The Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching promotes university teaching that leads to meaningful student learning. Our offerings are available to any members of the Vanderbilt community interested in developing their teaching practices.
Learning Assistant Pilot Program
Jun. 15, 2021—Learning assistants (LAs) are undergraduate students who are guided by a faculty member to work with small groups of students to promote active learning in a course. The use of LAs has been found to be associated with increased sense of belonging and to increase inclusion, particularly in large courses. LAs were piloted in BSCI...
New Course Design Institute Focusing on Inclusive Teaching
Jun. 14, 2021—The Center for Teaching was pleased to offer a Course Design Institute on Inclusive Teaching, May 24-27, in which participants (re)designed courses with a focus on all aspects of inclusive teaching, particularly engaging a diverse range of voices and perspectives, supporting student belonging and empowerment, developing productive dialogues about difficult subjects, providing accessible assignments and activities,...
Investigating Student Learning Journal Club
Jun. 11, 2021—This spring, a group of graduate students and faculty members worked with Graduate Teaching Fellow Leah Roberts and Associate Director Cynthia Brame to explore different approaches that can be used to investigate how and what our students are learning. Discussing research articles that illustrated a range of methods and questions, we identified possibilities for interrogating...
Promoting Persistence in STEM Learning Community
Jun. 10, 2021— STEM disciplines have long been concerned with disparities between underrepresented and well-represented student groups and the associated “pipeline” problem, where underrepresented students are more likely to switch away from STEM majors. A group of about eighteen faculty from eight departments met throughout 2020-2021 to explore approaches to increasing equity and inclusion in their courses...
From the Executive Director, Derek Bruff
Jun. 9, 2021—My wife and I started birdwatching earlier this year. Working from home helped us appreciate the feathered residents of our backyard, and now we keep an eye out for colorful birds when we walk at places like Radnor Lake. And, as of this morning, we have an empty nest—literally. The family of house finches that...
Excellence in Podcasting Competition
May. 12, 2021—Have any of your students produced excellent work in audio form this year? Maybe you included a podcasting assignment in your course, or you let students choose their medium for a creative assignment and one of them made an audio documentary. Or maybe you’re a student who tried your hand at academic podcasting recently. The Excellence...
Two new internal funding programs to support classroom excellence announced
May. 10, 2021—The Office of the Provost announces an additional two new internal funding programs, the Educational Advancement Fund and the Course Improvement Grant program, designed to support excellence in the classroom through continued pedagogical advancement and long-term educational transformation. These provost-sponsored internal funding programs are managed by the Office of Faculty Affairs in collaboration with the Center for Teaching...