From the Interim Director
In this season of reflection and gratitude, I want to offer sincere appreciation for the CFT staff and to all of our partners across campus, for all they do to enhance teaching and learning at Vanderbilt. The CFT staff exemplify a selfless generosity in their work with faculty and students that never seeks the limelight, so, from time to time, it is necessary to highlight a few of their accomplishments and awards below. However, all of the CFT staff deserve appreciation for the many gifts of their time and talent they give to enhance teaching and learning, both at Vanderbilt, and, through their scholarship, across higher education. I also want to express my appreciation for all of our thoughtful collaborators across our many peer Centers, Colleges and Schools, Provost’s and Chancellor’s offices, the Libraries, and others too numerous to mention. We are truly thankful of your wisdom and your open, co-creative spirit. This month we highlight two partners’ efforts below in support of the teaching mission and faculty development. To all of you we simply say, thank you.
| |
The CFT’s Ransford Pinto receives Unsung Hero Award
On November 10th, Ransford Pinto (the CFT’s Assistant Director for Graduate Programs and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organization) received the Unsung Hero Award from Vanderbilt’s Bishop Johnson Black Cultural Center for the care and dedication he brings to mentoring and educating Vanderbilt students. Many were present to honor Ransford’s work as a generous and exemplary mentor for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, particularly international students he has supported since arriving at Vanderbilt two years ago. More, the event showcased powerful testimonials about the many positive impacts Ransford has had through his expertise on academic leadership, his commitment to inclusive education, and his warm and open character. We are proud to be able to call Ransford a colleague and member of our team, and we hope you will join us in celebrating his good works.
| |
The CFT’s Joe Bandy receives Nancy Chick Article of the Year Award
We are thrilled to share that our Interim Director, Joe Bandy, and two former CFT Graduate Teaching Fellows, Brielle Harbin and Amie Thurber, recently won the ISSOTL 2022 Nancy Chick Article of the Year Award for their piece “Teaching Race and Racial Justice: Developing Students’ Cognitive and Affective Understanding” in the journal Teaching and Learning Inquiry (TLI). This award is named after Nancy Chick, a former Assistant Director at the CFT, who co-founded the journal while she worked here. Years later, TLI named their article of the year award after Nancy, and now Joe, Brielle, and Amie have won this prestigious award. We could not be more proud of our current and former staff and their award-winning scholarship!
| |
Leading Lines Episode 115 with Laura Guertin
Check out the most recent episode of Leading Lines in which Sung Jun Han interviews Dr. Laura Guertin about how her use of technology has evolved over the last 20 years. Listeners will hear examples of how technology has enabled Laura to teach even while aboard a ship doing field work and has enabled her students to learn while commuting. Starting with the course objectives and using low-bandwidth, accessible technologies can unlock so many possibilities for learning. Listen here!
| |
|
Vanderbilt Libraries are Your Partner in Teaching & Learning
The Vanderbilt Libraries are committed to supporting faculty and students in the research process. Librarians partner with instructors to provide access to course readings, to design student research assignments that emphasize critical thinking and effective research skills, and to plan and teach sessions on the use of effective academic and digital research strategies. To learn more about the people and resources available to support your teaching, contact Melissa Mallon, Associate University Librarian for Teaching and Learning or check out the Vanderbilt Libraries' page on Teaching and Linking at this link.
| |
Digital DIAREEs on Professional Development at the Digital Commons
The Digital Commons is introducing a new initiative called Digital DIAREEs. Digital DIAREEs, or Digital Diversity & Inclusion Archival Repository for Equitable Employees, is essentially a living digital history (audio/video interviews, vignettes, guided discussions, panels, etc.) of faculty development for underrepresented faculty/staff, but can also be used as a training tool as new employees come to Vanderbilt so they can see the paths taken by people who represent some of their identities. These groups can include BIPOC, veterans, women, the LGBTQI+ community, the neurodivergent community, and more! We are partnering with the Digital Media Lab to record some of these DIAREE entries. If you or any employees you know would be interested in submitting an entry, particularly about your career path for teaching, you may fill out or share this intake form. Also, feel free to reach out to Cazembe Kennedy if there are any thoughts or potential collaborations you can envision for this project.
| |
The CFT's Paige Snay receives Early Impact Staff Award
Paige Snay, the CFT’s Lead Instructional Technologist, won the Early Impact Award for Vanderbilt staff in May. Paige came to the CFT in 2019 and has since fulfilled many roles for us. She has managed the CFT’s Brightspace team, relationships with educational technology vendors, as well as the Brightspace ticketing and communications systems we use to support instructors and students across campus. She also has supported a variety of other educational technologies, including TopHat. Paige played a pivotal role in Vanderbilt’s transition to online education during the pandemic, shouldering an extraordinary volume of work. In all of these roles, she tackles her work with a perfect combination of consummate technical expertise and social grace, solving problems and supporting teaching and learning with great commitment and care. We are grateful for Paige as a colleague and for the critical work she does supporting Vanderbilt’s teaching mission. We hope you will join us in celebrating this well-deserved award.
| |
New Article by CFT's Stacey Johnson
CFT Assistant Director Stacey M. Johnson recently published an article in the journal Second Language Research & Practice entitled, "Who is at the Center of Our Language Teaching?" In this article, Stacey problematizes the terminology of student- and teacher-centeredness as a metric of effective teaching. The paper explores the challenge of applying such limiting terminology to language classrooms and details additional questions that instructors should ask to arrive at conclusions about the center of our teaching. The article is available to read open access on this page here.
| |
|
