‘Active Learning’
Signal-to-noise in the classroom
Aug. 5, 2019—by Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Associate Director I’ve been thinking a lot about signal-to-noise ratio this summer. My post-doctoral research relied heavily on mass spectrometry of complex mixtures, and we thought a lot about signal-to-noise and whether we were missing the thing we were after in a sea of other things our instrument could detect....
Getting Started with Active Learning: Behind-the-scenes Development of a Cheat Sheet
May. 28, 2019—by Greg Smith, CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow This year, I helped lead a learning community focused on active learning. Together, Cynthia Brame and I guided a group of about 25 faculty and graduate students through seven sessions to investigate the “why” and “how” of active learning. As our meetings progressed, we started thinking about how...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Daniela D’Eugenio and Selective Technology Use
Apr. 29, 2019—By Faith Rovenolt, CFT undergraduate intern Personal technological devices, such as phones and laptops, are ubiquitous in society as well as the classroom. Their use is banned outright by some professors and encouraged by others, but just as outside of the classroom, the exact role and extent they should be used is still being explored....
Junior Faculty Spotlight: Elizabeth Self
Mar. 7, 2019—Each month, the CFT highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. This month, Elizabeth Self, Teaching and Learning, talks about her teaching philosophy and interests. I have been a lecturer at Peabody College in the Department of Teaching and Learning for the last two years but have been at Vanderbilt University for much...
Top Hat Week Begins Jan. 28th!
Jan. 13, 2019—Are you interested in new ways to engage your students during class? Top Hat is Vanderbilt’s classroom response system, available for free to all faculty, staff, and students. Using Top Hat, instructors can pose polling questions and ask all their students to respond using their phones or laptops. Top Hat quickly collects and visualizes student...
Vanderbilt’s Ed Tech Podcast Kicks-off Fourth Season
Aug. 19, 2018—In this episode, we hear from Bryan Dewsbury, assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Rhode Island. He’s incredibly passionate about student success, and he uses technology in ways that are fully supportive of his pedagogical goals. His approach to teaching introductory biology isn’t the typical one, and we are glad to have...
New CFT Teaching Guide – Leveraging Study Abroad: Collecting and Teaching with Authentic Resources
Aug. 24, 2016—By Stacey M. Johnson and Vivian Finch, CFT Assistant Directors In language classrooms, instructors often bring in authentic language and culture resources for students to examine. These resources help students to gain a perspective on how people use language in culturally situated ways. For many students, contact with authentic resources is one of the most...
Dept. of Chemistry’s Colloquium Series Features Brian Coppola on March 28th
Mar. 21, 2016—Real Work is Better than Homework Dr. Brian Coppola, American Chemical Society Fellow and 2009 CASE/Carnegie US Professor of the Year will give a Chemistry Department Colloquium Monday, March 28, 4:15-5:30 in Stevenson Center 5211. Prof. Coppola is well known for his work in Instructional development; the abstract for his talk and two relevant recent...
Effective educational videos
Aug. 17, 2015—by Cynthia J. Brame Print Version Cite this guide: Brame, C.J. (2015). Effective educational videos. Retrieved [todaysdate] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/effective-educational-videos/. Video has become an important part of higher education. It is integrated as part of traditional courses, serves as a cornerstone of many blended courses, and is often the main information delivery mechanism in MOOCs. Several...
TAing to Thousands: A Graduate Student MOOC Panel
Mar. 19, 2014—What is it like to serve as a teaching assistant in a course with thousands of students? On February 24, 2014, the Vanderbilt Institute for Digital Learning, Center for Teaching, Graduate School, and Jean & Alexander Heard Library co-sponsored a panel of graduate students (and one undergraduate student) who have served as Teaching Assistants for...