CHPP Fellows Course Design Seminar
Nov. 8, 2022—This Fall the CFT has had the pleasure to get to know and to support Vanderbilt’s Collaborative Humanities Postdoctoral Fellows by hosting a Course Design Seminar for them. Established by the College of Arts & Science and funded by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities American Rescue Program, the Vanderbilt Collaborative...
Giving Students Feedback
Nov. 5, 2022—At this time in the semester when students are handing in an assortment of assignments, it is important to provide meaningful feedback to guide their future performance and support their growth. Effective feedback can come in a variety of forms, but students find it most helpful when it is educative about what they are doing...
CFT Resources Highlight
Nov. 3, 2022—In the second half of the semester, you might be thinking about the most effective and efficient ways to assess the good work your students are doing. The CFT has guides to help:CFT Teaching Guides: Writing Science Exams and Assessing Student LearningThese two guides provide guidance, ideas, and resources for instructors creating a range of different kinds of...
Rubrics Workshop
Oct. 17, 2022—Workshop Date: Thursday, November 3rd Time: 12:00-1:00pm Location: CFT classroom (1114 19th Avenue South, 3rd floor) Click here for location information Facilitator: Stacey Johnson, Assistant Director for Educational Technology at the Center for Teaching Feedback and grades should convey to students where they are succeeding and where they need to invest more effort in order to...
TAO (Teaching Assistant Orientation) Success
Sep. 14, 2022—From August 15 to 17, the CFT hosted a three-day Teaching Assistant Orientation (TAO) to help prepare new Teaching Assistants for their new teaching duties that could include grading, consulting with students during office hours, leading a discussion or problem sessions, teaching labs, or giving lectures. This year, a total of 265 new TAs and...
Teaching, Difference, and Power Learning Community: Anti-Racist Teaching
Sep. 13, 2022—This academic year, the CFT is co-hosting a learning community with Meredyth Wegener (Neuroscience) on anti-racist teaching with the goal of better understanding how higher education systems, teaching and learning practices, and our disciplines can resolve rather than reproduce racial marginalization and exclusion. Discussion will largely focus on the challenges and opportunities white anti-racist educators...
From the Director, Joe Bandy
Sep. 12, 2022—As many of you may already know, Derek Bruff is stepping down as Assistant Provost and Executive Director of the Center for Teaching in order to pursue other job opportunities. We wish to thank him for his leadership and for his commitments to improving teaching and learning across the university. In this moment of change,...
Unstick your Syllabi: A talk by Dr. Megan Goodwin
Sep. 12, 2022—The CFT and Jewish Studies are proud to co-sponsor a talk by Dr. Megan Goodwin, most recently a visiting scholar at Northeastern University’s Department of Philosophy and Religion. Dr. Goodwin’s research and teaching stands at the intersection of gender, sexuality, race, religion, pop culture, and politics in the United States. She is the author of Abusing...
Staff Scholarship at the Center for Teaching
Aug. 24, 2022—by Derek Bruff, executive director I’m back with a third and final excerpt from our recently published 2021-2022 Year in Review. In this post, I want to highlight some of the scholarly work done by the CFT staff. The CFT senior staff are active scholars in various fields, including educational and organizational development and discipline-based...
Instructional Technology Support at the Center for Teaching
Aug. 22, 2022—by Derek Bruff, executive director While preparing for our recently published 2021-2022 Year in Review, I was curious to know what kinds of lasting effects 18 months of pandemic teaching had on the use of instructional technology by the Vanderbilt teaching community. Our instructional technology support team gathered some data to get a sense of...