HIST 111 Syllabus
Instructor: Priscilla Starratt Office: Swenson Hall 3085 email: Phone: (715) 394-8510 (until mid-June when I will be in NH for the rest of the summer)
Welcome to HIST 111 History of the Modern World
Our Focus will be on "Applying World Systems Theory & the Pace of Globalization" As you might imagine, the topic of the history of the world in the modern period [since 1400] is quite vast. It needs a focus and goals and outcomes to be manageable. Other faculty may teach it with other foci and emphases, but what all sections of HIST 111 have in common are a common course description and common learning goals.
The Course Catalog Description:
Focuses on themes rather than chronology. Students follow the growing globalization of the world though the study of themes like nationalism, industrialization, imperialism, capitalism, decolonization, technologies, gender, race, everyday lives, world systems, migration and diaspora. Will employ analysis of primary documents, photographs, maps, music, films or other sources of history and build skills of effective writing, clear presentations, use of convincing evidence, increasing geographic literacy and placing the history of specific regions in a global context. Aims to provide an introduction to the discipline of history and its methods. Emphasis on learning to think globally. Code 7. General Education: Humanities-History
The Common Learning Goals:
Course Learning Goals are set by the Department of History and will apply whenever HIST 111 is taught. They are:
1. Clear and effective expository writing, including the ability to construct an effective analytical essay
2. Ability to evaluate arguments on the basis of evidence and to support one’s own arguments with evidence
3. The ability to make sense of particular world regions while simultaneously seeing global connections.
Course learning Objectives
Students will
1. learn the theory of world systems analysis and the role of ideology to justify the power and extraction of wealth by the core
2. apply world systems analysis to modern world history to explain the period of the super powers of: China and the Islamic empires, the Aztecs, Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain and France, the USA and the USSR, etc. etc.
3. will demonstrate understanding of what makes the core of world systems strong be it military, economic or political strength
4. will understand the role of slavery and the slave trade in capital formation and labor exploitation for European countries
5. will see that in modern history as in ancient history there were both contiguous and non-contiguous, overseas empires
6. will demonstrate the understanding of therelationship between empires and industrialization in the provision of raw materials and markets and be familiar with the concept and goals of colonization and nationalism
7. will demonstrate an understanding of the origins of conflicts over resources and territory that are justified by ideology
8. will learn what anti-colonialism and socialism contributed to the modern history of resistance to oppression of empires and ruling powers and classes
9. will express understanding of the polysemic nature of history- that history has many voices and many views that all share part of the truth
10. will use written documents, book page citations and film scenes as evidence in
Why?[This is called Transparency- it means the reasons for assignments are being shared with you.] These abilities are sought after by American employers. You are being prepared as a university graduate to take a role in community and national leadership and to assume professional responsibility in your place of work. Employers are looking for workers who can think outside the box, who can see the global, environmental, ethical, and gender implications of company or agency policies, who know how to work with and welcome people from different cultures and religions, who can extract relevant data and ideas from multiple sources of information: web based blogs, news casts, written reports, personal testimonies, and weave these into reports and discussions that will shape policies. Those may be policies of your school board, the PTA, the Rotary Club, your faith organization, your place of work, city or town government, an environmental protection policy, a trade mission to another state or country or a transportation feasibility study. Learning how to think, to learn, and to evaluate many sources of information is an essential skill for a professional. Having reached a conclusion, then you need to know how to present it convincingly with proper citation of your sources of evidence. And to be effective as a 21st century global citizen, you need to know how the world works and the patterns of human interaction.Many of you are planning to be teachers. If you live in a small town, your students will need you to help them to become global citizens. You may live in a region with newer immigrants. Your students need you to help them appreciate the immigrant experience in a transnational context. As a professional, you need to be able to reach out across borders of race, gender, national origin and religion to work with people of all kinds of backgrounds. Taking World History helps us appreciate the diversity of those backgrounds and the patterns of human interaction. The skills of the history learning goals are important professional skills.
