News Category
Junior Faculty Spotlight: Sophie Bjork-James
Jul. 9, 2019—Each month, the CFT Newsletter highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. This month, Sophie Bjork-James, Anthropology, talks about her eaching philosophy and interests. I teach anthropology classes on reproductive politics, race and racism, and climate change. Modeling how to engage in controversial conversations in productive ways is thus a focus of my...
Faculty Panel Considers Future of Digital Literacies on Leading Lines Podcast
Jun. 24, 2019—On Leading Lines, we usually talk with educators, researchers, and technologists about what they’re doing now, and ask them a question or two about where they’d like to see educational technology go in the next few years. In this episode, however, we’re going to camp out in the future. The Vanderbilt Center for Teaching recently...
CFT is accepting applications for a lead instructional technologist!
Jun. 20, 2019—We’re hiring! The CFT is seeking applicants for a lead instructional technologist position. This position will support faculty, students, and staff at Vanderbilt to enhance student learning through the use of Brightspace, Vanderbilt’s course management system, and other online learning platforms. The Lead Instructional Technologist will report to the CFT’s Assistant Director for Educational Technology...
Who’s doing all the work? Who’s having all the fun?
Jun. 4, 2019—Part 2: Five adaptable steps to active learning by Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Associate Director I recently wrote about Barb Stengel’s challenge to ask ourselves “Who’s doing all the work? Who’s having all the fun?” in our classes. I find that Barb’s questions keep me thinking about the fun and work of learning and help...
Getting Started with Active Learning: Behind-the-scenes Development of a Cheat Sheet
May. 28, 2019—by Greg Smith, CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow This year, I helped lead a learning community focused on active learning. Together, Cynthia Brame and I guided a group of about 25 faculty and graduate students through seven sessions to investigate the “why” and “how” of active learning. As our meetings progressed, we started thinking about how...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Mary Lauren Pfieffer, Anna Richmond, and Pediatric Simulations
May. 13, 2019—By Faith Rovenolt, CFT undergraduate intern Teaching Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Care of the Child is a challenge: students need to understand a range of concepts for caring for children and adolescents across a large developmental spectrum, building knowledge that has cognitive, psychosocial, and motor components. Mary Lauren Pfieffer, Instructor in Nursing, and Anna...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Daniela D’Eugenio and Selective Technology Use
Apr. 29, 2019—By Faith Rovenolt, CFT undergraduate intern Personal technological devices, such as phones and laptops, are ubiquitous in society as well as the classroom. Their use is banned outright by some professors and encouraged by others, but just as outside of the classroom, the exact role and extent they should be used is still being explored....
Season 2 Coming Soon!
Apr. 25, 2019—Thanks to the Vanderbilt students and faculty who contributed to the first season of VandyVox! We were thrilled to share student-produced audio from anthropology, game studies, health policy, human and organizational development, law, mathematics, and women’s and gender studies. Be sure to listen to our final episode of the season, which features the audio introduction...
Students as Producers: Collaborating toward Deeper Learning
Apr. 25, 2019—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director If you’ve been following my work, you know that I’m a proponent of engaging the students in the courses we teach not only as consumers of information, but also as producers of knowledge. My Vanderbilt Center for Teaching colleagues and I have been sharing this “Students as Producers” approach to...
Engaging Possibility: Digital Literacy, Disability, and Design
Apr. 25, 2019—by Chelsea Yarborough, Graduate Teaching Fellow, and Derek Bruff, Director On March 15, 2019, the Center for Teaching’s Digital Learning Community engaged in an important conversation centered on digital literacy and accessibility. The goal of this session was to focus on the real concerns of different learners already present in our classrooms and to consider...