* Department of Philosophy * Faculty of Philosophy * Vilnius University *
THE NEW APPROACHES
AND TEACHING METHODS
Course Materials in Philosophy
Philosophy on the Internet
Philosophy around the Web
INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY:
THE NEW APPROACHES AND TEACHING METHODS
ECTS credits 3
Contact hours:Lectures (14), Seminars (16), Practical training (2)
Assessment
Assignments (2 colloquiums, 3 short written papers, practical work with students at LAM, etc.) and final evaluation (pass/fail) will be based on a weighting of the assignments.
Primary aims
Course content designed to help students clarify whether they have the disposition to be good teachers and want to consider teaching as a career goal. The selection of texts for reading assignments and tasks for practical training presents an attempt to describe and to illustrate what philosophy teaching is and explains why it is important to engage in it, what challenges and opportunities this kind of career can offer.
Courses main objectives
Students will be expected to think carefully and critically about course texts and their own experiences based on practical training, and to engage in dialogue with one another and the instructor considering crucial questions: What are the unique challenges that democracy presents to education? What are the relationships between the reform of education in Lithuania and the state of teaching of philosophy at Lithuanian Universities in the relation to the fluctuation of European mentality between modern and postmodern patterns? How to avoid simplicity and other negative consequences of different approaches in philosophical education (boredom of classicism, manipulative and consuming dimensions of the modern scientism, ethically indifferent, methodologically eclectic features of postmodernism) using rich heritage of international experience? How to aim at mutually supplementing character of historically orientated and problem orientated teaching of philosophy? How each of the components of the philosophy teaching process will change with the implementation of the new technology? How to enhance the quality of philosophy programs by offering innovative, and developmentally appropriate curriculum materials, training services, training materials, and internet based resources? What are the costs and gains of developing online resources to complement classical methods of philosophy teaching? How to establish an open minded disposition to the controversial methods of teaching in philosophy class? What are problems of teachers professional ethics today? What psychological issues do a personal encounter between student and professor as well as teaching in a large class rise? To reflect on those questions is an only way to deepen understanding and broaden dialogue about the complex issues of philosophy teaching, to promotion of the philosophy teaching in Lithuania and to providing the philosophy teaching with a great challenge.
Approaches and teaching methods.
Qualitative strategy of course can be defined as mixed (theoretical and empirical) methodological approach. It involves combining different methods (comparative, correlational, case study, survey, practical training) and aims to reveal different dimensions and the essential shifts in methods and approaches of philosophy teaching.
