Popular philosophy course now offered online
One of our most popular undergraduate courses is about to become the first course to be offered online by the University of Auckland, meaning students have no excuse for missing a lecture.
The Stage I Philosophy paper PHIL 105: Critical Thinking already attracts about 2,500 students each year. It is also available as a General Education course - PHIL 105G - making it popular not just with Arts students but also those taking degrees in Law, Engineering and Medicine.
From Semester One 2016 students will have the choice between attending traditional lectures with weekly tutorials, or taking the course online. It will become the University’s first LOC or ‘Large Online Course’.
Students taking the course online will still have to sit the final exam in person on campus, or at a location out of Auckland in agreement with the University.
The in-person and online courses count equally toward students’ degrees, and will be run by Associate Professor Tim Dare and Dr Patrick Girard of Philosophy.
Tim explains that the online version will help students avoid timetable clashes, plan the course around their other commitments and take pressure off lecture theatres.
“We know students are juggling work, so they can do this course in the evening.”
For the new online version of the course, lecture material will be delivered through short videos and articles, specifically designed for online consumption.
The University recently ran an eight-week MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on critical thinking that attracted 28,500 students from around the world. Much of the video material used in the online version of PHIL 105: Critical Thinking will be sourced from the MOOC videos, but as the paper is 12 weeks long, Tim and Patrick will be back in front of the cameras between now and Christmas to finish filming another four weeks-worth of content.
Students wishing to take the online course as part of their Bachelor of Arts or General Education can just enrol as normal in PHIL 105 or PHIL 105G through Student Services Online and select the online stream. Students who are not enrolled in a degree at the University of Auckland will also be able to enrol in the course through the Certificate of Proficiency programme.
Find out more about PHIL 105: Critical Thinking.
