course syllabus humanities 1100 – intro to humanities...

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Page 1: Course Syllabus HUMANITIES 1100 – Intro to Humanities …chadstonehocker.yolasite.com/resources/HUMA-1100-Syllabus.pdf · Course Syllabus HUMANITIES 1100 – Intro to Humanities

Course Syllabus

HUMANITIES 1100 – Intro to Humanities SLCC

Instructor: Professor Deborah Francis Department of Humanities: 801-957-4338 Email: [email protected] - - Please expect a response to your emails within 48 hours. (Read the rules for Email etiquette below).

MyPage: www.slcc.edu/ - - You will access this course via MyPage. However, I recommend bookmarking the CANVAS login page; When the SLCC website is having technical difficulties, or is "down" for maintenance on Sundays, you can go directly to the CANVAS portal and bypass the SLCC website. Technical Help: If you have questions that are technical in nature, you will need to call the HELP DESK at (801) 957-5555 or (888) 963-7522. The Distance Education web site is: www.slcc.edu/distance.6.

Text: “…That is the Question: Critical Thinking About The Human Condition” - - Fifth Edition ISBN-13: 978-0-558-16571-0-- edited by Paul Allen and Paul Almonte

Course Description Throughout the history of culture, human beings have posed certain questions over and over again: questions about life, death, identity, society, the natural world, and even about the origins of ideas. Every culture, in every era of world history, has produced sets of answers to these questions, creating value systems that reflect their views on the conditions of human existence. Philosophers, scientists, poets, painters, architects, writers, musicians, and even ordinary people, have left behind many different “texts” revealing their thoughts.

Humanities 1100 investigates the human world, including various cultures and their values, practices, and beliefs; the way human beings relate to their environment; the way environmental, social, economical, and political influences shape our lives; the way human beings communicate, express themselves, and represent their experience through myths, poetry, stories, sculpture, painting, philosophy, music, and other arts.

Humanities 1100 is a reading and discussion class, in which critical thinking will play a primary role. You will be asked to think analytically about various topics, including your sense of self in American culture, and your beliefs/ideologies about the world around you. You will be asked to express yourself, and communicate effectively during class discussion and through well-developed writing. Warning

The course does not shy away from controversy, and expects that you, as mature college students, will have the appropriate critical faculties necessary for engaging with the material in an objective manner. We will be viewing paintings, sculptures, and short film clips that are of cultural and thematic purpose, and chosen for their artistic quality and relevance to our studies. You will be exposed to material that is for mature adults, including nudity, sexual themes, violence, and coarse language.

General Education Course This course is part of the General Education Program at Salt Lake Community College. It is designed not only to teach the information and skills required by the discipline, but also to develop vital workplace skills, and to teach strategies and skills that can be used for life-long learning.

While the subject of each course is important and useful, we become truly educated through making connections of such varied information with the different methods of organizing human experience that are practiced by different disciplines. Therefore, this course, when combined with other General Education courses, will enable you to develop broader perspectives and deeper understandings of your community and the world, as well as challenge previously held assumptions about the world and its inhabitants. You will also explore a wide variety of topics with an eye toward discovering new interests and uncovering new talents.

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General Education courses teach basic skills as well as broaden a student’s knowledge of a wide range of subjects. Education is much more than the acquisition of facts; it is being able to use information in meaningful ways in order to enrich one’s life. General Education courses focus on communication, creativity, and critical thinking skills and along with the substance of the course’s information, an appreciation of the esthetics of the area of study and its connection to the larger social web.

Learning Outcomes I have three main objectives for this course: 1) to develop in you the ability to think independently, critically, and creatively about the products of culture and the information or arguments they contain; 2) to expose you to, and create a tolerance for, the myriad of cultures and ideas in the world; and 3) to help you to understand the relationship between diversity and society, including understanding the unique challenges facing different groups as a result of social, political, and economic structures.

This course is an introduction course, and we will not be able to cover the entire history of human culture. We will focus our discussion around four universal themes (Freedom and Responsibility, Marginalized Voices, World Religions, and Nature). My hope is that at the completion of this course, you will have expanded your mind and your imagination, have become interested enough to pursue further study in these areas, and have developed lifelong learning skills that will prepare you in all aspects of your life. Above all, I expect you all to learn to ask questions of everything… to become thinkers and true citizens of your country and world.

Nature of the Course This is an online course. It is organized around five “Learning Modules” (or “Themes”) each with its own set of readings, exercises, assignments, and assessments. There are four modules for course content, in addition to the Introductory module. Each module or “Theme” is broken into Topics. Within each Theme and Topic, complete the assignments in the order given. Do not try to take assessments before you have completed all preceding assignments.

