Andrew Komasinski - Classes by Semester and Institution

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Loyola Marymount University
Fordham University (Rose Hill)
Fordham University (Lincoln Center)
Hokkaido University
Hokkaido University of Education (Sapporo)
Hokkaido University of Education (Asahikawa)
Critical Thinking
"Critical Thinking" is a class that focuses on learning how to make and evaluate arguments. It does so by emphasizing both general aspects of arguments (clear: concise, consistent, concrete) and by looking more specifically at both deductive and inductive arguments.
Philosophical Ethics
This class is a required core class at Fordham University. As freshmen, students take "Philosophy of Human Nature". As sophomores, they take this class where they encounter the main ethical theories (especially, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and Kant) and develop their ability to think about ethical problems in light of these theories. In the process, students write summaries of the arguments they encounter in key texts such as Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Philosophy of Human Nature
This class is a required core class at Fordham University. As freshman, students take this course and encounter the arguments of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Aquinas. Through this, they learn the basic canons of Western philosophy and how to engage with and summarize arguments.
Environmental Ethics
"Environmental Ethics" was an interdisciplinary course taught as part of the CENSUS Program at Hokkaido University. The course looks at several different dimensions including ethical theory, applied ethics, and basic reasoning.
English Communication
This class gives students the chance to produce English and interact in English. For an EFL environment, chances to speak and interactive with spoken English are few and far between.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Moral Imagination)
This course uses The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to help students improve their ability to read a story with a critical eye. Focusing on how characters changed throughout the book, this class helps them to identify and characterize moral transformation in literature.
Academic Writing
This class prepares students to write academic papers centered on a thesis and the argument for that thesis. It covers core concepts like structure, brainstorming, anticipating and responding to objections, and properly using citations.
Academic Reading
This class gives students the basic skills to read texts from an academic (in contrast to leisure or language-learning) standpoint. As such, it focuses on how students can identify the arguments in academic writing and summarize and condense the arguments for these theses
Intercultural Understanding
This class focuses on helping students learn the idea of "culture" and the manifold ways that culture impacts our lives. For Japanese students, this can be especially challenging since the country is mono-lingual and the educational system focuses on students seeing themselves as part of a larger national culture than on valuing differences and recognizing multi-cultural values.
International Understanding: Descartes and Locke
This class helps students better grasp differences between countries and how people in those countries engage the world through assumptions about freedom, rights, and determinism (or their absence).
Introduction to the Humanities: Plato and Aristotle
This is a general education class open to students of all majors. In this class, I introduced the basic thought of Plato and Aristotle, focusing on the earlier dialogues and practical philosophy.
Presentation
Presentation classes focus on writing a good presentation that has a clear thesis, supporting argumentation, and delivering it in a dynamic way.
Business Writing
This class focuses on the fundamentals of business writing looking at normal types of letters, language for interactions, and interacting online.
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This class teaches students about English-mediation instruction and the second language acquisition principles at work in creating an environment where English is used productively to accomplish teaching objectives other than just teaching language.
A Christmas Carol
In this class, I guided students through Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol with an emphasis on moral and ethical issues that occur in business.
Education and Technology
This class looks at the relationship between technology and education. In the first part, we will learn several different approaches to relating technology and education. In the second part, we will gain practical familiarity with several different technologies. Finally, we will look at problems in technology and develop/defend our own views on how technology and education should be related.
Presentations, Publications, and Ethics in Research
Students in this course will improve their writing skills for academic purposes. Students will be encouraged to use their own research and writings as a basis for assignments and activities. Students in this course will review the basics of English for academic writing, gain an understanding of the structure and organization of research papers, theses, and dissertations in the environmental sciences, improve their use of logical writing to produce a coherent academic research paper based on empirical data, and develop effective communication skills for presentations and discussions.
Fall 2006
Critical Thinking
This was my first time being the sole instructor for a course, Critical Thinking at Loyola Marymount University. I hewed too closely to the textbook and didn't do enough to make the class my own.
Syllabus  
Fall 2008
Philosophical Ethics
This was my first time teaching Philosophical Ethics, a required course for sophomores at Fordham University. In this class, we looked at Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Kant's Groundwork, and Mill's Utilitarianism
Syllabus Eval.
Spring 2009
Philosophical Ethics
This was my second time teaching Philosophical Ethics. In this session, in addition to the standard Kant, Aristotle, and Mill. I added a comparative feature looking at Confucius.
Syllabus Eval.
Fall 2009
Philosophical Ethics
This was my third time teaching Philosophical Ethics and my first time teaching at the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University. In this class, students were required to make presentations on contemporary moral issues that applied the ethical theory we learned in class.
Syllabus Eval.
Spring 2010
Philosophy of Human Nature
This was my first time teaching Philosophy of Human Nature for Fordham University. At Fordham, Philosophy of Human Nature is a required class for first year students and must cover Plato, Descartes, Aristotle, Augustine or Aquinas. In addition, instructors are strongly encouraged to cover critical thinking and their own specializations.
Syllabus Eval.
Fall 2010
Philosophy of Human Nature
This was my second time teaching Philosophy of Human Nature. In addition to the required texts from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Augustine, we also looked at sections of the Daodejing and the Analects.
Syllabus Eval.
Spring 2011
Philosophical Ethics
This was the last time I taught Philosophical Ethics at Fordham. In this particular class, I decided to focus on including resources like Nel Noddings to add non-traditional perspectives to the classic triad of utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and Kant.
Syllabus Eval.
Fall 2011
Philosophy of Human Nature
As a required class, Philosophy of Human Nature looks at the question what it is to be human. To improve student participation, I required students to bring prepared questions and to be responsible for sending one question in advance of the class. For this class, in addition to Descartes, Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas, we looked briefly at behavioralism, Sartre, and Kierkegaard as different theories of human nature.
Syllabus Eval.
Spring 2012
Philosophy of Human Nature
This was the last class I taught at Fordham before moving to Japan. In this version of the class, we considered not only Western but also Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian concepts of human nature (or non-nature). As with the Fall 2011 version, students were required to prepare questions about the material in advance which largely drove the lecture content.
Syllabus Eval.
Fall 2013
Environmental Ethics
At Hokkaido University, I taught four of fifteen weeks of an Environmental Ethics course . My part of the course emphasized critical thinking and normative ethical competencies.
   
