Full course description
About the Course
Great Conversations is a collection of professionally produced, faculty curated conversations with intellectuals, scholars and researchers working on cutting edge issues in the fields of pedagogy and practice in higher education. The conversations explore the greatest challenges to higher education in the present and in the foreseeable future - and how teaching specifically might provide a powerful pathway to understanding precise problems and to finding feasible solutions. The goal of the collection is to inspire faculty in their daily aspirations of transforming ideas into action, and in forging the path ahead for higher education today.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to
- Explain key issues in contemporary higher education
- Describe how social and economic changes in society affect higher education
- Identify resources for faculty professional development
Meet the Instructor
Ange Cooksey has devoted her career to fostering opportunities for teaching, learning, and growth among her students and within her community. Joining the Indiana University East faculty in the School of Humanities and Fine Arts in 2003, Cooksey has continually demonstrated a true engagement in the profession of teaching.
In the classroom, Cooksey promotes interaction and active learning. As a teacher of philosophy, she motivates and encourages her students to discuss difficult, intellectually challenging concepts. All the while, she eagerly ensures that they are learning in a comfortable environment, even in courses with daunting titles such as Death and Dying or Biomedical Ethics.
Cooksey has a long history of publishing and presenting on teaching, including in the areas of service learning, backward design, instruction in cyberethics, and many others. She has received numerous awards and honors, including membership in IU’s Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching (FACET), and she has been selected as a Bender FACET Fellow. She has received IU East’s Helen Lees Excellence in Teaching Award, as well as the IU East Distinguished Faculty Service Award. In addition to these honors, Cooksey has been named a faculty fellow in the Association of American Colleges and Universities Innovative Teaching initiative.