Dylan Selterman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland. Readers can follow him on Twitter @SelterMosby. Research shows that intellectual curiosity and openness to ideas are important for academic success. These traits are also relevant for heterodoxy—that is, the more curious people are, the more they will be..
Debra Mashek is Heterodox Academy’s Executive Director. She has a PhD in Social Health and Psychology (with a concentration in Quantitative Methods) from State University of New York at Stony Brook and served as a Professor in Psychology at Harvey Mudd College. Add language to your syllabi that makes clear open inquiry and constructive disagreement..
Kyle Emile is the founder of Free Intelligent Conversation. Free Intelligent Conversation (FreeIC) is a nonprofit organization that facilitates engaging conversations between strangers. It’s simple: participants simply go to public places and hold up signs that read “Free Intelligent Conversation,” inviting people to talk with them about anything and everything. The conversations are then kicked-off..
Mark Urista is a Communication faculty member at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. He advises the college’s BridgeUSA chapter and is currently working on a faculty fellowship that aims to promote viewpoint diversity. Like many faculty members, there are times in class when I joyfully watch students actively engage in constructive disagreement. Unfortunately,..
Ilana R. Akresh is an Associate Professor in the Sociology department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In his oft-quoted 1953 essay, Isaiah Berlin draws upon a reference to the Greek philosopher Archilochus, translated as: a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog one big thing. Although the original essay was primarily focused..
The challenge remains, however, in making sure that these events and initiatives are not just about the administration making a statement about free speech or faculty endorsing those ideals. Students need to be a high priority, which means having all constituencies working together.
James Lemoine is an Assistant Professor of Organization and Human Resources Department at the University of Buffalo School of Management I lie to my students on purpose. I have been doing this for many semesters and, as a result, my conversations with my students, and their debates with each other, have become more respectful and..
This is the second post in our Teaching Heterodoxy series.
By Dr. Cory Holland, Worcester State University
The following activity occurred in the context of an English as a Second Language (ESL) writing class for international students hoping to matriculate in US universities. This particular class was evenly split between students from China and students from Saudi Arabia, a detail that will become important shortly. Students in this class are at a high-intermediate level of English proficiency and are learning to write short essays in genres common to introductory university classes.
There’s broad agreement that the syllabus is a contract of sorts that spells out expectations, policies, and pathways through the inquiry at hand. Equally important, I ask my syllabus to set the tone for the entire course. I pick my words carefully, hoping to signal my and my students’ reciprocal roles in the processes of teaching and learning. As students and faculty alike navigate ideological polarization, tribalism, and hostility, it feels especially important to get this tone-setting document right.
This guest post is by Marisela Martinez-Cola, a doctoral student in sociology at Emory University and instructor of sociology at Oglethorpe University. “What would you say if I told you I own a gun?” This is how I began a lecture called “The Soap Operas of Sociology” for my Introduction to Sociology course. After a..