The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) proposes a video series project to fill a resource gap in the growing Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) field.
The number of PPE programs at colleges and universities across the U.S. and in other countries is growing rapidly. Nearly 100 English-language PPE programs exist worldwide, with about 50 in the U.S. and another 8 to 10 planned, according to Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, professor of philosophy and Director of UNC’s PPE program, who notes: “PPE is a growth industry, and for good reason: no one…can understand the world they live in without understanding how questions of value and justice shape social, political, and economic institutions, and vice versa.”
Despite this burgeoning field of study, few PPE-specific textbooks and even fewer non-traditional resources like educational videos exist, and the PPE specific textbooks that do exist are expensive. According to Sayre-McCord, “A series of engaging videos that introduces students to concepts central to understanding PPE would be tremendously useful, and they would almost certainly find a much broader audience beyond PPE courses.”
With a proven ability to create engaging educational content featuring classical liberal ideas, a network of more than 13,000 faculty, and partnerships with educational resource providers, IHS will meet the need for affordable and engaging PPE materials by creating a free educational video series and complementary content that will be valuable for professors pursuing flipped classrooms or other digital pedagogies.
Specifically, we will partner with preeminent PPE scholars in the IHS network to develop a series to include six video modules and supporting resources featuring classical liberal ideas—all of which can easily be used in the classroom and/or at home by students, at no cost to PPE programs, professors, or their students. Over two years, our goal is to have at least 225 professors utilizing the proposed PPE materials.
