{"id":2038,"date":"2013-01-31T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cft.vanderbilt.edu\/?p=13158"},"modified":"2021-01-21T11:15:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T16:15:45","slug":"gradstep-recap-beyond-four-walls-transcending-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/gradleaf\/2013\/01\/gradstep-recap-beyond-four-walls-transcending-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"gradSTEP recap: \u201cBeyond Four Walls: Transcending the Classroom\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On Saturday, January 26th, 2013 the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching celebrated its 15th annual Graduate Student Teaching Event for Professional Development (gradSTEP).\u00a0 This year\u2019s event, co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Council, focused on the theme, \u201cBeyond Four Walls: Transcending the Classroom.\u201d<\/strong> The day\u2019s events dealt extensively with how participants could utilize an array of pedagogies and techniques to enrich the student experience, both inside the classroom and out.\u00a0Ninety-seven<\/strong> graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from 38<\/strong> departments within six <\/strong>Vanderbilt Schools (Arts & Science, School of Medicine, Peabody, Divinity, School of Engineering, and School of Nursing) attended the event. <\/span><\/p>\n

gradSTEP 2013 kicked off with a plenary panel, entitled \u201cNetworks of Learning: Online, in the Community, and in Students\u2019 Lives.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> The plenary sought to engage the changing nature of the college classroom, in particular, the challenges and opportunities associated with online learning, service learning, and bringing students\u2019 lives into the classroom experience. \u00a0The plenary featured presentations by Dr. Nancy Chick (Center for Teaching\/English), Dr. Sharon Shields (Human & Organizational Development), and Dr. Barbara Stengel (Teaching and Learning).\u00a0 The event was moderated by Graduate Teaching Fellow Katie Headrick Taylor, a PhD candidate in Peabody College\u2019s Teaching and Learning program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After some introductory comments by Ms. Taylor, Dr. Nancy Chick, Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching, started off the panel with a brief presentation on her experiences as an online educator.\u00a0 Dr. Chick provided tips and strategies for teaching online effectively, while targeting her presentation not only at those participants hoping to teach their own online courses, but also to those participants looking to enrich their traditional face-to-face classes through the integration of online tools and techniques.\u00a0 Ultimately, Dr. Chick concluded, many of the best and most effective learning environments are blended, in which online activities are not merely supplemental, but engrained into the classroom experience.<\/p>\n

Following Dr. Chick\u2019s talk was a presentation by Dr. Sharon Shields, Professor of the Practice & Associate Dean of the Department of Human & Organizational Development.\u00a0 Dr. Shields presented on her rich experience leading a diverse array of service learning courses at Vanderbilt.\u00a0 After over twenty years of teaching such courses, Dr. Shields spoke proudly of the value and benefits of service learning, noting especially that it had allowed her to fuse the three areas of faculty life: teaching, scholarship and service. She also emphasized the popularity of this kind of experiential learning among contemporary students.<\/p>\n

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To conclude the plenary presentations, Dr. Barbara Stengel, Professor of the Practice and Director of Secondary Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, spoke about how to incorporate diverse student perspectives in and out of the classroom.\u00a0 Dr. Stengel evoked the importance of bringing students\u2019 lives into the classroom experience to make teaching and learning more relevant and enjoyable for them.\u00a0 Dr. Stengel concluded her presentation with a question for the teachers in attendance: in the classroom, who is doing the work and who is having the fun?\u00a0 It is important, Dr. Stengel explained, that it be the students too, and not only the teacher.<\/p>\n

Following the panelists\u2019 presentations, Katie Headrick Taylor led a lively question and answer, which involved questions from an array of disciplinary perspectives.\u00a0 After the exchange, it was time for plenary attendees to go off to their various workshops to continue learning and discussing issues related to theme of the day. Materials from these sessions is available on the gradSTEP page<\/a> of our website and include handouts, powerpoint presentations, and links to Prezi presentations.<\/p>\n

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In the end, it was another successful gradSTEP for the Center for Teaching and a diverse group of participants! We give our thanks to all who attended and to all of the panelists and facilitators involved in the day. They include:<\/p>\n