I have added this semester’s syllabi to my teaching history page. All three are repeats, making this the first semester in many years when I have not had a fresh prep.
Ethics (philosophy department): This course is my showcase for translating the primary text-based format of the Shimer Great Books School into a large lecture class. My biggest innovation here was to hold them accountable for the reading by requiring them to upload images of their annotated pages. I further motivate them to engage with the text by making all exams open-book, but only for print books (except in case of an accomodation, which has not occurred so far). Last year’s iteration was very successful, so I am not changing much this time around.
Gaming the System: Alternatives in Math and Logic (Shimer): Last fall I taught this course for the first time, which put me on the home stretch toward my goal of teaching the entire Shimer Great Books curriculum. After teaching a new class for the first time, I always like to teach it again the following year so that my mistakes are fresh in my mind. This is probably my most significant revision this semester, drawing on a great deal of reading and research in the year and a half since I last taught it.
Deals With the Devil (Shimer): A version of this course, centered on the Faust legend, was a staple offering for me for several years when we first arrived at North Central. Last year I offered it for the first time in the Shimer program after a period of dormancy, and I realized that I was spending too much time trying to replicate my argument in The Prince of This World and delving far too much into the enigmatic Part 2 of Goethe’s Faust. This time around, I have trimmed those aspects and taken advantage of the additional time gained to transition into more of a film class format in the second half of the semester, when they will be working on their research papers.
Adam Kotsko 