Philosophy: The Big Picture
Course Description:
This course will take you on an exciting adventure that covers more than 2500 years. Along the way, you’ll run into some very strange characters. For example, you’ll read about a man who hung out on street corners, barefoot and dirty, pestering everyone he met with questions. You’ll read about another man who climbed inside a stove to think about whether he existed. Despite their odd behavior, these and other philosophers of the Western world are among the most brilliant and influential thinkers of all time. As you read about them, you’ll see where many of the most fundamental ideas of Western civilization came from. You’ll also get a chance to ask yourself some of the same questions these great thinkers pondered. At the end, you’ll have a better understanding of yourself and the world around you, from atoms to outer space and everything in between.
Course Details:
Course Title (District): | Philosophy: The Big Picture | ||||||||||
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Course Title (NCES SCED) : | Philosophy | ||||||||||
Course Provider : | Michigan Virtual | ||||||||||
Content Provided By : | eDynamic Learning | ||||||||||
Online Instructor Provided By : | Michigan Virtual | ||||||||||
Standards Addressed : | Common Core State Standards, National Collegiate Athletic Association | ||||||||||
Alignment Document : | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k5s33Ew58OlAMCxJWDxBUK6Jy8gzLt1f40nrjmJBwcU/edit?usp=sharing | ||||||||||
Academic Terms : | Semester | ||||||||||
NCES SCED Code : 04306 |
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How To Enroll:
Enrollment Website : | https://slp.michiganvirtual.org/ |
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Email : | [email protected] |
Phone : | (888) 889-2840 |
Students and Parents: It is important to work closely with your local school counselor or registrar to follow the school's enrollment procedures. By clicking the "Start Registration Request" button below, you will be able to notify the school of your interest in registering for the online course. However, it is the responsibility of the district or school to review the registration request and approve or deny the request. Please make a note to follow up with your school after submitting a registration request.
Additional Course Information:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: (888) 889-2840
- Define philosophy
- Describe what philosophers study
- Identify questions that philosophers ask
- Explain what it means to do philosophy
- State what philosophy can do for you
- Explain why myth has been called the “cradle of philosophy”
- Describe how Western philosophy first began in ancient Greece
- List some of the questions that the earliest philosophers pondered
- Identify pre-Socratic philosophers and state how they answered the questions
- Explain how the earliest philosophers laid the foundations for science
- Give an overview of the classical period of ancient Greece
- Describe Socrates’ life and the Socratic method
- Outline the events of Plato’s life and his main ideas
- Summarize Aristotle’s life and his major contributions
- State the general aims of Hellenistic philosophy
- Describe the philosophy of cynicism
- List the ideas of the Epicureans
- Describe stoic philosophy
- Identify the basic views of the skeptics
- Describe the rise of Christianity in Medieval Europe
- List the main influences on philosophy during the Middle Ages
- Explain how Saint Augustine defended the Catholic Church
- Describe the scholastic philosophy of Saint Anselm
- Identify the contributions of Saint Thomas Aquinas
- Outline major changes that occurred in Europe from 1400 to 1800
- Identify influences on Renaissance philosophers such as Erasmus
- Describe the rationalist philosophies of Descartes and Spinoza
- Describe the empiricist philosophies of Locke and Hume
- Explain how Kant combined rationalism and empiricism
- Describe approaches to philosophy that began in 19th century Europe
- List the main contributions of the German philosopher Georg Hegel
- Summarize the philosophies of Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche
- Identify the main ideas of Karl Marx and Jeremy Bentham
- Describe the philosophy of pragmatism
- Summarize an overview of analytic philosophy
- List the basic tenets of phenomenology
- Identify the main ideas of existentialism
- State how philosophy has changed your thinking
Additional Cost Description:
None
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...
