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CFT Offers New Guide: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
Sep. 24, 2013—The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL, pronounced “sō-tul” in the US) is a synthesis of teaching, learning, and research in higher education that aims to bring a scholarly lens—the curiosity, the inquiry, the rigor, the disciplinary variety—to what happens in the classroom (brick-and-mortar, virtual, co-curricular, et al.). SoTL involves asking meaningful questions about student...
Last Week’s “T.W.L.” Conversation on Teaching Writing: “Grading Is Teaching”
Sep. 24, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director Scott Juengel (English) talked about “Managing the Paper Load: Grading Writing Efficiently and Effectively” with approximately 30 faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students on September 18. This lunchtime gathering was the second in the “Teaching. Writing. Learning.” series of conversations on teaching writing. Although he’s been at Vanderbilt...
Medical Education Grand Rounds, Tuesday, October 1st, Featuring CFT Associate Director Cynthia Brame
Sep. 23, 2013—The Office for Health Sciences Education, Educator Development Core and the Academy for Excellence in Teaching presents “Flipping the Classroom” In a recent article, this month’s speaker, Cynthia Brame, Ph.D., Assistant Director, at the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching, characterized “flipping the classroom” as providing students with initial exposure to new material outside of class, usually via...
SoTL Spotlight: Special Issue of Teaching & Learning Inquiry
Sep. 19, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director Nancy is the author of a variety of SoTL articles and book chapters, as well as co-editor of two books on signature pedagogies and co-editor of Teaching & Learning Inquiry, the official journal of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL), with the Center for Teaching as its...
The Mindful PhD: Reducing Stress
Sep. 18, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director In recent weeks, I’ve talked with quite a few colleagues–faculty (full-time and part-time) and graduate students–who were nervous about teaching their first class, or their first class on this campus, the first session of a new course, or a new group of students. This concoction of stage fright, imposter...
Upcoming “Students as Producers” Conversation on Teaching, September 25th
Sep. 18, 2013—As part of our “Students as Producers” theme year, the Center for Teaching will share and explore ways that instructors can teach for this kind of learning. Students, particularly undergraduates, are often seen as “consumers” of knowledge, memorizing information delivered to them by professors during class and then simply repeating it back on exams and...
Upcoming Faculty Teaching Visit with Christopher Loss on September 24th
Sep. 17, 2013—The Teaching Visits program is an important way by which the CFT promotes collaborative inquiry and reflection. Specifically, the Teaching Visits program provides case-based opportunities for Vanderbilt teachers to consider choices they have when constructing their classes. A small group of visitors observes a host’s class on a selected day and then engages in an hour...