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‘Conversations on Teaching’

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...

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Conversations on Digital Pedagogy

Mar. 2, 2015—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director Two weeks ago I gave a keynote titled “More Than Just Shiny Objects” at the Research on Teaching and Learning Summit at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. I argued that our use of educational technology should be guided by our knowledge of how learning works. Otherwise, we run the risk...

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Last Week’s “T.W.L.” Conversation on Teaching Writing: “Grading Is Teaching”

Sep. 24, 2013—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director Scott Juengel (English) talked about “Managing the Paper Load:  Grading Writing Efficiently and Effectively” with approximately 30 faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students on September 18. This lunchtime gathering was the second in the “Teaching. Writing. Learning.” series of conversations on teaching writing. Although he’s been at Vanderbilt...

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Conversations on Teaching Writing Under Way

Sep. 5, 2013—“Teaching. Writing. Learning.,” the new series of conversations on teaching writing across the campus, began last Wednesday.  Emily King (English), Richard Lloyd (Sociology), and Jonathan Gilligan (Earth & Environmental Sciences) were the invited guests for kick-off event entitled “Starting the Conversation: A Panel on Inspiring Your Students to Write.” Emily emphasized the need to define...

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Teaching Large Classes

Jan. 31, 2013—By Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Assistant Director Teaching large classes can pose particular challenges. How do you personalize interaction in a class with more than 100—or even more than 200—students? How do you promote student engagement when it’s so easy for a student to hide in the crowd? How do you provide helpful feedback without...

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New Website Features Course Blogs

Sep. 11, 2012—Increasingly, Vanderbilt instructors are incorporating blogs into their course design. The CFT has assembled blogs from several of these courses in one place. Course Blogs at Vanderbilt is a mash-up of live feeds representing a wide variety of courses that use blogging to help students reflect on, comment about, and introduce new ideas to course...

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