English Communication
This communication was my first course at Hokkaido University of Education and my first time teaching an English Communication Course. The students were primarily English education majors and the main topics were conversation, board games, and language.
  Eval.
Spring 2014
Critical Thinking
This was taught as a general education English class. This was my first philosophy-lite class for non-native speakers and required some rather large adjustments in terms of what students could do.
Syllabus  
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Moral Imagination)
As a general education class, I read the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" together with students, focusing both on the English, the plot arc, and the transformation of the characters.
Syllabus  
Academic Writing
In this class, I taught students the basics of academic writing, culminating in a short paper. This was a required course for students getting English teaching licenses.
Syllabus  
Academic Reading
This was a required course for English majors. In this class, students presented about Sophie's World under my guidance. Each student was also required to bring prepared questions to class.
Syllabus  
English Communication
I taught two different groups the same material this semester as a Required General Education Class. This class was for social science majors, and we worked from conversation handouts and practiced making speeches.
Syllabus  
English Communication
I taught two different groups the same material this semester as a Required General Education Class. This class was for Math Education majors, and we worked from conversation handouts and practiced making speeches.
Syllabus  
Intercultural Understanding
This was a required course for students getting English teaching licenses that focused on core concepts related to culture and identity by looking at how individuals who are "half-Japanese" by genetic identity experience Japan.
Syllabus  
Fall 2014
English Communication
This was the second semester of a required communication course for Social Science Majors
  Eval.
English Communication
This was the second semester of a required communication course for Math Education Majors
  Eval.
Critical Thinking
This was the second time I taught Critical Thinking in English in an EFL environment. For this class, I made it a flipped class by putting videos on youtube (https://g.komasin.com/ctv1) and using the class time to help students make progress on worksheets.
  Eval.
Academic Writing
In this class, I taught academic writing to non-native speakers. Based on the previous semester, I focused on common sentence types used in academic writing (comparing, arguing, concluding, contrasting). I further looked at various formats of writing by including a free-writing component based on "National November Writing Month" (Nanowrimo).
Syllabus  
International Understanding: Descartes and Locke
In this class, I taught a small group of students in Japanese and English. The main topic was Descartes and Locke and the idea of freedom.
Syllabus  
Intercultural Understanding
This was a required course for students getting English teaching licenses that focused on core concepts related to culture and identity by looking at how individuals who are "half-Japanese" by genetic identity experience Japan.
  Eval.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Moral Imagination)
This was the second time I used The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a text to work simultaneously on reading comprehension and moral imagination.
   
