I have been extremely fortunate to be able to continue to do what I love. And I am certain that I would not be in the position that I am today without the extraordinary generosity of mentors and colleagues. To that end, I would like to share a few resources that I have created and workshopped over the years in hopes that I might be able to help others. Please feel free to download any of the materials below and to make them your own. Also, if you have any recommendations for improvements, I gladly welcome the feedback!
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Assignments / Rubrics:
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As I mentioned on my teaching page, I like to utilize a scaffolded set of assignments to develop students' communication and critical thinking skills over the course of the semester.
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I begin with the question-crafting assignment. The assignment is designed to mimic a conference question. Students concisely explain a small portion of an assigned reading in the first paragraph. In the second paragraph, students pose a critical question and draw out its implications. [Bloom's Taxonomy verbs: summarize (comprehension) and question (analysis)]
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In upper-level courses, the question-crafting assignment is the precursor to either case studies (applied ethics) or critical summaries (formal philosophy topics). Both assignments are designed to challenge students to perform a more elaborate analysis across multiple evaluative dimensions. [Bloom's Taxonomy verbs: analyze (analysis) and relate (synthesis)]
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The final assignment is either an essay or a project where students are allowed greater creative license. In practice, I keep track of my students' projects with a spreadsheet. That way, I can give them recommendations as different ideas surface in the classroom that are related to their topic. [Bloom's Taxonomy verbs: create (analysis) and evaluate (evaluation)]
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Ethics Bowl:
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It has been a real joy to coach Ethics Bowl. Also, in my experience, university administrators are quick to support the initiative. As someone who has moved a lot, I like to know that the teams survive even when I have to leave. So, I created the following resources as a way to make life easier for replacement coaches.​
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Graduate School Prep:
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Below are some documents that I provide students that express an interest in graduate school.
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Formal Logic:
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I prefer the in and out rules that I learned as a graduate student. They are the most intuitive, which is advantageous for introductory courses. I struggled to find textbooks that use the in and out rules (also, apologies to the profession, but I try to avoid textbooks when possible given the high cost to students). So, I wrote my own readings, and I created handouts that I give to students for the exams. Notes: (1) There may still be a few typos in the documents, (2) some of the translations could be better, and (3) the system / notation is pretty simplified - I just try to emphasize the logical reasoning behind each rule above all else.
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