From the Director: Resources for Just-in-Time Online Teaching [UPDATED]
Mar. 24, 2020—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director The Center for Teaching is making available a number of resources for faculty and other instructors as they move elements of their classes online following Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente’s announcement that Vanderbilt classes will move to alternative instruction starting March 16. Teaching in times of disruption, whether those...
New CFT resource on giving online exams focuses on reducing the probability of cheating
Mar. 24, 2020—As courses have moved online this spring, many of us need to consider how to have our students take exams online. In many cases, this involves learning how to use tools that help ensure students take the exam with only the resources you want them to have. As you think about giving exams online, it...
Junior Faculty Spotlight: Audrey Bowden
Mar. 23, 2020—Each month, the CFT highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. This month, Audrey Bowden, Biomedical Engineering, talks about her teaching philosophy and interests. Having recently moved to Vanderbilt, I feel like a re-entrant to teaching, despite the fact that I have been teaching at the college level for eight years. Therefore, participating in the Junior Faculty...
Missed the Workshop? Watch “Tools for Putting Your Teaching Online”
Mar. 13, 2020—As Vanderbilt prepares to move its classes to online and other alternative forms of instruction for the remainder of the semester, the Center for Teaching is offering a number of workshops to support faculty and other instructors as they make this transition. We are partnering with the Office of Faculty Affairs and Vanderbilt University Information...
Communicating with your students about the move to online classes
Mar. 12, 2020—by CFT assistant director, Joe Bandy I just wrote my students an email (see below) that you can use as model of things you might say to your students in preparation for next week, if you haven’t considered something like this already. Included in it is a link to a Google Forms survey I constructed...
Celebration of Learning Spotlight: GoCheck Kids Superuser Training and Global Expansion
Mar. 11, 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. Alexa Levitt led an initiative to bring early vision screening to underserved areas where preventable vision issues are currently the most debilitating using the...
Remote Teaching and Learning with Zoom and Other Tools
Mar. 10, 2020—The Brightspace support team at the Center for Teaching has put together a short video showing a few of the tools faculty and other instructors might find useful as they move to remote teaching and alternative instruction. Please note that as of this writing (late night on Tuesday, March 10), Zoom is not yet available...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Derek Bruff and Cryptography Escape Rooms
Mar. 9, 2020—By Faith Rovenolt, CFT undergraduate intern During Spring 2020, the Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt blog series will highlight teaching innovations that CFT staff have implemented and evaluated in their own courses. I heard about Dr. Derek Bruff’s teaching innovation before I started working at the CFT from my freshman RA. She had been in Bruff’s...
Graduate Student/Postdoc Workshop: Teaching 101
Mar. 9, 2020—Have you been thrust into an instructional role for which you feel unprepared? Are you a multi-semester teacher who wants a refresher on some of the basics? Regardless of your teaching experience, this workshop will provide practical, concrete guidance on the mechanics of teaching and classroom presence, with an eye towards small tweaks and adjustments that can have...
Resources for Just-in-Time Online Teaching
Mar. 7, 2020—*** PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST. *** by Derek Bruff, CFT Director As Vanderbilt prepares for potential impacts to our campus from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), many faculty are wondering how they will continue to teach if they or their students aren’t able to make it to class. Teaching in times...