Derek Bruff
@derekbruff.bsky.social
Educator, author, consultant. Associate director at the University of Virginia Center for Teaching Excellence. Author of Intentional Tech from West Virginia University Press. Host of the Intentional Teaching podcast. Birder.
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Derek Bruff
@derekbruff.bsky.social
· Aug 2
Hi to all the new followers! I'm Derek, and I help higher ed instructors make more informed and intentional teaching choices. I run the Intentional Teaching podcast, intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com, and newsletter, derekbruff.kit.com/profile, among other things!
One reason I'm excited to see The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching published next year is that @anetv.bsky.social and @thesteinline.bsky.social and I have manage to curate a robust set of example assignments and activities from around higher ed for teaching with, about, or against AI.
December 19, 2025 at 9:12 PM
One reason I'm excited to see The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching published next year is that @anetv.bsky.social and @thesteinline.bsky.social and I have manage to curate a robust set of example assignments and activities from around higher ed for teaching with, about, or against AI.
Ken Bain (_What the Best College Teachers Do_) passed away in October, and to honor his legacy I'm sharing in my podcast the full interview I conducted with Ken in 2023 for the oral history I produced of the Vanderbilt CFT, a center Ken founded. intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
December 16, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Ken Bain (_What the Best College Teachers Do_) passed away in October, and to honor his legacy I'm sharing in my podcast the full interview I conducted with Ken in 2023 for the oral history I produced of the Vanderbilt CFT, a center Ken founded. intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
Reposted by Derek Bruff
Excited to share a guest post on my blog this week by Jayme Dyer, Katie Mattaini, and Eden Tanner about alt grading in large classes. This is something I get asked about all the time, so I'm glad to have an opportunity to share their work on the topic! emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/alternativ...
Alternative Grading in Large Classes
How to implement pedagogical values within logistical constraints
emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Excited to share a guest post on my blog this week by Jayme Dyer, Katie Mattaini, and Eden Tanner about alt grading in large classes. This is something I get asked about all the time, so I'm glad to have an opportunity to share their work on the topic! emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/alternativ...
UVA's McIntire School of Commerce has a fantastic toolkit for students aimed at helping them use AI intentionally and effectively in their learning, complete with key principles, strategies for different kinds of assignments, and sample prompts. myuva-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/person...
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myuva-my.sharepoint.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:46 PM
UVA's McIntire School of Commerce has a fantastic toolkit for students aimed at helping them use AI intentionally and effectively in their learning, complete with key principles, strategies for different kinds of assignments, and sample prompts. myuva-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/person...
I'm on the Grading Podcast this week talking about my history with alternative grading practices, faculty development, AI-aware teaching, and next week's Alternative Grading Institute!
Thanks, @southbaysharona.bsky.social and Robert Bosley, for having me on!
thegradingpod.com/episodes/126...
Thanks, @southbaysharona.bsky.social and Robert Bosley, for having me on!
thegradingpod.com/episodes/126...
126 – AI-Aware Teaching, Mastery Quizzes, and the Future of Grading with Derek Bruff
What happens to grading when AI can do so much of what we’ve traditionally asked students to do by hand? In this episode, Boz and Sharona talk with educator, author, and podcaster Derek Bruff about…
thegradingpod.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I'm on the Grading Podcast this week talking about my history with alternative grading practices, faculty development, AI-aware teaching, and next week's Alternative Grading Institute!
Thanks, @southbaysharona.bsky.social and Robert Bosley, for having me on!
thegradingpod.com/episodes/126...
Thanks, @southbaysharona.bsky.social and Robert Bosley, for having me on!
thegradingpod.com/episodes/126...
New on the UVA Center for Teaching Excellence website, a few recent experiments in teaching with and about AI, drawn from a reading group I ran this fall. cte.virginia.edu/news/experim...
Recent Experiments in Teaching with and about AI — UVA Center for Teaching Excellence
During a discussion of the book Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT, UVA faculty shared their recent experiments in AI-integrated assignments.
cte.virginia.edu
December 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
New on the UVA Center for Teaching Excellence website, a few recent experiments in teaching with and about AI, drawn from a reading group I ran this fall. cte.virginia.edu/news/experim...
