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APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy2000 ReportProceedings & Addresses Volume 74, Number 5 May 2001 Reports of APA Committees -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Committee on Teaching Philosophy Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley, Chair The committee this year has continued to sponsor sessions on teaching at the three divisional meetings. A new effort was undertaken to co-sponsor sessions with various other APA committees in order to highlight the centrality of teaching in all areas of philosophy. The first such jointly sponsored session was a Symposium on "Emergent Issues in American Indian Philosophy" held at the Pacific Division meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, April 8, 2000. Jacquelyn Ann Kegley, Chair of the Committee on Teaching, chaired this session. The symposium program was as follows. Gregory Cajete, University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, presented on "An Ecology of Indigenous Education"; Paul Willeto, Dine Community College, spoke on "American Indian Curriculum Development"; Scott Pratt, University of Oregon, presented on "Teaching American Indian Philosophy," and Anne Waters, CSU, Bakersfield, discussed "An American Indian Philosophy Renaissance?" The session was well attended and well received. The Committee on Teaching sponsored a session at the Eastern Division meeting in Boston on December 30, 1999. The topic of the session was "Incorporating Service Learning in Philosophy Courses." The chair of the session was David Hoekema, Calvin College, and presenters were Carolyn Magid, Bentley College and John Valentine, Shawnee State. This is an important new pedagogical movement in higher education and it was valuable to have the two participants share their experiences with this teaching methodology as it applies to philosophy. Chair Hoekma, in his remarks, posed the query "what does the study of philosophy have to do with the real world of community service?" He argued that "service-learning has come to be one of the means by which students learn philosophy and confront foundation questions of meaning, value and responsibility." He also indicated that service learning has enlightened not only courses on social ethics and political philosophy but also areas of philosophy from philosophy of art to epistemology. Professor Magid discussed how service learning enhances two courses: a "Problems of Philosophy" introductory course for freshmen and an upper level philosophy course entitled "Perspectives on Poverty." Professor Valentine discussed his long-term service learning experience and how students are able to incorporate the philosophical ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, and Kant in their reflections on community involvement. The APA Committee on Teaching Philosophy traditionally cooperates with the Central Consortium on Teaching Philosophy to set up a session at the Central Division meetings. Thus in April in Chicago a session was presented on "Approaches to Collaborative Learning: In-Class and On-Line." Valerie Gray Hardcastle (Virginia Tech) spoke on "Using the Web for Collaborative Learning." Karen Grayson (Principia College) presented on "Collaborative Learning and Dialogue: The Theory and Practice of Using Small Groups in the Classroom." Joel Anderson (Washington University) discussed "Collaborative Student Research: Providing the ‘Scaffolding’ for Group Projects." In addition, the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy co-sponsored a session with the American Association of Philosophy Teachers. The topic was "Teaching Philosophy to Do Philosophy." The chair of the session was Debra Penna-Fredricks (St. Louis University). Stephen Finn (Seattle University/Villanova University) gave a presentation entitled "Lexicon: A Game for Introductory Philosophy Courses." Betsy Decyk (CSU, Long Beach) spoke on "The Drama of Ideas: Teaching the History of Modern Philosophy Using a Theater Metaphor." Stephen L. Esquith (Michigan State University) gave a presentation on "Service-Learning in a General Introductory Course." Donna Engelmann (Alverno College) completed the session with a presentation entitled "Teaching As If Your Students Will Practice Philosophy." During a session on assessment held at the Eastern Division meeting in 1998, questions were raised about the APA Statement on Assessment. Thus, during this year, under the leadership of Hugh Wilder (College of Charleston) the committee has worked to revise this statement. The revised statement will be presented to the APA Board in the fall for adoption. The major undertaking for the committee during this year was to follow through on the long-term goal of securing outside funding to develop APA resources for the support of teaching. Utilizing a "seed money" grant from the Carnegie/American Association of Higher Education, a planning meeting was held in Philadelphia February 4-6. Attending were Martin Benjamin (Michigan State); Bestsy Decyk (CSU, Long Beach); Lawrence Hinman (UC, San Diego); Rosalind Ladd (Wheaton College); Louisa Moon (2-Year College Committee); Hugh Wilder (College of Charleston ); Richard Bett, Executive Director; Jim Kiley-Zufelt, Information Technologies APA National Office; and Craig Eisendrath, a grant writing consultant. Dave Garrison, Director of Channel Marketing, Wadsworth Thomson Learning was also present at the meeting to make a proposal for a cooperative venture. The meeting resulted in a decision to undertake the writing of two major grant proposals. The first was to seek funding for an online resource center for the APA. The second would seek funding for a series of teaching institutes for graduate students and their mentors. The group also decided to launch a "Teaching Resources" web site. The grant proposals are now complete and letters of inquiry are being submitted to foundations for possible funding. On April 5, 2000 an Online Resource Center for the Teaching of Philosophy was launched as part of the APA site. In its present incarnation it includes a collection of syllabi and a collection of pedagogical reflections under the title "What Works." Flyers advertising the Web Site were distributed at the Pacific and Central Division meetings. The Executive Director and the committee are now working to solicit more materials for the site. The committee has also been active in working with the APA and the American Association of Philosophy Teachers in co-sponsoring a Graduate Teaching Seminar conducted by Martin Benjamin. This will be held in conjunction with the 14th International Workshop and Conference on Teaching Philosophy" held at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin August 2-6,2000. The committee continues to solicit ideas and proposals for session at the divisional meeting and urges those interested in initiating sessions to contact the chair. The committee also requests reports of members who have received teaching awards so that they may be recognized and honored by the APA. Ideas, suggestions, and questions from members are always welcome.
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