Fostering Pre-Reading Skills: A Third-Year Course Model Built Around Perusall

Presented by Faculty of Arts & Science, Teaching and Learning

Dual Delivery
In-Person, History Conference Room, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 2098, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
Online, Register via Zoom

Fostering Pre-Reading Skills: A Third-Year Course Model Built Around Perusall
Alex Koo, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Philosophy

Philosophy students are often told to do their readings before class, but in practice this does not always happen. This leads to difficulties for students entering fourth-year seminars who have not learned the necessary pre-reading skills to succeed. This session will present a third-year class model that is structured around pre-reading and designed to help students bridge the gap between third and fourth-year courses in Philosophy. A key element to this is Perusall—an asynchronous online peer annotation platform for reading that promotes engagement and collaboration. In addition to Perusall, the course structure, assessments, and student feedback will be described.

The Faculty of Arts & Science Teaching & Learning Community of Practice (CoP) was established in 2015 to create a collegial forum for faculty and instructors to meet and share teaching practices and strategies across fields and disciplines. This CoP is coordinated by Andrew Dicks (Professor, Teaching Stream and Associate Chair, Undergraduate, Department of Chemistry).