Intro to Philosophy
Intro to Philosophy
Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course
Common Course ID: PHIL 1011
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait
Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a Philosophy course for undergraduate or graduate students by Kevin Watson at California State University, San Bernardino. The open textbook provides [brief description of highlights and any instructor supplements]. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was because of both its breath, detail, and easy accessibility. Most student access the open textbook via the course’s Canvas page.
Intro to Philosophy and Phil1011
Brief Description of course highlights: This course provides an introductory overview of Philosophy. Through readings, discussions, and practical exercises, students gain a fundamental understanding of key concepts and principles in Philosophy. Topics covered include metaphysics, epistemology, social and political philosophy, ethics, and applied ethics, amongst others.
An introduction to philosophical thinking by means of reading, discussing and writing about selected works. Students are encouraged to develop their own philosophical views in a critical exchange with the views of the philosophers studied.
Student population: The students who enroll in the course are commonly freshman and sophomore students who have never been exposed to philosophy. No students enrolled in the course were philosophy majors.
Learning or student outcomes: The central outcomes of the course were to teach students how to read philosophical texts, how to properly engage with arguments, how to think critically about material they are reading, and how to write in a philosophically rigorous way.
Syllabus and/or Sample assignment from the course or the adoption: The course was set up so that students would read two Chapters of the textbook each week, complete two quizzes based on the reading material, and write a short writing assignment at the end of the week. Additionally, at the end of the midterm week and final week of the course, student were assigned a longer writing assignment relating to the material covered. For example, week 3 of the schedule was as follows.
Week 3: June 17 - June 23
Day 11 (June 17): Value Theory
- Reading: Chapter 8: Value Theory
Day 12 (June 18): Review
- Review: Review Chapter 8
- Assignment: Discussion
Day 13 (June 19): Normative Moral Theory
- Reading: Chapter 9: Normative Moral Theory
Day 14 (June 20): Review
- Review: Review Chapter 9
- Assignment: Discussion
Day 15 (June 21): Assessment
- Assignment: Short Writing Assignment
The short writing assignment for week 3 was the following.
- In 250-500 words, answer the following questions.
What are the major moral theories discussed in the reading? Provide a definition for at least two of them. Of the theories discussed in the readings, which do you think is the most plausible? Explain why you think it the most plausible. Additionally, explain why you think one of the alternatives is less plausible/implausible.
Key challenges faced and how resolved: Using the opens tax textbook was great. I did not experience an challenges in doing so. The resources provided by openstax were very useful, and the students appears to both follow and enjoy the material.
What are the major moral theories discussed in the reading? Provide a definition for at least two of them. Of the theories discussed in the readings, which do you think is the most plausible? Explain why you think it the most plausible. Additionally, explain why you think one of the alternatives is less plausible/implausible.
OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. The central reason for adopting the the OpenStax textbook was to save students money, as well as to determine the effectiveness of using such materials in the teaching of introduction to philosophy. I have previously used an OpenStax resource for the teaching of Moral Issues in Business to great success. I wanted to determine whether the same would be true for Introduction to Ethics.
How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I have used Openstax resources for teaching previously and was aware of the existence of the text for Introduction to Philosophy.
Sharing Best Practices: I think the main thing that a person using the text needs to focus on is both determining which sections of the textbook are relevant for the class you will be teaching—as including all of the materials may not be necessary—as well and finding additional audiovisual resources that can assist students in engaging with the materials. Openstax does an excellent job of providing learning materials in a variety of of formats for students. Instructors of the course would benefit from expanding on those materials and including additional readings and resources that focus on specific topics.
Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved and lessons learned. After applying for the open educational resources ALS grant, I received very little communication. I assumed I did not receive the grant after not hearing back.
Additionally, after submitting the OER resource to the university, I received additional emails regarding the submission of textbook information despite having already submitted the info.
Instructor Name: Kevin Watson
I am an adjunct philosophy professor at the CSUSB
Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.csusb.edu/profile/kwatson2
Please describe the courses you teach The main course I teach is Phil3026: Philosophy of Disability, though I also teach Intro to Philosophy, Intro to Ethics, and am generally interested in value theory, well-being, and related topics.
Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching. My research and teaching focuses on normative decision-making, value theory, well-being, disability, personal identity, and related topics. I teach a variety of into level courses, including Intro to Philosophy and Intro to Ethics, as well topics in Applied Ethics and Philosophy of Disability, among others. Part of the appeal of the philosophy classroom, for me, has always been the slowly evolving nature of what is being taught and how collaborative engagement with philosophical arguments guides the students, instruction, and course trajectory. I see myself as a collaborative guide—a fellow learner and student who can facilitate discussion, provide background information, and demonstrate part of what it means to be a lifelong student of philosophy. The collaboration between my students and I inspires me to tailor my courses to the students, resulting in the students being inspired to engage with the course material. I view Affordable Learning Solutions as a way for students and instructors to feel ownership over their learning and teaching without breaking the bank.
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Introduction to Philosophy
Brief Description: Introduction to Philosophy, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. The textbook is an Open Educational Resource published by Rice University’s Open Stax. The Textbook provides an overview of many central concepts within philosophy—including philosophical reading, writing and research; critical thinking; logic; value theory; epistemology; metaphysics; social and political philosophy; and more. The textbook is structured into several chapters on select topics. Each provides a general overview of the topic covered in the chapter and some of the central concepts, arguments, and debates relevant to the topic. The Openstax textbook is pedagogically engaging and provides a number of additional resources to students in the form of links to videos, podcasts, news articles, and more.
Please provide a link to the resource https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-philosophy
Authors: Nathan Smith (Senior contributing author)
Student access: Students are able to access the resource in a variety of ways. The textbook is available via pdf within the course management system, the OpenStax website, is easily accessible on internet connected devices, and can be printed by the student.
Supplemental resources: The Openstax page includes a number of resources for instructors reaching the course, including a canvas and D2L cartridges, as well as packages for Blackboard.
Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook. Between $1144.00 and $2729.74 for the course (between $44.00 and $104.99 per student).
License: The textbook content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Under this license, any user of this textbook or the textbook contents herein must provide proper attribution as follows:
- If you redistribute this textbook in a digital format (including but not limited to PDF and HTML), then you must retain on every page the following attribution: “Access for free at openstax.org.”
- If you redistribute this textbook in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution: “Access for free at openstax.org.”
- If you redistribute part of this textbook, then you must retain in every digital format page view (including but not limited to PDF and HTML) and on every physical printed page the following attribution: “Access for free at openstax.org.”
- If you use this textbook as a bibliographic reference, please include https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-philosophy in your citation