‘online courses’
Upcoming Conversation on Teaching: Synchronous Sessions in Online Courses
Jan. 20, 2021—In this Conversation on Teaching, four faculty members will share their successes and challenges in facilitating synchronous sessions in online courses this fall. Thomas Clements and Kathy Friedman, both from the Department of Biological Sciences, will talk about their use of undergraduate Learning Assistants to facilitate interaction in a high-enrollment introductory course Diana Heney from the Philosophy Department...
CFT Now Offers Instructional Design Consultations
Jan. 8, 2021—The Center for Teaching is pleased to offer instructional design consultations to the Vanderbilt teaching community. Julaine Fowlin, assistant director for instructional design, is available to consult with instructors on the design of online courses, moving an existing course online, or the development of online programs. As an instructional designer, Julaine collaborates with faculty and...
New Resource on Leading Synchronous Online Discussions
Oct. 26, 2020—Check out the latest page on Leading Synchronous Online Discussions posted within the Center for Teaching’s Online Course Development Resources website. Heather Fedesco, CFT assistant director, provides suggestions for effective ways to incorporate group discussions into Zoom class sessions. You can learn more about setting expectations for Zoom discussions, establishing community norms to ensure these...
CFT Launches New Site to Help Instructors Develop Online Courses
Aug. 17, 2020—The Center for Teaching is excited to announce the Online Course Development Resources website. The site is designed to help faculty and other instructors design, teach, and revise their online courses, drawing on research, best practices, and existing resources from the Center for Teaching and around the web. There are two ways to engage with the resources on the...
NEW Online Course Visits Program!
Jul. 13, 2020—Seeing others teach can be a valuable way help us grow our own teaching practice. For years, the CFT has hosted teaching visits for Vanderbilt faculty, post-docs, and grad students to observe their colleagues’ face-to-face classes (such as during the Open Classroom event). In hybrid and online courses, a significant amount of teaching is done digitally, in...
Sign up for the Brightspace Course Template Workshop
Jul. 8, 2020—The CFT has developed an online course template for online courses in Brightspace. If you are interested in learning more about the template to see if it might work for you, you can sign up for a one-hour workshop with Brightspace Instructional Technologist, Erica Brandon. Erica will walk you through the elements of the template...
Apply Now for the Online Course Design Institute
Jul. 7, 2020—The Center for Teaching invites Vanderbilt faculty, postdocs, and graduate students to apply to its new Online Course Design Institute, a two-week online experience intended to help participants prepare to teach an online course. The Online Course Design Institute will be offered multiple times this summerand we are now accepting applications. You can hear more about...
Teaching labs remotely
Apr. 3, 2020—by Cynthia Brame, CFT associate director As we start to prepare for teaching summer courses online, some instructors are making the shift toward teaching labs online. As many lab courses are designed to be about learning from hands-on, messy, real-world exploration, this shift can be a challenge. Use your goals as your guide One of...
Using OneNote to teach online
Mar. 30, 2020—by Elliott McCarter, Senior Lecturer in Hindi-Urdu, Asian Studies Program and 2019-2020 Junior Faculty Teaching Fellow at Vanderbilt University Upon being called to teach my courses online, I cringed at the thought of being chained to a computer for hours on end as I slowly typed everything in Hindi, Urdu, and Sanskrit. My strong desire...
Gradescope grading tool for handwritten exams, lab reports, and more is free through June 30
Mar. 26, 2020—Gradescope is an online, FERPA compliant grading tool that professors can use to grade handwritten exams, typed homework assignments, lab reports and more. Gradescope works well for many types of questions: paragraphs, proofs, diagrams, fill-in-the-blank and true/false to name a few. Six Vanderbilt professors have been using it for over four years and are enthusiastic...