The Importance of a Liberal Arts Education
What? You don't believe me? I recently did a phone reference for a UWS graduate to work in a Duluth company that involves the shipping and moving of large equipment. Among the questions the employer had for me were: "Do you think this person can work and think ethically?" and "Do you believe this person is ready to work with people of other cultures and backgrounds?" This is what a liberal arts education does for you. It puts your technical skills into the big picture. We have many international students and faculty of international backgrounds and courses that stress multicultural and diversity building skills. This course is one of them. That student got the job. Among the reasons I could recommend him so highly was a conversation I had with him in which I asked how a certain IT course was going with a highly accented female international faculty member. He told me he though it was the best class he had ever had at the university. His response told me that the student was ready to bend his ear to hear other types of English and that he was willing to work with and learn from people of different genders and ethnic backgrounds and national origins. I was also aware that one of this students' good friends growing up was African American and said so. It let the company know that he was ready to work in the 21st century work environment. The student had a BSc in business, got bored in marketing retail and returned to UWS to complete a 2nd degree in Transportation and Logistics Management. This showed that he was open to retraining to get desired professional skills. I hope you understand now how a liberal arts education and exposure to global and multicultural education opportunities enhances your marketability and civic potential. The country needs educated citizens to shape its policies and make its decisions. That why we ask you to master communications and skills of human interaction. We are not educating you to keep your wise thoughts to yourself. We are educating you to share them and to exhibit leadership in your community and nation.
Required Text
Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
The text bookWorlds Together, Worlds Apartby 7 different authors: Robert Tignoret. al is the usual way this is expressed. The ISBN is 978-0-393-97746-2 and the publisher is W.W. Norton I have indicated the 2002 edition.
There are lots of used copies cheaply available, You do not need the latest edition. It should not cost you more than $15 including postage. There are 18 copies at Amazon.com for less that $5.00. Many of them are available for only the postage. Beware that there are many other editions out there of this title. We will start with the Chapter 2: Crises and Recovery in Eurasia, 1300's-1500s. If your book doesn't have this chapter, it's the wrong book.
What you need for the course
•A notebook with pockets for materials you may print off or a notebook and a file folder
•A computer with internet connections at home or a convenient library, or a lap top with a near by internet service like a coffeeshop that allows customers to stay and use the web for extended periods
•13 hours a week. Students are required to spend 135 hours for 3 credits of University coursework at a minimum- on average. Maybe a bit more some weeks or a bit less on others. This is more than the 9 hours expected in the fall or spring term because the summer term is only 10.5 weeks and the other terms are 15 weeks.
•Ambition to become a professional worker or to put your current job or status into a larger framework of understanding. Reasonable skills in college level reading and writing. No prior knowledge is expected. Remember that the services of the UWS Writing Center are available to you to help with essays.
•A planner in which to write down due dates... could be electronic or paper. The British call them diaries.
Required Technical Skills
This course uses electronically distributed materials, e-mail, and threaded discussions (See Discussion Board guidelines below). All assignments must be submitted via the Dropbox. You are expected to check your UW-Superior e-mail daily and your course homepage regularly. If at any time you have technical problems using these resources, please contact the university technology helpdesk (telephone: 715-394-8300 or email: ) for help with your account.
Summary of course work
In the future, each week, there will be a graded assignment in the discussion board based on the course materials. Often it will be a group activity, or occasionally an individual presentation. Each week, there will be work to do at the drop box. Many of these are study questions or film guides. Others are essays. There is one student research project to do as well.
Discussion Board Assignments:Part of getting an education is learning to work well with others. So part of your grade will come from working with a group. You will be placed in a group after the first week of class is complete. Group work will take place on the discussion board. It will be graded according to the following rubric:
score / 0 / 2 / 4 / 6explanation / The discussion does not follow the instructions and shows inadequate connection to the course materials. It is not serious or presented in a sufficiently professional manner. The
Response to others is weak or inconsiderate. / The discussion is serious and shows some connection to the course materials.
The student makes some use of the course materials to prove assertions in the discussion which is adequately written. The comments on the postings of others shows less carefully thought out response. / Care has been taken to craft a serious discussion and to use the course materials as evidence in making assertions in the discussions. The postings are well written and expressed, but the responses to the work of others is not thoughtful or sufficiently constructive. / The original posting is well done, based on the readings and well written. The responses to others postings are serious and polite and appropriately constructive . Compliments are given first and then constructive criticism if appropriate. Reasons are provided.
Part of your participation portion of the grade for the class comes from the helpful, constructive and positive comments you make to one another each week on the discussion board. Each original post should be done by Friday and on Sunday you should respond to at least two posts of classmates. Look for posts that no one else has responded to for at least one of your short responses, until everyone has been responded to, OK? Start off with a phrase like... Your posting taught me that... Or that was a different viewpoint that I'll need to consider... Have you ever thought of ....??
