tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.comments2024-03-14T04:16:20.472-07:00In Socrates' WakeMichael Cholbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comBlogger3038125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-12152042119808159092018-03-11T07:10:31.620-07:002018-03-11T07:10:31.620-07:00And a decade later, here's this short paper:
...And a decade later, here's this short paper:<br /><br />Ethics & Extra Credit:<br /><br /><a href="https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2018/02/25/ethics-and-extra-credit/" rel="nofollow">https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2018/02/25/ethics-and-extra-credit/</a>Nathan Nobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152631338134046080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-49116810669051828062016-03-01T07:05:16.925-08:002016-03-01T07:05:16.925-08:00I had a list, but can't locate it. From memory...I had a list, but can't locate it. From memory, many wanted to pursue something like self-confidence. Others focused on self-control, patience, and "openness". Several focused on the theological virtue of faith. There was a pretty wide spectrum, and some of the traits they selected might not land on everyone's virtue lists, but the point was to get them to focus on a trait they thought was a virtue, and to try and cultivate it, so I didn't evaluate their selections, just their reflections about the process.Mike Austinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02489700864050607425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-81767211351217754452016-02-27T09:56:04.500-08:002016-02-27T09:56:04.500-08:00This sounds great. Are there any virtues that stud...This sounds great. Are there any virtues that students seem especially interested in cultivating? Nathan Nobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152631338134046080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-73122345027970967802016-02-26T10:27:51.541-08:002016-02-26T10:27:51.541-08:00I have done something like this with my high schoo...I have done something like this with my high school students in Moral Thology class. The assignment involved picking a virtue the student thought they wanted to develop, reading two or three accounts of it (several books out there devoting chapters on specific virtues) and then identifying three specific ways to practice the virtue of their choice. After giving feedback on this, the students practiced the virtue for two weeks. The final part of the assignment was a reflective piece looking at how it went (getting into the habit, doing it), how they felt after doing it, and what they noticed about the others who they lived with because they were practicing this virtue. I got some very perceptive reflections.Mark Smilliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15321175513358376462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-56318415624316815922016-02-25T19:20:58.858-08:002016-02-25T19:20:58.858-08:00I really like the idea as well.I really like the idea as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-35526494426915840842016-02-25T12:44:49.958-08:002016-02-25T12:44:49.958-08:00Wow Mike. This is really awesome. I want to try it...Wow Mike. This is really awesome. I want to try it next time I teach ethics. What a great idea! Jennifer M Mortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605594189543742740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-68578601746617180102015-09-12T08:21:50.757-07:002015-09-12T08:21:50.757-07:00A popular level item:
The lost art of democratic d...A popular level item:<br />The lost art of democratic debate<br />http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_lost_art_of_democratic_debateAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09387697967281318569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-6403541354494461672015-09-04T08:43:38.177-07:002015-09-04T08:43:38.177-07:00Richard Feldman, “Thinking, Reasoning, and Educati...Richard Feldman, “Thinking, Reasoning, and Education,” OUP Handbook of Philosophy of Education, edited by Harvey Siegel, Nathan Nobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152631338134046080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-70747822289436991352015-09-04T08:40:25.352-07:002015-09-04T08:40:25.352-07:00Richard Feldman has an article or book chapter on ...Richard Feldman has an article or book chapter on that theme. I'll try to figure out what it is. Nathan Nobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152631338134046080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-68691314811656040002015-08-10T05:09:13.509-07:002015-08-10T05:09:13.509-07:00You should be careful to ensure it is not your own...You should be careful to ensure it is not your own bias that is influencing your perceptions of the quality of their argument. All argument involves premise. Are you sure you are not simply discounting their premises because they are not aligned with your own? I suspect these students premises would be accepted as true with certain groups of people. Because you do not accept them does not necessarily make them false. You say you do not assert a final view about homosexuality, but you undoubtedly have one that influences your opinions about their arguments, no matter how objective you try to be. Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03807103927903789321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-88605400486726481362015-07-23T21:55:17.899-07:002015-07-23T21:55:17.899-07:00Thank you for this piece on the flipped classroom ...Thank you for this piece on the flipped classroom Toby; it clarified a lot of things about it for me. I had heard the buzzword but never got around to looking into it in more detail, so this was helpful. <br /><br />I totally agree with your point that the technological side of the idea is not really the essential thing; I'm not sure the active/passive distinction gets to the heart of it either. Another way of looking at it might be simply in terms of efficiency. Like many people, I put a lot of time and effort into my lectures; I think a lot about what I want to say and how to best explain the ideas. But things don't always go according to plan in the live lecture: you run out of time, or fumble over one part or forget what you wanted to say about something; maybe you spend too long dealing with a student question or going off on a digression. So I find the idea of making a definitive recording of a lecture and letting students look at it in their own time quite appealing. <br /><br />That would leave more time available for tutorial, which seems to me simply a better and more efficient use of a teacher and student's time, since it can be more focused and directed toward the specific problems that students are having with the material. <br /><br />Regarding ordinary lecture recordings already playing this role, like Josh May, I'm not convinced. Here is an anecdote. Last year, when I was teaching critical thinking I too was very disappointed with lecture attendance. It dropped off quite visibly from about the middle of semester, despite the fact that I was using peer instruction to try to make the lectures more interactive. Like you, I thought to myself; "Well OK, the students must be listening to the recordings instead: fair enough." But then I discovered you can track the number of students who are listening to the recordings. When I did this, imagine my horror to discover that hardly anyone was listening to the recordings either! Maybe three or four students on average were listening to each one, often none at all. <br /><br />Here is my hypothesis: students skip lectures for all sorts of different reasons -- not finding them useful or engaging might not even be the most common reason. Whatever the reason, the student thinks: "I *should* go to the lecture and I usually get something out of it when I do, but I'm too busy [or whatever it is] today. But it's OK because I can listen to the recording and download the slides”. But then what happens is that they never find time or the motivation to actually do that.<br /><br />What are students doing instead then? Perhaps just looking at the slides and not bothering with the recording. Or just reading from the study guide. Or just relying on what happens in tutorials. But this is speculation. I would love to do a proper survey one day about lectures and ask students why they skip them and how (if at all) they try to make up for the missed content.<br /><br />As with any pedagogical innovation there are going to be pros and cons. I can think of many pros for the 'flipped classroom' idea and of course it is always easy to think of difficulties. I wonder whether it is ambitious to expect students to do *more* homework. As we all know, it is hard enough just to get them to do some reading before a tutorial. With this approach, we expect them to do the reading *and* listen to lecture recordings before attending class. My guess is that it would be successful only if the lecture recordings were short and of very high audio and visual quality so that watching and listening was a pleasant and not too time-consuming experience.Sam Butcharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07075907766179949650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-230558686009770382015-06-05T00:35:21.339-07:002015-06-05T00:35:21.339-07:00 I was asked to do one at an non-Leiter ranked R1 ... I was asked to do one at an non-Leiter ranked R1 and at a branch campus of a Midwestern state universityPengobatan Pasca Operasi Kanker Servikshttp://obat-darahtinggi.web.id/pasca-operasi-kanker-serviks/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-53027837304776620602015-05-27T06:58:53.407-07:002015-05-27T06:58:53.407-07:00Thank you.Thank you.Jan Priddy, Oregonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06107172381368544145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-73349091281670325312015-05-14T13:54:34.077-07:002015-05-14T13:54:34.077-07:00Hi Toby! I'm late to the discussion but I only...Hi Toby! I'm late to the discussion but I only just found this post (and the time over summer to look at it). Great points. Some quick thoughts: <br /><br />- I'm not sure how many students would prefer to watch videos at home, especially of standard lectures (not fancy Khan Academy vids), and especially lectures that involve heavy amounts of peer instruction, which students can't easily participate in at home. I for one would hate having to watch lectures. I absolutely love philosophy but I can hardly sit through 30 minutes to watch a lecture. Mostly it's because I'm alone and can access Facebook or start working on a paper if I get an idea. When I'm committed to being somewhere in person and it's "live," however, I can sit through multiple days of lectures at conferences! So, even if students prefer to be lazy, that might not be best for them. It's certainly not for me.<br /><br />- I don't think many universities in the States record lectures like they do at Monash. Part of that is different culture while part of it is cost. Most universities in the States, from what I can tell, don't have this technology, let alone use it in philosophy.<br /><br />- The value of flipped classrooms, I think, depends greatly on the quality and flexibility of the videos. There are bound to be excellent videos for mathematics given the higher demand for learning it. They are also largely flexible, given that the "canon" in math is pretty well set and comes in discrete topics (e.g. adding fractions, quadratic equations). <br /><br />I'm not sure this works as well for philosophy, which is in less demand and often does not divide up easily or have a set canon. For example, in Bioethics, I like to teach a feminist take on commercial surrogacy by Sara Ann Ketchum. I doubt I'd be able to find or make a high quality video for it. Another example: I recently started using Laurie Paul's "What You Can't Expect When You're Expecting," which only recently came out. And I might decide to drop it later. Philosophy courses seem to change a lot and be tied to very specific articles or arguments. Josh Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13511130370992616940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-67758332063037693592015-05-09T16:00:32.705-07:002015-05-09T16:00:32.705-07:00Thanks for your comment!
