Thank you for visiting the Institute for the Advancement of Higher Education (AdvancED- formerly known as the Center for Teaching).
We are currently redeveloping our site. For current events and workshops, please visit our new site.
Shelfies: The Bibliophile’s Selfie
Dec. 23, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director Oxford Dictionaries recently selected “selfie” as 2013’s word of the year, acknowledging the ubiquitous self-portraits snapped, then filtered, tinted, or boosted with a smartphone app, and then shared on social media. I look forward to my spring WGS 200: Women in Popular Culture class for a discussion of these...
Flexible Classrooms: Highlights from #Spaces4Learning
Dec. 19, 2013—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director. Cross-posted from Derek’s blog, Agile Learning. Last week Vanderbilt University hosted a group of architects and architecture faculty from the University of Melbourne for a series of presentations and conversations on the design of learning spaces. Melbourne is one of our “sister” schools, and faculty from its School of Architecture...
The Mindful PhD: 2013 Top 10
Dec. 19, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director I just realized this will be my last entry for 2013. As my social media feeds fill up with Top 10 Lists, I thought I’d pause at the end of the year and offer my own. Since my blog is still fairly new (this is just my 18th post),...
The Mindful PhD: Difficult Discussions
Dec. 13, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director Several recent campus conversations have focused on facilitating difficult discussions with students in and out of class. I’ve long taught multicultural American literature and women’s studies courses, so I appreciate how hard it is to effectively navigate these moments. As I prepare my syllabus for next semester, I’ve been...
CIRTL Coffee Hour: Constructing Your Teaching Portfolio
Dec. 10, 2013—Ever wonder exactly should be in a teaching portfolio….or perhaps, how you should go about getting the teaching experience that would let you construct one? Don Gillian-Daniel, Jenna Gorlewicz, and Mary Loveless addressed just these questions at a recent CIRTL Coffee Hour. Jenna Gorlewicz is in her first year as a tenure-track assistant professor of...
Designing Spaces for Learning: What’s Next? – Monday, December 9th
Dec. 5, 2013—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director The Space, Learning, and Mobility Lab (SLAMLab) at Peabody College, Peabody International Affairs, and the Vanderbilt International Office are hosting a presentation and interactive reception on the topic of learning spaces on Monday, December 9th. “Designing Spaces for Learning: What’s Next?” features a presentation by faculty from the University of...
The Mindful PhD: Inspiration, Creativity, & New Ideas
Dec. 4, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director In “The Science of Inspiration” (2013), Eric Ravenscraft highlights the neuroscientific view of inspiration, epiphanies, and “‘a-ha’ moments”: “When you make a new connection between two ideas, it’s not just a metaphor. Your brain is literally restructuring itself to accommodate new processes…. [T]he more ‘plastic’ your brain is, the...