Teaching:

Current and Most Recent Courses:

Philosophy 210 A Formal Introduction to Logic (Spring/ Fall 2007, '08, '09)

Philosophy 410 Logic and Computation (Spring 2008, '09)

Philosophy 415 Topics in AI and Cognitive Science

(Meat based computation, Fall 2007, The Dynamics of Pain and Self, Fall 2008)

Teaching awards and grants:

Centennial Teaching Award, Stanford University, 2002.

TILT Grant, Colorado State University, 2008.

Teaching trends and directions:

I am committed to exploring new didactic methods. In addition to standard teaching tools, I have used FaceBook, Wiki interactive pages, SecondLife virtual world, Anime films, and other tools in my teaching. Below are excerpts from my recent application for a TILT teaching grant. I was awarded maximal award for improving my `Intro to cognitive science' class for 2008. My hope is to develop fully interactive introduction to cognitive science. Eventually I also hope to have dynamic, web based introduction to philosophy

1. Problem Definition for "Introduction to CogSci". This is a new course that I am hoping to develop for Fall 2008. It is based on various experiences that I had teaching in both logic/philosophy and the humanities. The course will develop a high-tech multimedia based curriculum for teaching cognitive science. The goal is to explore the potential of the new technologies, ways of communicating, and approaches to learning suitable for the 21st century. Cognitive science seems particularly suitable for this approach as the relevant materials abound. The ultimate goal would be to produce a paper summarizing the experience with the course, and perhaps produce an on-line version for the future.

2. Improvement Process. Instead of basing the course solely on textual information and classical teacher-student interaction, the idea is to try to explore visual, auditory, and interactive potential of the Worldwide Web for learning. The backbone of the course would be a wiki website, a style of web based interaction where every member of the class can freely edit the content. The website would track the evolution of topics in the class as well as the process of individual student intellectual development Facebook, the social utility website, would be a supplement to the wiki, and in addition to allowing novel ways of interacting with the teacher, it would also allow us to explore new ways of defining one's identity as well as a new multi modal way of communicating. Perhaps the most interesting component, however, would be the virtual world SecondLife. This utility allows one to create an identity and partake in interactions with other avatars. I have previously held classes in SecondLife and the results were pedagogically mind boggling: quiet male students turned into outgoing female avatars, the set-up allowed for more than just textual communication, and then again there are all the consequences for the notion of the self. Finally, I am also hoping to involve the rich cognitive science community at CSU (computer science, cognitive psychology, molecular biology) as well including the wider international cognitive science community via lectures in SecondLife, and interaction with the research community through some of the other social utilities. Assignments would include on-line interactions with well-known cognitive scientists around the globe, doing research in the new environment of immediately available multifaceted information. The course will draw on my experiences participating in Co-creating Cultural Heritage group at Stanford University. This group devised classes that experimented with new technologies in teaching in the humanities (http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/heritage/11).

3. Improvement Rationale. It seems that the world of communication has changed radically over the past 10 or 15 years. The universities have to ensure that they explore the full didactic potential of the new information channels and the full potential of the new kinds of dynamics of interaction. Cognitive science and the field of artificial intelligence, for their part, are discovering new and exciting ways of looking at who we are and what our place in the universe is. The issues here seem to me to be of such essential importance that a fun, easily accessible and yet substantive introduction to the subject ought to be widely available.

4. Budget. A project as exciting as this one could be arbitrarily expensive. Trying to keep within reasonable budget I would most likely need a skilled graduate or undergraduate assistant with the strong background in computer science. This person would not only be the technical support for the class, but also someone capable of doing research relevant to their field and the topics in the class and interacting with invited speakers, satisfying their technical needs, etc. There are costs associated with owning property in SecondLife (to build CSU's unique meeting space), data storage to have fully functioning multimedia wiki page, as well as the acquisition of relevant copyrighted materials and the cost of recording material for future presentation in a medium like YouTube. The remainder of the budget would be spent on inviting outside speakers, if in no other way but virtually. My sincere hope is that many researchers would welcome an opportunity to participate in a project like this one, especially if the class can be recorded for the wider audience on the web.

