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.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Workshops in September
Sep. 14, 2020—These workshops focus on practical, concrete strategies for common teaching tasks, challenges, and opportunities. These sessions draw on research-based best practices from the literature on teaching and learning and help participants consider ways to apply those best practices in their teaching. Crafting an Effective Teaching Statement In this workshop, we will address best practices for...
Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom – What’s Working, What’s Not
Sep. 11, 2020—by Derek Bruff, Director For some instructors, the classroom looks very different this fall. Some of their students are in the classroom, but masked and physically distanced. Some of their students are participating remotely during class via Zoom. Prior to this fall, no one had taught in these conditions. The Center for Teaching staff put...
Vanderbilt Libraries Fall Virtual Workshops
Sep. 10, 2020—Vanderbilt Libraries are hosting two exciting new virtual workshop series this fall. Research Productivity Series To be productive, researchers must identify relevant research, sift through and organize it to suit their scholarly purposes, and present it effectively to others. Researchers are apt to get stuck at any of these steps. This workshop series aims to...
Join a CFT Learning Community
Sep. 9, 2020—The Center for Teaching hosts a number of learning communities, intended for members of Vanderbilt’s teaching community interested in meeting over time to develop deeper understandings and richer practices around particular teaching and learning topics. This year’s learning communities are: Teaching and Race In the midst of racist and anti-immigrant violence in the United States, and...
From the Director
Sep. 7, 2020—This summer I marked 15 years on staff at the Center for Teaching. Looking back at those 15 years, I can’t remember any season as busy or as fulfilling as this summer. With hundreds of Vanderbilt instructors looking ahead to an uncertain fall, the Center for Teaching launched new programs to help our community prepare...
What is click tracking? How should instructors use it to improve their courses?
Sep. 3, 2020—Click tracking refers to the ability that both instructors and students have in Brightspace to see where students have clicked within a course. This tool can be very useful for students trying to track their own progress in a course and for instructors evaluating their own course design and learning activities. However, this tool should...
Upcoming Conversations on Teaching
Sep. 3, 2020—These sessions provide members of the Vanderbilt teaching community a chance to share their teaching experiences and learn from each other in an informal, discussion-based format. Teaching in a Hybrid and Physically Distanced Classroom For some instructors, the classroom looks very different this fall. Some of their students are in the classroom, but masked...