Introduction to the Humanities: Plato and Aristotle
In this class, I taught an 8 Week section of a general education course on Plato and Aristotle. In the course, we looked at the ethical implications Plato's early dialogues and Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics comparing their models of moral knowledge.
   
Spring 2015
Critical Thinking
This was the last time using version 1 of the flips. In this version of the class, I placed some lectures that were more developed online and continued to present the material that students found harder to understand again in class.
   
Presentation
In this class, I taught presentation skills to students in the newly formed Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education
   
Business Writing
In this class, I taught basic business writing skills to students in the newly formed Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education.
   
Fall 2015
Critical Thinking
This was the fourth time I taught critical thinking to non-native speakers. For this class, I made a new set of flips covering the entire course (https://g.komasin.com/z/ctv2). These online lectures each have views in the hundreds with the most popular being my presentation of argument by analogy.
Syllabus  
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This was my first time teaching "Teaching Methodologies for English-Mediated Instruction." This class focuses on the merits and demerits of CLIL or Content-based instruction (teaching philosophy or other subjects in English) in contrast with language-based instruction (teaching grammar).
   
Business Writing
In this class, I taught students about issues in Business Communication related to the use of Technology.
   
Spring 2016
Critical Thinking
This was the fifth time I taught critical thinking to students at Hokkaido University of Education as a required English class for first year students. Using Version 2 of the flipped content (https://g.komasin.com/z/ctv2), I taught general rules for arguments and the concepts behind deductive arguments.
Syllabus  
Presentation
In this class, I taught presentation skills to the second group of students to join the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education. We emphasized solid presentation skills built around well-designed hook-drived outlines.
   
Business Writing
In this class, I taught basic business writing skills to the second group of students to join the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education.
   
Fall 2016
Critical Thinking
This was the sixth time I taught this course. It followed largely the same outline as the previous semester. Again, we used a flipped class format (https://g.komasin.com/z/ctv2).
Syllabus  
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This was my second time teaching "Teaching Methodologies for English-Mediated Instruction." In this version, I worked on finding readings that were more accessible for students and providing more direction on how to make a content-based lesson that effectively teaches students.
   
Spring 2017
Presentation
In this class, I taught presentation skills to the third group of students to join the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education. We emphasized solid presentation skills built around well-designed hook-driven outlines.
   
A Christmas Carol
In this class, students read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and used this as a basis for evaluating moral concerns that arise in business practices.
   
Academic Writing
This was a special section of writing entitled Writing for TOEFL/IELTS for students in the Global Education Leadership Program at Hokkaido University of Education. It was designed to give students the academic writing skills they would need in order to do well on tests to study abroad and then successfully complete assignments while abroad.
   
Academic Writing
Stephanie Komashin and I taught sections of Academic Writing at the same time. In this version, we were still developing the content for what became our flipped course. In this course, we looked at how to properly write a paper using an eight step process that emphasizes an argumentative thesis, using objections to formulate the structure of the paper, and good citation practices.
   
Fall 2017
Critical Thinking
This was my seventh time teaching Critical Thinking. In this class, I taught first year English majors using the second version of flipped videos (https://g.komasin.com/z/ctv2) and constantly improving worksheets.
   
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This was my third time teaching "Teaching Methodologies for English-Mediated Instruction." In this version, I continued to enhance the course by increasing the number of graded assignments based on what students could do in the previous year.
   
