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" The SoTL Scholars program encouraged me to think deeply about instructional practices both in my own teaching as well as in the general field of higher education. The opportunity to design, implement, and reflect on a SoTL project was certainly beneficial, but the shared experience with other SoTL participants added an important layer of meaningful learning to the program. The SoTL Scholars program helped me analyze my teaching in a way that focused on improving the students' learning and overall course experience. "
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Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching and the
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Steve Baskauf, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, working with Udo Obodo, Biological Sciences
The program is designed to help graduate student-faculty teams build expertise in developing online instructional modules grounded in good course design principles and our understanding of how people learn. STEM faculty members partner with graduate students or postdocs to design and develop online modules for integration into a course, either as a tool to promote flipping the classroom, a module for a blended course, or a unit within a MOOC. The teams investigate the use of these modules, collecting data about the effectiveness of the module for promoting student learning.
Announcing the New Graduate Teaching Fellows for 2014-15
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This year's Graduate Teaching Fellows are, left to right, |
The Center for Teaching is excited to announce the Graduate Teaching Fellows for 2014-15. GTFs provide a variety of services for Vanderbilt’s graduate, post docs and professional students, including one-on-one consultations on teaching issues and professional development, syllabus and course design, interpreting and responding to student evaluations, writing teaching statements, and engaging techniques such as discussion leading, lecturing, and using technology in the classroom.
In addition to fostering initiatives such as the Certificate in College Teaching program, they also create and facilitate Teaching Assistant Orientation, Teaching Workshops, and the Teaching, Difference, & Power graduate student reading group.
To schedule an appointment with a GTF, please call 322-7290.
Teaching Ferguson
by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director
This year at the CFT, through our theme of “Teaching, Difference, and Power,” we turn to the complexities of the roles of difference and power in both what many of us teach and how we all teach. In an earlier post, I explored the notion of “educationally purposeful” ways of talking about race on campus. I want to return to this notion with a pressing example, now that the semester is under way.
On August 9, the world’s attention turned to Ferguson, Missouri. It’s already enough to simply say “Ferguson,” like the metonymies for other moments of great trauma, such as Columbine, Katrina, the Boston Marathon, the grassy knoll, and 9/11. Given its certain historical significance, how do we talk about the events in and about Ferguson right now in our classes, while it’s still raw? Below are some possibilities:
- First, the CFT’s guide on Teaching in Times of Crisis reminds us that “‘It is best to do something’”–from very small gestures to curricular overhauls. Worth highlighting here are the sections on facilitating discussions about such events, assigning relevant activities or materials, and the various resources for both students and faculty.
- An open letter initially drafted by 10 conferees at the American Sociological Association (ASA) conference–and now signed by over 1,400 sociologists–contextualizing Ferguson within what sociologists have long recognized as “deeply ingrained racial, political, social and economic inequities.”
- The sociologists who wrote the above letter formed a group called Sociologists for Justice and, among other things, created The Ferguson Syllabus, the research articles explaining the arguments in their open letter. (Here’s an annotated version.)
- The online international community of the Women’s Studies listserv (WMST-L) had a rich discussion of strategies and resources, and Janell Hobson (University of Albany) compiled the resulting resources, a list which has since been shared widely. It includes readings, videos, online activism, other web & media resources, and discussion suggestions.
I’m sure there are other resources and recommendations compiled by other disciplines. What are the literary texts that help us understand what’s going on? What’s the psychology behind the events, including the militarization of the police? What are the economic implications of the initial events on this town—and now of the likelihood that it will become a travel destination for a variety of reasons? What are K-12 teachers doing with their students, both in the Ferguson area and beyond?
Please let us know if you have any thoughts or additional resources–especially collective responses from your discipline.
CIRTL Network Development Opportunities
The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is an NSF Center for Learning and Teaching in higher education. CIRTL uses graduate education as the leverage point to develop a national STEM faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences as part of successful professional careers. CIRTL has opened registration for upcoming course opportunities. These interactive, synchronous, online learning experiences allow you to connect with other graduate students and post-docs from the CIRTL Network universities across the nation. September sessions include the following:
Sept 9 |
CIRTLCast Series: |
Cultivating African American Undergraduate and Graduate STEM Career Choice and Aspirations |
Sept 10 |
Promoting Student Metacognition |