2027 Pacific AAPT-APA Teaching Hub: "The Varieties of Philosophical Experience"

Pacific Division Meeting

The American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP) seek presenters for the following sessions at the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub at the 2027 APA Pacific Division meeting, March 24–27, in Portland, Oregon. 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.

SESSION: The Varieties of Philosophical Experience

SESSION GOALS: Many of us philosophy teachers recognize the importance of clearly communicating student learning outcomes and building assessment techniques that reliably track how well a student is meeting those expectations. One thing that can get lost in our focus on such objectively measured standards is what it “feels like” for students to be in our classrooms. What is the phenomenology of learning philosophy? What can a teacher/mentor/instructor do to create meaningful philosophical experiences for our students in the classroom and what constitutes a meaningful/good/valuable experience with philosophy? What constitutes a bad experience with philosophy? We invite submissions that explore these questions concerning these varieties of philosophical experiences and how teachers can deliberately foster (or avoid) them. Proposals might also address the following or related questions:

• What are the types of classroom experiences that attract our students to philosophy and what types of experiences might repel students away from philosophy? 
• Are there pedagogical practices that discourage meaningful engagement with philosophy? Are there pedagogical practices that activate our students’ philosophical imaginations, sharpen their critical thinking skills, and motivate them to pursue philosophy further?
• How do we structure our classrooms and syllabi in a way that accounts for the types of experiences we want to create or avoid? What is the role of technology in doing so?
• How does a focus on subjective experience align with institutional requirements like grading or other assessment practices? How does it align with articulated student learning objectives?

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 and demonstrating clear, practical examples of teaching methods, classroom activities, policies, practices, etc.
• Presenters conceptualizing of themselves as a facilitator, not giving traditional philosophical only talk-style presentation. 

DEADLINE for proposals: September 1, 2026

SUBMISSIONS:

• Anonymized proposals should be sent to Yashin Voss ([email protected]) by September 1 with the subject line “Teaching Hub: The Varieties of Philosophical Experience.”
• In the body of the email, please include your full name, institutional affiliation (if any), position (if any), and contact information.
• Attached to the email, please include anonymized submission of 500-750 words (.doc, .docx, or .pdf) detailing the following: (1) describe the focus of your session, (2) whether you prefer a 25- or 50-minute time slot, (3) an overview of how you plan to use your session time, including how you will make the session highly interactive, and (4) what you hope the audience will take away from your session.
• The AAPT is a community of teacher-scholars dedicated to sharing our lived expertise regarding reflective and responsible student-centered teaching and learning. We value authentic, creative, and insightful approaches to pedagogy that exhibit what philosophy does best: thinking through problems both independently and collaboratively. At present, we judge that the use of generative AI conflicts with these values. Therefore the use of generative AI in preparing proposals and in the content of presentations is prohibited. If you believe an exception should be made for your use of generative AI, please disclose how you have used it and why an exception should be made for your use.
• We aim to ensure representation of a range of voices and expect to select presenters by September 25

Questions about this session should be directed to Yashin Voss at the above email address. For general information about the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub, please visit the Teaching Hub website. For specific information about the Teaching Hub at the 2027 Pacific Division online meeting, please contact the 2027 Pacific Division Teaching Hub Co-Chairs, Cory Davia ([email protected]) and Courtney Morris ([email protected]).

Important note: To present at the Teaching Hub, participants must both join the APA and register for the conference (both at significantly reduced fees for undergraduates). Unfortunately, neither the APA nor the AAPT can offer funding to Teaching Hub participants for travel or lodging. However, your home institutions may have funding available for undergraduate research, so we invite you to speak with your faculty mentors and academic support offices.