History 151: World History I
Spring 2015 Online Course Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Patrick M Patterson
Contents
Transfer of Credit
Student Learning Outcomes
Assignments and Examinations
Assignment and Exam Specifics
Knowledge Surveys:
Quizzes:
Midterm Exams:
Final Exam:
Students with Disabilities Statement
Student Conduct Code
SAFE Zone
Late Assignments and exams
Plagiarism (Copying)
Cheating on Exams and Quizzes
Keeping Records of Your Work
Effort and Assigning Grades
Class Schedule:
Course Description
History 151: World Civilizations I: This course is a survey of human history from the earliest times to about 1500 CE.
Contacting the Instructor Name: Dr. Patrick Patterson
Phone: (808) 845-9417
e-mail: Through Laulima, or at ppatters@hawaii.edu
Office Hours: MW 10:00-11:30; TH 11:30-12:30 and by appointment
Office Location: Building 7 Room 617
Transfer of Credit
This course transfers to all UH System campuses. At those campuses participating in the System Foundations Agreement, this course transfers with a Foundations/Global A designation.
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
1. Demonstrate cause/effect relationships in history.
2. Summarize key ideas in history, including major world philosophies, religions, and political theories and systems.
3. Demonstrate an ability to compare and contrast historical experiences across cultures and time.
4. Describe and define major historical events, ideas, places, people, and other items.
5. Demonstrate understanding of the historical roots of current events.
6. Write an effective historical argument.
Textbooks: McKay, Buckler, et al, Understanding World Societies, Vol. I: To 1600 (1st Edition)
Assignments and Examinations
Assignments and Examinations |
|
Assignment |
Grade Value |
| Quizzes |
20% |
Discussions |
30% |
Midterm Exams (2) |
30% |
Final Exam |
20% |
Total possible |
100% |
To find your running grade, go to Gradebook in the left hand tool bar. You'll be able to see all of your scores, and your running average based on the total possible for each assignment and exam.
End of Semester Course
Evaluations:
At the end of the semester you will be asked to complete several course evaluations. There will be a standard evaluation of the class (that will come from an organization called eCafe at UH Manoa). There will be a Distance Education Evaluation. There will be a History Course Evaluation. You will receive 10 points extra credit for each survey you complete, for a total possible extra credit of 10% of the overall course grade. All of them will come to you online, and are convenient, lasting only about 5 minutes. Please take these and claim your extra credit.
Quizzes:
Quizzes will be given weekly in the Tasks, Tests, and Surveys tool and in-line as part of the lessons. These quizzes are designed to help you learn historical terms, concepts, and methods. They may include questions of all types. Quizzes are worth 20% of your overall course grade, so missing one quiz is not a big deal, but missing more than a couple will lower your grade substantially.
Chat/Discussions:
This semester, all discussion will take place in the Discussions and Private Messages tool. You do not have to be in the discussion at any particular time, but you do have to participate. Discussion posts are worth 30% of your grade. You must submit at least two discussion posts each week . One post should directly address the question that I post for the unit. The second must address the post of one of your classmates. When addressing classmates, simply agreeing is not sufficient - your post must add to the discussion in a meaningful way that directly relates to the historical focus of the discussion thread. You may post more than two discussions. For each post beyond two, you will receive one extra credit point up to three extra points. Accumulation of extra credit beyond thirty points over the course of the semester will not be allowed. Remember that all of your posts are public and recorded. Use restraint - don't make personal comments about others, exercise polite speech - don't flame members of the class. There is a set of discussion standards that you are required to follow - please be sure to review those to be sure that the moderator *(me) does not have to erase your post or deny you credit for your work. Your posts should be supported by historical evidence from the class to the extent that the level of the class makes that possible.
Midterm Exams:
There are two midterm exams in the course. The questions for each midterm will be rooted in the content and analysis from your chat/discussions. You will be asked to demonstrate an understanding of history terms, and to answer questions that require you to analyze historical events in a world historical context. If you do not take the exam on the scheduled day, you may only make it up if you have a valid medical excuse. Exams are scheduled well ahead of time. It is your responsibility be present for the exam. Each midterm is worth 15% of your grade.
For all late exams, regardless of the reason, a grade penalty equivalent to one full grade level for each week the exam is late will be exacted. (The first week begins on the day immediately after the day the exam is due. So, if an exam is scheduled for Monday through Sunday, and you are given a make-up exam, and take it on the Monday immediately after the exam was due, your penalty is to lose one grade level - if you earned a B, it will be recorde as a C, for example).
Final Exam:
There will be a final exam in the course. The questions for the final exam will be rooted in the content and analysis from your chat/ discussions. You will be asked to demonstrate an understanding of history terms, and to answer questions that require you to analyze historical events in a world historical context. If you do not take the exam on the scheduled day, you may only make it up if you have a valid medical excuse. Exams are scheduled well ahead of time. It is your responsibility be present for the exam. The final exam is worth 20% of your grade.
For all late exams, regardless of the reason, a grade penalty equivalent to one full grade level for each week the exam is late will be exacted. (The first week begins on the day immediately after the day the exam is due. So, if an exam is scheduled for Monday through Sunday, and you are given a make-up exam, and take it on the Monday immediately after the exam was due, your penalty is to lose one grade level - if you earned a B, it will be recorde as a C, for example).
