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‘syllabus’

CFT Working Group: Preparing Syllabi for First Faculty Job

Jun. 30, 2022—By Ransford Pinto During the Spring semester, the CFT organized a working group dedicated to supporting graduate students and postdocs who will be new faculty in the Fall of 2022 to create their needed syllabi in advance of the upcoming school year. In the four bi-weekly meetings, participants engaged in activities focused on Understanding by Design for...

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Preparing Syllabi for Your First Faculty Job

Mar. 15, 2022—This working group will support graduates students and postdocs who will be new faculty in the Fall of 2022 and expected to teach their own classes. Starting a new faculty position is stressful and demanding; the CFT hopes to ease this transition by helping graduating doctoral students and postdocs create their needed syllabi in advance...

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One of these things was not like the others: Experiences with standards- and specifications-based grading

Aug. 30, 2021—This guest blog post comes from Richard F. Haglund, Stevenson Professor of Physics.   The following comments are reflections after a year of fruitful dialogue with colleagues in an on-line learning community sponsored by the Center for Teaching, organized and led by Cynthia Brame. What I experienced about grading in 2020-2021 is a significant difference...

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Want to signal inclusion to your neurodivergent students? Use this syllabus statement

Jul. 29, 2021—  In 2020-2021, a group of faculty met throughout the year to consider ways to promote equity and inclusion in their courses and programs (you can see a brief description of how they got started here). Keivan Stassun, professor of physics & astronomy, committed to developing a statement that faculty can use in their course...

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Talking to your students about Brightspace – Spring 2019

Jan. 11, 2019—Getting to know a course management system can be confusing for students, as well as instructors. We’ve assembled a list of “Four Things Every Student Should Know about Brightspace at Vanderbilt.” This list will help your students as they navigate Brightspace. Instructors can feel free to share this post with students, link to it within...

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Syllabus Statements

Aug. 20, 2018—by Derek Bruff, CFT Director It’s that time of year. Time to update the syllabus for your fall course. Or maybe create a new syllabus from scratch. I feel like I’m ahead of schedule this year, since I updated the syllabus for my first-year writing seminar last Wednesday, a full week ahead of the first...

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Course Design Grad Student & Postdoc Workshop

Apr. 10, 2017—Many graduate students do not get the opportunity to design their own syllabi or design and organize their courses. This workshop has been developed to assist graduate students in being more aware and intentional about how to design a course and syllabus overall. The workshop will include feedback from faculty in various departments about their thought...

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New CFT Guide on Syllabus Design

May. 15, 2014—Jessica Riviere, Senior Graduate Teaching Fellow has develeped a new online guide on the topic of syllabus design. The strongest syllabi are built on a solid foundation of course design. Therefore, you should start by developing learning goals that are appropriate for the level of the class and the students in it. These are goals...

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Syllabus Design

Apr. 5, 2014—by Jessica Riviere, Danielle Picard, and Richard Coble1 Print Version Cite this guide: Riviere, J., Picard, D., & Coble, R. (2014). Syllabus Design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/syllabus-design/.   What does a syllabus contain? || How does tone affect learners? ||  What are examples of policies and resources I can use? ||...

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What’s In Your Syllabus?

Jan. 7, 2014—by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director I just posted my syllabus on YES (Your Enrollment Services, where students register online) as part of Vanderbilt’s effort to help students make informed choices about their courses, and I had a moment of anxiety.  Like Anne Bradstreet in “The Author to Her Book,” despite my worries that it’s...

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