teaching
TagDiverse Teaching Experiences and the Philosophy Job Market
Graduate students in philosophy usually can teach in their own departments, but also sometimes have the opportunity to teach at other schools nearby, including schools very different from the one they’re currently attending. (more…)
Why To Discourage Laptops in Class (with slides you can show your students)
You may have seen various articles about how computers and phones in the classroom affect student performance. (more…)
Bringing the Philosophy of Self-Knowledge to the Public with a MOOC
Mitchell Green, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, has created an ambitious MOOC (massive online open course) that he will be teaching this year. It is free and open to anyone with an internet connection. (more…)
Course Websites
If you haven’t yet seen the course website for “God and the Good Life,” an introductory undergraduate philosophy course taught by Meghan Sullivan at the University of Notre Dame, take a few minutes to check it out. (more…)
Philosophical Diamonds
“I don’t know any academic field whose writing regularly indulges in sentence structure as complex as in analytic philosophy.” (more…)
How to Teach (Philosophy): Readings Sought
What readings about teaching would you assign to philosophy graduate students? (more…)
Computer Science Ethics: A Growth Area for Philosophy?
An increasing number of universities across the country are beginning to offer courses in “computer science ethics,” The New York Times reports.
“Research Active Faculty” Criteria
(NOTE: I’m reposting this because there appeared to be problems with commenting on the original version.) A philosophy professor writes in with some questions about whether, and if so, how, various universities classify tenured faculty and distribute responsibilities among them: (more…)
The Evidence Supporting Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy
“A growing body of controlled and randomized research suggests that philosophical instruction in primary and secondary education positively impacts students’ subsequent cognitive development, sometimes for years after that instruction ceases.” (more…)
Symbolic Conscription, Part II (guest post by Amy Olberding)
The following is a guest post* by Amy Olberding, professor of philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, in response to the discussion of Sam Liao’s post here, “How Is This Course Intro to Philosophy?” A version of it first appeared at Feminist Philosophers. (more…)
How Is This Course Intro To Philosophy? (guest post by Shen-yi Liao)
The following is a guest post by Shen-yi Liao, assistant professor of philosophy at University of Puget Sound. A version of it first appeared at Medium.
Robot Takes Philosophy of Love Course
William Barry, associate professor of philosophy at Notre Dame de Namur University and director of its “Virtual Learning Lab,” taught a new kind of student in his philosophy of love course this past term: a robot.
Laptops in Classrooms Revisited
Nearly two years ago, prompted by a Columbia professor’s decision to ban laptops in his classes, we discussed classroom computer and phone policies. The subject has been gaining more traction recently, owing to recent studies and an op-ed last week in The New York Times by University of Michigan education, public policy, and economics professor Susan Dynarski. (more..
Why Science Education Needs Philosophy
Many of the young people who attend my classes think that philosophy is a fuzzy discipline that’s concerned only with matters of opinion, whereas science is in the business of discovering facts, delivering proofs, and disseminating objective truths. Furthermore, many of them believe that scientists can answer philosophical questions, but philosophers have no busines..
Encouraging Your Promising Students To Take Another Philosophy Course
This is a good idea:
Every semester, about this time, I identify students in my intro classes who are doing reasonably well, seem interested in philosophy (based on class participation, conversations in office hours, or written work), and are not graduating in the near future. I email all of them individually (although of course the letters are somewhat repetitiv..
Why Women Choose To Continue Studying Philosophy — Or Not
Two attitudes help explain why some women choose to not continue studying philosophy, according to research recently published in Analysis.
The Perception of Philosophy as Masculine
A recent study looks at whether perceptions about how “masculine” philosophy is can help explain the gender disparities in the field. (more…)
Converting One-Time Philosophy Students Into Repeat Enrollees
A philosophy professor writes:
Our department is thinking about ways we can convert students who take one class for accidental reasons (it fulfills a requirement or it fits a time slot) into students who take a few more classes. We’ve talked about a few strategies here, and I’ve looked around online a tiny bit for resources, but I thought this might be the sort o..
Bringing Philosophy and Business Education Together
A new program at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University combines philosophy and other humanities disciplines with a business education. “Integrated Business and Humanities” is a business major that requires its students to philosophy, language, culture, and other humanities courses. (more…)
A Philosophy Course Based On Consensus, Not Conflict
In introductory college courses in the sciences and social sciences, and even some humanities disciplines like history, the material taught largely consists of basic claims, findings, and ideas that most of those in the discipline agree upon. Could there be such a course in philosophy? (more…)
How To Use Recitation/Discussion Sections
Many college course have meetings of recitation or discussion sections in addition to the course lectures which are sometimes run by the professor, sometimes by teaching assistants. What goes on in the recitation is usually supposed to be different than the kind of thing that happens in the lecture; the small size of each recitation group, relative to the course’s w..
Revisiting “Grad Students: What Would You Tell Your Prof(s), But Can’t?”
About a year ago I asked, “Graduate students, what would you like to tell your professor(s) right now, but can’t?” (more…)
Custom Student Evaluations Of Teaching
Maybe, just maybe, if more of the comments on our student evaluations looked like the following, they’d be worth it: (more…)
White Supremacists, Charlottesville, and the Philosophy Classroom
Racist violence has been a defining feature of the United States since its creation. One risk of focusing on highly visible instances of racist violence, such as the “Unite the Right” rally by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend, is to make it seem more exceptional and more recognizable—and more alien to ordinary America..
How Will You Try To Improve Your Teaching?
Hello, fellow academics, it’s August 1st, the date that indicates the summer is, sadly, soon over. Amidst the scramble to meet deadlines and knock items off of that to-do list, it’s also time to make sure you’re prepared for your teaching. (more…)
Should Philosophers Teach the Meaning of Life (and other Possibly Depressing Subjects)?
If there’s a question that comes to mind when people see the word “philosophy” it’s this: “what’s the meaning of life?” (more…)
Learning Through Teaching
Well, given my background I knew virtually no philosophy. So I have taught myself most of the philosophy I know by teaching it. If I wanted to learn about something, I would teach a course on it (keeping a couple of weeks ahead of the students). I have learned a lot of philosophy this way, and it’s been a blast.
That’s Graham Priest (CUNY) in the What Is It Like ..
Visualizing The Logical Structure of Arguments: A New Platform (guest post by Simon Cullen)
The following is a guest post* by Simon Cullen (Princeton), which continues an earlier discussion of his work teaching with argument mapping techniques and software.