REVISION: 1/5/11: SUBJECT TO CHANGES
Course Syllabus: HIST 124-08/10
World Civilizations II: Spring 2011
Dr. Justin A. Nystrom
Office: 421 Bobet
Course Location: Bobet 332
Time: M/W 3:30-4:45 (08) 4:55-6:10 (10)
Course Objectives
World Civilization I and II are part of Loyola University New Orleans’s core curriculum, a common set of courses taken by all students that have been assembled to offer a breadth of exposure to fundamental aspects of a liberal arts education. World Civilization plays an important role in this program.
This course will cover roughly 400 years of human history in less than sixteen weeks. Naturally, we cannot dwell on every detail – indeed no survey does. The texts selected and the material emphasized in this course will thus balance “coverage” of information with an analysis of its broader significance. Students should expect this analysis to take place in the context of the university’s Ignatian philosophy of “thinking critically, and acting justly.” To wit, we will spend a significant amount of time this semester contemplating the material goods, supernatural beings, cultural values, etc. that different societies valued and the degree to which these values have endured or evolved.
Required Texts
Tignor, et al, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World. Volume 2: The Mongol Empire to the Present.
Course Blog
You will want to bookmark and/or subscribe via an RSS reader to the course blog. The address is hist124nystrom.blogspot.com
Graded Content
Lecture Question Assignment: (25%)
A portion of your exams will be student-written. Over the course of the semester, I will give 20+ thematic lectures on some aspect of our material. In the last five minutes of our class period, I will ask you to reflect upon your notes and write an essay/ID style question based on the lecture material that you just heard. You will need to write a minimum of ten (10) of these lecture-based questions over the course of the semester in order to receive twenty-five percent of your grade.
As there are many opportunities to write these questions, they MUST be written in class, the day of the lecture. No late or make-up work will be accepted. Because there are twice the opportunities to write questions as are required, I will not accept doctors’ notes or other similar documentation for make-ups. Re-stated: you MUST be in class to turn in a question.
I will grade your questions on a zero (0) to two (2) point scale. The grade for your lecture question will appear in Blackboard. Questions that do not merit full credit may be replaced by doing more than ten questions. You can receive no more than the allotted 25% of the grade by answering extra questions.
The I.D. portion of your exams will be inspired by edited versions of the questions you write.
Exams: (3 x 25% each)
Your tests will be 40% from the reading (terms will appear on the course blog) and 60% in the form of I.D. questions based on the lectures. Unlike last semester, I will not supply you with the lecture I.D. questions in advance. There is no final exam per se. The third exam serves as your final exam, and while it appears on the last day of class, I reserve the right to move it to the final exam date should it be necessary for us to cover all of the material.
Nuts and Bolts
Making up tests:
If you miss a test for a documented illness, death in the family, or official school function, you must notify me as early as possible and no later than 4 days after the exam. The make-up exam will not be a make-up test, however. I will assign you a book of 200-350 pages in length and expect you to write a 1500-word review. If you miss a second test and expect a make-up, I will automatically deduct 25% off of the top of your test (book review) grade. I have found that students tend to abuse a too-lenient make-up policy, and this should make clear that I want you to show up for tests at the appointed time!
Attendance:
The nature of the exam question assignment means that you need to be in class all the time to do well and reasonably often to pass it. It is axiomatic that people who are present and taking notes do best in this course. Be the ant, not the grasshopper.
About Your Lectures:
I’ve designed the lectures to be relatively self-contained units. But there are also times when I’ll need to continue an idea into the next class period, or conversely, preview some of the coming lecture material in a prior section. You will want to take notes. Audio recorders are acceptable in my classroom.
Note: if you miss class for some serious family or personal tragedy, please contact me and we will work something out. Know that I will want some sort of substantiation.
Grading Scale (minimum grade for)
A = 93.0 A- = 90.0 B+ = 87 B = 83 B- = 80.0, etc.
F= 59.99 and below.
Electronica:
(No, not the genre of music.) I don’t want to see “smart” phone usage in class unless we randomly search something related to class. It’s impolite and kind of antisocial to be staring at your device when you should really be paying attention. And I’m convinced it’s some sort of social disease, but we can debate that. (I wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite, however. Go to any big faculty meeting and you will see some of your professors doing the same thing. It’s still bad form, even when us “grown ups” do it.) So please, try not to get distracted!
Laptops:
I allow them, but discourage them. You really aren’t paying attention when you I.M. and check Facebook and sit in class at the same time. “Multitasking” is a little lie we tell ourselves when in reality we just don’t want to do what it is we are supposed to be doing. That being said, some folks do a good job taking notes on their computers, and if this is you, have at it. If I see you clearly not using the computer for class, I may ask you to sit in the back of the room.