5. Major expenses in some detail: Second Life CSU Island
   Data from: http://secondlife.com/community/land-islands.php
   Cost of paying a tech assistant for the course
   Cost of the wiki page capable of supporting media from pbwiki.com
   Token honorarium for invited speakers 3xUS$100
   
   

6. I would also love to have some funds for organizing taping of lectures, but I will look into this independently.
   

 

 

Past Courses and Teaching Assistantships:

I have had the privilege to work as a teaching assistant for some of the world's finest intellectuals. The list includes: Johan van Benthem, Solomon Feferman, R.E. Jennings, Albert Visser in logic, Kathleen Akins, Lanier Anderson, Christopher Bobonich, Nadeem Hussain, Peter Horban, Allen Wood in philosophy, Tom Wasow in linguistic, and in general humanities Henry Lowood (History of Science, Stanford), Michael Shanks (Anthropology, Stanford), Jeffrey Schnapp (Italian and French Department, Stanford).

List of Classes:

Introductory Logic , (Stanford University) Summer 2003, 2004. Study of propositional and predicate logic, emphasizing translating English sentences into logical symbols and constructing derivations of valid arguments. Modal Logic, (Stanford University) Spring 2003. (With J. van Benthem) Introduction to the basics of modal logic, with an emphasis on action and information. Topics show the interdisciplinary nature of the field, among philosophy, computer science, linguistics, mathematics, and economic game theory. Circumstances, Expectations, and Responsibility (Hope House Program for Recovering Addicts, 2006) In this class, Bob Jones and I had a privilege to teach a group of recovering mothers who have lost their children to the state of California because of their addictions to crack cocaine or heroin. To avoid jail and to be able to fight for the custody of their children, they underwent a 6 month recovery program at the `Hope House' in Redwood City, CA. About half the women were back on the `street' and one died in the six months following our class. Suffices to say, the class was a life changing experience for both Dr. Jones and me.  Post Doctoral Fellow Fate of Reason: History of Philosophy from the Middle Ages to the Present (with Allen Wood) (Stanford, 2005) The Human and the Machine (with Henry Lowood, Michael Shanks, Jeffrey Schnapp) (Stanford, 2005) Fate of Reason: History of Philosophy up to the Middle Ages in Part 1, and from the Middle Ages to the Present in Part 2. (with Christopher Bobonich, Lanier Anderson, and Nadeem Hussain) (Stanford, 2006, 2007) The Human and the Machine (with Henry Lowood, and Michael Shanks) (Stanford, 2006, 2007) Teaching Assistantships: Proof Theory (Stanford, 2005) The course covers various proof systems, Gentzen style, Natural Deduction, axiomatic, various topics like Cut Elimination for classical, Intuitionistic and minimal logic, Interpolation theorems, etc. Professor: Solomon Feferman Introduction to Logic (Stanford, 2005) TA for Existentialism, (Stanford University) Fall 2002. This course covers the development of existential thought from Rousseau, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to its fruition in Sartre, de Beauvoir and Camus with a special focus on the role of authenticity in fashioning the good life. Professor: R. Lanier Anderson.   TA for Modal Logic, (Stanford University) Spring 2002. This course is a broad survey of techniques in modal logics and their applications. Modal logic up to completeness, correspondence and complexity. Application of techniques to temporal, hybrid, dynamic, and topological logic. Professor: Johan van Benthem.       TA for Mathematical introduction to logic, (Stanford University) Winter 2002. The syntax and semantics of sentential and first-order logic. Introduction to the basic concepts of model theory. Gödel's Completeness Theorem and its consequences: the Löwenheim-Skolem Theorem and the Compactness Theorem.   Professor: Albert Visser   TA for Basic concepts in mathematical logic, (Stanford University) Fall 2001. Basic computerized introduction to mathematical logic. Professor: Tom Wasow.   TA for Critical Thinking, (Simon Fraser University) Spring 2000. Professor: Peter Horban   TA for Introduction to logic, (Simon Fraser University) Summer 1999. Professor: Peter Horban   TA for Introduction to Philosophy of Mind, (Simon Fraser University) Spring 1999. Professor: Kathleen Akins   TA for Introduction to logic, (Simon Fraser University) Fall 1998. Professor: Peter Horban