PHIL 2300: Environmental Ethics
Case Study Workshops -- ongoing improvement and new designs
I also often organize my course units around case study workshops that bring course concepts, skills and theories into conversation with pressing and perennial dilemmas that we each face—as individuals and as members of larger communities.
As new issues arise in Utah or around the world, or as I discover new ways to improve learning, I design new Case Study Workshops. For instance, one case study workshop I developed within the last few years, called “The Stories We Tell,” asks students to find cultural artifacts that reflect “stories” about our relationship between non-human animals and/or the environment. These can be sacred texts from religion, songs from the radio, classic or contemporary art and sculpture. It can be architecture, or children’s stories, or whatever. The goal here is to have students read below the surface of a text or cultural artifact in order to find the underlying conceptual and moral frameworks, and explore the implications of those frameworks and of the stories being told. I ask them, too, to imagine how the stories might be told differently if written by Descartes or Kant, or Richard Sylvan or Carolyn Merchant, for example.
In another case, I designed a workshop inspired by 2016 documentary Chasing Coral, (which quickly became available on Netflix), through which students explored the ecocentric ethical model of Aldo Leopold's, in order to discuss, among other things, how Leopold's Land Ethic might offer new insights into our moral obligations regarding large-scale ecological crisis. (Here are a set of prompt questions for the workshop discussion) -->>
And in another case, I designed a workshop that allowed students to explore the concept of legal and/or moral personhood, through the late-2015/2016 New York Supreme Court case on the legal status of two research chimpanzees, Hercules and Leo, hinging in part on whether Habeas Corpus applied. (Here are prompt questions for this workshop discussion) --->>
Teaching through case-study and other inquiry-based approaches has been one of the most effective ways I have been able to engage students whose cultural perspectives, experiences, and academic skills vary greatly. It has helped me to start from where students are and to use their own experiences and talents as sources of strength, rather than to fall prey to the kind of “deficit-thinking” that identifies them as “lacking.” This is a powerful conceptual shift that respects, empowers, and gives responsibility to the student.
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If you are interested in seeing more of my reflections on the design of my PHIL 2300 course--the rationale, the objectives, the principles and design of assignments and course structure--recall that I published an essay in Teaching Philosophy, called "Philosophy For General Education: Teaching Environmental Ethics for Non-Majors," in 2015. (Fa 2014 - Fa 2015 is featured in a special portfolio for Salary-Adjustment, a .pdf of which is available on my Digication Page.) But you can read the article here:
Assessment: Improving Analytical Skills Development
Inquiry-based learning, through case study workshops and the like, is highly effective for student success, but I also combine it with analytical skills development. I dedicate activities, in and outside of class, to helping students to build strengths in close-reading, argument analysis, and strategies of effective response.
For instance, I recently developed a few new activities to solve a problem that kept creeping up on me: I didn’t think I was doing enough to help students see the contextual nature of ideas – that ideas don’t occur in isolated vacuums, but are embedded within vast conversations and histories. I want students to gain a deep appreciation for this embeddedness, because once you see thinking as a “conversation,” you realize you are a participant and not just a spectator; once you historicize and contextualize ideas and thus demystify them; you make them contestable and usable
So armed with three goals – get the contextual nature of ideas front and center, develop skills of textual support, keep the assignment engaging and meaningful to students’ lives – I created, for instance, an assignment called “Phil in the Blank,” a “Mad Libs” kind of assignment, where they create formal paragraphs and essays based on templates I create. The one at right here is an annotated sample essay on the underlying theoretical frameworks of two animal welfare/rights theorists: Peter Singer and Tom Regan. --->
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Another example of this kind of annotated-modeling as an assessment tool comes from a “Twitter” Philosophy assignment, where students create tweets that capture the essence of a philosophers’ concept or thought, and then connect it through hashtagging to larger conversations and experiences.
My assessment approach for these types of assignments aimed for clarity, detailed feedback, modeling effective essay writing, and transparent grading. As both of the activity samples provided above show, I spend a lot of time and effort giving feedback, transparent evaluations and clarifications of course content and expectations.
The annotated sample answers you see above are given to each student, with substantive individualized comments on their own submission. I do the same for all essay exams: create model answers for all students, walk them through the strengths and successful strategies, offer personalized comments on their own submissions. In all my classes, students receive substantive rubrics (<--like this one for the Twitter Assignment) for all major assignments, and clear instructions and prompt questions. In short, I set students up for success—they know what I am asking them to do, I’ve given them the evaluation criteria, and worked with them to make sure they’re on track, and I’ve given them models of successful work.
Student Feedback --> Design Improvement
Finally, I learn from timely and regular feedback from students. After every module, students offer to me their own reflections on what is working in the class, and what is not working or not clear. What they’ve been most engaged with, and least. Those regular check-ins help me to fix problems and build on successes—in the moment, not after the semester has already ended. As one student noted:
"I really enjoyed this class, and I truly enjoyed the way you presented the information. The approach made it easier for me to understand the philosophies, which to be honest can be hard to grasp. Also, I have never taken an online class that provided so much feedback. I LOVE that. Without feedback I feel like I'm floundering and I have no idea how to improve my grades. Thank you for being such a great teacher!"
See the full set of student evaluations for this evaluation period under the Teaching tab in the menu.
(It is worth noting too that I also am conducting similar feedback surveys in my PHIL 1000 WOL class. This is particularly important because it is a brand new course design, and I need to build into the course some checkpoints to make sure it stays on track and working. I offer formal surveys after the first few weeks, then again after the second exam, and at the end of the semester. I learned a few things from those feedback surveys which greatly helped me as I continued to improve the course. Most notably, I brought back in Reading Questions because students said they needed a bit more guidance on the readings before class, but I also built into those RQs the more reflective questions that I also wanted to have frame the course. Secondly, I combined a couple of assignments from the early part of the semester, based on student feedback that the work was a bit redundant. All the students loved the daily Songs for Sisyphus! That was good to know, because I really did wonder if I was wasting the first few minutes of classtime. They assured me it was not wasted, and indeed it became a thread of meaning and connection throughout the term.)
Exploring Self-Assessment/Practice Activities in PHIL 2300
Before moving on from PHIL 2300, It's worth noting that, when I was asked to work on the PHIL 1000 CBE course development, I decided to try a few types of practice activities out with my 2300 students, to try to translate some of the more intensive case-based/instructor-feedback written work (e.g. the Phil in the Blanks) with adequately effective self-assessed, practice versions. So, last summer and fall, I tried out a different kind of Module Activity (low stakes, self-assessed), where I asked scenario based questions, and questions that had them work on quote selection and explanation--as well as questions on basic key terms and concepts. I'm doing it one more semester, and will be looking to see the affects of that shift on test grades and papers. Below you can see a sample Crossword Puzzle that I would include in the Module Activity, as well as and example of the practice question-set:
Click on the crossword to play.