Question This question pertains to philosophical education or philosophical pedagogy: Even though I do not hold any degrees in philosophy (I hold undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science), I believe that philosophy should constitute one of the foundations of higher education. It is impossible, I believe, to be truly educated without a sound background in philosophy and logic. To this end, I have always believed that with the wonderful emergence of new technologies it should be incumbent upon every capable institution of higher learning to seek to disseminate such core foundations. This can be done, with remarkable ease these days, through distance learning. However, with the exception of a very small number of philosophy departments associated with certain universities, most departments of philosophy look upon distance learning, seemingly, with great loathing. Furthermore, the thought of actually establishing distance degree programs in philosophy (whether at the undergraduate or graduate level) is considered absurd. How do I know this? Because I received my Masters degree in political science from Virginia Tech -- online. Immediately following this educational experience -- a truly wonderful educational experience -- I queried a large number of departments of philosophy, asking why there were no online courses or online programs. I was greeted with great disdain for even asking the question. (Exceptions to this include Oxford University's beginnings in online philosophy courses, as well as the University of Illinois (Springfield) who has sought to develop an undergraduate degree (available online) in philosophy. Harvard University also offers one philosophy course -- available online -- each semester through their Extension division. I had the great pleasure of completing this online course (in metaphysics) a short while ago.) With so many homes and workplaces connected to high-speed/broadband Internet, and with the combination of online and on-campus (periodic/brief) residencies, the further development of undergraduate or graduate programs in philosophy (online) is certainly a viable option. (Especially when one considers the fact that as it pertains to "adult education," it is often tremendously difficult for individuals who are presently established in one locale (most often in association with their occupation) to be able to pick up and move their entire family to the on-campus situation. This is absolutely true in my case.) My question is: why do departments of philosophy find even the suggestion of online learning so disagreeable? Is there no hope for the further development of online philosophy courses and degree programs? Thanks in advance for all responses!

Accepted:
September 13, 2007

Comments

I have actually taught philosophy online. (I may be the only panelist who has.) In my case, it was a contemporary moral problems course, and I will be teaching an intro to philosophy course online as well. My own view is that there's no good reason why this can't work. A former colleague of mine had a view of philosophy that I've come to think is correct. Although philosophical conversation is good, philosophy ultimately gets done by writing. I don't know how many times I've had the experience of trying to write up an idea that I'd thought about or discussed and discovering that it needs considerable tweaking if it's going to work. The advantage of the online course is that it's all in writing from the outset. One popular format that worked well for me: I would pose a question in response to the readings or to earlier discussion. The question would be of a sort that couldn't be answered in a line or two. Students would have to post a reply on a discussion board, and they would also be required to comment on at least one other person's post. For students who were willing to be thoughtful, this often worked quite well. (The willingness to be thoughtful, alas, is not always evident.) This formed the core of the course, but it called for a lot of work. I responded to most student postings, trying to model good philosophical thinking in my responses -- making distinctions, pushing them on assumptions they hadn't examined, helping them develop nascent ideas, and nudging them to think about things that might not have occurred to them. I think the result was a perfectly respectable course in which students who applied themselves may have been pushed to think even harder than they might have in a classroom. It's not possible to do well in an online course by being passive.

So I agree: there's no good reason why a solid philosophy education can't be conducted at least partly online. I do think that conversation ought to be part of the mix somewhere along the line, but it's possible to work that into the online environment by using VOIP or chat. But it really is true that teaching online is not for the lazy. It's a time-intensive though often rewarding task.

My sense is that distrust of online learning has faded signficantly overall, andthat suspicion about this type of education ("loathing" seems toostrong, at least in my experience) among philosophers has eased somewhat in recent years.

Thatsaid, I think you are right to suggest that relatively few philosophers areinterested in teaching exclusively online courses; there is, however,increasing interest among philospohers I talk to aobut "blended" modalities that combine face-to-faceand online learning.

I agree with you and with Allen that there is no good reason whymore philospohy courses could not be taught online. I would also arguethat there is great benefit in doing so: as you suggest, online coursesprovide an excellent opportunity toextend the benefits of higher education to folks who are not wellserved by traditional classes. So, I hope that morephilosophers will be willing to "try out" online courses so that those(potential) students can benefit from all the benefits that accrue byengaging in high-quality classes.

But does the online modality really support high-quality educaiton?I think so, and I think that it is hard to overstate the benefit (for the students)and the great joy (for educators) in bringing higher education tounder-served populations like the adult learners you refer to. In particular, many online degree programsserve first-generation college students, and the eonomic, social, andintellectual benfits of helping those students are profound for thosestudents and for their children and their children's children.

Since 2001, I havedevoted 100% of my teaching time to teaching philosophy online. Formore on my experiences--including my analysis of some signficantpedagogical advantages of of online learning and some tips foreducators who want to begin teaching online--please see this article: "Online Discussion and the 'Place' of Learning," which I recently published in the APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy.