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Upcoming Orientations

2015 Teaching Assistant Orientation (TAO)
Wednesday, August 19
9:00AM-4:00PM

2015 Teaching at Vanderbilt Orientation (TAV)
Thursday, August 20
1:00PM-5:00PM

 

 

 

 

Teaching
workshops

Teaching Inclusively to Diverse Groups
Monday, August 24
11:30am-1:00pm

Intro to Blackboard
Monday, August 24
2:00pm-3:30pm

Flipping the Classroom: Putting Principles Into Practice
Tuesday, August 25
11:30am-1:00pm

Hands-on PowerPoint Clinic
Tuesday, August 25
2:00pm-3:30pm

 

 

 

 


CFT BLOG

Check out these recent posts to our blog.

Thinking STEM, Teaching STEM: A Blog Series

Make the Most of Your Course Preparation Time This Summer

The CFT Welcomes New Assistant Director Vivian Finch

From the Stacks :
Teaching as a Design Science

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Archives

August 2015

The CFT Offers Drop-in Blackboard Support Sessions!

The CFT has added a new way to access Blackboard support at Vanderbilt. During our drop-in hours, faculty and staff who have Blackboard-related questions can stop by the library area of the CFT (even without an appointment) and find a team of specialists ready to assist. We can get you up to speed with Blackboard’s new features, assist with building your course content, or help you solve technical problems.

If you need help but can't drop by any of the times listed below, you can email your questions to blackboard@vanderbilt.edu for online support or schedule a consultation with a member of the Blackboard support team.

August Drop-in Support Hours

Friday - 7th
Monday - 10th   
Tuesday - 11th   
Friday - 14th
Monday - 17th   
Tuesday - 18th

11a-12p 
2p-3p  
2p-3p  
11a-12p 
2p-3p  
9a-10a

Friday – 21st
Monday – 24th
Tuesday – 25th
Wednesday – 26th
Thursday – 27th
Friday – 28th

11a-12p
10a-11a 
2p-3p
9a-10a
1p-2p
11a-12p


Teaching Workshops to Help You Prepare for Fall Courses

During the week of August 24th, the CFT will be offering the following workshops for new and returning faculty:

Teaching Inclusively to Diverse Groups

Date: Monday, August 24
Time: 11:30am-1:00pm
Location: Center for Teaching
Facilitator: Joe Bandy, CFT Assistant Director
Audience: New and Returning Faculty

In our increasingly diverse classrooms, it is important to support the development of every student and to structure equal opportunities for learning for all who enroll.  Unfortunately, our teaching practices may fall short in their attempts to do this, particularly for underrepresented or more marginal student groups who may face difficulties finding belonging.  Based on existing research and the experiences of Vanderbilt faculty, this workshop will discuss common challenges to inclusive teaching and strategies for creating more dynamic, participatory, and diverse learning environments.  Particular attention will be given to discussion leading and leveraging student differences for more engaged and productive learning. Lunch provided.

REGISTER HERE

Intro to Blackboard

Date: Monday, August 24
Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm
Location: Stevenson Center, Room 2200 See map
Facilitator: Stacey Johnson, CFT Assistant Director for Educational Technology
Audience: Faculty and Graduate Student Instructors

Intro to Blackboard is a workshop for instructors new to the Blackboard course management system, or for those who have been away for a while and need a refresher. Blackboard, formerly “OAK”, can be useful tool in managing your courses and enhancing student learning. This workshop will introduce Blackboard’s most commonly used features, including a few new ones that have been added this year like rubrics and integrated SafeAssign. Participants will explore how to create assignments and discussion boards, how to post and interact with course materials, and how to manage the grade center. This hands-on session will take place in a computer lab, but feel free to bring your own laptop if you prefer.

REGISTER HERE

Flipping the Classroom: Putting Principles Into Practice

Date: Tuesday, August 25
Time:
11:30am-1:00pm
Location: Center for Teaching
Facilitator: Cynthia Brame, CFT Assistant Director
Audience: New and Returning Faculty

The flipped classroom has captured the attention of the higher education community with its promise to help students prepare before class for more engaged, critical learning in class. The ideas behind the flipped classroom are relatively simple; the challenge is in putting the key principles into practice. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the key ideas behind the flipped classroom identified in a brief pre-workshop reading and will draft plans for their own flipped class session. Participants will come away with initial plans for a flipped class session, identification of next steps to take, and resources for further exploration. Lunch provided.