NSQ National Standards for Quality Online Courses
Rating | Comments | |
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A1. A course overview and syllabus are included in the online course | Fully Met | |
A2. Minimum computer skills and digital literacy skills expected of the learner are clearly stated.* | Fully Met | |
A3. The instructor’s biographical information and information on how to communicate with the instructor are provided to learners and other stakeholders. | Fully Met | |
A4. Learner expectations and policies are clearly stated and readily accessible within the introductory material of the course. | Fully Met | |
A5. Minimum technology requirements for the course are clearly stated, and information on how to obtain the technologies is provided.* | Fully Met | |
A6. Grading policies and practices are clearly defined in accordance with course content learning expectations. | Fully Met | |
A7. The online course provides a clear description or link to the technical support offered and how to obtain it.* | Fully Met | |
A8. Learners are offered an orientation prior to the start of the online course. | Fully Met |
Rating | Comments | |
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B1. The online course objectives or competencies are measurable and clearly state what the learner will be able to demonstrate as a result of successfully completing the course.* | Fully Met | |
B2. The online course expectations are consistent with course-level objectives or competencies, are representative of the structure of the course, and are clearly stated. | Fully Met | |
B3. The online course content is aligned with accepted state and/or other accepted content standards, where applicable.* | Fully Met | |
B4. Digital literacy and communication skills are incorporated and taught as an integral part of the curriculum.* | Fully Met | |
B5. Supplemental learning resources and related instructional materials are available to support and enrich learning and are aligned to the specific content being delivered.* | Fully Met | |
B6. The online course content and supporting materials reflect a culturally diverse perspective that is free of bias.* | Fully Met | |
B7. The online course materials (e.g., textbooks, primary source documents, OER) that support course content standards are accurate and current. | Fully Met | |
B8. The online course is free of adult content and avoids unnecessary advertisements.* | Fully Met | |
B9. Copyright and licensing status for any third-party content is appropriately cited and easily found. | Fully Met | |
B10. Documentation and other support materials are available to support effective online course facilitation.* | Fully Met |
Rating | Comments | |
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C1. The online course design includes activities that guide learners toward promoting ownership of their learning and self-monitoring. | Fully Met | |
C2. The online course’s content and learning activities promote the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies. | Fully Met | |
C3. The online course is organized by units and lessons that fall into a logical sequence. | Fully Met | |
C4. The online course content is appropriate to the reading level of the intended learners.* | Fully Met | |
C5. The online course design includes introductory assignments or activities to engage learners within the first week of the course. | Fully Met | |
C6. The online course provides learners with multiple learning paths as appropriate, based on learner needs, that engage learners in a variety of ways. | Fully Met | |
C7. The online course provides regular opportunities for learner-learner interaction. | Fully Met | |
C8. The online course design provides opportunities for learner-instructor interaction, including opportunities for regular feedback about learner progress.* | Fully Met | |
C9. Online course instructional materials and resources present content in an effective, engaging, and appropriate manner.* | Partially Met | The instructional materials contribute to the achievement of course and unit objectives. However, the relationship between learning objectives and instructional materials can be more clearly stated for the learner. Providing links to objectives in the assignments or introducing a numbering system within the assignments to show how objectives connect to specific instructional materials will improve Standard 4.1C. In addition, the alignment document does not include references to Units 6-8. |
Rating | Comments | |
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D1. Learner assessments are linked to stated course, unit, or lesson-level objectives or competencies. | Partially Met | The relationship of assessment types with the specific learning objectives is not clear. For example, in Unit 4, the stated objectives don't seem to be fully assessed. For example, students don't "describe" Stoicism or Cynicism. The Unit 4 Critical Thinking assignment has questions that allude to these topics, but they don't necessarily require students to "describe" these ideas. It is possible for a student to accurately answer these questions without fully meeting the stated objective. Other examples include: In Unit 6, students don't necesarily have to 1) "Describe the rationalist philosophies of Descartes and Spinoza." 2) "Describe the empiricist philosophies of Locke and Hume." 3) "Explain how Kant combined rationalism and empiricism." In Unit 8, students don't necesarily have to 1) "Describe the philosophy of pragmatism" or 2) "Give an overview of analytic philosophy. " |
D2. Valid course assessments measure learner progress toward mastery of content. | Partially Met | While the methods of assessment are based on the specific learning objectives, a wider variety of assessments that test a wider variety of skills could be improved with updated learning objectives. For example, in each unit students answer questions, take quizzes, and complete discussion posts, but they don't do any research, write any essays, or create any multi-media presentations, which limits the type of work students do. |
