Shows
Get Down to College BusinessShowing Value in Centers of Teaching and Learning with Derek BruffCould a better way to support faculty actually decide which universities survive the coming years? In this episode, Sarah Holtan, PhD, talks with Derek Bruff, the Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Virginia, about how Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) shape a college’s future, even when budgets are tight and change is constant. Derek shares his candid perspective on what makes a CTL truly matter: it’s not just space and tech, but trust-based relationships, faculty skill-building, and aligning with what the university really values. If you’ve ever wonder...2025-06-1034 min
Intentional TeachingTeaching with AI Agents with Matthew Clemson, Isabelle Hesse, and Danny LiuQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.Cogniti is a tool developed at the University of Sydney that instructors can use to create custom AI chatbots ("agents") for use in their teaching. Cogniti makes it easy to create a special-purpose agent, invite students to interact with the agent, and have some visibility into how students are using the agent. I have a theory that in a few years, teaching-focused custom AI chatbots are going to be standard tools available to higher education instructors. I may be wrong about that, but if i...2025-06-1041 min
Intentional TeachingAI-Integrated Assignments with Kiera Allison, Jamie Jirout, Spyros Simotas, & Jun WangQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.On the podcast today, I talk with four University of Virginia faculty who are serving this year as Faculty AI Guides. This provost-funded program has enlisted 51 faculty to explore potential uses of generative AI in their teaching and to share what they learn with colleagues in their departments and schools. Back in January, we invited the Faculty AI Guides to share assignments from their fall courses that thoughtfully integrated AI to support student learning. I put some of these assignments in a collection on the UVA...2025-05-2052 min
EdUp Provost5. The Future of Educational Technology: A Conversation with Derek BruffIn this conversation with EdUp Provost host Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner, Dr. Derek Bruff discusses the integration of technology in higher education, emphasizing the importance of aligning teaching goals with technology use. He shares insights on supporting faculty in adopting new technologies, balancing innovation with traditional educational values, and the role of AI in teaching. Dr. Bruff also highlights the significance of creating learning communities and effective faculty development programs to enhance teaching and learning experiences. In this conversation, Derek Bruff and Gregor Thuswaldner discuss the importance of providing faculty with the time and expertise needed to effectively integrate technology into...2025-01-1545 min
EdUp Provost5. The Future of Educational Technology: A Conversation with Derek BruffIn this conversation with EdUp Provost host Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner, Dr. Derek Bruff discusses the integration of technology in higher education, emphasizing the importance of aligning teaching goals with technology use. He shares insights on supporting faculty in adopting new technologies, balancing innovation with traditional educational values, and the role of AI in teaching. Dr. Bruff also highlights the significance of creating learning communities and effective faculty development programs to enhance teaching and learning experiences. In this conversation, Derek Bruff and Gregor Thuswaldner discuss the importance of providing faculty with the time and expertise needed to effectively integrate technology...2025-01-1545 min
Intentional TeachingAn Oral History of the Vanderbilt Center for TeachingQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.In 1986, Vanderbilt University established a new Center for Teaching, a unit that would help thousands of faculty and other instructors at Vanderbilt and across higher education develop foundational teaching skills and explore new ideas in teaching and learning. I’m Derek Bruff, and I worked at the CFT, as we called it, from 2005 to 2022, serving as its director for over a decade. When I left Vanderbilt, I wanted to find some way to honor the good work of the Center for Teaching. It played an...2024-11-121h 35
Teaching in Higher EdCuration, Collections, and Collaboration: Insights from UVA’s Teaching Hub, with Derek BruffDerek Bruff shares about curation, collections, and collaboration and the insights he’s gained from UVA’s Teaching Hub on episode 543 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Quotes from the episode
We’re working with a ton of curators who have some expertise in an aspect of teaching and learning.
-Derek Bruff
The more diverse voices we have in it, the more powerful the teaching hub will be.
-Derek Bruff
Teaching is an ongoing creative process.