Your first assignment is to go to the “Start Here” section of the course and COMPLETELY review the documents. If you do not do this, you may have trouble with technology issues throughout the course. Then, return to the “Home” tab and click on the "Introduction..." Module, and begin working through the module. Please check the Calendar tab for assignment due dates.

Challenge THIS COURSE IS NOT EASY. As an online class, it may be harder than a face to face course because it relies on you to structure your own schedule for completing assignments. This class requires 9 hours per week minimum. This online course has the same number/quality of assignments and requires the same work as an on-campus class. If you do not have the time, do not take the class. That said, please do not quit just because the class is hard. You can do it! Many of my students tell me that there’s no doubt the class is hard, but they learned a lot, and enjoyed the experience. The class will help you think deeply and make connections between the material we study and your own life experiences. I invite you to view the intensity of this course as an opportunity. There is a sense of accomplishment when you have been challenged, and you rise to the challenge. (If you decide to withdraw from the class, make sure that you do so through Registration or your grade will be an “E” for the course).

There will be a considerable amount of reading in this class. Most of the course readings will come from your textbook. Other readings, written assignments, and so forth are posted online as PDF or Microsoft Word files. There will also be a series of PowerPoint slideshows that you must view. These show up as a type of movie in your browser window. You will need sound for these since they contain narration. (FYI: The narration in the various slide shows was previously recorded by the original designer of the web course and editor of the textbook, Dr. Paul Allen. Therefore, you will not hear my female voice during the course; please do not confuse me with Dr. Allen). Finally, I will also direct you to various websites and online readings, sound files, and videos that give us other windows into how the humanities utilize various media.

Requirements of this Course (You will find the list of requirements, and their due dates online in Canvas, located within the "Quizzes" tab, and also located within the Calendar.):

1) Quiz on the Syllabus and Introduction (10 points): During the first week, you will be given a quiz on the syllabus and introductory material to ensure you have read and understood the guidelines for the course. You may take the quiz multiple

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times in order to achieve all ten points. This is the ONLY quiz that you will have an opportunity to take more than once to improve your score.

2) Participation/Discussion Postings (50 points): Your participation grade will be based on an objective analysis (the online system tracks how many times you log into the course, how much time you spend in the course, which files you open, etc.), combined with a subjective analysis of your development in the course. Plan to log on at least three times a week, and pace yourself through the course material. You will be expected to post thoughts and questions about the readings, and will be required to respond to at least one of your class members’ postings per week. Your posts will not be graded individually, but I will track whether you do them, and what kind of effort and level of thought you put into your posts. Please be respectful of others when posting responses. Your success and enjoyment of the class depends upon your preparation and participation.

3) Journal Assessments (170 points): You will be required to keep a “reflection journal” in which you record your answers to a set of questions. More details will be provided on the course website in the Introduction Module. This is the most significant part of your grade. Due to the SLCC requirement that each student have an ePortfolio, you will be required to choose and submit a journal response to your ePortfolio. The ePortfolio assignment will be announced later in the semester.

4) General Education ePortfolio (10 points): Each student taking General Education courses at SLCC will maintain a General Education ePortfolio. Instructors in every Gen Ed course will ask you to put at least one assignment (I will announce which assignment will be posted: TBA) from the course into your ePortfolio, and accompany it with Reflective Writing (TBA). The ePortfolio submission is a requirement in this class (Due date will be the end of the semester: TBA). Your ePortfolio will allow you to include your educational goals, describe your extracurricular activities, and post your resume. When you finish your time at SLCC, your ePortfolio will then be a multi-media showcase of your educational experience.

For detailed information including a Student ePortfolio Handbook, video tutorials for each ePortfolio platform, classes, locations and times of free workshops and other in-person help, visit http://www.slcc.edu/gened/eportfolio.

Please link your ePortfolio address to MyPage. The following link is a Tutorial to help you set your address up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxN6VXg11Dc&feature=player_embedded

5) Web Activities (20 points). There will be four web activities (one for each theme) that will help you to understand in a more personal way some of the materials of this course.

6) Theme Tests (100 points): At the end of each theme you will have a timed, 25 question multiple-choice test on the materials for that theme. These require that you take notes during your reading and during the online lectures. The tests will be open at the end of each theme for a limited time only.

