Peter Ellerton
13 July 2020
There's a new update to UQ's Philosophy & Critical Thinking MOOC.
Created by the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project (including some names you might be familiar with) on the edX platform launched by Harvard and MIT, it covers some of the big issues in philosophy and critical thinking and is intended as a resource for those keen to delve more deeply into all things philosophical and into the intricacies of critical thinking and argumentation.
The first version was made a few years ago, but the UQCTP team have released a new edition with two new modules build especially for the QCAA Philosophy and Reason syllabus. The new modules are God, and Moral and Political Philosophy.
There are many videos, most of which are pretty quirky and a lot of text that goes deeper into all the relevant theories and philosophies. Plus there are in-depth interviews with some of the best philosophers around on a wide range of topics.
I know a lot of them are regularly used by teachers in helping their students understand key concepts. They also star teachers and students of Philosophy and Reason.
A special section has also been made for teachers, featuring Yael Leibovitch, Nathan Pickels and Kirsti Ellerton — all teachers of Philosophy and Reason — focusing on assessment, ways of thinking and working and the tools of logic. Teachers can also claim professional development hours for completion of the MOOC.
The course has had nearly 100 000 people enrol over time and the new version just started has nearly 10 000 already from over 150 countries!
Here is the link https://www.edx.org/course/philosophy-and-critical-thinking. It is free to register.