Rock Me Like a Hurricane:
With all apologies to the Scorpions, we live in a tropical zone. If we have to evacuate for a hurricane, I will make adjustments to class as the situation warrants. The primary contact will be for me to send out an email to you with specific instructions based on what we are facing (be it a two day, two week, or two month evacuation.) I encourage you to sign up for Skype service (free) already if you do not. If we are in an extended evacuation, I plan on recording lectures and place them on Vimeo. Testing will probably employ Google Forms. Pray that we won’t need to do this.
Plagiarism:
The official statement of Humanities and Natural Sciences: "Plagiarism--the use of another person's ideas or wording without giving proper credit--results from the failure to document fully and accurately. Ideas and expressions of them are considered to belong to the individual who first puts them forward. Therefore, when you incorporate ideas or phrasing from any other author in your paper, whether you quote them directly or indirectly, you need to be honest and complete about indicating the source to avoid plagiarism. Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism can bring serious consequences, both academic, in the form of failure or expulsion, and legal, in the form of lawsuits. Plagiarism is a violation of the ethics of the academic community."
William G. Campbell, Stephen V. Ballou, and Carole Slade, Form and Style: Thesis, Reports, Term Papers, 6th Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982), p. 52.
William G. Campbell, Stephen V. Ballou, and Carole Slade, Form and Style: Thesis, Reports, Term Papers, 6th Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982), p. 52.
My note: Any documented plagiarized work (in the case of this class, copying a friend’s exam question) will receive a zero for a grade.
Disabilities:
Students with disabilities who wish to receive accommodations in this class should contact Disability
Services at 865-2990 as soon as possible so that warranted accommodations can be implemented in a
timely fashion. Disability Services are located in the Academic Enrichment Center, Monroe Hall 405.
The Tenth Amendment:
I composed this syllabus at the end of summer break. As nobody can predict the future, I reserve the right to make adjustments to our calendar and content based on unanticipated changes in pace and workload.
Week 1: The World in 1600
1/10: Course introduction
1/12: Up to the starting line: the world in 1600. (Covering concepts in Chapter 12)
Week 2: Everything has a Price
Reading: Chapter 13
1/19: Lecture: The making of commodity (silver, slaves, conscripts, &c.)
Week 3: The Ramifications of Global Enterprise
Reading: Chapter 14
1/24: Lecture: Into the Hinterland: Trade, ideas, and the transformation of distant cultures.
1/26: Lecture: Creating & Resisting, Spreading & Containing Ideas in the 17th C.
Week 4: Epic Conflict and Change - Part I
Reading: Chapter 15
1/31: Lecture: Global War Cometh – the 7 Years War
2/2: Lecture: Troublesome and Revolutionary Ideas.
Week 5: Revolutions, Real and Imagined
2/7: Lecture: Becoming Haiti: Atlantic Currents Collide
2/9: TEST 1
Week 6: Social and Political Dislocations of the 19th Century
Reading: Chapter 16
2/14: Lecture: Reaction, Reform, and Nationalism in the West
2/16: Lecture: The Messy World of Messianic Visionaries
Week 7: What a Wonderful Modern Age We Live In!
Reading: Chapter 17
2/21: Lecture: The Miracles of Science – Both Practical and Conceptual
2/23: Lecture: The Rise of the Technologically Powerful
Week 8: Winners and Losers of the 19th Century?
Reading: Chapter 18
2/28: Lecture: A Portrait of Colonialism: Southern Africa in the 19th Century
3/2: Lecture: Cultural Modernism and Discontent
Mardi Gras Break
Week 9: Modern Anxiety
3/14: Lecture: Modernity, Modernism, and the Upper Crust
3/16: TEST 2
Week 10: Plummeting into the Twentieth Century
Reading: Chapter 19
3/21: Lecture: Modern Warfare, Modern Defeat, Modern Peace
3/23: Lecture: Mass Media Comes of Age
Week 11: The Proliferation of “isms”
3/28: Lecture: Radical Solutions to the problems of World War I
3/30: Lecture: The Dangerous World of the 1930s.
Week 12: Epic Conflict and Change – Part II
Reading: Chapter 20
4/4: Lecture: The Road to War in East and West
4/6: Lecture: That Big War in the West and East
Week 13: Cold Warriors, Hot Wars
4/11: Lecture: There’s a New World Order, and Baby, It’s Cold War Outside!
4/13: Lecture: The World is Your Battlefield, Get Out and (let others) Fight (for you.)
Easter Break
Week 14: The People Have Their Say
4/27: Lecture: Freedom Movements Big and Small
Week 15: Into the Wilderness
5/2: Lecture: The Conveyor Belt Stops: The Post-Cold War Paradigm
5/4: TEST 3
No comments:
Post a Comment