Sunday 4 March 2012

Lessons from this spring's teaching

By now I have taught at three of this spring's four gatherings for nursing students in the course Examen Philosophicum (introductory philosophy). At the third gathering, this week, two lessons emerged by way of feedback from the students (partly by way of a colleague):

* Next year it should probably be less group work (since the students prefer to be in plenum anyhow - though variation between monologues and dialogues is necessary)

* Next year each gathering should probably involve but one, long day of teaching in Ex.Phil., rather than two short ones. Teaching on Thursdays, when the commuting students have been gathered for a fourth consecutive day, has seen low attendance compared to Wednesdays.

The second realization implies that I, if I do give this course again next spring, will schedule fewer hours in Ex.Phil. than I did this year (when, NB, I scheduled more than I had to - the minimum requirement was one day per gathering).

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