Meeting on bachelor program revisions

Today I took part in a meeting with two colleagues in relation to ongoing revisions of the bachelor in child welfare, and the role of critical thinking etc. in that bachelor.

Minding Animals video for Bachelor legate

A short PR video has been made for the Bachelor legate that Minding Animals Norway is launching. It can be seen on YouTube, among other places.

Thematical plan for introductory philosophy course composed (August 2013)

On August 17th 2013 I composed the thematical plan for that autumn's course in introductory philosophy, Examen Philosophicum for nursing students at University of Stavanger's Department of health studies.

[This is part of my still considerable backlog]

Another 200 student questions answered

At the end of the autumn semester 2012 I reported that I had been answering roughly 200 questions from students, or on average about one per student in the course Examen Philosophicum as part of the bachelor in nursing at University of Stavanger's Department of health studies. Something similar was the case in the autumn semester of 2013. Most questions have been dealth with by email and in the virtual learning environment "It's learning".

See also:

Exam supervision in all channels (December 2012)

185 exam papers graded (multiple choice)

Yesterday I graded 185 exam papers (multiple choice - 15 questions, each with 3 alternatives) in the course Examen Philosophicum as part of the bachelor in nursing offered by University of Stavanger's Department of health studies.

Teaching at UiS 16/9: Group work and academic writing

This Monday I taught for 4 hours at University of Stavanger's Department of health studies, in the course in introductory philosophy (SVEXPHIL-2). While group work assisted by me was on the agenda for the first, second (topic: phenomenology and hermeneutics) and fourth hour (writing-related), in the third hour I gave the second part of my course in academic writing.

Four meetings attended November 5-6 2012

On November 5th and 6th 2012 I took part in several meetings at University of Stavanger's Department of health studies, namely:

* a meeting with my head of department on coordination of implementation of measures used in the web-based bachelor into the regular bachelor in nursing and revision of the overall study program for the bachelor in nursing

* a meeting on the future version of the department's Ex.Phil. course (introductory philosophy), with the coordinator of the bachelor program and others

* a meeting with a member of staff on the practice of admission of prior courses

* the department's regular bachelor meeting

[This is part of my backlog catch up blogging]

Presentation of Ex.Phil. cancelled due to throat infection

I cancelled today's presentation of Ex.Phil., the course in introductory philosophy, at University of Stavanger's Department of health studies, due to a throat infection. I was supposed to present the course over 45 minutes for the new bachelor students in nursing, followed by similar presentations of two more courses.

Course descriptions for three philosophy courses revised

The last couple of weeks I have conducted revision of the course descriptions of three courses at University of Stavanger's Department of Health Studies: 

• BSNEXP Examen Philosophicum (internet-based bachelor in nursing)
• MHV140 Philosophy of science and ethics
• SVEXPHIL2 Examen Philosophicum (bachelor in nursing)

Among the changes: Class-based group work in SVEXPHIL; some English-language anthology texts replaced by Norwegian introductions to ethics and to philosophy of science in MHV140, and in the same subject compulsory group presentations of the selected anthology texts.

The number of students in each of these courses is about 30, 50 and 210 respectively.

Attending seminar at UiS on web-based bachelor in nursing

This Thursday I attended a full-day seminar at Department of Health Studies, University of Stavanger, on the web-based bachelor in nursing. The program included evaluation internal and external (involving Heather Wharrad of the University of Nottingham), and discussion of future revisions etc. There was no general agreement among the seminar participants as to he value of web-based teaching, but influential voices call for implementing at least some web-based methods even in the stationary bachelor (which has almost ten times as many students). One of the issues which deserve further discussion in my opinion is whether the e-compendiums (interactive PDFs) in effect replace compulsory readings, and how they can be improved so as to stimulate critical reflection.

Teaching at UiS: Third gathering

The third gathering in this spring's Examen Philosophicum for nursing students took place at the University of Stavanger February 29th - March 1st. I was teaching for a total of 8 hours, including two hours of group work - plus overseeing a multiple choice exam.

Among the topics:

* Theory of science

* Academic writing

Teaching at UiS: Second gathering

The second gathering in this spring's Examen Philosophicum for nursing students took place at the University of Stavanger February 8th-9th. I was teaching for a total of 8 hours, including three hours of group work.

Among the topics:

* History of philosophy [minimally]

* Epistemology

* Hermeneutics

* Existentialism

Teaching at UiS: First gathering

The first gathering in this spring's Examen Philosophicum for nursing students took place at the University of Stavanger January 18th-19th. I was teaching for a total of 9 hours, including two hours of group work.

Among the topics:

* What is philosophy?

* What is science?

* What does it mean to think like a nurse?

* What does it mean to act/behave like a nurse?

* On understanding and interpretation

Course work on Uexküll - meetings at UiA - the philosophy business

I'm following the TÜ course "Readings of Juri Lotman and Jakob von Uexküll", and the first half, considering the work of Uexküll, has now finished. A couple of days ago I submitted the (first) term paper, "An Uexküllian Theory of Evolution?" (7 pp). I have further - since I literarily take the course as a reading course, from a distance - submitted 6 c3 pp papers with Q&As, covering the reading material.

“Uexküll and evolution” for many sounds like a topic that spells out a contradiction in terms. That, I believe, does not necessarily have to be the case. Whereas some biosemioticians (e.g. Stjernfelt 2001) have asserted that Uexküll was anti-evolution, others (e.g. Salthe 2001; Kull 2004) have concluded that he was anti-Darwinian, but not hostile to the idea of evolution as such. Here I must agree with the latter group, as I hope will shine through in the rest of this exposition. And not only do I think Uexküll was not anti-evolution (though, as I explain in Tønnessen 2009, he was programmatically not historically-minded) – more than that; I believe that an Uexküllian perspective might actually prove to be enriching within the field of evolutionary theory. There’s proof that Uexküll did not only have negative, but also positive, thought about evolution in his dictum (1928: 198) that “each new appearing functional cycle verifies [the appearance of] a new animal species” (my translation).

Meanwhile, the committee for the UiA Philosophy Forum has held its first meeting (this Monday).

So has - today - UiA's "Fagfilosofisk seksjon" (Academic philosophical section), consisting of the philosophers at Department of religion, philosophy and history. The topic, which has been discussed at one previous meeting as well and will be discussed further at the institute level in December, concerns establishing new (more advanced) courses in philosophy as part of a revised bachelor degree (which is today a bachelor in religion). One day, some say, we might offer a master in philosophy. That would truly be of great value for the philosophy milieu at UiA, and its attraction for students and scholars alike. Today only a one-year studium is offered (apart from the broader introductory course, Examen Philosophicum).

Meanwhile ... I have finished (yesterday) a catalogue, or leaflet (4 pp), presenting the paid services offered by my one-man company, SPØR FILOSOFEN (Ask the philosopher) - ranging from lectures and courses via writing and editing to consultancy activities. You'll find it on Scribd.

And thus the world advances...