Rate My Professor James Willis

Dr. James E. Willis III serves as Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Indianapolis, a position he has held since 2016. His academic journey began with a BA in Theology from Roanoke College in Virginia, followed by an MLitt in Divinity from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and culminated in a PhD in Comparative Religion from King’s College London in England. Before joining UIndy, Willis worked as an Educational Assessment Specialist in the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Effectiveness at Purdue University from 2012 to 2014, where he evaluated the impact of educational technologies such as digital badges on student learning and assessed learning analytics. He then served as a Research Associate in the Center for Research on Learning and Technology within the School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington, focusing on pedagogical theories, student outcomes, and ethical implications of data use in education. At UIndy, he has been actively involved with the Faculty Academy since 2020, initially as a Faculty Extender and later as a Faculty Academy Fellow, aiding in the rollout of the Brightspace Learning Management System and developing teaching strategies for in-person, online, synchronous, and asynchronous modalities.

Willis pursues a dual research agenda in religious studies and higher education. In religious studies, his interests center on the intersection of political philosophy and religious practices and beliefs, continental philosophy—particularly the works of Foucault and Derrida—and its conjunction with religion, world religions, and political theology. In higher education, he specializes in technology and methods of teaching, ethics of learning analytics, digital credentialing, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. His scholarship has appeared in journals such as the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, EDUCAUSE Review, and Educational Technology Research and Development. Notable publications include "Ethical Oversight of Student Data in Learning Analytics: A Typology Derived from a Cross-Continental, Cross-Institutional Perspective" (Educational Technology Research and Development, 2016), "Ethics, Big Data, and Analytics: A Model for Application" (EDUCAUSE Review Online, 2013), "Digital Badges: Recognizing, Assessing, and Motivating Learners In and Out of School Contexts" (Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2015), "An Overview of Learning Analytics" (New Directions for Higher Education, 2017), and "NAMING THE DARKNESS, SPIRITUAL VIOLENCE, AND RADICAL INCOMPLETENESS: RESITUATING A POLITICAL THEOLOGY" (Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, 2021). These works have influenced discussions on ethical data use and innovative assessment in education.