CALL FOR MENTORS: Pathways to Philosophy Mentor Program
Geoffrey Klempner
The following might be of interest especially to philosophy graduates who have no immediate plans to pursue a postgraduate university course in philosophy.
Pathways to Philosophy is looking for mentors anywhere in the world who are prepared to take on distance learning students from anywhere in the world.
In the six years since Pathways was launched, the project has attracted students from forty countries in five continents.
Pathways students include doctors, teachers, lecturers, lawyers, priests, artists, musicians, physicists, aerospace engineers, information technologists, business people and a US Superior Court Judge.
This year, I was invited to give a presentation at the European Educational Technology Forum at University College Dublin, 27th September on "Pathways, the Leading Philosophy Open Learning Programme on the World Wide Web".
The only formal requirement for being a Pathways mentor is a good Bachelors Degree in Philosophy. We are not interested in publications or prizes, but rather in evidence of well honed communication skills, together with a genuine interest in guiding Pathways students through their encounter with the problems of philosophy.
Applicants can demonstrate their skills and knowledge of philosophy by contributing answers to the questions submitted to 'Ask a Philosopher' on the Pathways web site. You will find the Questions page at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/ptpdlp/questions/questions.html
Or if you don't mind advertising banners, you can try the short URL for the Questions page:
http://welcome.to/philosophers
If accepted on the Mentor Program, you will be enrolled for the Fellowship Diploma of the Philosophical Society, under the guidance and supervision of the Director of Studies. There are no course fees to pay. The Fellowship of the Philosophical Society is awarded for a dissertation of around 15,000 words, which develops an original philosophical thought or idea in a manner accessible to the intelligent general reader.
You will also have unrestricted access to the six Pathways programs:
A. Introduction to Philosophy 'The Possible World Machine'
B. Philosophy of Mind 'Searching for the Soul'
C. Ancient Philosophy 'The First Philosophers'
D. Philosophy of Language 'Language and the World'
E. Moral Philosophy 'Reason, Values and Conduct'
F. Metaphysics 'The Ultimate Nature of Things'
You will be assigned students only in those subject areas in which you feel fully confident to teach.
As mentor, your main task will be to write a letter of around 800 words in response to each piece of writing sent to you by your student. To give you an idea of what is involved, have a look at the 'Letters to my Students' on the Pathways web site:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/ptpdlp/letters/
You will not be overloaded with work. We recognize that many Mentors have day jobs! You will be allowed more than adequate time to pursue your own studies towards the Fellowship of the Philosophical Society.
If you think you might be interested in the Mentor program, please e-mail G.Kle...@sheffield.ac.uk or write to me c/o the Dept of Philosophy, University of Sheffield. I look forward to hearing from you!
Geoffrey Klempner
Director of Studies
The Philosophical Society of England
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Telephone: +44 (0)114 235 9404/ 9972 Fax: +44 (0)114 235 9958
Permanent E-mail address: G.Kle...@sheffield.ac.uk
Pathways Web Site: http://www.philosophypathways.com
Glass House Philosopher: http://www.appleonline.net/klempner
The Philosophical Society of England, Department of Philosophy,
University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html.
Other philosophical resources on the Web can be found at http://www.liv.ac.uk/Philosophy/philos.html