No thank you. I have a blog for that.
Researchers are reporting that some journals like several high-impact titles owned by Elsevier, Wiley and Springer—are charging authors anywhere from $2,000 to more than $10,000 in article processing charges (APCs) to make their work immediately accessible. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
The NIH Policy Holding Researchers “Hostage”
An effort to make NIH-funded research immediately accessible to the public has led to disruption and financial strain for scientists already navigating a precarious funding environment. It also spotli...
www.insidehighered.com
December 5, 2025 at 11:13 PM
No thank you. I have a blog for that.
What if your college or university decided that every undergraduate student there would be an entrepreneur, not just studying entrepreneurship but doing it? Paul Quinn College, a small HBCU in Dallas, decided to do just that.
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
December 2, 2025 at 4:53 PM
What if your college or university decided that every undergraduate student there would be an entrepreneur, not just studying entrepreneurship but doing it? Paul Quinn College, a small HBCU in Dallas, decided to do just that.
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
"Those who work at centers for teaching and learning are, in a sense, professional shapeshifters... We could readily adapt our expertise in course design, educational technology, the scholarship of teaching and other areas to the work of supporting faculty exploration of AI."
December 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
"Those who work at centers for teaching and learning are, in a sense, professional shapeshifters... We could readily adapt our expertise in course design, educational technology, the scholarship of teaching and other areas to the work of supporting faculty exploration of AI."
I just learned that the first Nancy Drew books enter the public domain next year. That reminds me that in the first one, a girl's parents are mentioned as having died in a boat explosion, with no other explanation, as if boat explosions were common and unmarkable. 1930 was a different time.
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 AM
I just learned that the first Nancy Drew books enter the public domain next year. That reminds me that in the first one, a girl's parents are mentioned as having died in a boat explosion, with no other explanation, as if boat explosions were common and unmarkable. 1930 was a different time.
Jessica Taggart, Andrew Kennedy, and I have a new piece out that's about UVA's Faculty AI Guides program, but it's really about how centers for teaching and learning can be key players in an institution's response to disruption. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Responding to Disruption? Consult a Center for Teaching and Learning
A guest post by Derek Bruff, Andrew Kennedy and Jess Taggart.
www.insidehighered.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Jessica Taggart, Andrew Kennedy, and I have a new piece out that's about UVA's Faculty AI Guides program, but it's really about how centers for teaching and learning can be key players in an institution's response to disruption. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
“This is by far the most divisive technology of my adult life. I would’ve thought nuclear power.”
@edufuturist.bsky.social on generative AI, on the latest Learning Curve podcast episode
@edufuturist.bsky.social on generative AI, on the latest Learning Curve podcast episode
Is AI Becoming the Next Polarizing Issue on Campuses?
learningcurvepodcast.substack.com/p/is-ai-beco...
learningcurvepodcast.substack.com/p/is-ai-beco...
Is AI Becoming the Next Polarizing Issue on Campuses?
As some professors boycott AI trainings, one longtime education expert worries about how to have productive conversations and guide students about the fast-moving tech.
learningcurvepodcast.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:25 PM
“This is by far the most divisive technology of my adult life. I would’ve thought nuclear power.”
@edufuturist.bsky.social on generative AI, on the latest Learning Curve podcast episode
@edufuturist.bsky.social on generative AI, on the latest Learning Curve podcast episode
Reposted by Derek Bruff
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 AM
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
I went to Radnor Lake here in Nashville to see some waterfowl and I wasn’t disappointed! Sunshine + these migrants = an hour well spent. #birding
November 24, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I went to Radnor Lake here in Nashville to see some waterfowl and I wasn’t disappointed! Sunshine + these migrants = an hour well spent. #birding
Reposted by Derek Bruff
I did it, I wrote it. The thing I think (?) some educators have been waiting for for quite a while. mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/sift-for-a...
