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Vanderbilt ShareFest: Strategies for Communicating Complex Ideas

Apr. 14, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director Below is a recap of last week’s Vanderbilt ShareFest. For more ideas on engaging students as producers of knowledge, come to the CFT’s Celebration of Learning next Monday. The event will feature a highly engaging keynote by Georgetown University’s Randy Bass, as well as an exhibition of more than 25...

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How do you teach novice scientists to be thoughtful, critical researchers?

Apr. 10, 2014—By Cynthia Brame   I recently had two experiences that spoke to this issue. First, I ran into my colleague Carl Johnson in the BioSci department at Vanderbilt. He said that he was finishing up getting ready to present at journal club, and that he needed to go take another look at the paper “to...

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ShareFest: A Showcase of Emerging Communication Strategies – Today at 4pm

Apr. 9, 2014—ShareFest is a showcase of emerging communication strategies scheduled for 4:10 to 5:30 p.m. today at the First Amendment Center, with a reception following. Expect a fast moving, interactive format featuring a variety of innovative communications strategies used on campus. Speakers and topics include: Derek Bruff, Director, Center for Teaching – Visual Learning Victoria Greene,...

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Digital Learning Graduate Fellowship Opportunity

Apr. 8, 2014—The Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning (VIDL) invites applications for graduate student fellowships for the 2014-2015 academic year. VIDL expects to award four graduate fellowships, each carrying a stipend of $5,500 per academic year for approximately five hours of work per week during the year. Applications are due April 24th. Details below. VIDL has several...

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Forman Lecture on Physics Education: Learning Physics through Technology

Apr. 8, 2014—The Department of Physics & Astronomy’s annual Forman Lecture on physics education will feature Wilton Virgo from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The talk, scheduled for Thursday, April 11, at 3 p.m. in Stevenson Center 4327, is titled “Six Easy Bytes: Learning Physics through Technology.” Here’s the abstract: The globally connected science classroom has become...

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Students as Producers in Social Science Courses

Apr. 7, 2014—by Julie Lapidot, CFT Student Assistant The following is a summary of a conversation on teaching the CFT hosted earlier this semester, part of our “Students as Producers” theme year. For more ideas on helping students become not only consumers of knowledge, but producers and creators, come to our Celebration of Learning on April 21st....

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The Mindful PhD: Looking into the Fire

Apr. 4, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director In preparation for a talk next week, I was sitting on my floor next to my bookshelves, surrounded by open volumes of literature. (This is the literary scholar’s version of a kid surrounded by unwrapped presents.) I got sidetracked as I revisited one of my favorite passages in one of...

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