In this page, you’ll find some videos and other media I’ve used in my classes or in my non-philosophical work. Below I try to explain and contextualize these media resources.
Here’s a quick list of what’s below: There is a link to a series of four short videos, where professionals make a pitch to Into to Philosophy students, as to why reading, writing and critical thinking are important in different professions. There is also, a short, web-based, audio lecture on some ideas of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche on morality, based on the first chapter of his book Dawn. And there is also a video that links personal questions with academic interests (in case you haven’t come across it already).
1. Motivating students at TSU through a digital humanities strategy: Professionals speak to students about reading, thinking, and writing
What does the motivation to pay attention to Intro to philosophy look like? Why invest time and effort in a philosophy class—the complex readings, the difficult writing—if I am going to be an accountant or work in health care—one of the hottest areas of the economy?
Some questions we must ask regarding student motivation
In my experience, it is often not clear to students –and to people in general– what the usefulness of philosophy is –why taking a philosophy class? If you can’t see the reason why you are taking a certain class, it is just normal to not be very motivated about it. And despite what many of us philosophers, or professors, think, it is not evident where to look for this motivation, and what that would look like.
During my postdoc at Tennessee State University, I executed a small-scale digital humanities strategy to try to motivate my students. I recorded and producing a series of short videos of people in different careers outside academia who value the philosophy classes they took in college and who were willing to speak to my students at TSU about why they should care about philosophy.
I am very thankful to them for participating in this project. They are: Tramaine Crook, fitness entrepreneur (and my Nashville boxing coach); Anne Alukonis, a worker and workers’ advocate at Vanderbilt University; Dr. Stephanie Spottswood, Professor Emerita of Radiology at Vanderbilt University; and Terry Deas, Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach at Cracker Barrel, Old Country Store.
Watch as a youtube playlist in the following link: http://bit.ly/2hogh0h
Nietzsche: Morality’s Tunneler, Miner, Underminer
The COVID-19 disruption of the Spring 2020 semester, led us to move all our classes online. I used a number of resources to adapt class content to distant learning, for the delivery of content (the classes), tools to gauge student’s engagement with the content, and tools for evaluation and feedback.
Here, I share a web-based, audio lecture about some of the views of Friedrich Nietzsche about morality, from his book Dawn. This was part of the the Ethics class, taught at Gonzaga University.
1. What We See
In my philosophical works and in my teaching, I try to connect the personal and the academic, and I am skilled at broadening the appeal of specialized concepts. One example is the digital story avaible below.
Alejandro Arango 