CFP: AAPT-APA Teaching Hub - Central Division

The American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP) seek presenters for various sessions at the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub at the 2024 APA Central Division meeting, February 21–24, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The AAPT-APA Teaching Hub is a collaborative meeting space hosting a series of interactive workshops and conversations designed specifically for philosophers and created to celebrate teaching within the context of the APA divisional meetings. The Teaching Hub aims to offer a range of high-quality and inclusive development opportunities that address the teaching of philosophy at all levels.

FORMAT: 

Rather than a traditional paper presentation, Teaching Hub sessions are expected to be highly interactive. Proposals should indicate how audience members will participate in the session. The primary goal for the Teaching Hub is for attendees to walk away with something concrete to deploy in their own classrooms/teaching context.

What does the Teaching Hub mean by “highly interactive”? This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Presenters focusing less time on arguments for teaching some content or teaching a particular way, and more time on what it would actually look like to teach that content or teach in that way.

• Presenters thinking of the audience as their students and themselves as the facilitator/teacher. How could you cover the same content in a way that your audience participates in active learning activities during the session time?

• Presenters offering clear, practical examples of teaching methods, classroom activities, policies, practices, etc.

SUBMISSION: 

• Proposals should be submitted to individual session chairs, whose names and email addresses are listed below. 

• In the body of the email, please include your name, institutional affiliation (if any), position (if any), and email contact information.

• Attached to the email, please include an anonymized submission of 500–750 words (.doc, .docx, or .pdf) detailing the following: (1) description of the focus of your session, (2) an overview of how you plan to use your session time, including how you will make the session highly interactive (3) what you hope the audience will take away from your session, and (4) whether you are requesting a 25- or 50-minute session.

• We aim to ensure representation of a range of voices and expect to select presenters by September 15.

1. Feminist Pedagogy

SESSION GOALS: What does it mean to adopt a feminist praxis as a teacher? We hope that participants in this session will share resources, discuss classroom strategies, and think together about how we can model feminist practices for our students, incorporate feminist content into our classes, use feminist methodologies in our teaching and campus activism, and support each other in these practices.

For example, what kinds of learning objectives, course policies, classroom activities, and methods of assessment best serve feminist ends? How can we respond to the widespread misunderstanding of or active resistance to feminist ideas by our colleagues or students (or by university administrators or politicians)? What needs of precarious and contingent teachers (including graduate students, adjuncts, and non-tenure-track faculty) attract feminist concern, and how can we work together to better meet these needs?

We welcome proposals for 25- or 50-minute sessions on any topic related to this theme, including (but not limited to) the following:

• The role of emotion in the philosophy classroom
• The role of power in the philosophy classroom
• Techniques for introducing feminism, feminist philosophy, and/or feminist philosophical methods in a variety of courses
• Approaches to teaching about disagreements among feminists
• Teaching to the “whole person”
• Care ethics and pedagogy
• Explicit or implicit feminist learning objectives
• Feminist critiques of mainstream pedagogical methods
• Feminist content in unexpected classes (e.g., teaching X through a feminist lens)
• Feminist assignment and assessment design
• Feminist responses to plagiarism and/or generative AI
• Engaging in feminist praxis in an unfriendly or hostile environment (e.g., protecting yourself and your students, managing burnout)
• Approaching politically fraught issues (e.g., abortion, queer and trans rights, critical race theory) through a feminist lens in the classroom
• Feminist concerns outside of the classroom that impact our work as teachers (e.g., unjust university policies, labor issues, poor treatment of precarious faculty, concerns about workload balance, pay equity, lack of support for caregiving and other duties, etc.)

Proposals should be sent to Claire Lockard at [email protected] by August 15 with the subject line “Feminist Pedagogy AAPT-APA TH 2024." 

2. Activism and the Philosophy Classroom

SESSION GOALS: Philosophizing is not just an abstract exercise; many of us engage in philosophy because we think it can make our lives–or the world–better. The skills we learn as philosophers can help us become better and more effective activists for causes we care about, and the lessons we learn from activism can inform our philosophical work. What does this look like in a classroom setting? For example, how should we incorporate content about activism into our lessons and syllabi? How might we encourage student activism into our classes (either informally or as a course activity that students receive credit for)? How can we engage in activism to help ourselves and each other flourish in our roles as teachers?

We welcome proposals for 25- or 50-minute sessions on any topic related to this theme, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Teaching about activism:
  • How can we best incorporate content about activism and/or activist movements into our courses?
  • What role should activism play when teaching about topics that have important practical dimensions (e.g., climate change, economic inequality, racism, etc.)?
  • How does activism intersect with teaching philosophy as a way of life?
• Encouraging student activism:
  • When (if ever) does it overstep our bounds as teachers to encourage students to engage in activism?
  • Community-engaged course design: how can we design courses and class activities that engage ethically and effectively with local communities and/or organizations?
  • How (if at all) should we incorporate student activism into our courses?
  • How (if at all) should we assess student activism projects?
  • How do we ensure productive collaboration between students and the communities they are engaging with?
  • What should you do if students engage in activism in support of a cause you believe to be morally abhorrent?
• Engaging in activism as teachers:
  • How can we push back against free speech restrictions in our classrooms (e.g., bans on teaching CRT and DEI; “don’t say gay” bills, etc.)?
  • How do we advocate for better treatment for ourselves and other instructors (and thus for better learning conditions for our students)?
  • What (if anything) should we disclose to our students about our own activism?
  • How can we draw on our expertise as philosophy teachers when engaging in activism outside of the classroom?

Proposals should be sent to Julian Rome at [email protected] by August 15 with the subject line “Activism and the Philosophy Classroom Teaching Philosophy AAPT-APA TH 2024.”

