43 research outputs found
The Daily Show and philosophy: Moment of Zen in the art of fake news
No full textRoben Torosyan is a contributing author, Public discourse and the Stewart model of critical thinking , p. 107-120.
Book description: An entertaining and insightful examination of the Emmy-award winning American satirical news show, broadcast on Comedy Central in the US, and (in an edited edition) on More4 in the UK and CNN International around the world. * Includes discussion of both The Daily Show and its spin-off show, The Colbert Report * Showcases philosophers at their best, discussing truth, knowledge, reality and the American Way * Highlights the razor sharp critical skills of Jon Stewart and his colleagues * Faces tough and surprisingly funny questions about politics, religion, and power head on. - Publisher description.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cae-books/1005/thumbnail.jp
Integral education: New directions for higher learning
No full textRoben Torosyan is a contributing author, Teaching Integratively: Five Dimensions of Transformation .
Book description: Leading researchers and practitioners explore the frontiers of education from an Integral perspective.The educational challenges faced today are driving us toward a new step in the evolution of educational theory and practice. Educators are called to go beyond simply presenting alternatives, to integrating the best of mainstream and alternative approaches and taking them to the next level. Integral Education accomplishes this by bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from higher education who are actively exploring the frontiers of education from an integral perspective. It presents an overview of the emerging landscape of integral education from a variety of theoretical and applied perspectives. Key characteristics of integral education include exploring multiple perspectives, employing different pedagogical techniques (e.g., reflective, dialogical, empirical), combining conceptual rigor with embodied experience, drawing on developmental psychology, and cultivating a reflective and transformative space for students and teachers alike. Integral Education provides the most comprehensive synopsis of this exciting new approach and serves as a valuable resource for any integral effort within education. - Publisher descriptionhttps://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cae-books/1001/thumbnail.jp
Stephen Colbert and philosophy: I am philosophy (and so can you!)
No full textRoben Torosyan is a contributing author, Things that make you go “what?”, p. 29-49).
Book description: In Stephen Colbert\u27s recent commencement address at Princeton University, he told the graduates not to change the world. And on the very first episode of The Colbert Report, he coined the term truthiness, which means not what is true, but rather what feels true. (The American Dialect Society subsequently voted truthiness 2005 Word of the Year, joining the august ranks of plutoed, red state, and metrosexual. ) Stephen Colbert, both the man and his body of work, represents a particularly rich set of philosophical issues. For one, the concept of truth is central to all branches of philosophy, and the very idea that someone is promoting (even if only satirically) the truthy over the truth raises a whole host of philosophical concerns: Has truthiness taken the place of truth? Is it all just truthiness, anyway? Colbert has coined other terms that scintillate philosophers as well, such as Wikiality (a reality determined by human agreement as opposed to something more objective) and Freem (freedom without the do). No doubt about it, philosophers love Colbert, who majored in philosophy at Hampden-Sydney College, and not only because he plays with concepts that are central to philosophy in his comedy. In addition, he is a pop-culture phenomenon worthy of philosophical interest in his own right. For instance, what does it mean for the state of political and cultural discourse in America that Colbert, a faux-pundit openly mocking the Fox News and CNN pundits, is so popular? Does Colbert add anything positive to that discourse, or is he just a cynical force with no positive impact? Stephen Colbert and Philosophy is crammed with thoughtful and amusing chapters, each more profound than all the others, all written by philosophers, and all focused unwaveringly on the topic of Stephen Colbert. Although most of the discussion is centered around his Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report, his best-selling book I Am America (And So Can You!) is not neglected, nor are his public performances. Indeed not! You’ll find at least a few choice paragraphs examining Colbert\u27s incendiary 2006 White House Press Correspondents\u27 Dinner, where he said of President Bush, I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers, and rubble, and recently flooded city squares. In a similar manner, Stephen Colbert and Philosophy stands for things. Things you will want to know, or at least know of, generally speaking. Read it today, and you too will proudly proclaim: I am Philosophy (And So Can You!) -- Publisher description.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cae-books/1003/thumbnail.jp
Listening: Beyond Telling to “Being” What We Want To Teach
No full textIn response to a culture of polarized argument, this paper shows a way to provide people with practice at deep listening and understanding. The author examines ways in which self-disclosure about problems of dialog may be an ideal means for teachers or leaders to show people alternate ways of being in the world of meaning making
The learning portfolio: Reflective practice for improving student learning 2nd Ed.