REGISTER HERE

Hands-on PowerPoint Clinic

Date: Tuesday, August 25
Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm
Location: Stevenson Center, Room 2200 See map
Facilitator: Rhett McDaniel, CFT Educational Technologist
Audience: New and Returning Faculty

We have all experienced the pain of a bad PowerPoint presentation. And even though we promise ourselves never to make the same mistakes, we can still fall prey to similar PowerPoint traps.  The good news is that your PowerPoint presentation doesn’t have to be boring. In this hands-on session, you'll learn about importing and adjusting photos, adding audio and video, creating appropriate slide transitions and animations, as well as strategies for displaying content. Come learn how to keep your PowerPoint slide shows visually appealing and interesting and make your classroom presentations stand above the crowd!

REGISTER HERE

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New CFT Working Group Will Focus on Online, Collaborative Timelines

The CFT is putting together a working group for instructors interested in having students build online, collaborative timelines. Tools like Tiki-Toki and TimelineJS can be used to create interactive, multimedia timelines that can be shared and analyzed.

If this sounds like a potentially useful assignment for one of your courses, or if you have experience using timeline tools, please contact Derek Bruff, CFT Director, derek.bruff@vanderbilt.edu.

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Mark your calendar & spread the word about upcoming August orientations.

curbTeaching at Vanderbilt (TaV), an orientation for junior and senior faculty new to Vanderbilt, will be held from 1p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 20th, 2015, in Buttrick Hall. Those interested in attending should RSVP by August 14th by registering online or by calling the Center for Teaching at (615) 322-7290. Throughout the week following TAV Orientation the CFT staff will be available for teaching consultations, and will offer a series of hands-on workshops addressing a variety of teaching topics to help further prepare new faculty for the coming academic year.


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Teaching Assistant Orientation (TAO) will be held on Wednesday, August 19th, in Buttrick Hall. TAO is intended for all graduate students who will begin teaching assistant (TA) duties during the 2015-16 school year. New teaching assistants should register for the event by August 14th. Information about this event is also available on the CFT website.

Please spread the details about these two events to new faculty and new graduate students in your department.

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CFT Proudly Welcomes the 2015 Cohort of Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows!

This year's Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows are, left to right,
Gabriel Briggs (English), Courtney Cook (Nursing), Larisa DeSantis, (Earth and Environmental Science), David Diehl (Human and Organizational Development), Anita Disney (Psychology), Ravindra Duddu (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Melissa Glassford (Nursing), Karen Hande (Nursing), David Laird (Leadership, Policy, and Organizations), Abby Parish (Nursing), Anna Richmond (Nursing), Anand Taneja (Religious Studies), LaTonya Trotter (Sociology).

Research by Robert Boice (Advice for New Faculty, 2000) and others indicates that junior faculty often find teaching the most challenging and time-consuming part of their jobs. This is why the CFT is dedicated to helping all junior faculty become quick starters by offering an array of workshops, working groups, and consultation opportunities, programs that can result in more successful and enjoyable teaching experiences.

Primary among the CFT's junior faculty programs is the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellowship, which provides its recipients with a more structured faculty development experience complete with consultations, course design seminar, peer education, and senior faculty mentorship. This program not only helps its fellows develop an understanding of best teaching practices across the disciplines, but also assists them in their professional growth by helping them hone their abilities to balance teaching and research, improve their materials for review, and build a collaborative culture of teaching at Vanderbilt. This year, support from the School of Nursing is allowing the CFT to introduce a discipline-specific cohort of teaching fellows to the JFTF program.

Over the coming months, the CFT newsletter will highlight the work of this year's Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. Each month two fellows will be featured discussing their teaching philosophies and interests.

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Announcing the New Teaching Affiliates for 2015

This year's Teaching Affiliates are, left to right,
Jennifer Bradham
(Earth Science), Kristen Droege (Chemistry), Kelley Frances Fenelon (Human and Organizational Development), Tim Foster (Spanish)Allison McGrath (Sociology), Kirsten Mendoza (English), Mike Moody (Economics), Matt Thompson (Chemical Engineering).

The Center for Teaching is excited to announce the Teaching Affiliates for 2015. Teaching Affiliates create and facilitate sessions for TA Orientation, an event that helps prepare new TAs to launch their careers as junior instructors at Vanderbilt. At TA Orientation, Teaching Affiliates work with groups of new TAs in their own or related disciplines to help prepare the TAs for common challenges related to grading, office hours, or discipline-specific pedagogies. Their thoughtful work helps make the CFT’s biggest annual event a success.

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1114 19th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212 | 615-322-7290
http://cft.vanderbilt.edu

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