Spring 2018
Academic Writing
Stephanie Komashin and I taught sections of Academic Writing at the same time based on a flipped-class format. In this class, students learned the paper-writing process with a focus on developing a thesis as an argumentative claim, supporting it through underlying claims, and then properly citing sources.
Syllabus Eval.
Critical Thinking
In this version of critical thinking, I used the second set of flips (https://g.komasin.com/z/ctv2) to teach a group of English majors. The main topics were general argument rules about clarity (concise, consistent, concrete, following a natural order, avoiding loaded language), deductive arguments (standard forms, the concept of validity, testing for validity), and inductive arguments (argument by analogy and generalization).
Syllabus  
Presentation
In this class, I taught presentation skills to the fourth group of students to join the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education. We emphasized solid presentation skills built around well-designed hook-driven outlines.
   
Academic Writing
This was a special section of writing entitled Writing for TOEFL/IELTS for students in the Global Education Leadership Program at Hokkaido University of Education. It was designed to give students the academic writing skills they would need in order to do well on tests to study abroad and then successfully complete assignments while abroad.
   
Fall 2018
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This was my fourth time teaching "Teaching Methodologies for English-Mediated Instruction." In this version, I added more theoretical discussion about the second language acquistion and used this to ground the theoretical component of the class.
   
Spring 2019
Critical Thinking
In this class, I taught critical thinking using a flipped class approach (https://g.komasin.com/z/ctv2) to a group of mixed major non-native speakers. The major topics were general principles for arguments, basic sentential logic, and arguments by analogy.
Syllabus Eval.
Academic Writing
Stephanie Komashin and I taught sections of Academic Writing at the same time based on a flipped-class format. As in the previous version, the focus was on the paper-writing process with the addition of a new tool to help students get feedback as they develop their thesis, find objections, and support their thesis by arguing against these objections.
Syllabus Eval.
Presentation
In this class, I taught presentation skills to the fifth group of students to join the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education. We emphasized solid presentation skills built around well-designed hook-driven outlines.
   
Fall 2019
Critical Thinking
For this version of critical thinking, I created an updated set of flipped lectures (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct). As in previous versions, the main topics are making and evaluating arguments, deductive arguments (standard forms and validity), inductive arguments (generalizations, arguments by analogy, and strength). This new set addresses common student questions such as explaining the conditional and better explaining what makes inductive arguments "strong" or "weak."
Syllabus Eval.
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This is my fifth time teaching "Teaching Methodologies for English-Mediated Instruction." In this version, I have added further graded assignments to improve the ability to identify students who understand the material correctly.
   
Business Writing
In this class, I introduced students from the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education to Business as an academic discipline, providing them with basic familiarity of the concepts of global trade.
   
Spring 2020
Critical Thinking
This version works from the third version of flipped lectures (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct). As in previous versions, the main topics are making and evaluating arguments, deductive arguments (standard forms and validity), inductive arguments (generalizations, arguments by analogy, and strength). This new set addresses common student questions such as explaining the conditional and better explaining what makes inductive arguments "strong" or "weak."
Syllabus Eval.
Presentation
In this class, I taught presentation skills to the sixth group of students to join the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education. We emphasized solid presentation skills built around well-designed hook-driven outlines.
   
Education and Technology
This class looked at the relationship between technology and education. In the first part, we will learn several different approaches to relating technology and education. In the second part, students gained practical familiarity with several different technologies. Finally, students considered and wrote about problems in technology and developed/defended their own views on how technology and education should be related. (This particular section was for advanced students).
   
Education and Technology
This class looked at the relationship between technology and education. In the first part, we will learn several different approaches to relating technology and education. In the second part, students gained practical familiarity with several different technologies. Finally, students considered and wrote about problems in technology and developed/defended their own views on how technology and education should be related. (This particular section was for intermediate students).
   