I think we're in bro...Thanks for your comment!<br /><br />I think we're in broad agreement. I particularly like the reason you articulated for being suspicious of the active/passive distinction.<br /><br />Regarding how new flipping is (in the sense of making class time active, not passive): no doubt you're right. Teaching classes via lectures of 100+ is the relatively new thing, and flipping is -- in part -- an attempt to regain some of the advantages of smaller classes.<br /><br />I take it that your main suggestion is that the value of flipped learning (the technological side of it in particular) is that it broadens the range of ways we can engage with students. And by doing that, we broaden the demographic of students who get value out of our teaching. That sounds about right to me too.Toby Handfieldhttp://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/toby-handfieldnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-11584247443367368052015-05-05T05:28:53.572-07:002015-05-05T05:28:53.572-07:00No, nothing in use yet. Thanks for the report that...No, nothing in use yet. Thanks for the report that these sometimes backfire. Nathan Nobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12152631338134046080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-40996500708784474532015-05-04T18:40:05.665-07:002015-05-04T18:40:05.665-07:00Hi, Nathan,
Are you looking to replace a book tha...Hi, Nathan,<br /><br />Are you looking to replace a book that you're already using? I hope to hear others' suggestions and experiences. I've had bad luck, because the ones that I've tried have backfired: the students who (I think) would most benefit from the books, perceive a condescending or patronizing tone in those books...Vance Rickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615463743461037098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-26842044345162529682015-04-28T14:18:41.993-07:002015-04-28T14:18:41.993-07:00I'm in general agreement with this post but I ...I'm in general agreement with this post but I think a lot of philosophy teaching was "flipped" in your second sense long before it became routine for universities to videotape faculty lectures and post those videos and slide shows online. At least at smaller colleges with classes limited to 30 students or so, the standard model has long been for students to read prior to class, so that class time could be spent analyzing, evaluating, applying, critiquing -- in other words "philosophizing" with and about -- the material. The professor's job in that setting is to mentor students as they practice philosophical skills during live discussion, not to deliver content to them.<br /><br />In saying this I don't mean to deny the added value of today's technologies. Many students enter college with limited reading skills, so things like short videos and automated reading guides are great for helping students work through difficult passages on their own. Harnessing new technologies to make it more likely that more students arrive in the classroom with at least a basic grasp of key concepts and arguments makes it possible to do more advanced philosophical work during class time. <br /><br />Still, this does make me wonder if the "active/passive" distinction really captures the value of "flipped" learning (or if flipped learning is really all that new). After all, what one student can absorb passively from a reading takes another student quite a bit of hard work to grasp. And in the classroom discussion, some students passively observe the discussion while others are active participants. In my experience, neither student type correlates in any obvious way with final grades. Some of the "passive" discussion watchers are clearly actively following and hence really learning the philosophical skills being exemplified in the discussion; and some of the most "active" participants may not be really mastering philosophical skills despite their willingness to try out ideas in class (alternatively, perhaps they lack the content knowledge that they were supposed to be getting from the reading, and hence don't have enough to reason with when asked to respond fully to a prompt on their own). <br /><br />I agree that "flipped" learning is coming, but I think that's because it gives us the opportunity to provide more help to students wherever and whenever they need it. It also means that anyone who thought the job of professors was just to deliver content will find it more and more challenging to justify that view. Some students can actively follow and hence learn from the kinds of intellectual moves that are made by the professor at the front of the room. But lots of students do not absorb content or skills delivered in any passive format (be it a book, lecture or slide show). Hence the real challenge of teaching is actively engaging students whether they are inside our classroom or out of it. <br /><br />Nancy Matchetthttp://www.unco.edu/philosophy/matchett.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-71054818121898177792015-03-07T13:01:42.950-08:002015-03-07T13:01:42.950-08:00Hi Harry,