SIFT for AI: Introduction and Pedagogy
Once I thought more deeply about what people had been asking for it made a lot of sense
mikecaulfield.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:14 AM
I did it, I wrote it. The thing I think (?) some educators have been waiting for for quite a while. mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/sift-for-a...
After a brief hiatus from the top spot in my most-used emojis, 😳 is back on top.
November 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
After a brief hiatus from the top spot in my most-used emojis, 😳 is back on top.
Pretty sure I did that thing where I show my presenter view instead of my slides on Zoom.
🤦🏻♂️
🤦🏻♂️
November 19, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Pretty sure I did that thing where I show my presenter view instead of my slides on Zoom.
🤦🏻♂️
🤦🏻♂️
I hosted a workshop earlier today called "Avoiding AI: Strategies for Keeping AI (Mostly) Out of Your Course." In an hour, I'm hosting one about teaching with AI chatbots.
It's a bit of whiplash!
It's a bit of whiplash!
November 19, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I hosted a workshop earlier today called "Avoiding AI: Strategies for Keeping AI (Mostly) Out of Your Course." In an hour, I'm hosting one about teaching with AI chatbots.
It's a bit of whiplash!
It's a bit of whiplash!
This is not a great use case for AI.
TurboTax is about to be integrated into ChatGPT, where customers will be guided through tasks tied to their tax filings or financial profile by the AI chatbot.
TurboTax owner Intuit is also paying OpenAI more than $100 million a year to power AI agents.
TurboTax owner Intuit is also paying OpenAI more than $100 million a year to power AI agents.
November 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM
This is not a great use case for AI.
Reposted by Derek Bruff
Today on the podcast, I share a "Take It or Leave It" panel on the role of generative AI in online learning! The panel features Michelle Beavers (education), Sara McClellan (public policy), and Leo Lo (@uvalibrary.bsky.social), all from UVA! intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
November 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Today on the podcast, I share a "Take It or Leave It" panel on the role of generative AI in online learning! The panel features Michelle Beavers (education), Sara McClellan (public policy), and Leo Lo (@uvalibrary.bsky.social), all from UVA! intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
Update: My podcast host Buzzsprout confirmed that this problem was caused by the Cloudflare outage, not any shenanigans from Apple.
Sorry, Apple.
Sorry, Apple.
I got an email earlier this month from Apple Podcasts asking me to accept their new terms and conditions. There was no mention of a problem if I failed to do so, so I didn't rush. But today my new episode is getting 0 plays via Apple Podcasts.
Not cool, Apple, not cool.
Not cool, Apple, not cool.
November 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Update: My podcast host Buzzsprout confirmed that this problem was caused by the Cloudflare outage, not any shenanigans from Apple.
Sorry, Apple.
Sorry, Apple.
Passed a car with a license plate that said “NOCOLON” and I can’t decide if they have a GI problem or just strong opinions about academic book titles.
November 18, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Passed a car with a license plate that said “NOCOLON” and I can’t decide if they have a GI problem or just strong opinions about academic book titles.
Today on the podcast, I share a "Take It or Leave It" panel on the role of generative AI in online learning! The panel features Michelle Beavers (education), Sara McClellan (public policy), and Leo Lo (@uvalibrary.bsky.social), all from UVA! intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
November 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Today on the podcast, I share a "Take It or Leave It" panel on the role of generative AI in online learning! The panel features Michelle Beavers (education), Sara McClellan (public policy), and Leo Lo (@uvalibrary.bsky.social), all from UVA! intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
I got an email earlier this month from Apple Podcasts asking me to accept their new terms and conditions. There was no mention of a problem if I failed to do so, so I didn't rush. But today my new episode is getting 0 plays via Apple Podcasts.
Not cool, Apple, not cool.
Not cool, Apple, not cool.
November 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I got an email earlier this month from Apple Podcasts asking me to accept their new terms and conditions. There was no mention of a problem if I failed to do so, so I didn't rush. But today my new episode is getting 0 plays via Apple Podcasts.
Not cool, Apple, not cool.
Not cool, Apple, not cool.