Fall 2020
Critical Thinking
This version continues working with V3 (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct). Due to the COVID situation, the worksheets have been moved online, providing valuable feedback for each question. The main topics are making and evaluating arguments, deductive arguments (standard forms and validity), inductive arguments (generalizations, arguments by analogy, and strength). This new set addresses common student questions such as explaining the conditional and better explaining what makes inductive arguments "strong" or "weak."
Syllabus Eval.
Presentations, Publications, and Ethics in Research
In this session, I taught graduate students at Hokkaido University tools for publishing their research. We also had sessions looking at ethical issues that arise during experiments and during the publication process.
Syllabus  
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This is the sixth time that I have taught teaching methodologies for English-mediated instruction. The main themes are the differences between language teaching and English-mediated instruction, how to construction a lesson in English that is not about English, and second language acquisition.
   
Business Writing
In this class, I introduced students from the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education to Business as an academic discipline, providing them with basic familiarity of the concepts of global trade. This class culminates with an assignment to integrate questions of global trade with moral concerns by looking at the cost of doing business with immoral actors.
   
Spring 2021
Critical Thinking
This is the fourth time this class has used the V3 flips (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct). In this class, I taught non-English majors critical thinking remotely with the assistance of 3 TAs
Syllabus  
Education and Technology
As of 2021, this course is now a full-credit granting course applicable to the GEL program. Starting from 2020, this course evaluates the use of technology in education focusing on the text "E-Learning and the Science of Instruction" and accompanying that with the evaluation of several modern tools that allow for participation management, online assignments, flipped classes, and drilling.
Syllabus  
Presentation
As of 2021, Presentation is now a full-credit granting course. In light of this change, I redesigned the course to require students to make multiple academic presentations. This should prepare them for presenting in English at this university and in upper division courses.
Syllabus  
Fall 2021
Business Writing
In this class, I introduced students from the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education to Business as an academic discipline, providing them with basic familiarity of the concepts of global trade. This class culminates with an assignment to integrate questions of global trade with moral concerns by looking at the cost of doing business with immoral actors.
   
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This is the seventh instance of Teaching Methodologies for EMI. The main themes are the differences between language teaching and English-mediated instruction, how to construction a lesson in English that is not about English, and second language acquisition.
   
Critical Thinking
This continues the online use of V3 (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct) and online worksheets with personalized feedback. The main topics are making and evaluating arguments, deductive arguments (standard forms and validity), inductive arguments (generalizations, arguments by analogy, and strength). This new set addresses common student questions such as explaining the conditional and better explaining what makes inductive arguments "strong" or "weak."
Syllabus  
Presentations, Publications, and Ethics in Research
In this session, I taught graduate students at Hokkaido University tools for publishing their research. We also had sessions looking at ethical issues that arise during experiments and during the publication process.
Syllabus  
Spring 2022
Critical Thinking
This is the sixth time this class has used the V3 flips (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct). In this class, I taught non-English majors critical thinking remotely with the assistance of 4 TAs.
Syllabus  
Presentation
In this course, students learn academic presentation skills. This should prepare them for presenting in English at this university and in upper division courses.
Syllabus  
Education and Technology
As of 2021, this course is now a full-credit granting course applicable to the GEL program. This is the third year focused on technology in education using "E-Learning and the Science of Instruction" and accompanying that with the evaluation of several modern tools that allow for participation management, online assignments, flipped classes, and drilling.
Syllabus  
Fall 2022
Critical Thinking
This is the seventh time this class has used the V3 flips (https://g.komasin.com/z/ct). In this class, I taught English majors critical thinking remotely with the assistance of 4 TAs. I added two new items in this class: (1) A notes tool that enabled students to track what happens in the lectures and (2) Two new items on cause versus correlation and reported information.
Syllabus  
Presentations, Publications, and Ethics in Research
In this session, I taught graduate students at Hokkaido University tools for publishing their research. We also had sessions looking at ethical issues that arise during experiments and during the publication process. Major topics of interest this time were computational engineering papers and mining engineering.
Syllabus  
Business Writing
In this class, I introduced students from the Global Education Leader program at Hokkaido University of Education to business as an academic discipline, using the interpretation of chart data as a foundation and looking at the nature of global trade and the impact of war.
   
Teaching Methodologies for English-mediated Instruction
This is the eighth instance of Teaching Methodologies for EMI. This version raised the standard by looking at the history of language learning, the rise of method, and the differences between language lesson and language-mediated lessons.