3. Rethinking Excellence in the Philosophy Classroom

SESSION GOALS: The language of excellence is ubiquitous in university settings, and philosophy classrooms are no exception. We strive to help our students develop the skills they need to achieve excellent outcomes in our classes. But what counts as excellent is frequently interpreted in a narrow, traditional, and conventional way. How might our learning goals, classroom practices, assignments, and assessment look different if we took a more expansive approach to thinking about what counts as philosophical excellence in our classrooms? And how might our courses be different if we moved away from the assumption that philosophy is only worth doing if it leads to traditionally excellent results—for example, if we focused on cultivating a valuable process of philosophizing and creating a vibrant, joyful, and collaborative classroom community over creating a good final product?

We welcome proposals for 25- or 50-minute sessions on any topic related to this theme, including (but not limited to) the following:

• What norms are embedded in traditional ideals of philosophical excellence? (How) are these harmful? (How) should we reject or revise these norms?
• What new, additional, or alternative learning goals might we adopt for undergraduate students other than traditional excellence? What would a broader notion of student success look like? Do expanded or alternative concepts of excellence or success have any role to play in graduate education?
• (How) do students benefit by engaging in philosophy for its own sake, regardless of the result? Is this different for philosophy majors vs. general education students?
• What pedagogical techniques and classroom methodologies best support expanded course goals and notions of excellence?
• What would it look like to focus on the process of philosophizing over the end product?
• How can we bring more creativity, collaboration, and joy into our classrooms?
• How can we make assessment and grading a less agonized, draining, and miserable experience for ourselves and our students? How might expanded ideals of excellence lead to new approaches to grading?
• How can we compassionately, inclusively, and productively respond to failure (whether in our students as learners or in ourselves as teachers)? How can failure be beneficial?
• What role does prestige bias play in fixing traditional norms of excellence in our profession and in the classroom? How should we respond to this?
• How can we respond to demands for quantified, narrow notions of excellence from university administrators (or others)?
• What does a utopian philosophy classroom look like? How can we work towards some of those ideals right now?

Proposals should be sent to Stephen H. Daniel at [email protected] by August 15 with the subject line “Rethinking Excellence AAPT-APA TH 2024”.

4. Beyond the Accommodations Letter: Strategies in Inclusive Pedagogy

SESSION GOALS: Designing courses and creating classroom environments that accommodate students’ needs and learning styles is the task of any good instructor. However, this can be a challenge, as there is no “one-size-fits-all” model to follow. The task often differs from course to course and semester to semester. What are some strategies that we can adopt as philosophers that allow us to move beyond “required” accommodations and create a truly inclusive classroom? How can we address the needs of our students that are often not documented and presented to us? What are the steps we can take in course design, delivery, and assessment that foster both faculty and student success in teaching and learning? Are there specific tools that we have as philosophers that can be used to develop out-of-the-box accommodations and to practice inclusive pedagogy in the classroom and/or online?

We welcome proposals for 25- or 50-minute sessions on any topic related to this theme, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Developing proactive, inclusive responses to ChatGPT usage
• Bolstering existing approaches when accommodating student disabilities
• Creative alternatives to traditional student accommodations
• Accommodating the “unseen” and/or “undocumented” needs of students
• Inclusive responses to plagiarism
• Trauma-informed pedagogy as an inclusive practice
• Meeting the needs of non-native English speakers in courses
• Tailoring assessments to meet student accommodations
• Experiential learning as an accommodation and an inclusive practice
• Accommodations strategies in large courses
• Translating practices such as UDL (universal design for learners) and TiLT (transparency in learning and teaching) into your course curriculum
• Appealing to philosophical texts to directly or indirectly support inclusive practices
• Strategies specific to online teaching and learning

Proposals should be sent to Kayla Bohannon at [email protected] by August 15 with the subject line “Strategies in Inclusive Pedagogy AAPT-APA TH 2024." 

5. Teaching Philosophy at Community Colleges

SESSION GOALS: Community colleges are often overlooked in discussions about the role of philosophy in higher education. But there are close to a thousand community colleges across the U.S., with these institutions enrolling between one-third to one-half of all undergraduate students. Graduate students and job-seekers would benefit from understanding what teaching philosophy at community colleges involves, and current community college faculty would benefit from sharing about their experiences in this unique context. For example, what are some of the common misconceptions about teaching philosophy at a community college? How does applying for a teaching job at a community college differ from the application process at other types of institutions? What are the obstacles and opportunities associated with teaching philosophy at a community college? How can philosophers leverage their teaching experience at a community college for their professional and personal development?

We welcome proposals for 25- or 50-minute sessions on any topic related to this theme, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Debunking myths about teaching philosophy at community colleges
• Community college teaching: stepping-stone or forever job?
• Applying to community college teaching jobs from A to Z
• Managing heavy course loads in community college teaching
• Being innovative/creative with introductory philosophy courses
• Integrating research interests into teaching
• Seeking out opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration
• Navigating labor issues at community colleges as an adjunct
• Balancing teaching philosophy with service and research expectations
• Determining the role of philosophy in a core curriculum
• Building a philosophy (pathway or pre-major) program
• Conceiving of philosophy in the context of college to career

Proposals should be sent to Ryan Lake at [email protected] by August 15 with the subject line “Teaching Philosophy at Community Colleges AAPT-APA TH 2024."

For general information about the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub, please visit https://www.apaonline.org/page/TeachingHub. For specific information about the Teaching Hub at the 2024 APA meeting in New Orleans, please contact co-chairs Jennifer Lobo Meeks ([email protected]) and Alida Liberman ([email protected]).