-Derek Bruff
Resources
Past P...2024-11-0745 min
Intentional TeachingNeurodivergent Students and Active Learning with Mariel PfeiferQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.Today on the podcast I talk with Mariel Pfeifer, assistant professor of biology. Mariel started at Ole Miss just about a year ago as part of a cluster hire of three STEM faculty who are on the tenure track at UM doing disciplinary based education research. I was excited to hear Mariel was coming to the university because I was already familiar with her work. Back in the spring of 2023, I lead a faculty learning community on the topic of active learning in large enrollment STEM...2024-09-0339 min
Intentional TeachingMultimodal AI Projects with Emily BruffQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.A few episodes ago, I talked with Marc Watkins of the University of Mississippi about the many ways that generative AI is beginning to intersect with student learning. Marc noted that the newest versions of ChatGPT and similar tools are no longer just text generators, but multimodal in nature. That is, they can work with text and images and audio and in some cases video, too. To help us better understand what roles these AI tools might play in multimodal assignments, this episode features a...2024-07-2326 min
Intentional TeachingUniversal Design for Learning at Scale with Thomas J. TobinQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for improving learning for all learners based on the science of how humans learn. It involves providing learners with multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression. We’ve mentioned the framework on the show from time to time, and I thought it was time to dig in a little deeper. Naturally, I thought of inviting Thomas J. Tobin on the podcast. Tom helped found the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Teaching, Learning, & Mentoring, and he is...2024-04-2339 min
Intentional TeachingInstructional (Re)Design with David Hinson and Shawndra BowersQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.David Hinson is the R. Hugh Daniel professor of architecture at Auburn University. David teaches a course in professional practice, a course that covers such things as running a business, marketing and communication, and professional ethics. When he realized that his lecture course needed an overhaul, he reached out to Auburn’s center for teaching and learning, the Biggio Center, for an instructional design consultation.Shawndra Bowers is the associate director of learning experience design at the Biggio Center, where she manages a team of...2024-03-2638 min
Intentional TeachingInclusive STEM Teaching with Tershia Pinder-Grover and Sarah HokansonQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project is a free, online, six-week course “designed to advance the awareness, self-efficacy, and ability of faculty, postdocs, and doctoral students to cultivate inclusive STEM learning environments for all their students and to develop themselves as reflective, inclusive practitioners.”On the podcast today, I talk with two of the project team members. Tershia Pinder-Grover is director of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering at the University of Michigan, and Sarah Hokanson is assistant vice president and assi...2024-02-2739 min
Intentional TeachingEnhancing Inclusive Instruction with Tracie Addy, Derek Dube, and Khadijah MitchellQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.Tracie Addy, Derek Dube, and Khadijah Mitchell are authors of a new book called Enhancing Inclusive Instruction: Student Perspectives and Practical Approaches for Advancing Equity in Higher Education. It’s a sequel to their 2021 book, What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching, both from Routledge. In this episode, the three co-authors talk about the origins of the book series, the importance of hearing student voices when practicing inclusive teaching, and how someone like me, who has been practicing active lea...2024-02-1340 min
The Mt. San Antonio College PodcastFurther Exploring Course Designing In The Age of Generative A.I With Derek Bruff, PhD.If you enjoyed our previous episode featuring Dr. Derek Bruff’s Keynote on Teaching and Learning In the Age of Generative A.I captured at Fall Flex Day 2023, then today’s episode we have more on this topic for you. Listen in as Dr. Bruff does an even deeper dive in his follow-up discussion also taken from the 2023 Fall Flex Day. Enjoy. Resources: https://inworld.ai https://beta.character.ai https://lmsys.org/blog/2023-03-30-vicuna/ Presentation: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/chkue44f9tkm...2023-10-0336 minTeaching in Higher EdAssignment Makeovers in the AI Age, with Derek BruffDerek Bruff shares about assignment makeovers in the AI age on episode 481 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast
Quotes from the episode
The technologies at play in higher education changed dramatically in a very short amount of time, and that required us to kind of rethink what we were doing as teachers.
-Derek Bruff
For my course, I felt like it is fine to teach them to write using the AI tools as long as I can help them learn to use the tools well.
-Derek Bruff2023-08-3144 min
Intentional TeachingTeaching Outside with Rosemary McGunnigle-GonzalesQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to speak at a teaching conference hosted by Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. My favorite presenter at that conference was a sociology professor named Rosemary McGunnigle-Gonzales. Not only did she go on a beautiful rant about the deficiencies of our traditional classroom spaces, she also shared a fantastic story about taking her students outside to draw chalk timelines on the sidewalks around her classroom building. Rosemary is an adjunct assistant professor in sociology at both Hofstra...2023-08-0839 min
Intentional TeachingTransparent Teaching with Mary-Ann WinkelmesQuestions or comments about this episode? Send us a text message.In this episode, I talk with Mary-Ann Winkelmes, a longtime colleague in the world of educational development. Mary-Ann has worked at teaching centers at Harvard University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and Brandeis University. She’s also the founder and director of the TILT Higher Ed project. TILT stands for “transparency in learning and teaching,” and the project works with instructors and institutions to practice transparent course and assignment design. With all the conversation in higher education today about rigor and fl...2023-01-1044 min