Many materials in the course (including each Module) have closing dates (expiration dates) after which you will no longer be able to submit your responses. Pay careful attention to these closing dates so you ensure that your work is on-time and complete. Late work is NOT accepted! However, if there is an emergency, and you contact me as soon as possible, work may be submitted after the due date. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Generally, there is no extra credit in this course! However, if there is a lecture or event outside of class work that appeals to the Humanities, I will announce a one time only extra credit opportunity (TBA). If you want to know your grade at any time during the course, keep track of your points earned and divide by the total points for all assignments completed at that time. Final grades will be calculated according to how many points you receive out of the total points possible in the course, according to the following scale: 93%-100% = A 90%-92% = A- 87%-89% = B+ 84%-86% = B 80%-83% = B- 77%-79% = C+ 74%-76% = C 70%-73% = C- 67%-69% = D+ 64%-66% = D 60%-63% = D- <60% = E (which stands for Failing)

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism Academic dishonesty is NOT tolerated at SLCC! Academic dishonesty refers to actions such as, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, having someone else do your work, copying someone else’s work, etc. and includes all situations where students make use of the work of others and claim such work as their own even though some wording, method of citation, or

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arrangement of evidence, ideas, or arguments have been altered. Thus, it is expected that all assigned work for this course will be entirely ORIGINAL. In cases of academic dishonesty, the student involved will meet with the instructor to discuss the violation, and a sanction for Academic Dishonesty may be imposed. The student may submit an appeal to the Department Chair, and if necessary, another appeal to the Academic Dean. The student will receive a grade of “0” on the assignment for a first offense. A second offense garners a grade of “E” for the course and will go on the student’s permanent record.

Student Responsibilities 1. Be mature, self-motivated adults who accept responsibility and do your work just as you would in the workplace. Workplace professionalism applies to this class. Take responsibility for any problems that arise before blaming someone or something else. What can YOU do to change things? Ultimately you cannot do much to change anyone except yourself and how you react to things.

2. Become committed, curious learners. Committed learners are curious, independent, critical, and creative thinkers who value the ideas and ways of thinking to which they are exposed and who consciously and consistently try to use them.

3. Maintain a respectful attitude. I respect your opinions, and ask that you respect your classmates’ opinions, as well. I will create discussion questions that will require you to be mature, sensitive, and tolerable toward others who do not share your same beliefs/ideologies. RESPECT is mandatory. Thank you.

4. Maintain email etiquette (this is not a texting format – no abbreviations such as idk, etc.). Please place your subject in the subject line of your email. Remember to check grammar before sending your emails. Please be professional when sending an email to your professors, just as you would your boss in the workplace. I do not respond to "Hey...!" Begin your email as you would a letter, with Dear Professor… or Hi Professor…, and ALWAYS remember to “sign” your name at the end of your message. (I receive 100+ emails per week from students, and I do not have time to guess which email is from you. I also never respond to emails that have a demanding tone, or are completely inarticulate).

5. Check the announcements weekly for class updates. I will correspond with you weekly via our Canvas System Announcements, with updates about the upcoming reading assignments, test dates, class changes, etc. If you have a question and you send an email to me, please expect to receive a response within 48 hours.

6. Be able to communicate in English at a high level. Points will be deducted for poor spelling or grammar. Please use spell check and grammar check before submitting your typed work. The Writing Center is also available to help students, located at the Redwood Campus, AD 218 or South Campus, N308. It is also available online at www.slcc.edu/wc/ . Reading Tutors are available at the Reading Center, Redwood Campus, TB217.

7. Contact me as soon as possible about ANYTHING that impacts your participation in the class. Do not wait until halfway into the semester to tell me you lost your book, or your boss changed your schedule, or you are going on an extended vacation, or you have been ill, etc.

8. Plan time for homework. A 15-hour course load requires 45 hours per week studying. This may sound like a lot, but when you consider there are 168 hours in week, you are only devoting 36% of your time to classes and studying. Make a schedule for completing your homework and do not get behind.

9. Make sure your work is completed on time.Since we use a web site for this course, be prepared for problems that might occur at midnight, the night before your assignment is due. Take appropriate precautions by printing off your assignments/questions BEFORE you read/view the materials for that module. Then take notes as you read/view, so that you can build your response in your mind (or on paper) before you type it in the computer. ALWAYS SAVE YOUR WORK IN YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER FILES, so that you will have a copy IF the system does not submit your assignment properly (There are ALWAYS glitches in the system).

Each module will have a closing date. After the close of that module, you will not be able to get additional points from the activities in that module. No late work accepted! No excuses for the system being "down" on Sunday.

PLAN AHEAD! Your vacations, weddings, honeymoons, funerals, etc. are all things which you know about in plenty of time to make arrangements, preferably when you are out of school. They are not excuses for missing assignments.

