Latest Episode of the Leading Lines Podcast
May. 13, 2020—During this season of Leading Lines, we’re exploring the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on higher education. A big part of that impact lands on our students. Robin DeRosa is the director of the Open Learning & Teaching Collaborative, or Open CoLab, at Plymouth State University, a public liberal arts institution that’s part of the University. She...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Faith Rovenolt and high impact learning experiences
May. 11, 2020—By Faith Rovenolt, CFT undergraduate intern Faith Rovenolt initiated the Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt blog series in spring 2019. She has shared posts based on interviews with Vanderbilt instructors every two weeks during the academic year since then. As she graduates and moves on to graduate school, she closes out the Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt...
Brightspace Support add Zoom Drop-in Hours
May. 6, 2020—Brightspace support continues to be available to help instructors make the most of their Brightspace courses. Click here for more information about our regular phone and email support Sundays through Fridays. During the month of May, the Brightspace Support team and the Digital Media team at the CFT will be teaming up to offer drop-in...
Apply Now for the Online Course Design Institute
May. 5, 2020—The Center for Teaching invites Vanderbilt faculty, postdocs, and graduate students to apply to its new Online Course Design Institute, a two-week online experience intended to help participants prepare to teach an online course. The Online Course Design Institute will be offered multiple times this summer and we are now accepting applications for our late May and June...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Leah Marion Roberts and Student-driven Course Goals and Expectations
May. 4, 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. As a student, I find it helpful when a course has clear goals. But while that helps guide student learning, what’s equally, if...
Using Top Hat to drive student engagement in asynchronous learning
Apr. 29, 2020—by Jesse Blocher, Assistant Professor of Finance When moving a class online, my observation is that most faculty’s first move is to create video. This is logical since much of what we do as faculty is lecture in some form or another. Video is an excellent communication tool and verbal communication is a cornerstone of...
Flipgrid: Empowering Voices with Asynchronous Online Video Discussions
Apr. 21, 2020—by Patrick Murphy, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Flipgrid is a free online video tool from Microsoft that allows students to record video for up to 10 minutes. It has a lot of fun visual effects as well as intuitive assessment and feedback options that can be included in rubric evaluation...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Chelsea Yarborough, Cross-Disciplinary Examples, and Online Covenant Building
Apr. 20, 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. Something I’ve noticed in my time as a student is the false dichotomy sometimes constructed between disciplines. The most obvious example of this is...
Resources for Remote Teaching and Learning
Apr. 16, 2020—Over the last month, Center for Teaching staff have created and shared a variety of resources to help the Vanderbilt teaching community make the transition to remote teaching and learning. Those resources include: Putting Some of Your Course Content Online in a Hurry? We Have Resources for You! (Brightspace blog post) Remote Teaching at Vanderbilt: Tools...
Updates to CFT Programming
Apr. 15, 2020—With the campus move to remote teaching, learning, and work, the Center for Teaching has made some changes to its previously planned programming. Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows – We are still taking applications for the next year’s cohort of fellows! Applications are due Thursday, April 30th. Details on the JFTF website. Teaching Consultations – We are still available...