Agile Learning

Bio

(Written in the third person for easy cutting-and-pasting…)

Derek Bruff is director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching and a senior lecturer in the Vanderbilt Department of Mathematics.  Bruff consults regularly with faculty in a variety of disciplines about educational technology and other teaching and learning topics.  Bruff’s research interests include classroom response systems (“clickers”), visual thinking, student motivation, and social pedagogies.  He blogs on these topics at derekbruff.com, and his book, Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments, was published by Jossey-Bass in 2009.  Bruff has taught at Harvard University and has a PhD in mathematics from Vanderbilt University.

About This Site

This is my blog, where I write about topics that interest me: educational technology, visual thinking, student motivation, faculty development, how people learn, social media, and more. I started blogging back in 2008 with a blog focused on teaching with classroom response systems (“clickers”). I had just finished writing my book on that subject, and I wanted to continue exploring the topic. The blog gave me a venue for doing so, one that invited colleagues new and old to share ideas and perspectives. After two years of blogging about classroom response systems, I started writing about other topics, as well. As a result, this blog has become what Gardner Campbell calls my “personal cyberinfrastructure,” a platform for sharing and organizing what I’m learning and representing myself to the world.

How to Use This Site

If you’d like to read my most recent blog posts, check out the right side of the homepage, where the five most recent posts are listed. I suspect, however, that most people who like to read my latest posts either subscribe to the site’s RSS feed or follow me on Twitter, where I tweet links to new posts. So I’ve selected a WordPress theme that gives readers a couple of options other than reading the latest posts for exploring the content here.

On the left side of the homepage, you’ll see a rotating display of a few “featured” posts. I find myself frequently sharing links with colleagues to a few of my older blog posts, so I wanted to give them a little more prominence on the site.

There are many topics about which I write regularly, and I wanted to highlight a few of them. So “below the fold” (that is, on the bottom half of the homepage), you’ll see the latest posts on five of these topics. I’m hoping this feature will entice you to explore the site a bit.

Finally, if you scroll down to the bottom of the homepage, you’ll find dropdown boxes that allow you to see all posts by month or by category.

Why “Agile Learning”?

When talking to faculty about their teaching, I often use the phrase “agile teaching” to describe a certain kind of on-the-fly responsiveness to student learning needs in the classroom. In the educational development work I do, helping faculty and graduate students to become more reflective and intentional teachers, I find that I need a similar kind of agility. I never know what resources, ideas, or experiences I’ll be called upon to share with a colleague as we talk about teaching. As a result, I find myself learning about all sorts of things that might come in handy in a consultation or workshop one day. This blog is where I make sense of these things and document what I’ve learned for later use. So, in a sense, it’s a record of the “agile learning” I do as part of my professional life.

Why the Roller Skates?

Why the image of the roller skates (posted by Flickr user marythom under a Creative Commons license)? Back in middle school, I would sometimes (usually with great hesitation) go roller-skating with my friends. At the roller-skate rink, sometimes the announcer would declare a certain time period as “girls skate” or “boys skate” or “couples skate.” Other times were declared “all skate,” in which everyone was invited to the floor to skate. I use this metaphor in some of the workshops I give on teaching with classroom response systems, since these systems invite all students in a classroom to contribute their ideas and perspectives, not just the ones who are quick enough or bold enough to speak up during class discussion. I want my classes to be “all skate” classes, where all students are invited to participate. Thus, the visual metaphor of the skates. Plus, it seemed to work well with the “agile learning” idea.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of Vanderbilt University.

Twitter: derekbruff

• Seeing @TitanicRealTime and @RealTimeWWII tweets next to each other in my feed is a little confusing. about 23 minutes ago
• According to @Swype, "school" and "evil" are very similar words. about 12 hours ago
• I think I have something here: t.co/5QiXPDTy #IAatVU #studentasproducer #socialpedagogies #DH about 17 hours ago
• Cohen-Cruz: Look for opportunities on campus to change the conversation. (Me: Like a cmte looking at the evaluation of teaching?) #IAatVU about 18 hours ago