‘STEM’
An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching – Starts October 6th
Aug. 18, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director I’m very pleased to announce that the free, seven-week, online course “An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching” is now open for enrollment. The course is designed to provide graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) who are planning college and university faculty...
Coordination and Coherence: Behind the Scenes of a Multi-Institution MOOC
Aug. 7, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director, cross-posted from Derek’s blog, Agile Learning Back in November, I announced that the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching would be part of a $750,000, three-year, multi-institution National Science Foundation supporting the creation of two MOOCs (massive open online courses) on evidence-based teaching practices for future STEM (science, technology, engineering, and...
Students as Producers: Animating Organic Chemistry
Jun. 16, 2014—By Nayana Bose, CFT Graduate Teaching Fellow The CFT’s “Students as Producers” theme year culminated in our end-of-year event, the Celebration of Learning. As a part of the celebration, an exhibition of 25 student projects from all four undergraduate schools showcased a wide variety of student work. This series of blog posts highlights some...
A Career Symposium on May 30th: Where Can You Go With a Science PhD?
May. 13, 2014—The Biomedical Research Education & Training (BRET) Office of Career Development and the Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association are sponsoring a career symposium on May 30th for graduate students and post-docs in the sciences. From the press release: Think you know what a career in academia looks like? Think again! Our myriad of speakers have pursued...
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...
Forman Lecture on Physics Education: Learning Physics through Technology
Apr. 8, 2014—The Department of Physics & Astronomy’s annual Forman Lecture on physics education will feature Wilton Virgo from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The talk, scheduled for Thursday, April 11, at 3 p.m. in Stevenson Center 4327, is titled “Six Easy Bytes: Learning Physics through Technology.” Here’s the abstract: The globally connected science classroom has become...
I’ve Flipped My Classroom. Now What?
Feb. 17, 2014—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director “A few years ago if I had said flipped classroom to them, most faculty would have given me a blank stare,” said Derek Bruff, director of the center and a senior lecturer in mathematics. “Now they are coming to us wanting more detail. The speed of that change and the...
The Power of Design: What design projects can teach our students—and us
Feb. 13, 2014—By Cynthia J. Brame, Assistant Director This year, the CFT has adopted a “Students as Producers” theme, exploring ways that instructors can scaffold their classes to help students do meaningful, creative work. Design projects, the linchpin of any engineering curriculum, illustrate some of the key benefits and lessons of helping your students be producers. I’ve...
How to (Re)frame Your Teaching for Non-academic Jobs
Feb. 12, 2014—By Andrew Greer, Graduate Teaching Fellow Attention fellow graduate students: Eventually we will seek employment outside of our programs. If you’re like me, your search is in full force. With the majority of academic applications behind me, I’ve switched my strategy to applying for non-academic jobs. This switch not only requires transforming my CV into...
BOLD Fellow Zane Ricks Creates Interactive Learning Module for Biostatistics Course
Jan. 6, 2014—The BOLD Fellows program is designed to bring together graduate students and faculty members interested in blended and online learning. Graduate students develop online learning modules for implementation in a faculty mentor’s course and then gather data on the effects of the modules on student learning. BOLD Fellow Zane Ricks worked with faculty mentor Dr....