Very few of our students attend graduat...Hi Harry,<br /><br />Very few of our students attend graduate school, so our goals are not constructed around that aim in any more than an incidental way.<br /><br />Here are the goals:<br />The Philosophy Department's instructional goals are to help students:<br /><br />Apply analytical skills involved in identifying the concepts and drawing the subtle distinctions basic to a philosophical discussion, as well as other discussions of complex and abstract topics.<br />Apply skills in reasoning (including the substantiation of a thesis with well informed reasons and the charitable consideration of objections) required for building a convincing case for a philosophical thesis, as well as other complex and challenging arguments.<br />Apply skills involved in the written and oral presentation of philosophical arguments (including the development of a well organized and clearly articulated line of thought), as well as other complex and challenging arguments.<br />Critically examine ethical values underlying our social practices.<br />Synthesize substantive interconnections among philosophical topics (such as free will and personal identity) and areas (such as metaphysics and epistemology).<br />Originate creative philosophical work (gauged by, for example, the presentation of an original thesis or argumentative strategy, or a creative counterexample).<br />Distinguish and compare a range of philosophical traditions both of different time periods as well as of different cultures.<br />Critically examine a historical philosophical movement or figure.<br />Critically examine a philosophical topic.<br />Apply research skills to philosophical issues.<br /><br />These are used to evaluate the major program, not general education, the assessment of which occurs at a higher institutional leve.Michael Cholbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-25950016227436178132015-02-07T23:35:16.339-08:002015-02-07T23:35:16.339-08:00This sounds like the kind of grading that I have u...This sounds like the kind of grading that I have used at continuation high schools. Students are given a contract with learning objectives. The grade or amount of credits earned is based on how many of those objectives are met. This system motivates students who up to that point had failed high school for years. I introduced this grading system to a science department that had a 40% fail rate. It dropped to 16%. It is motivating extrinsically because it creates a success contract that clearly matches a grade to learning objectives. It is intrinsically motivating because the student can visually see himself obtaining skills or knowledge that he did not have.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-30402382188598809422015-01-29T12:27:33.553-08:002015-01-29T12:27:33.553-08:00Frustration, dropping out and deception (about one...Frustration, dropping out and deception (about oneself or something else) is a gate to existentialism, and when it comes to you in the "middle" of an academic activity, is just forseeable that those people start seeking answers in their surroundings. In this context (leaving or almost finishing college and so on), Philosohpy becomes the only acceptable tool in order to understand the "incomplete world" recflected by their own. Unfortunately, in most of cases this defines their Philosophy view for ever. Toward Philosophy introductory classes and why do they "encourage" people to get deep into it, thats a different story. Cerebrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01479048708133974577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-91430898233891371532014-11-23T07:26:13.608-08:002014-11-23T07:26:13.608-08:00You may be interested in a small study my colleagu...You may be interested in a small study my colleague and I did on students' performance in a logic class. It is published in the most recent APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy. <br /><br />http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/808CBF9D-D8E6-44A7-AE13-41A70645A525/TeachingV14n1.pdf<br /><br />You may also be interested in using the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale to predict students at risk in logic. We found that homework and attendance were predictors of success (big surprise!) and that students' reported frustration was negatively correlated with academic performance. I am interested in looking more closely at types of homework that can improve student performance in logic (preparatory vs. practice; collaborative vs. independent). <br /><br />Renee Smith<br />Coastal Carolina University<br />rsmith[at]coastal.eduRenéehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11201888439658491597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-21229978146780855782014-11-21T14:32:02.728-08:002014-11-21T14:32:02.728-08:00Take a look at the data in the teacher's manua...Take a look at the data in the teacher's manual that correspond's to gensler's text and software:<br /><br />http://www.harryhiker.com/lc/Adam Goldinghttp://www.adamgolding.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-7909808108133111702014-11-20T05:54:55.003-08:002014-11-20T05:54:55.003-08:00I forgot to mention that I've been teaching ph...I forgot to mention that I've been teaching philosophy at Alverno for 25 years. I'd be happy to share information about how it works if anyone is interested. donna.engelmann@alverno.edu Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07990627431664282254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-69322372054130773192014-11-20T05:52:37.174-08:002014-11-20T05:52:37.174-08:00Whatever you call it (we don't call it "s...Whatever you call it (we don't call it "specs grading" at Alverno College we've had a non-graded ability-based curriculum in which students receive narrative feedback based on course and program learning outcomes. The outcomes incorporate mastery of eight core abilities in the curriculum. We've been doing this since the early 70's. Our students are all women, forty percent minority, and 70 percent or more are the first in their families to attend college. The curriculum is organized around levels of ability development, and students self-assess their development in relation to criteria and outcomes in every course. So, yes, it is both workable and very effective. Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07990627431664282254noreply@blogger.com