What is Netiquette?
Nettiquette requires that we are considerate of each other's feelings and backgrounds in what we write and say to make this online course a positive learning environment for all students. We need to respect each other's views and opinions, political, religious, ethnic, national and gender backgrounds and show respect for diversity in all that we say and do in this course. Where the line is between expressing your own opinion and not engaging in hurtful or biased speech is an ethical and affective judgment. If I see any discussion that I deem hurtful on a discussion board, I will remove it and explain why I did so to the author. In a university we may discuss virtuallyanything. Unlike most places of work, you are not asked to refrain from discussing sex, politics or religion. BUT,howyou discuss them is the key issue. It must be done carefully and thoughtfully. In fact, this is one of the few places in touchy, litigeous America where you actually CAN discuss these and other controversial issues. But we must do it in a careful and considerate way. Especially, where you can not see a person's smile, or hear the tone of voice, we need to be even more careful about how we express ourselves electronically. Please be extra considerate of others who are also, like you, paying tuition to learn.
The Research Papar. Each Student will do short research paper with which to educate the class and themselves. It is on the history of a commodity. See the discussion board where you can choose a commodity to research.
Here's the summary of assignments and grades. Now that the D2L has been adjusted, we can get the grade box set up for you to follow along.
Long Assignments / 110 points total or 44.7% of gradeMing China World System / 10
Islamic Empires World System / 10
Spain and Portugal World Systems / 10
Northern Europe World Systems / 10
First Draft of Q#1 Commodity Essay / 10
Voices of the French Revolution / 10
First Draft of Q#2 of Commodity Essay / 10
First Draft of Q#3 of Commodity Essay / 10
First Draft of Q#4 of Commodity Essay / 10
My Final Research Commodity Essay / 20
Discussion Board Assignments / 66 points total or 26.8% of grade
Scholars vs. Eunuchs in Ming China / 6
Islamic Empire Power and Prestige / 6
Judging Cortés at the Pearly Gates / 6
Uses of Protestant Ideology / 6
Black in Latin America / 6
Shogun and Son of Heaven Power / 6
Empire / 6
War / 6
Resistance / 6
Contemporary History Will Be / 6
My Commodity / 6
Short Drop Box Assignments / 70 points total or 28.5 % of grade
Syllabus Quiz / 5
World Systems Theory / 5
1421 Film / 5
Islam as a World System / 5
The Ottomans / 5
500 Nations the Aztecs / 5
Renaissance, Reformation and Beyond / 5
The Way of the Samurai / 5
The Will of the Shogun / 5
The Forbidden City / 5
Black in Latin America / 5
This Magnificent Cake / 5
Total War / 5
Freedom Now / 5
Extra Credit Films / Do up to 5 of these for an added 10% of grade
Kagemusha / 5
A Tale of Two Cities / 5
The Scarlet Pimpernel / 5
Amandla! / 5
5 Broken Cameras / 5
Unit 1 May 27-June 1st
Learning Objectives
Objectives will be established for each unit of study which are measurable and assessable.The teacher will be transparent about why you should learn these skills and acquire this knowledge in the commentary section of the web site for the course.
At the end of Unit 1 students will:
•Have met the faculty instructor and fellow classmates through introductions
•Know the course materials necessary to complete the course
•Study the course syllabus and take a quiz on it .
•Locate the course text book by purchase, rental or borrowing it
•Read the supplementary text on World Systems Theory and Analysis and answer the questions on it in the drop box
•Buy a notebook for notetaking with pockets or a file folder for materials you print off for the course
•Enter due dates in a paper planner or an electronic planner ( in your cell phone) from the syllabus
•Be ready to start this class on June 1st with the text book and necessary equipment and awareness of the nature of the commitment in order to succeed in HIST 111. Be sure you have allocated 13 hours a week for the next 10.5 weeks for this class.
•Learning Activities
•So to get going please proceed to:
•1. Introduce yourself on the discussion board answering as many questions as you can after reading the faculy instructor's own introduction and seeing the questions on the discussion board. Upload a picture of your self with your family, your dog, your art work...or something that symbolizes you. Due by Friday the 30th of May.