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.
Two days at UVA means a morning bird walk at Ivy Creek Natural Area. Beautiful weather and excellent birding this morning. The highlight was a Northen Flicker who posed for me. I don’t get to photograph Flickers very often! #birding
November 12, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Two days at UVA means a morning bird walk at Ivy Creek Natural Area. Beautiful weather and excellent birding this morning. The highlight was a Northen Flicker who posed for me. I don’t get to photograph Flickers very often! #birding
Does your staff retreat include Lego? No? It should.
November 12, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Does your staff retreat include Lego? No? It should.
New on the UVA Teaching Hub: a curated set of practical activities for use early in a course to set the stage for civil discourse and dialogue across difference. Thanks to JT Torres, Kylie Korsnack, and colleagues for this new resource! teaching.virginia.edu/collections/...
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
New on the UVA Teaching Hub: a curated set of practical activities for use early in a course to set the stage for civil discourse and dialogue across difference. Thanks to JT Torres, Kylie Korsnack, and colleagues for this new resource! teaching.virginia.edu/collections/...
Today on the podcast: How does one move from faculty member to faculty developer? What are the pathways into jobs at centers for teaching and learning? And why are educational developers so important to higher education with all this happening?
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
November 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Today on the podcast: How does one move from faculty member to faculty developer? What are the pathways into jobs at centers for teaching and learning? And why are educational developers so important to higher education with all this happening?
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
October 22, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Brown pelican fishing on the east coast of the Yucatán peninsula earlier this month
#SuperSeabirdSunday
#SuperSeabirdSunday
October 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Brown pelican fishing on the east coast of the Yucatán peninsula earlier this month
#SuperSeabirdSunday
#SuperSeabirdSunday
What happens when you integrate AI-generated feedback into a peer review process in a writing course? You get PAIRR: Peer and AI Review and Reflection. On the podcast, I talk with @annamillsoer.bsky.social & Marit MacArthur about the PAIRR Project.
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
October 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM
What happens when you integrate AI-generated feedback into a peer review process in a writing course? You get PAIRR: Peer and AI Review and Reflection. On the podcast, I talk with @annamillsoer.bsky.social & Marit MacArthur about the PAIRR Project.
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
Birding in Mexico: Look it’s a mockingbird, but not our mockingbird! And a woodpecker, but not our woodpecker!
Here are two such lifers for me, a Tropical Mockingbird and a Brown Jay.
#birding
Here are two such lifers for me, a Tropical Mockingbird and a Brown Jay.
#birding
October 10, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Birding in Mexico: Look it’s a mockingbird, but not our mockingbird! And a woodpecker, but not our woodpecker!
Here are two such lifers for me, a Tropical Mockingbird and a Brown Jay.
#birding
Here are two such lifers for me, a Tropical Mockingbird and a Brown Jay.
#birding
Also, a few Royal Terns. I had seen them standing around near Galveston, Texas, but these were flying and fishing. They’re a little extra.
#Birding
#Birding
October 10, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Also, a few Royal Terns. I had seen them standing around near Galveston, Texas, but these were flying and fishing. They’re a little extra.
#Birding
#Birding
I've been tracking how instructors are using custom AI chatbots, and since I love to put things in categories, here is my current taxonomy of teaching applications of custom AI bots: derekbruff.org/2025/10/01/f...
October 1, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I've been tracking how instructors are using custom AI chatbots, and since I love to put things in categories, here is my current taxonomy of teaching applications of custom AI bots: derekbruff.org/2025/10/01/f...
How can you manage hot moments in the classroom when just about any topic can be a hot one?
Today on the podcast I talk with @prairiedogking.bsky.social and @bethanynmorrison.bsky.social about navigating high-stakes discussions in the year 2025.
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
Today on the podcast I talk with @prairiedogking.bsky.social and @bethanynmorrison.bsky.social about navigating high-stakes discussions in the year 2025.
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
September 30, 2025 at 1:59 PM
How can you manage hot moments in the classroom when just about any topic can be a hot one?
Today on the podcast I talk with @prairiedogking.bsky.social and @bethanynmorrison.bsky.social about navigating high-stakes discussions in the year 2025.
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
Today on the podcast I talk with @prairiedogking.bsky.social and @bethanynmorrison.bsky.social about navigating high-stakes discussions in the year 2025.
www.buzzsprout.com/2069949/epis...
Merriam-Webster posts about their new “large language model,” that is, the new edition of their collegiate dictionary. Meta’s AI doesn’t get the joke.
September 28, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Merriam-Webster posts about their new “large language model,” that is, the new edition of their collegiate dictionary. Meta’s AI doesn’t get the joke.
And just now a white-breasted nuthatch!
September 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM
And just now a white-breasted nuthatch!
Bird feeder update: The wrens have found us!
September 28, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Bird feeder update: The wrens have found us!
Shelby Bottoms on a warm and sunny September morning? Yes please! And I got two lifers—Sedge Wren and Marsh Wren—just feet away from each other. #birding
September 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Shelby Bottoms on a warm and sunny September morning? Yes please! And I got two lifers—Sedge Wren and Marsh Wren—just feet away from each other. #birding
I am excited to share that I’m working on a new book! I’m joining @anetv.bsky.social and @marcwatkins.bsky.social in writing The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching, coming in 2026 from W. W. Norton & Company! Details here: derekbruff.org/2025/09/26/4...
September 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I am excited to share that I’m working on a new book! I’m joining @anetv.bsky.social and @marcwatkins.bsky.social in writing The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching, coming in 2026 from W. W. Norton & Company! Details here: derekbruff.org/2025/09/26/4...
First hummingbird at the new feeder!
September 21, 2025 at 6:01 PM
First hummingbird at the new feeder!
We're trying out a new format on the UVA Teaching Hub! CTE director @michael-palmer.bsky.social has contributed an annotated assignment for the site. The collection explores a digital media project he's used successfully in his general chemistry course. teaching.virginia.edu/collections/...
September 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
We're trying out a new format on the UVA Teaching Hub! CTE director @michael-palmer.bsky.social has contributed an annotated assignment for the site. The collection explores a digital media project he's used successfully in his general chemistry course. teaching.virginia.edu/collections/...
Time to watch Sneakers again.
September 16, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Time to watch Sneakers again.
September 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
And Senator Blackburn is responsible for at least one of the firings. Here she was in 2021:
September 15, 2025 at 1:20 PM
And Senator Blackburn is responsible for at least one of the firings. Here she was in 2021:
Canyonlands NP, September 2016
September 12, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Canyonlands NP, September 2016
Shenandoah NP, June 2017
September 12, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Shenandoah NP, June 2017