No full textLaurence Miners, Kathryn Nantz, Roben Torosyan and Stephanie Burrell are contributing co-authors, Getting started with portfolios: A vision for implementing reflection to enhance student learning , Chapter 6 p. 85-95.
Book description: The learning portfolio is a powerful complement to traditional measures of student achievement and a widely diverse method of recording intellectual growth. This second edition of this important book offers new samples of print and electronic learning portfolios. An academic understanding of and rationale for learning portfolios and practical information that can be customized. Offers a review of the value of reflective practice in student learning and how learning portfolios support assessment and collaboration. Includes revised sample assignment sheets, guidelines, criteria, evaluation rubrics, and other material for developing print and electronic portfolios. -- Publisher description.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cae-books/1004/thumbnail.jp
Spirituality in Higher Education: Autoethnographies
No full textRoben Torosyan is a contributing co-author (with Eileen O\u27Shea, Tracey Robert and Betsy Bowen), Spirituality & Professional Collegiality: Espirit de \u27Core\u27 , Chapter 5.
Book description: This collection of articles explores how a wide range of academics-- diverse in location, rank and discipline-- understand and express how they deal with spirituality in their professional lives and how they integrate spirituality in teaching, research, administration, and advising. The contributors also analyze the culture of academia and its challenges to the spiritual development of those involved. Twenty chapter authors--from a variety of faith traditions--discuss the ways in which their own beliefs have affected their journeys through higher education. By using an autoethnographic, self-analytical lens, this collection shows how various spiritualities have influenced how higher education is understood, taught and performed. The book will stimulate debate and conversations on a topic traditionally ignored in academia.- Publisher descriptionhttps://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cae-books/1000/thumbnail.jp
Designing courses for significant learning: Voices of experience: New Directions in Teaching & Learning, 119
No full textRoben Torosyan and Marice Rose are contributing authors, Integrating big questions with real world applications: Models from art history and philosophy , p. 61-70.
Book description: Higher education today is being called on to deliver a new and more powerful kind of education, one that prepares students to be more engaged citizens, better equipped to solve complex problems at work and better prepared to lead meaningful lives individually. To respond to this call, teachers in colleges and universities need to learn how to design more powerful kinds of learning into their courses. In 2003, Dee Fink published a seminal book, Creating Significant Learning Experiences, that offered teachers two major tools for meeting this need: the Taxonomy of Significant Learning and the model of Integrated Course Design. Since that time, educators around the world have found Fink s ideas both visionary and inspiring. This issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning contains multiple stories of how college-level teachers have used these ideas in a variety of teaching situations, with subject matter ranging from the sciences to the humanities. Their conclusion? The ideas in Fink s book truly make a difference. When used properly, they lead to major improvements in the level of student engagement and the quality of student learning! This is the 119th volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series New Directions for Teaching and Learning, which offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers. - Publisher descriptionhttps://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/cae-books/1002/thumbnail.jp
Self-reflections on group dynamics
No full textThis article provides a first-person account of a training program in group dynamics. It is deliberately written in the first-person to capture the highly personal nature of group dynamic analysis. Proceeding through an intensive account of six days of T-groups, module facilitation, and facilitator feedback sessions, the author examines painful emotions and complicated reasoning that arose in encountering several relational and intrapsychic conflicts. In particular, feelings such as needing approval and leaping to respond to various triggers are emphasized and several alternatives are suggested. Applications are implied for teachers, psycho-therapists, and facilitators of groups of many kinds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
Refreshed & Humbled: Altered Assumptions about Power and Payoffs
No full textThe author starts with a focus on a long-term, shifting relationship with work-study students serving as students consultants in his class, then takes an outward turn as he describes how he included graduate student voices from around the country as he wrote an external grant to support partnerships between research and teaching intensive institutions
Teaching self-authorship and self-regulation: A story of resistance and transformation
No full textStudies show that many learners feel resistant to or otherwise under-prepared for learning challenges due to underdeveloped ability to self-regulate or adapt thoughts, feelings, and actions to attain their own personal goals. This narrative account illustrates pathways and pitfalls in evoking such behavior and encouraging self-authorship—the internal defining of beliefs, identity and relationships. The author describes a project in which an initially resistant student generated creative, if short-lived, solutions to personal struggles. Helpful educational interventions included questioning behavioral patterns, establishing high expectations, and reinforcing belief in ability to change. Oversights and missed opportunities included unintentionally inviting mimicry and remaining ignorant of researched practices for fostering transformation
