Human & Organizational Development). I also serendipitously asked my students to work together to create...