Designing a Philosophy Course : Where to Start

Alexandra Bradner combines thirty years of classroom experience with the latest educational research to help you design philosophy courses effectively and efficiently.

Each of the short eight chapters is built around a question: What kind of course are you teaching? Who is your student population? What materials will you assign? Brander walks you through the course design process through exercises and accessible overviews. She offers strategies for getting up to speed on a content area and direction on where to find data regarding how well students are prepared to produce college-level argumentative papers. She demonstrates the value of selecting materials that tell a particular story and casts learning objectives as reflective, work that one would expect from a teacher trained to think intentionally, clearly, and skeptically, and a teacher who cares about their students’ learning.

Practical and packed with insights, this guide is informed by the latest learning theories in cognitive and educational psychology. It is for philosophers planning their first courses; mid-career philosophers looking to refresh their teaching and graduate programs in philosophy that are interested in giving their students an edge on the market.