Drawing on a unique set of digital data collected by a course management system as well as student surveys and institutional data, Dr. English has recently conducted an analysis of patterns of success and failure in a large ethics lecture course at a leading university. This analysis yields insights into how students engaged the course and how these habits of engagement were associated with performance. It also suggests that personal motivations – including ideal-driven career aspirations – powerfully influence performance.

Bill English received his PhD in Political Science from Duke University in 2010 and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Political Theory Project at Brown University in 2010-11. He is a political theorist with wide ranging interests in Political Economy, Public Policy, and the Philosophy of Social Science. As a current research fellow with the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, he examines ethics education and the public role of universities.