Cross-course pages: Concepts | Facts

If the class of mine that you are taking is a culture class, a literature class, or a hybrid class (part literature-part language/grammar) then my teaching and grading emphasis will be on concepts.

Why? Life is interesting and life is made up of details and so it is not that I do not value "information". But:

• you cannot read meaningfully across cultures (East-West / premodern-modern) without interpretive expertise, which operates on a conceptual level;

• proper knowledge of details cannot be separated from a critical approach to details;

• one must sort out the reliable from that which isn't—a decision made by the sometimes complex application of one or many concepts;

• details that lack conceptual hierarchies of what is important and what is less so or lack membership in (conceptual) categories are just a meaningless mess of data—a mess that means not much to anyone, and certainly is not a shape that can be retained beyond the short time window of a cram for a test.

Concepts without facts are often un-grounded, and can quickly digress into clever or stylish intellectual maneuvers. Facts without concepts lack meaning value. Given how digitally enabled the obtaining of information has become, I see myself less and less as a source of facts and more and more as in the role of teaching concepts intended to manage facts meaningfully.

I use various methods to teach concepts but, in general, I state certain concepts towards the first half of a course then step back and watch students begin to apply those concepts or develop further concepts along the lines or via the models provided. Thus "learning concepts" means more than identifying and listing up the concepts I mention. It means a cognitive approach to the factual material in the course throughout, with some of the conceptual structure provided by me and some created by the student.

The above teaching position, a central one for me, has these ramifications:

1. Without regular attendance of lectures, and careful attention when in the room (no multitasking), it is difficult to capture my comments or thinking on concepts and so difficult to perform successfully in the course.

2. Learning course content only at the factual level without being able to answer the larger questions of how facts relate, what they suggest, the status of their credibility and such is barely a passing grade under the grading systems I use. With care you might be able to get through the P/NP gate successfully, but even that is questionable. If you are interested in the class but for reasons of other academic commitments cannot spend as much time as you would like on the course, please discuss this with me so we can work out a plan of action. The standard strategy of occasional attendance and cramming details for an exam is unlikely to work.

3. Overseas students who have difficulty with English either in written or spoken form will need to make special effort to overcome possible handicaps. I cannot make much allowance for failing to capture my teaching of concepts, since it is core to the course. Double your efforts, and take advantage of podcasts that are available for most of my classes. Budget time for reading critically, not just reading.

4. Overseas students trained in a more traditional style of learning where the instructor is the source of information to be memorized might find my interest in the student's application of concepts to course material as secondary, difficult, unnecessary, wrong, frustrating or all of the above. This does not change what needs to be done. Please, please consider meeting with me and discussing course content to help understand this style of learning, and to sharpen your understanding of the concepts presented or expected to be developed by you.

5. Reading and writing exercises will ask you to engage the material conceptually: You cannot skim readings for plot outcomes or information bits. You should consider style, what the pieces suggests, what the scholar is arguing (thesis). You cannot cruise for information on the web and deliver it in essay for and expect to pass the assignment. I am always interested that you write a "credible and interesting" essay, which means judicious, critical awareness in the selection and use of sources, appreciation of the ideas of others via those sources, and your own interesting observations and conclusions that result from working conceptually with the information you have gathered.

I consider the above as not at all unusual—it is just the ordinary expectation of work in the humanities. My standard is, however, distinctly higher for upper-division undergraduate classes. I might add that if your interest is to continue into a humanities Ph.D. program upon graduation, it is almost certain that if you cannot show evidence of well-developed abilities in these skills you will not be admitted to an upper-tier program.