Arbitrary Marks

I haven’t taken stock of my general “life” to do list in a while. At this point, it includes:
Move to Austin, start PhD program, get paper(s) published
Approximately two years ago, my to do list looked like this:

Metaphysics and epistemology comprehensive exam (high pass)
Philosophy of science and logic comprehensive exam (pass)
Complete coursework (Two left: Ethics, Nietzsche in fall [...]

It’s the last week of my classess–both the ones I’m taking online and the one I’m “facilitating” online. That’s the term that appears throughout the ed-psych readings I’ve been doing and in the sample syllabus I received for the online course.
As a facilitator, the cartoon at left isn’t ironic, then, it’s just a statement of [...]

There’s an interesting discussion going on at Experimental Philosophy, prompted by some off the cuff remarks by Saul Kripke at a conference. In response to a question about experimental philosophy’s rebuttal to one of his thought experiments, Kripke made what appeared to some to be a racially insensitive joke and a hand-waving sort of argument. [...]

Many of you have probably already discovered Scrivener, but for Mac users, it’s a great tool. I’m using it right now for two academic projects: a paper and a conference. The paper is split into multiple sections, with PDF files viewable inside of the program. The conference contains all of the assigned readings and my notes. Below you can see how easy it is to read a PDF and make notes on it at the same time.

Those notes can then be incorporated into a larger document. So far, I’m really enjoying the program and at the end of my 30 day trial period, I’ll probably pay the $40 to purchase it.

I’m in the midst of teaching an intro to philosophy course and taking two classes in how to teach online. They’re all being administered online, either through Blackboard (the one I’m teaching) or Moodle (the ones I’m taking). As part of the class in “Online Learning”, I’m evaluating an award-winning online course. Oddly enough, the [...]

Out of curiosity, I clicked over to RateMyProfessor.com this morning (another blogger had mentioned their ratings on the site). Although I’ve taught at several community colleges, no one so far has bothered to rate me. That’s okay, because I have official student evaluations for my file.
But now the Internets are evaluating me — I [...]

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m taking some online courses that are designed to teach me about assessment and teaching methods online. The problem is that I’m retentively particular about understanding the foundations of what I’m studying: so if an education article mentions “constructivism” and how self-evident it is that students “create knowledge” in community and the instructor is a facilitator, I want some argument and evidence.

I have read one book on educational approaches (Collaborative Learning) but I’m wondering if there’s a neat little primer on ed-psych stuff that I could flip through. At least one you would recommend…I’m sure there are a zillion out there.

*A side note: I can see why philosophers don’t talk about pedagogy very much. There’s so much jargon out there with thin argumentation that it’s a bit like reading a Lit-Crit scholar’s take on epistemology: i.e., there may be something useful in there, but you’ve gotta wade through some schlock to get it.

I have an instinct that (theistic) theological studies are far less useful than philosophy. As an atheist and non-Christian, to me it is like spending years studying the properties of phlogiston.

However, there are fellow philosophers spending years working on problems I think are wrong-headed. So is there any larger distinction to make between theology and philosophy, or, as human exercises in reflection, are they equally valuable?

There’s an article in today’s Insider Higher Ed on a professional development program for adjunct instructors at Valencia Community College, Florida. The opening paragraph of the story asks,
“Professional development programs to share the latest teaching techniques tend to be designed in ways that effectively exclude part timers, who can’t be expected to be on campus at [...]

It’s the time of year that students are busy studying for and taking final exams. Professors are occupied creating them. During these days, instructors have to decide how to “wrap up” their course. In my Newberry Library class, I decided to give a brief ten to fifteen minute presentation of my views on the problems [...]