Teaching

ॐ सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्यं करवावहै । तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ 

Om. In our studies, may we two - teacher and student - be protected. May we be nourished with knowledge. May we study with deep concentration. May our attainments be bright, and may we proceed without quarrel. 

Om, peace, peace, peace.                                                                                       

Taittirīya Upanishad 

My Teaching Philosophy

My main goal as an instructor of philosophy is to create a learning environment in which my students can fruitfully engage with philosophical problems, hone their critical thinking skills, and experience the joys of doing philosophy. I strongly believe, however, that creating a suitable learning environment and equipping students with the tools of academic philosophy is not enough for fruitful philosophical engagement.

Over the course of a semester, students need to feel that they have made progress on their own philosophical itches i.e., on the philosophical problems that bother them and have assumed a personal significance. Often, the most rewarding philosophical pursuits are deeply personal. I never lose sight of this fact. When left untended or tended to in hasty ways, philosophical itches contribute to dissatisfaction of the spirit. In some cases, students may feel alienated from the discipline itself. When treated with the care they deserve, philosophical itches provide an opportunity for individuals to get in touch with the most profound parts of themselves. Furthermore, when students have this kind of meaningful experience with philosophy, they are more likely to see the social value of philosophy i.e., they can envisage how they might deploy what they have learned in class to identify, reconceptualize, and tackle problems in wider society.

One of the guiding ideas behind my teaching practice is to enable students to effectively identify, situate, and tend to their own philosophical itches.  

Teaching Experience

Piers Turner has been a major inspiration for me as a teacher of philosophy. I am fortunate to have him as my teaching mentor.  

As lead instructor, I have designed and taught the following courses at The Ohio State University: 

• Introduction to Philosophy

• Introduction to Ethics 

• Introduction to Philosophy of Religion: East Meets West 

• Asian Philosophies

• Death and the Meaning of Life 

At FLAME University, I currently teach the following courses: 

• Introduction to Applied Ethics 

• Introduction to Logic/Critical Reasoning

I strive to foster a cosmopolitan spirit in my students. To that end, I cover a wide range of philosophical perspectives in my courses, including Continental, Indian, and Chinese perspectives. 

I believe that philosophy is best done collaboratively. Accordingly, my courses include various group assignments, like group research projects, group debates, and writing workshops.

In recognition of my efforts to diversify curricula, introduce new modes of reflection into the classroom, and for expanding students' intellectual horizons more generally, I was awarded Ohio State Philosophy's Graduate Teaching Associate Award in 2023.

Please email me at pranavnambardekar [at] gmail [dot] com for sample syllabi.  

Anonymous Student Evaluations 

• Pranav has done a fantastic job this semester. He genuinely cares about the topics he teaches, and conversely cares about his students succeeding. He has repeatedly offered extensions for big assignments, extended office hours, and even offering his weekends in order to meet with students. Additionally, he has created an effective assignment list for the course, using a group debate as the most valuable assignment. This debate was very fun, educational, and enlightening. Pranav has been the best professor I have had at Ohio State, by far, and I would highly recommend this class to those seeking to learn more about ethics. (Intro to Ethics, SP 2023)

• I loved this class and this instructor! He was always prepared for lectures, always more than happy to answer questions and to help his students, and provided intellectually stimulating lectures and assignments. This instructor is one of the better ones I have had in my 3 years at Ohio State. I’m so happy I ended up in this class with this instructor! (Introduction to Philosophy, SP 2022)

• I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed learning from Pranav this semester. He made hard topics accessible to his students and went out of his way to challenge us in such a way that we were encouraged to think outside of our comfort zones without being pushed over our heads. The classroom environment he created was engaging, thought–provoking, and intellectually stimulating, and I'm genuinely sad to have to leave it. Any student would be lucky to have him and to learn from him in the future. (Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion: East Meets West, AU 2022)

• Professor Ambardekar was very much interested in helping his students learn and created a good learning and discussion based environment. He created one of the first class atmospheres I felt comfortable talking in. (Asian Philosophies, SU 2022)

• This class was one of the most intellectually stimulating of my entire college experience. I was always, and still am, excited to come to class and engage in discussion. Professor Ambardekar has proven to be an excellent teacher and communicator. After taken this class I feel he is the best professor I have had at OSU. He deeply cares about the material and does a great job encouraging discussion. If someone had trouble with a concept, he would break it down to its fundamentals and work with the student until they understood. The course was organized in a way that allowed for engagement and discussion from anyone––even those without any previous exposure to philosophy. I would encourage all OSU students to enroll in the course. (Death and the Meaning of Life, SU 2023)

• Possibly the best professor I’ve ever had. (Asian Philosophies, SU 2022)

• Amazing instructor, I hope to debate with him again. (Intro to Ethics, SP 2023)

• Pranav is one of the best instructors I have ever had during my undergraduate studies. His teaching style is unique and incomparable to other college–level instructors I have had. In high school I went to a school that utilized a unique teaching style called "expeditionary learning", only a few schools in the entire country use this style. This teaching style fosters critical thinking and individual student growth and puts student's education into their own hands. I think it is worth mentioning this in my evaluation of Pranav because I have never experienced that teaching/learning style again until now. I have heard the critiques from other students of this instructor, and the main critiques I have heard are that he likes things to be done "very particularly", that "he is a harsh grader", or that the material is too difficult. While I think that these critiques are true, I think that they are part of what makes Pranav so great and unique as an instructor. Pranav seemed to be pushing many of his students in ways that they hadn't experienced before. I don't think it would be a stretch for me to say that I don't think many of them have been presented with anything like this teaching style before. Pranav fosters a group–centered learning environment, and through that, he promotes critical thinking through group discussion and debate. The critique that he is "very particular" is not a weakness, but is actually a great strength. Perhaps even his greatest strength as an instructor. Most instructors simply do not care to put this amount of effort into teaching a course. Pranav could have easily made lecture slides, and just taught how most other instructors do, and that would have been much easier. Instead, he is very careful and particular in every aspect of the class. Most of the time there was also always a reason for it, that we just didn't get to see piece together until later. He makes the course material relatable and explains why the material we are learning is important and worth our time to take seriously outside of the fact that it is just a required course for most of us. I truly wish I could take many more classes with this same instructor, and I honestly can not say enough good things about Pranav. A teacher such as Pranav is incredibly rare, especially at the college level, and especially in the subject he is teaching. I learned a great deal from Pranav throughout this semester, and I am extremely grateful for that as well as for his teaching methodology.  (Intro to Ethics, AU 2023)

• Pranav is the best professor I have had so far at OSU. He structured the physical class arrangement, the curriculum and the grading system to be focused on knowledge acquisition and improvement more than anything else. I believe the way he structures this course is far more conducive to genuinely learning a topic than many other courses I've ever taken in an academic setting of any level. Most classes i've taken often feel like i'm just jumping through hoops to get a good grade, an approach that is rewarded & emphasized more so than truly learning and applying the material in a sustainable way. Pranav's course rarely gave me this feeling, his attitude towards this class expanded my passion for learning in general which is basically all you can ask for from a professor. (Intro to Ethics, AU 2023)

• Professor Ambardekar is the best professor I've had the pleasure of learning from. The course material was very stimulating in itself, but he brought a creativity and genuine fun that encouraged learning in a way that I haven't seen in any of my other courses at Ohio State. I will always remember Ambardekar as the professor that got me so into philosophy. (Intro to Ethics, AU 2023)