This class will mostly stay the same

Much of the course will work in the same way that it did before. Check the website to see what is due and when. Do the readings. Upload some questions about the readings as a daily assignment. (I have decided not to change the nature of the assignments in any way.) The term paper will work the same way as before, though with meetings over some kind of software rather than in my office (more on that later).

I will post weekly "lecture pages"

Instead of lectures, I will be preparing a web page each week in which I will answer your questions with a mixture of text and videos (similar to this one). I will do my best to post it by 2pm on the relevant Tuesdays and Fridays. You should then come by and read (and watch) what I’ve posted. This will replace some of what I have usually been doing in class.

I have created a PHILO 36000 Slack workplace

In order to allow for *some* interactive component to the course, I have created a slack channel for the course where we can have a bit of discussion and I can answer questions that aren’t answered by my lecture pages. I promise to be present in the slack channel at the times when we would normally have been having class. I will probably check in at other times too. And one nice thing about slack is that we will be able to see each other’s messages whenever we log in, even without being there when they were posted.

If you have never used slack before, it’s relatively easy. You just have to create a free account and find your way to the “Philosophy36000” Workplace. I have sent out invitations to all of you to join. You can also join by clicking this link.

I am available for virtual office hours

If you would like to talk to me about anything at all, there are a couple of ways to do this. One is to find me on slack, where we can have a private conversation that others won’t be able to see. Another option is to set up an appointment to have an audio or video call by skype or facetime. I will ask you all to do this as part of the term-paper assignment (more details on that later), but it is otherwise optional.

This class will be asynchronous

I want to be clear that there will be no synchronous activities required of you. This means that there will be no specific time when I will expect you to be participating in this course. In particular, you are not required to participate in the slack channel, either at specific times or at all. And I will not be using Blackboard Collaborate or Zoom to replace class discussions.

My reason for this is that I know that some of you may not be available to participate in class at specific times, or may not have the required technology or privacy at those times.

Do your best, and keep in touch

I assume that the next couple of months will be a difficult time for many of us. My goal as the instructor for this course is to make it possible for as many of you to succeed as possible, given the difficult circumstances.

In my experience, it is easy for students in online courses to fall behind schedule and eventually stop participating all together. This may be more likely than usual this semester, as everyone has extra outside sources of stress and distraction. For this reason, I urge you to do everything in your power to do the readings and submit every assignment. And I will send out more reminders than usual to those of you who don't submit the assignments, in order to nudge you to keep you from falling behind.

Make sure that you can receive email from me

I will often have to reach you by email in the coming months. To do that, I will use whichever email is stored in CUNYfirst. It is very important that you regularly check whichever email address you have listed in CUNYfirst. (If you haven't received any email from me since Hunter cancelled in-person classes, then you haven't been checking the email address you have in CUNYfirst.)

There are instructions for how to change which email is stored in CUNYfirst here. Please change it if you need to. If you are late with an assignment because an email I sent to you didn't arrive because you don't check that address, I will not regard this as a valid excuse.