Teaching
CategoryIntergroup Dialogue in the Philosophy Classroom (guest post)
“Over 70% of our students… reported being more likely than before to listen to someone who held an opposing viewpoint…” (more…)
Encouraging Participation in the Classroom
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” an advertising slogan for Las Vegas tourism, has been adopted by a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College as a motto for one of his courses, as a way of creating a “safe space” for students who might be worried about their comments in class getting taken out of context, or showing up on social media. (more…)..
Comparatively Lower Grades in Philosophy Courses: Facts, Explanation, Effects, Fixes?
Informal conversations with students and professors suggest that it is harder to get a higher grade in philosophy courses than in courses offered by many other departments. (more…)
Service-Learning in Philosophy Courses
“Moral problems, like global and local food insecurity, aren’t just abstract problems; they are practical problems with practical solutions. It’s important not just to present students with the problems, but also to empower them with real-world actions they can perform to help alleviate these problems.” (more…)
Assigning Public Philosophy Projects to Undergraduates (guest post)
In some of his recent courses, Daniel Munro, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, has tried assigning something different from the traditional essays and exams: creative public philosophy projects. (more…)
In Defense of Benchmarking (guest post)
There’s a reason for instructors to meet with their teaching assistants to grade some sample assignments together, but it’s not what you think. (more…)
How Much Do Philosophy Professors Grade?
A professor at a liberal arts college writes in because she has seen signs of confusion in her department about “what is manageable or expected” in the number and kind of assignments students have to complete in a course “when the professor does the grading.” (more…)
How Philosophers Respond to Objections
Michael Cholbi, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, has put together a useful handout for students and others interested in philosophy about the different ways philosophers respond to objections. (more…)
A Map of the Most-Assigned Philosophical Works
The Open Syllabus Project (previously) collects and analyzes data about course syllabi and the readings professors assign. (more…)
Free Software for Advanced Logic Courses
Students nowadays might struggle in more advanced logic courses not just because the material is difficult, but because they’re used to learning logic with software, which is commonly used in introductory courses, but less so in higher-level ones. (more…)
The Value of Stepping Back from Current Events
It’s not unusual for philosophy professors to think it’s important to demonstrate to their students the relevance of course material to current events, both because of the importance of those events and also to maintain student interest. But there may be value in keeping a distance from today’s news and issues. (more…)
Logic Course Breaks University of Sydney Enrollment Record — Or It Doesn’t
Over 2200 students at the University of Sydney are currently enrolled in “Philosophy 1012: Introduction to Logic,” setting a university-wide record for highest enrollment in any course the university has ever offered. (more…)
Are We Serious About Critical Thinking?
In 1979 philosopher Douglas Stalker (University of Delaware, now retired) adopted the stage persona Captain Ray of Light, a pseudo-science hawking speaker whose humorous presentations educated his audience about pseudo-science and poor thinking. (more…)
Philosophy Labs: Some Recommendations (guest post)
The “lonely-armchair methodology” is one way of approaching philosophy, but it’s not the only way. (more…)
What Video Games to Play in a Philosophy Classroom? (guest post)
“Video games and various scenarios they present can help us not only to better explain and understand philosophical issues and thought experiments, but more importantly, they allow us — although in a limited sense — to experience them as well.” (more…)
Choice Student Comments on Your Philosophy Courses
Student evaluations of teaching have their problems and limitations, but if they allow for comments, at least there’s a chance that you’ll come across a helpful observation, a bit of appreciative praise, an amusing insult, or even potential advertising copy for your course. (more…)
Some Results from the Teaching Philosophy Online Survey
Recently, Thomas Nadelhoffer (Charleston) conducted a survey of those who had taught philosophy courses online over the past year. What did he learn? (more…)
Three of Wesleyan’s Graduating Philosophy Majors Earned Their Degrees While In Prison
This month, the first group of seven incarcerated men will be graduating from a recently created program at Wesleyan University with their Bachelor’s degrees. Three of them—Michael Braham, Clyde Meikle, and Andre Pierce—will be graduating as philosophy majors. (more…)
Teaching Philosophy Online: A Survey
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us a lot of experience with online teaching. What lessons are to be learned from it for online teaching in the future? (more…)
Unconventional Readings in Undergraduate Philosophy Courses
Plato? Check. Descartes? Check. Hume? Check…. (more…)
Ethics Case Studies Collection Continues to Grow
Looking for free, concise, and current ethics case studies? (more…)
The High Production Quality/Low Cost Future of Philosophy Education?
Here are three trends in higher education: (more…)
Teaching Philosophy as a Way of Life (guest post)
The following is a guest post* by Stephen Angle, Steven Horst, and Tushar Irani, philosophy professors at Wesleyan University, about their team-taught course, “Living a Good Life” which was featured in The New York Times earlier this year, and about the idea of teaching “philosophy as a way of life.” (more…)
Counting Participation in the Philosophy Classroom
Do you grade your students on their in-class participation? How do you do it? (more…)
Florida to Allow Philosophy Majors to Teach Social Sciences in Public Schools
The Florida Department of Education has proposed amending a rule governing what kinds of degrees people who teach social science classes in the state’s public schools must have. (more…)
Assessment, ‘Rich Knowledge’, and Philosophy
“Teachers learn to maximise pupil performances considered desirable by examiners regardless of whether such performances manifest the understanding needed for the use and application of knowledge in contexts other than test conditions.” (more…)
Tips for Teaching Online Synchronous Courses
Many of us will be teaching online synchronous courses this term, and some of us have already begun. What have you learned about doing so that you think others might benefit from knowing? And what do you want to know about it? (more…)
Are Philosophical Classics Too Difficult for Students? (guest post by Martin Lenz)
A crucial point of teaching is to convey means to find out where exactly the difficulties lie and why they arise. That requires all sorts of texts—primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.