‘About the CFT’
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...
Principles and Practices for Investigating Student Learning
Feb. 7, 2012—by CFT Director Derek Bruff I’m giving a talk today at the School of Medicine as part of the Medical Education Grand Rounds sponsored by the Office for Teaching and Learning in Medicine and the Academy for Excellence in Teaching. The talk is titled “The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Principles and Practices for Investigating...
Derek Bruff Welcomes New Assistant Director to the CFT
Feb. 3, 2012— I’m very happy to introduce the CFT’s newest assistant director, Nancy Chick, to the Vanderbilt community. Nancy comes to us from the University of Wisconsin-Barron County, where she was a professor of English and taught face-to-face and online courses in English and women’s studies. Prior to her arrival at the CFT, Nancy was also...
Why Work For Us as a Graduate Student: Varied and Challenging Work
Jan. 27, 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. ...
New Listing of CFT Publications and Presentations
Jan. 6, 2012—In addition to our work at Vanderbilt, Center for Teaching staff members contribute to the broader higher education community through publications and presentations. Our scholarly work includes research in our “home” disciplines, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the scholarship of educational development. Visit our new “Publications and Presentations” page to see highlights from...
The CFT Is Hiring – Assistant Director Applications Due January 15th
Dec. 2, 2011—We’re now accepting applications for an assistant director position at the CFT. The assistant director will work with faculty, teaching assistants, and other instructors across the university to advance excellence in teaching and learning at Vanderbilt. This work will take a variety of forms, in three general areas: Teaching: Consults with individuals and academic units...
Derek Bruff Named Director of the Center for Teaching
Nov. 16, 2011—Tim McNamara, Vice Provost for Faculty and International Affairs, announced yesterday that Derek Bruff has agreed to be the Director of the Center for Teaching. From the announcement: This appointment is the culmination of several weeks of consultation with faculty, staff, and academic leaders throughout the university, and has the enthusiastic support of the Provost....
Motivating Students through Authentic Audiences
Nov. 7, 2011—CFT Acting Director Derek Bruff authored an essay titled “A Social Network Can be a Learning Network” that appears in this week’s special issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education on online learning. In the essay, Derek uses the notion of social pedagogies to frame three educational technologies (social bookmarking, backchannels, and collaborative documents) that...
The CFT Welcomes New Assistant Director
Nov. 5, 2011—We’re excited to announce the upcoming appointment of Nancy Chick as a new assistant director at the CFT. Nancy is currently a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Barron County, and will begin here at the Center in January. Nancy received her B.A. from the University of New Mexico and her M.A. and Ph.D....
Report from the Road:Conference Season for the CFT
Nov. 3, 2011—Last week, CFT educational technologist Rhett McDaniel attended the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in Philadelphia. If you missed the live video streams of the conference, you can view selected sessions from the EDUCAUSE streaming video archives. The conference also featured the release of the annual ECAR study of undergraduate students that helps to shed light on...