Skip to main content

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.


 

Why Work for us as a Graduate Student: Learning & Professional Development

Feb. 20, 2012—Each spring the Center for Teaching (CFT) recruits graduate students and post-docs to work at the Center for the following school year. These positions are great opportunities for graduate students to refine their teaching and presentation skills, network with graduate students outside of their department or program, and develop expertise in training and supporting new TAs. ...

Read more


Social Pedagogies: An opportunity for authentic learning?

Feb. 18, 2012—This is a post written by Graduate Teaching Fellow, Megan McMurtry. One way to motivate student engagement with course material is to make use of social pedagogies.  Social Pedagogies are “design approaches for teaching and learning that engage students with what we might call and ‘authentic audience’ (other than the teacher), where the representation of...

Read more


CIRTL Coffee Hour 2/21: On the job market: Varied paths to the Professoriate

Feb. 17, 2012—The 2011-2012 CIRTL Coffee Hour Series provides an opportunity for STEM (science, technology, engineering, & math) graduate students and post docs to get together online and talk about careers and the academic job search. The series is facilitated by a mix of young faculty who have recently secured positions and more seasoned tenured faculty. This year’s...

Read more


Talking with Faculty About Cognitive Science & Learning (POD Essays on Teaching Excellence)

Feb. 16, 2012—CFT Assistant Director Nancy Chick previews an essay by John Girash, Harvard University, appearing in Essays on Teaching Excellence published by the Professional and Organizational Network in Higher Education. In “Talking with Faculty About Cognitive Science & Learning,” one of the essays in POD’s new Essays on Teaching Excellence, John Girash of Harvard connects the brain...

Read more


Upcoming Event: Grading Effectively & Efficiently

Feb. 15, 2012—Join us for this upcoming teaching workshop! Grading Effectively & Efficiently Date & Time:      February 22, 4:10-5:30 Facilitator:           Leanna Fuller, Graduate Teaching Fellow Format:                Teaching Workshop Audience:           Graduate Students and Post-Docs Grading can be a source of stress for instructors.  How do you know if you’re being fair in your assessment of...

Read more


Engaging Students in Large Lectures

Feb. 14, 2012—by CFT Director Derek Bruff I’m leading a workshop in the School of Nursing this morning on the topic of teaching large lecture classes. I’m using a Prezi for the workshop, and I’ve embedded it below. You can click the forward button to move through the Prezi, or use your mouse to zoom and pan...

Read more


A Few Examples of Teaching with Clickers

Feb. 14, 2012—by CFT Director Derek Bruff I’m teaching a statistics course for engineering students in the math department this spring. With 73 students in the course, it’s keeping me busy, but I think it’s important that the CFT director (and assistant directors) are in the classroom here at Vanderbilt. Teaching lets us directly support the teaching...

Read more