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Spotlight Event: Teaching with Wikipedia
Sep. 16, 2021—Wikipedia is home to over 55 million articles. The website is a valuable source for information, but it also has systematic knowledge gaps, as well as biases toward historically privileged perspectives. Vanderbilt political scientists Brooke Ackerly and Kristin Michelitch have been working to correct these gaps and biases by engaging their students as Wikipedia contributors. Students are, in...
From the Executive Director
Sep. 14, 2021—by Derek Bruff, executive director, Vanderbilt Center for Teaching Vanderbilt’s return to the classroom this fall isn’t going exactly as we might have predicted or hoped back in June, given the changing conditions of the pandemic. However, between Vanderbilt instructors’ experience with adaptive teaching last year and an impressively high vaccination rate for the Vanderbilt...
Lessons from a Journal Club Blog Series
Sep. 13, 2021—Assessment of student learning is a familiar and essential component of teaching. As college instructors, we constantly ask ourselves questions like: “Are my students learning?” “What do they still not understand?” “Do students feel they can approach me with questions or concerns?” or, “That cool new thing I tried this semester — did it work?!”...
Upcoming Workshop: Group Work That Works
Aug. 20, 2021—Date: Tuesday, August 24th Time: 10:30am – 12:00pm Facilitator: Ransford Pinto, CFT assistant director Group work is an effective teaching approach that enhances student learning and encourages critical thinking and decision-making skills. In this workshop, we will explore strategies and leverage some lessons learned from last year to foster better group work during our in-person classes. REGISTER (A...
Upcoming Workshop: Teaching in Stereo – Strategies for Class Participation
Aug. 20, 2021— Date: Tuesday, August 24th Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm Location: CFT Classroom or Zoom Facilitator: Derek Bruff, CFT director Zoom classes showed us that having students participate using their voices isn’t the only meaningful kind of participation. How can we take a more inclusive, accessible approach to class participation once we’re back in the classroom? Join us in...
Upcoming Workshop: Inclusive Teaching
Aug. 19, 2021—Date: Monday, August 23rd Time: 9:00 -10:30am Facilitator: Joe Bandy, CFT assistant director This workshop provides an introduction to some of the foundational principles and practices of inclusive teaching. Inclusive teaching is that which supports all students in their efforts to find greater belonging, equity, and trust in a course’s learning community. Inclusive teaching is predicated upon thinking through...
Digital Media Lab Open House
Aug. 19, 2021—Date: Monday, August 23rd Time: 1:00-3:00pm Location: Digital Commons, 1101 19th Ave. South, Room 012 Facilitators: Rhett McDaniel, CFT assistant director Tracye Davis, digital media specialist Seth Shepherd, digital media specialist Visit the CFT’s new Digital Media Lab located in the Digital Commons. This new facility provides instructors with the software, equipment, environment, and instructional staff needed to...
Upcoming Workshop: Teaching for Wellbeing
Aug. 13, 2021—Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2021 Time: 1:00 – 2:30 Facilitators: Julaine Fowlin, CFT assistant director and Stacy Simplican, Senior Lecturer, Gender and Sexuality Studies Wellbeing is not the absence of challenges, but being equipped with internal and external resources to cope. The return to campus may bring new challenges. In this workshop, we will give an overview of...
Teaching Assistant Orientation
Aug. 12, 2021—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,...
Upcoming Workshop: Teaching with Top Hat
Aug. 10, 2021—Date: Thursday, August 12th Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm Location: Zoom Facilitator: Rhett McDaniel, CFT assistant director Guest Faculty: Jesse Blocher, associate professor of the practice of data science and finance In this session you’ll hear about Top Hat, Vanderbilt’s student polling application. Top Hat allows you to ask multiple question types, receive responses, and generate discussions with real-time feedback...