In The Value of Philosophy Bertrand Russell says that those who go “through life without a tincture of philosophy” live as if imprisoned by their own prejudices and the prejudices of their time. This Socratic view of philosophy, as being a challenger of belief, rather than a conveyor of knowledge, is I believe an extremely useful stance to have in a philosophy classroom. 

To illustrate this idea I often tell my students the story of Stephen West, a podcaster that created the great podcast, Philosophy Now. Stephen grew up in foster care, dropped out of high school, and was homeless at the age of 16. After that he was able to get a full-time job, bagging groceries. He says at that point he was angry and had a limited view of the world. One day he googled the “wisest person in the history of the world” and the first result on Google at the time was Plato's Dialogue Gorgias. He says “the rest is history.” For Stephen, the ultimate value of philosophy is that it helps us question our assumptions, about the world and about ourselves. In his own words: “When you come from a background of abuse, and violence, you can become jaded. Philosophy is in the business of questioning the base assumptions that we have every day that allow us to oversimplify. Philosophy has given me a level of humility, that is the ultimate value of philosophy, it takes you down a peg or two.” 

I tell my students that this is the greatest benefit they will ever get from a philosophy class, but the fun part is getting there. In my classes, the students learn how to read and interpret difficult texts. I use the social reading website Perusall, which allows them to react to the readings and discuss immediately with each other. We then use their comments in the class for an enhanced discussion. Through this process. Students understand how to think critically. Here is a comment from one of my students after one of my classes:

“This was a really fun course and I learned a lot. I definitely now have a different perception of the world after this course.”

In the classroom I encourage openness, discussion, and dynamic interaction between the students. My main goal is to encourage students to think and progress on their own, so I look for ways to encourage students to state their views and to be comfortable with changing their minds and doubting things that they had no doubt about in the beginning of the class. In philosophy we discuss topics such as how far we can trust our perception, if we have free will, what constitutes the self and discussions of personal identity. Students typically start the approach to the topic with a set viewpoint and change their minds through the readings and discussions. 

In my classes all activities and assignments have been prepared in advance with specific goals in mind. There is nothing asked of the students that does not have a connection to the objectives of the course, and nothing that is not measured in some way. This careful planning helps students to maintain accountability, which can be challenging in a philosophy class that focuses so much on discussion, as it should. In order to have a significant discussion the students need to be prepared, with that in mind, when classes meet twice a week, I divide my classes into lecture and discussion classes. In the lecture class I present the topic for the week. Each week there is also a short reading posted on the site Perusall, which allows the students to engage in social reading, i.e. the students comment and respond to other students as they go through the readings. In our discussion classes, students already have experienced the lecture, the reading, and have seen each other's comments on the reading, which is a great starting point for a lively discussion. During the class, students clarify their positions, listen to others and often change their mind in the process.

In order to keep students on track, students garner points for doing the readings and creating comments on perusal. In order to make sure everyone is keeping up with the lectures I have short animated videos that I have created from previous class slides, which I post so everyone has access to the main content if they miss a class, they can always watch the video. In class my lectures often go beyond what is presented on the video, but they are a good back-up for those who miss the classes. There are short five question quizzes on these videos, again to make sure students are keeping on track with the class. 

The strategy of attributing points weekly for readings and quizzes allows me as the instructor to identify any issues the students are having in time to try to correct them. If a student is not doing the required work I contact them several times and encourage them to keep going. I encourage students to come to office hours and discuss any issues they may be having. However, since there is always an assignment for everything presented in class, in order to catch up, students need to read, watch, and do the related assignments. This helps guarantee that students are not falling behind unnoticed. 

During our class discussions I use several strategies to encourage lively interactions. I use a great abundance of thought experiments, because these are always good starting points to stimulate students. The depersonalized character of thought experiments also allows students to discuss a topic without the social and peer pressure to take certain stances. Thought experiments are essential in any philosophy professor’s tool kit. I also ask the students to point out first the things they agree between themselves, but then also the things they do not agree. This is traditional of philosophy and is exemplified in how my classes are prepared, where first the theory is proposed and then critiques to the theory are presented, exemplifying what philosophical thought looks like.

I strive to create a classroom experience where both accountability, discussion, and openness are encouraged. Assignments allow both me and the students to see what is working and what is not. Reading assignments on Perusall give me crucial information about how a certain class is understanding or misunderstanding a philosopher, and what questions in the reading the students are connecting with the most. This allows me to adjust the discussion to meet their needs and help their understanding.

For final projects in General Education classes, I typically allow different formats, such as papers, videos and podcasts. I find this to not only be more exciting for the students, but an essential tool to promote equity. I work with students from many different backgrounds and strengths and they are able to express themselves differently. Muted Group theory clearly shows that language has been often used to exclude certain groups that use language differently. The traditional academic paper may not work for all students. Depending on the class, a paper may not be necessary. In higher level classes, I do assign papers, but assign two shorter papers and then they are combined into a larger final paper. Even when I do assign papers, I encourage the student to explore the mode of expression they find to me the most genuine and I help them make it so that the ideas are clear and well developed, within their mode of expression. 

If you want to see some of the creative projects my students have created, you can see student videos and podcasts for my Ethical Issues in the Movies class here, you can see student videos for my General Education classes here, and you can see podcasts created for those classes here (the videos and podcasts posted are only from students who gave me permission and showed interest in sharing their work, there are many others that decided not to). You can also see a website that is a work in progress for my Ethical Issues in the Movies Class. Go to EthicsinFilm.net to see our collaborative work. 

I must also say that I learn almost as much from my students as they learn from me. During class discussion student reactions are often invaluable for my personal research work. In my opinion teaching is ultimately a collaboration between the students themselves, and the students' interaction with the instructor. Every class is an opportunity for me to develop my ideas on different topics as well as to listen to the students' ideas and points. Teaching for me is a symbiotic experience, and I can only hope the students get as much from me as I get from them.