D3. Assessment practices provide routine and varied opportunities for self-monitoring and reflection of learning.* | Fully Met | |
D4. Assessment materials provide the learner with the flexibility to demonstrate mastery in a variety of ways.* | Fully Met | |
D5. Rubrics that clearly define expectations for varied levels of proficiency are created and shared with learners.* | Fully Met |
Rating | Comments | |
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E1. Online course navigation is logical, consistent, and efficient from the learner’s point of view.* | Fully Met | |
E2. The online course design facilitates readability.* | Fully Met | |
E3. The online course provides accessible course materials and activities to meet the needs of diverse learners.* | Fully Met | |
E4. Course multimedia facilitate ease of use.* | Fully Met | |
E5. Vendor accessibility statements are provided for all technologies required in the course.* | Fully Met |
Rating | Comments | |
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F1. Educational tools ensure learner privacy and maintain confidentiality of learner information in accordance with local, state, and national laws for learner data. | Fully Met | |
F2. The online course tools support the learning objectives or competencies.* | Fully Met | |
F5. The course provides the necessary technical functionality to score and record assessments and calculate earned course points or grades.* | Fully Met | |
F3. The online course provides options for the instructor to adapt learning activities to accommodate learners’ needs and preferences.* | Partially Met | Instructor role permissions within Michigan Virtual's learning management system permit instructors to add supplemental content and external resources both within lessons and announcements. Additionally, the learning management system permits online accommodations including text-to-speech tools, extended testing time, provision of multiple attempts, and scoring exemptions for extenuating circumstances. Course content is desgined, however, to meet state and national content standards alignment and provide a guaranteed and viable curriculum to all enrolled learners, and therefore there are restrictions on instructor permissions to modify the scope and sequence of course assessments. |
F4. The course allows instructors to control the release of content.* | Partially Met | Michigan Virtual provides for flexible pacing and asynchronous delivery of its online course offerings. In order to maximize these opportunities for personalized learner preferences and flexibility concerning frequency or timing of individual learner availability or participation in courses during academic terms, with few exceptions, all course content is made available at all times throughout the term, and generally only midterm or final exams are password protected. Conditional release of content is intentionally avoided or used sparingly within Michigan Virtual course design and instructional delivery models. |
Rating | Comments | |
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G1. The online course uses multiple methods and sources of input for assessing course effectiveness. | Fully Met | |
G2. The online course is reviewed to ensure that the course is current. | Fully Met | |
G3. The online course is updated on a continuous improvement cycle for effectiveness based on the findings from ongoing reviews. | Fully Met |
Review Conducted By: Michigan Virtual
Date of Review:
12/19/2024
Unit 1: The World of Wonder
Unit 2: From Mythology to Philosophy
Unit 3: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
Unit 4: Hellenistic Philosophy: How Can Humans Be Happy?
Unit 5: Christianity and Philosophy in the Middle Ages
Unit 6: The Rise of Modern Western Philosophy
Unit 7: Western Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century
Unit 8: Western Philosophy in the Twentieth Century
Term Type | Enrollment Opens | Enrollment Ends | Random Draw Date | Enrollment Drop Date | Course Starts | Course Ends | # of Seats | Course Fee | Potential Additional Costs |
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Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 01/17/2025 | 01/03/2025 | 05/23/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 01/24/2025 | 01/10/2025 | 05/30/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 01/31/2025 | 01/17/2025 | 06/06/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 02/07/2025 | 01/24/2025 | 06/13/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 02/14/2025 | 01/31/2025 | 06/20/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 02/21/2025 | 02/07/2025 | 06/20/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 02/28/2025 | 02/14/2025 | 06/20/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 03/07/2025 | 02/21/2025 | 06/20/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 02/28/2025 | 06/20/2025 | 100 | $350 | |
Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 | 07/01/2024 | 03/21/2025 | 03/07/2025 | 06/20/2025 | 100 | $350 |
Drop Policy | Completion Policy | Term Type | Enrollment Opens | Enrollment Ends |
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Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students have 14 days from the enrollment start date to drop the course and receive a full refund. No refunds are given after 14 days. Drop dates are calculated and what is posted is the last possible drop date for enrollments created within the enrollment window. | Students may access their course from their enrollment start date to their enrollment end date. A completion is a 60% final score or higher. | Semester | 03/29/2024 | 03/14/2025 |
Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/