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What is class time for? Part II
After a long hiatus for the summer, I am finally getting back to posting on this blog–I was working on research as well as moving to a new apartment, and so my thoughts on teaching were not as prolific...
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Whose discussion question is this, anyway?
One of the courses I teach on a regular basis has a significant discussion component–after a two hour lecture each week, I and a group of about 20 students meet twice a week for 1.5 hours each to...
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Discussion Stagnation
[Note after writing this: I see that I was asking this question a number of months ago in my blog...guess it's an unresolved issue and has been for awhile...] Seminar discussions in my Arts One class...
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Student presentations
In small classes in the past, I’ve had students sign up for a day on which to do a presentation to the whole class. They had to come up with several questions for the group to discuss, and present...
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Learning to read
Upon reflecting on my own lecture style, I found that it is very common for me to spend lectures outlining arguments from the assigned texts–I present main points in the text as I see them, and the...
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Making the Reading Worth Doing
The title of this post was the title of a presentation by William J. Melanson (from University of Nebraska at Oklahoma) at the recent American Association of Philosophy Teacher‘s biannual conference at...
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Leaving the room
I have long had a bit of a pet peeve that I think I’m finally coming to terms with: students getting up and leaving in the middle of the class meeting, whether to just leave for good for the day, or to...
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The flipped classroom in philosophy–need to change lectures too
Somehow I missed all the hype about the “flipped” or “inverted” or “reversed” or “backwards” classroom over the past year or two. Just saw an excellent post on some Twitter feed or other (can’t...
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The Power of Space in the Classroom
Most of us know very well the importance of space in the classroom–how the room is set up can really change the dynamics of a class. For example, in a discussion course, I try to set up the room in as...
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(etmooc) Digital Storytelling, you’re looking better every day
In a recent post I explained that I just haven’t been very into digital storytelling, the second topic in etmooc. While many of the other participants have been busy creating animated gifs, 5 card...
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Making argument outlines in groups
As noted in an earlier post, I’m participating in mostly online course about teaching in a “blended” learning environment (partly online, partly face to face). The course is entirely housed within a...
View ArticleCollaborative doc on class guidelines
I participated in a #digped Twitter chat today (run by Hybrid Pedagogy), about class policies on use of electronic devices during class. As always, this chat was very helpful for pushing me to be...
View ArticleMid-course feedback & responses, Intro to Philosophy
I asked for feedback on how things are going in my Introduction to Philosophy course, right after Reading Week (which was at the halfway point). Here are some of the common answers, and my replies!...
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What needs improvement in Intro to Philosophy
Image from front page of my PHIL 102 course site from Spring 2017. Image of Socrates is Bust of Socrates from the Louvre, by CherryX, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0 on Wikimedia Commons. I am working on my...
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How best to use class time? (11 years later)
Classroom by Victor Björkund, licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr. Eleven years ago, during the summer I first started this blog (2006), I wrote a couple of posts about the use of class time: What is class...
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Use of class time in PHIL 102
I’m teaching PHIL 102, Introduction to Philosophy, Jan-April 2018. I have taught this course many times before (and have blogged about it; see here for posts about the course), and I keep revisiting it...
View Article“No devices” policies and accessibilty
I have had a couple of conversations here and there with faculty and graduate students about students using electronic devices in the classroom, and about policies that some instructors have saying...
View ArticleSome end-of-term thoughts on Intro to Philosophy
Classes for this term ended yesterday, and I have a few immediate thoughts/reflections after the term has finished, about my Introduction to Philosophy course that I wanted to write down so I don’t...
View Article(etmooc) Digital Storytelling, you’re looking better every day
In a recent post I explained that I just haven’t been very into digital storytelling, the second topic in etmooc. While many of the other participants have been busy creating animated gifs, 5 card...
View ArticleMaking argument outlines in groups
As noted in an earlier post, I’m participating in mostly online course about teaching in a “blended” learning environment (partly online, partly face to face). The course is entirely housed within a...
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