August Brightspace Workshops and Drop-in Hours
Aug. 15, 2017—In these hands-on workshops, participants will learn about Vanderbilt’s new course management system, Brightspace. Bring your own laptop computer so you can explore and build content in our test course! You will learn to confidently navigate the different areas of a Brightspace course; post, edit, and copy content for students using a variety of tools;...
Teaching after Charlottesville
Aug. 15, 2017—By Derek Bruff, CFT Director This weekend’s events in Charlottesville, Virginia, saw hateful and bigoted speech turn into deadly violence. As classes at Vanderbilt resume this month, these events will be on the minds of students and faculty returning to campus. They’re certainly on my mind. I think of my visit to the University of...
Teaching with Blogs: A Leading Lines Interview with Humberto Garcia
Aug. 15, 2017—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director I’m happy to announce the start of Season 3 of Leading Lines, a podcast on educational technology co-produced by the Center for Teaching. Our new season launches with an interview with Humberto Garcia, associate professor of English at the University of California at Merced. I met Humberto several years ago...
CFT Announces New Graduate Teaching Fellows!
Aug. 14, 2017—Left to Right: Sara Beck (Psychological Sciences), Justin Hubbard (History), Kylie Korsnack (English), and AmieThurber (Human & Organizational Development) The Center for Teaching is excited to announce the Graduate Teaching Fellows for 2017-18. GTFs provide a variety of services for Vanderbilt’s graduate, post docs and professional students, including one-on-one consultations on teaching issues and professional development, syllabus and course...
Just-in-Time Teaching Conference – August 18th and 22nd
Aug. 11, 2017—It’s never too late to make a good decision, right? Although planning fall courses starts long before the start of classes, we recognize that many instructors are still making course design and implementation decisions right up to the wire. That’s why we’re offering a variety of teaching workshops for Vanderbilt instructors on August 18th and...
Teaching at Vanderbilt New Faculty Orientation is Thursday, August 17th
Aug. 10, 2017—At the beginning of every academic year, the Center for Teaching hosts “Teaching at Vanderbilt,” an orientation for junior and senior faculty new to Vanderbilt. The orientation features an introduction to strategies for launching a successful teaching career at Vanderbilt, with concurrent sessions on a variety of practical topics. Teaching at Vanderbilt is an opportunity...
From the Director
Aug. 9, 2017—My daughters and I spent a few days in Washington, DC, this summer. One highlight of the trip was watching my nine-year-old explore the National Building Museum. She likes to build dollhouses out of cereal boxes and craft sticks and hot glue, so a museum devoted to the built environment was her happy place. It...
New Faculty Learning Community for Environmental Course Development
Aug. 8, 2017—Proposals are invited from faculty who wish to participate in a learning community at the Center for Teaching in 2017-2018 focused on course design for new courses in the Environmental and Sustainability Studies minor. Our plan is to have five meetings over the course of the year, culminating in a final celebration of the minor...
Learn About Vanderbilt’s New Classroom Response System Friday, August 11th
Aug. 7, 2017—Top Hat is a “bring your own device” (BYOD) classroom response system that makes use of students’ personal mobile devices (phones, tablets, laptops) as response devices. BYOD systems offer a number of logistical and pedagogical advantages over traditional, “clicker”-based systems. Top Hat is the first classroom response system to be adopted campus-wide and is now...
Vanderbilt Instructors Open Their Classoom Doors on September 5th and 6th
Aug. 4, 2017—Would you like to watch one of your colleagues teach to see how they manage the classroom, engage students, or address challenging subjects? Do you ever feel like you toil in private to learn how to teach? You’re not alone. Too often in higher education we instructors do not have the opportunity to watch and...