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10. Familiarize yourself with the Student Code of Conduct available at: http://www.slcc.edu/policies/docs/stdtcode.pdf. This document lists your rights, your full responsibilities, the penalties to be imposed if you do not follow them (especially regarding cheating and plagiarism), and recourse you may have.

11. Read the newspaper and/or listen to NPR. I recommend that you begin listening to and/or reading detailed news and cultural coverage that relate to the themes in our course. National Public Radio (a donation and taxpayer-funded in-depth radio service) can be heard on KUER 90.1 on the FM dial, or you can listen online at www.npr.org. Morning Edition begins every morning at 5am and runs until 9am, repeating the news every hour, giving you plenty of time to catch it while you’re brushing your teeth in the morning. Likewise, there are lunch hour programs and afternoon programs that you can catch while driving to and from your routines. It’s an excellent way to become terrifically informed about your world. On any given day, you will hear stories that relate to what we are doing or have done in class, making the material of the course that much more relevant to you.

12. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that reasonable accommodations be provided for students with physical, sensory, cognitive, systemic, learning, and psychiatric disabilities. It is your responsibility to contact me during the first week of class to discuss any such accommodations.

How to Succeed in This Course: 1. Print this syllabus and read through it carefully. Ask me any questions.

2. No excuses. Be proactive and take charge of your own education - how much you get out of this course is in large part determined by how involved you are. Be a scholar.

3. Always save your assignments to your personal files, and turn assignments in on-time.

4. Consider this online class as a MWF class. Check in three times per week. Topics become available to you on Monday mornings; Tests are typically released on Friday mornings. Journals and Discussion Posts can be completed at anytime during the week, with a deadline of midnight each Sunday. This is a three (3) credit hour course. Ordinarily that means 3 hours in the classroom and 9 hours outside the classroom. We will not be “in the classroom,” but you should anticipate spending at least nine to ten hours per week reading, reviewing lectures, doing the exercises, participating in discussions, writing essays, and taking quizzes.

5. Every time you log in to the course, check to see if you have any announcements or emails, new discussion posts, new journal topics.

6. Become a thinker who is reflective about his/her own ideas and where they come from.

In short, Humanities 1100 will challenge you, and it will be a lot of hard work. However, it will also be immensely rewarding. I wish you luck, and I look forward to working with you this semester!

Sincerely,

Professor Deborah Francis

CALENDAR Information (Go to the link for the Calendar, located at the top of the Canvas Home Page, for a complete overview of assignment due dates, etc.) This semester, you will learn about four themes (in addition to the Introduction to the course), divided into four modules. The topics for each theme will be available on Monday mornings. Journal questions will be available every Monday morning, along with the theme’s topic. You will have seven days to complete the assignments, and they are due by midnight every Sunday. It is advisable that you do not attempt to answer journal questions until you have completed all of the readings for that particular topic. The journals are a time for you to be reflective about the readings. The journals are graded as an assessment. (Refer to the Reflection Journal Instructions handout).

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Discussion questions will be posted on Monday mornings, as well. As part of your participation grade, you are required to post a response to the question by midnight, Sunday. You need to post a response to at least one other class member, as well. Remember to be respectful and evoke posts that show you are THINKING.

Theme tests will be available at the end of each module to test your understanding of the material from the lectures and readings for that theme. Tests will only be available for a short time. The tests are timed, multiple choice tests; you will not have time to find answers as you take the test. Study the material before you take the tests and be ready to answer the questions quickly. You will do well on these tests if you pay attention and take notes while listening to the lectures, in addition to taking notes while completing your readings. There are NO make up tests, and tests will not be reset unless you can demonstrate program errors rather than human error on your part. Read ALL INSTRUCTIONS on the test pages. Questions are delivered randomly; therefore, each person gets a different exam.

Test Answers: As far as reviewing test questions/answers after taking the test, it is department policy not to reveal the correct answers to test questions, due to cheating, etc. If you have concerns or need clarification about a test answer that you missed, please correspond with me, personally, via email.

Web Activities (one for each theme: I, II, III, and IV) will be easy activities that will help you understand some of the materials of this course, in a more personal way. The Web Activity due dates on the calendar are guidelines for you. You can complete the Web Activities any time during the current theme.

Theme 1: Freedom and Responsibility - Web Activity I Theme 2: Marginalized Voices: Race and Ethnicity - Web Activity II Theme 3: Sacred "Texts" - Web Activity III Theme 4: Responses to the Land - Web Activity IV