Visit the 2025 APA Eastern Division Teaching Hub
The 2025 AAPT-APA Eastern Division Teaching Hub is two days (Janruary 9-10) of programming focused on the practice of teaching philosophy. Instead of standard academic talks, Teaching Hub sessions are highly interactive and aim to leave participants with concrete and practical strategies. All APA attendees are welcome to come to as many (or as few) sessions as they like to develop relationships with other philosophers who care about teaching, learn from each other, and problem-solve together.
Topics at the this meeting’s hub include Teaching while Contingent, Teaching Philosophical Writing, Teaching Failure, Video Games in the Classroom, Alternative Grading, and Building Classroom and Online Community. The hub concludes with a poster session presenting scholarship of teaching and learning from faculty/graduate students and research projects from undergraduates.
Thursday, January 9, 2025
9:00–10:50 p.m., Teaching While Contingent
Sponsored by the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP)
Chair: Savannah Pearlman (Howard University)
Presenters:
- “Research What! Making Time for Research as a Contingent Faculty,” Phillip Horne (Sandhills Community College and Walden University)
- “When Doing the Supererogatory Does No Good: Learning to Balance Professional Obligations,” Matthew Willis (The Ohio State University)
11:00 a.m.–12:50 p.m., Teaching Philosophical Writing
Sponsored by the APA Committee for Pre-College Philosophy and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP)
Chair: Brynn Welch (The University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Presenters:
- “Piecing Arguments Together,” Layla Williams (University of Oklahoma)
- “The Benefits of Starting Over,” Bobbi Cohn (Cornell University)
2:00–5:50 p.m., Teaching Failure
Sponsored by the APA Committee for Pre-College Philosophy and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP)
Chair: Giancarlo Tarantino (Loyola University Chicago)
Presenters:
- “Agile Teaching in the Age of AI,” Ryan Miller (University of Geneva)
- “Teaching Failure and the AI-proof Philosophy Assessment,” Laura Matthews (University of Pittsburgh)
- “The Improbable Door: Critical Mentorship and Helping Students Contextualize Failure,” O. R. Killian (The University of Arizona)
- “Learning and Teaching from Failure,” Tristana Martin Rubio (Concordia University)
Friday, January 10, 2025
9:00–10:50 a.m., Video Games in the Classroom
Sponsored by the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP)
Co-Chairs: Rebeccah Leiby (ElonUniversity) and Jordan Kokot (Harvard University)
Presenters:
- “High Scores and Student Achievement,” Troy Seagraves (Purdue University)
- “Effectiveness and Commensurability in Bioethics and Slay the Spire,” Ricky Mouser (Johns Hopkins University)
- “Video Games as Tools for Shared Experiences,” Javier Gomez-Lavin (Purdue University) and Samantha Ooley (Purdue University)
11:00 a.m.–12:50 p.m., Alternative Grading: Ungrading, Specifications Grading, and Beyond
Sponsored by the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP)
Chair: Chris Blake-Turner (Oklahoma State University)
Presenters:
- Andrew P. Mills (Otterbein University)
- Dennis Earl (Coastal Carolina University)
- Adam R. Thompson (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)
2:00–3:50 p.m., Building Classroom and Online Community
Sponsored by the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP)
Chair: Melle Van Duijn (University of Oklahoma)
Presenters:
- “Using Fishbowl Class Discussions to Build Community,” Frederick Choo (Rutgers University)
- “Whose Argument Is It Anyway? Improv Games for the Philosophy Classroom,” Russell Marcus (Hamilton College), Nathalie Martinez (Independent Scholar), and Ashley Pryor (The University of Toledo)
6:00–8:00 p.m., Undergraduate Research and Faculty SoTL Poster Session
Faculty and Graduate Students
- “Answer-Until-Correct Team Tests without Scratchcards,” Frederick Choo (Rutgers University)
Undergraduate Students
- “Allegory of the Three Temporal Ekstasis,” Matthew Schule (Manhattan University)
- “Testimonial Justice as a Constitutive Virtue,” Lillian Jandrisevits (Marist College)
- “Run, Scream, Repeat: The Ethical Implications of Women’s Depictions in Slasher Films,” Tilly Zwirn-Givnish (Hamilton College)
- “Ethic of Care Capability Theory of Education,” Ashley Scheichet (Hamilton College)
- “In Defense of Private Language,” Jaden Valencia (Hamilton College)
- “Curiosity, Agency, and AI,” Christina Stoll (Hamilton College)
- “Concepts and Causal Roles of Genes in Biology,” Sophia Heimbrock (New York University)
- “An Heirloom Suitcase Full of 3D-printed Doric Column Pencil Cups: Tillich, Hegel, and Heidegger on Logos and Ancient Greek Culture,” Avalon Swanson-Reid (Seton Hall University)
- “Cognitive Extension and AI,” Olivia Strigh (Hamilton College)
- “Does Philosophy Assist or Handicap the Human Condition?” Cybele Bronkema (University of Colorado Boulder)
- “Figuring It Out Together: Student-Led Exploration in Philosophical Education,” Nadira Jeethandran (The University of Alabama at Birmingham)
