Join a CFT Learning Community
Sep. 9, 2020—The Center for Teaching hosts a number of learning communities, intended for members of Vanderbilt’s teaching community interested in meeting over time to develop deeper understandings and richer practices around particular teaching and learning topics. This year’s learning communities are: Teaching and Race In the midst of racist and anti-immigrant violence in the United States, and...
From the Director
Sep. 7, 2020—This summer I marked 15 years on staff at the Center for Teaching. Looking back at those 15 years, I can’t remember any season as busy or as fulfilling as this summer. With hundreds of Vanderbilt instructors looking ahead to an uncertain fall, the Center for Teaching launched new programs to help our community prepare...
What is click tracking? How should instructors use it to improve their courses?
Sep. 3, 2020—Click tracking refers to the ability that both instructors and students have in Brightspace to see where students have clicked within a course. This tool can be very useful for students trying to track their own progress in a course and for instructors evaluating their own course design and learning activities. However, this tool should...
Upcoming Conversations on Teaching
Sep. 3, 2020—These sessions provide members of the Vanderbilt teaching community a chance to share their teaching experiences and learn from each other in an informal, discussion-based format. Teaching in a Hybrid and Physically Distanced Classroom For some instructors, the classroom looks very different this fall. Some of their students are in the classroom, but masked...
Brightspace and Teaching Focused Workshops for the Fall
Sep. 2, 2020—We have several Brightspace and online teaching focused workshops lined up for September. Offerings include: Grades and Feedback in Brightspace Participants in this workshop will learn how to organize their gradebook and about the range of tools available in Brightspace to make grading and feedback more efficient and effective. September 2, 12:00-1:30pm. REGISTER Assignments in...
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...
Celebration of Learning Spotlight: The Smiler: A Case Study in Roller Coaster Safety
Aug. 26, 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. Each year millions of riders brave the courses of the world’s 5,000 roller coasters, but should passengers feel unsafe riding these behemoths of twisted...
Leading Lines Ed Tech Podcast with Susan Kevra
Aug. 24, 2020—In this episode, we’re talking with one of the participants in the Vanderbilt Online Course Design Institute, Susan Kevra, a principal senior lecturer in French who also teaches in our American studies program. In our conversation, we talk about experiential learning activities, building community and fostering social presence, balancing asynchronous and synchronous modes of instruction, and...
Teaching Assistants’ Roles and Responsibilities During COVID-19
Aug. 20, 2020—By Leah Marion Roberts, Senior Graduate Teaching Fellow, 2020-2021 and Heather N. Fedesco, Assistant Director, Center for Teaching As new Teaching Assistant Orientation comes to an end this week, it is helpful to think through the roles and responsibilities graduate teaching assistants (TAs) may now face in their entirely online or hybrid with physical distancing...
Liberating Zoom: Strategies for Better Online Discussions
Aug. 19, 2020—Friday, August 21, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Join the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities this Friday for a highly interactive, hands-on exploration of strategies that help build more inclusive and engaged teaching and research communities, online and in person. Liberating Structures, led by Anna Jackson and Fisher Qua, is a methodology grounded in the idea that the strategies commonly...