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Scott Pratt
Professor and Department Head, Philosophy
College of Arts and Sciences
“As I was redesigning our introductory philosophy course, I wanted to respond to concerns about the role of AI for students writing essays. I decided to use oral exams to replace essays. The exams not only provide a different way for students to work with philosophical materials, but it also gives each student in a 300-student class a chance to talk about philosophy one-on-one with a GE who knows the discipline to answer questions and to ask them. This is, after all, what philosophy is all about.”
Teaching Idea
Added oral exams to a 300-student, introductory Philosophical Problems course
Assignment Details
Students take two oral exams in a term, the first in week 5 or 6 and the second during finals week. Each exam lasts 10 minutes and GEs conduct five per hour for 10 scheduled hours.