‘Graduate Education’
How engaging in educational research influenced my teaching
Mar. 5, 2018—by Ryan Bowen, CFT Graduate Assistant When it came to teaching, I used to have intuitive sense about what effective instruction looked like in the classroom. I could walk into a room, deliver a lesson, facilitate an activity, and assess learning in some capacity. If my students met a certain performance standard or quantitative score...
The CFT Welcomes New Assistant Director Vivian Finch
Jul. 14, 2015—We’re excited to welcome Vivian Finch as the CFT’s newest Assistant Director. Vivian’s name might sound familiar—she was a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the CFT last year and a Teaching Affiliate before that. Vivian is graduating this summer from Vanderbilt with a PhD in German literature, and we’re happy to have Vivian continue her work...
Training PhDs in the Biomedical Sciences: A Health Sciences Education Grand Rounds, July 8th
Jun. 24, 2015—Science faculty involved in graduate education at Vanderbilt might be interested in next month’s Health Sciences Education Grand Rounds talk by Dr. Michael Mulvany, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark. Dr. Mulvany will share some of the changes that are underway in the European Union as they seek to modernize the way they...
Interested in the Digital Humanities? Apply to be a HASTAC Scholar – Deadline Sept. 1
Aug. 19, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director If you’re a graduate student in the humanities interested in exploring the intersections of teaching, scholarship, and technology, please consider applying to be a HASTAC Scholar for 2014-15. The deadline for applications is September 1st. HASTAC (pronounced “haystack”) is the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, a global network...
HASTAC Scholars, an Opportunity for Graduate Students in the Digital Humanities (Deadline: July 18th)
Jul. 7, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director Today on the blog, we’re sharing a call for applications from graduate students to be HASTAC Scholars. HASTAC (pronounced “haystack”) is the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, a global network of academics exploring ways that technology can enhance teaching, research, and scholarship. HASTAC Scholars is a professional development...
How do you teach novice scientists to be thoughtful, critical researchers?
Apr. 10, 2014—By Cynthia Brame I recently had two experiences that spoke to this issue. First, I ran into my colleague Carl Johnson in the BioSci department at Vanderbilt. He said that he was finishing up getting ready to present at journal club, and that he needed to go take another look at the paper “to...
Setting Expectations and Resolving Conflict in Graduate Education
Mar. 18, 2014—Professors Rique Campa and Judith Stoddart, Michigan State University, will lead an interactive session for faculty, teaching an interest-based approach to setting expectations and resolving conflicts among graduate students and faculty. The discussion will focus on ways to identify common interests that can help construct mutually satisfying options. This will be a “train the trainer”...
SoTL Spotlight: Reflections from a SoTL Project
Nov. 20, 2013—by Andrew Greer, CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow Learning happens (or doesn’t), and the processes often remain hidden. Teachers tend to modify their teaching with trial and error, and base these modifications on assumptions about the problems with student learning. However, instead of being guided by hunches, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) researchers strive to...
Real Science for Real Student: The Scientist in the Classroom Program
May. 20, 2013—by Sarah P. Collier, 2013 Teaching Certificate Recipient and 2012-13 SoTL Scholar Staff from the Scientist in the Classroom Program (SCP) led a fantastic morning session during the CFT’s Celebration of Teaching on Friday, May 3rd. The SCP is one of nine programs offered by the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach, which works to unite...
Teaching Demonstrations: Advice and Strategies
Mar. 29, 2013—by Adam Wilsman, Graduate Teaching Fellow If you’re on the academic job market, you may be hearing back from more schools each week as many start to make decisions about their open faculty positions. If you’re among the lucky ones, you may even receive a campus invite or two. While this is a major accomplishment...