Workshops

CFT staff run Brightspace workshops for instructors interested in learning how to use Brightspace tools effectively and efficiently. We are also available during the academic year to facilitate Brightspace workshops on topics both general and specific for departments, programs, and schools, upon request. Email brightspace@vanderbilt.edu to ask about these offerings or the possibility of an invited workshop.

See the main CFT website for other teaching workshops, including workshops focused on educational technology, and for extensive resources on teaching in the fall 2021 semester.

Click here to go directly to our Workshop Calendar.

Fall 2023 Workshops

A Beginner’s Guide to Brightspace

In this hands-on workshop for people who have little to no experience teaching with Brightspace, participants will get oriented to Vanderbilt’s course management system and learn how to accomplish common teaching tasks. By the end of the workshop, users will be able to:

Confidently navigate around the different areas of a Brightspace course
Post, edit, and link Content for students using a variety of tools
Communicate with students about Brightspace tools they are using
Access Brightspace Support when they have questions

There will be time at the end of the workshop for participants to ask questions about using Brightspace.

Participants who would like to access Brightspace during the workshop should make sure they are able to log into Brightspace with their VUnetID beforehand.

Workshop Date: TBD
Time: TBD
Location: Virtual – Zoom
Facilitator: Erica Brandon, Instructional Technology Consultant, Center for Teaching

These workshops are open to anyone teaching or developing courses at Vanderbilt University.

Vanderbilt University is committed to providing universal access to all of our events. Please contact Juliet Traub at cft@vanderbilt.edu or 615-322-7290 to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.

Setting up your Gradebook

Participants in this workshop will learn about the range of tools available in Brightspace to make grading more efficient and effective. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

Build a gradebook that mirrors the grading scheme in their syllabus
Understand and control how grades are viewed
Create a gradebook that can be used throughout the semester, and transferred into future courses

Workshop Date: TBD
Time: TBD
Location: Virtual – Zoom
Facilitator: Erica Brandon, Instructional Technology Consultant, Center for Teaching

This workshop is open to anyone teaching or developing courses at Vanderbilt University.

Generative AI’s Impact on Teaching and Learning

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Stable Diffusion have taken over the world of higher education in the past few months. While some instructors see these tools as helpful aids to teaching and learning, others worry about inappropriate use by students and how to address that. Given that AI is being put into many tools that we interact with regularly in search engines like Google and Bing, productivity & office software like Google Drive & Microsoft Office, and a seemingly endless number of educational technologies, many people will have a hard time avoiding AI in the coming months and years. This workshop plans to explain the basics of how these tools actually work, some common opportunities and limitations of current AI technology, and how to discuss appropriate and inappropriate generative AI usage with your students. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

Explain the basics of how generative AI tools like ChatGPT work
Identify opportunities for using these tools in the teaching and learning process
Formulate plans to discuss generative AI usage with students

Workshop Date: Tuesday, September 12 (CURRENTLY FULL, BUT WE ARE ADDING MORE DATES.)
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: CFT classroom (1114 19th Avenue South, 3rd floor) Click here for location information.
Facilitator: Michael Coley, Instructional Technology Consultant, Center for Teaching

Workshop Date: Wednesday, September 20
Time: 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Virtual – Zoom
Facilitator: Michael Coley, Instructional Technology Consultant, Center for Teaching

This workshop is open to anyone teaching or developing courses at Vanderbilt University.

Perusall

Perusall is a tool that allows students to engage in the social annotation of text, audio, and video. With features such as hashtags, upvoting, and automatic grading to complement the asynchronous discussions, your students will be more engaged than ever as they prepare readings and go over homework using Perusall.

Workshop Date: Tuesday, September 5
Time: 1:00-1:45pm
Location: Virtual – Zoom
Facilitator: Jenny Park, Instructional Technology Consultant, Center for Teaching

Perusall is a tool that brings the social annotation of digital resources into your classroom. Instructors can assign PDFs, webpages, video, or audio and have students collaboratively engage with those texts. In this workshop, we will explore three concrete ways you can start using Perusall in your classroom right away to increase student engagement with readings, respond to student questions, and direct student attention to course policies and expectations.