Students with Disabilities Statement
Students in this class who need accommodations for a disability should submit documentation and requests to the Services for Students with Disabilities Office (SSD) in Bldg. 2, Room 108A. Phone 845-9282 voice/text or 845-9272 voice/text for more information. If you have already registered your requests with SSD this semester, please contact the instructor and be prepared to provide a current verification letter from SSD. (rev. 3-29-2004)
Student Conduct Code
Students in this class will be expected to follow the HCC and UH student conduct code (http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/policies/scc.pdf)
SAFE Zone
This virtual classroom is a Safe Zone. You may disagree with other students or the instructor, but you are required to listen/read with respect and to address others' ideas seriously and respectfully. We can have a debate without intimidation or anger. Disruption, intimidation, or other forms of physical, verbal, or digital abuse or harassment will result in expulsion from the class temporarily or permanently and will have a negative impact on grades up to and including a failing grade for assignments and/or the course as a whole.
Late Assignments and exams
Late assignments will not be accepted. Discussions and knowledge surveys may not be turned in late for any reason. Personal injury or illness, the illness, injury, or even loss of loved ones is tragic, and I sympathize and have experienced those things myself. These are not reasons to delay coursework. You may turn any assignment in early for one of these reasons. You may choose to miss an assignment for these or other reasons, and those choices are yours to make. However, turning them in late is not an option in this course.
Exams may be made up, according to the policy noted above in the section on assignments and exams. Make-ups may only occur with a valid medical excuse. Make-up exams will be different from exams taken by the rest of the class during the exam week. For each week an exam is late, one grade level will be taken from the score (the first week, and first grade level drop, begins on the day after the exam is due) regardless of the reason for taking the exam late.
Plagiarism (Copying)
Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. If you do not know what plagiarism is, be sure to learn. I will be checking every paper and every discussion post for plagiarism. Any use of the words, or the ideas of another person without giving credit to them is plagiarism. Further, any re-use of your own or another student's work, turned in for another class or another assignment, is also plagiarism. According to the UH Student Conduct Code, any instance of plagiarism is grounds for expulsion.
My policy is very simple. If you plagiarize once, you fail the assignment on which plagiarism was found. There is no appeal and no credit. If you plagiarize twice, you fail the course, and the Administration will be notified. I don't bend on this.
DON'T PLAGIARIZE!
Cheating on Exams and Quizzes
DON'T CHEAT!
Any student who is found to be cheating will fail the course, and the administration will be notified. According to the UH Code of Student Conduct:
"Cheating includes, but is not limited to, giving or receiving unauthorized assistance during an examination; obtaining or distributing unauthorized information about an examination before it is given; using inappropriate or unallowable sources of information during an examination; falsifying data in experiments or other research; altering the record of any grade; altering answers after an examination has been submitted; falsifying any official University record; or misrepresenting the facts in order to obtain exemptions from course requirements."
Keeping Records of Your Work
Keep all assignments you turn in for class. If the instructor requires copies in order to verify grades, you must be able to provide them. This is the responsibility of the student, as well as the instructor, and helps to avoid the problems that can occur in the event of unintentional loss of data.
Effort and Assigning Grades
Grades in this course will be assigned based on performance only. The instructor has no way to measure how long you studied, or how hard you may have tried. If you wish to dispute a grade, you may do so. Understand that disputes will be adjudicated based on the grading rubric for the assignment, and references to effort and time spent will have no effect. Appeals to need of a grade for GPA reasons, or need to pass in order to graduate also will have no merit in adjudicating grading disputes.
Class Schedule:
Week 1 (January 12 to 18, 2015)
Orientation & get to know each other
The Earliest Human Societies to 2500 BCE
Week 2 (Jan 19 to 25)
The Rise of the State in Southwest Asia and the Nile Valley 3200-500 BCE (Ch. 2)
Week 3 (Jan 26 to Feb 1)
The Foundation of Indian Society to 300 CE (Ch. 3)
Week 4 (Feb. 2-8)
China's Classical Age to 221 BCE (Ch. 4)
Week 5 (Feb. 9-15)
The Greek Experience 3500-100 BCE (Ch. 5)
Week 6 (Feb. 16-22)
The World of Rome 750 BCE to 400 CE (Ch. 6, pp. 142-173)
Midterm Exam #1
Week 7 (Feb. 23-March1)
East Asia and the Spread of Buddhism, 221 BCE-800 CE (Ch. 7, pp. 174-203)
Week 8 (March 2-8)
Continuity and Change in Europe and Western Asia 200-850 (Ch. 8)
Week 9 (March 9-15)
The Islamic World, 600-1400 (Ch. 9)
Week 10 (March 16-22) (March 23-28 is Spring Break)
African Societies and Kingdoms 1000 BCE - 1500 CE (Ch. 10, pp. 266-328)
Week 11 (March 30-April 5)
The Americas, 2500 BCE-1500 CE (Ch. 11, pp. 298-329)
Week 12 (April 6-12)
Cultural Exchange in Central and Southern Asia to 1400 (Ch. 12, pp. 330-363)
Week 13 (April 13-19)
States and Cultures in East Asia, 800-1400 (Ch. 13, pp. 364-391)
Week 14 (April 20-26)
Europe in the Middle Ages, 800-1450 (Ch. 14, pp. 392-423)
Midterm Exam #2 (Takehome exam) due today
Week 15 (April 27-May 5) Last Unit! Final Exam Next Week!
Europe in the Renaissance and Reformation (Ch. 15, pp. 424)