Course Objectives

1. To provide intellectual frameworks for later coursework
2. To provide a common body of basic knowledge concerning the origins and development of human cultures, with an emphasis on the major world civilizations
3. To enhance awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the art, thoughts, and achievements of humans living under an enormous variety of conditions.
4. To encourage development of a broad international perspective on cultural development as a background for understanding the contemporary world.
5. To develop abilities to recognize and analyze problems; to think critically and to ask questions; to synthesize diverse kinds of information and to express ideas clearly and cogently.
6. To teach basic research skills and information retrieval.
7. To introduce some of the basic methodologies in the scholarly disciplines

Resources

All of the resources for the course are online:
      World Civilizations Online Text
      World Civilizations Online Reader
      World Civilizations Glossary
      Multimedia Collections
      Research Library of Online Resources

Format

   The course is divided into 15 units. You may move through the units at your own pace, as long as you complete the course within one year of beginning it. If you wish to complete the course in one semester (may be required for financial aid), you should set aside one week for each unit. Each unit involves reading a textbook assignment, reading one or more primary texts (written by someone from the culture we are studying), examining multimedia resources, and completing a written assignment. In addition to the unit assignments there is one research assignment. There are no exams.

Extension Policy

    If students in this flexible enrollment course have completed approximately 25 percent of the course work, a six-month extension may be requested by making written application or calling the EDP office before the expiration date of the initial one-year enrollment. Unless the course instructor directs EDP otherwise, the six-month extension is granted upon payment of the $50 per course extension fee. No further extensions are allowed.

Assignments

1. Unit submissions to The Bridge;: These assignments are designed to engage you in dialogue with other students in the course. In many respects, the dialogue will resemble "real" academic discourse, in which scholars present their arguments in academic journals for other scholars to review and to comment upon. In this way our academic culture constructs knowledge. Your Bridge; assignments should reflect a knowledge of the material that you have read and viewed, but even more important, they should reflect some creative thinking on your part. They are not designed for simple regurgitation of facts. While factual information will be important to use as you develop your arguments, in the end the arguments are what matter the most.

Before you make a submission to The Bridge;, you should prepare yourself by reading all the assigned material and reviewing multimedia. Then you should read several previous submissions to the Bridge;. Your submission should engage in the dialogue that exists there; in other words, in completing the assignment, you will need to respond to what one or more students have already written. The first Bridge assignment will provide more information on the approach you should take to the Bridge

A word about etiquette: While you will sometimes disagree with the opinions of others who are taking the class, it is important that these disagreements be expressed appropriately. Avoid the temptation to be impolite, and respect the opinions of others, even if you disagree.

Submissions to the Bridge; for the first 14 units of the course will comprise 70% of your final grade for the course. Submissions will be graded on a 10 point scale.

2. Research Paper: You will complete a research paper based on work you do in a library (either a local library or a WSU library) and on the internet. The research assignment consists of two related parts: a research report and a research paper. The research report will help you to lay the groundwork for the paper and is due after the 6th unit. The research paper should be completed after the 10th unit, before you move on the the 11th unit. For a complete description of this assignment, click here. The research assignment should be submitted through the Course Work Submission System. (On the EDP website http://www.eus.wsu.edu/edp/ choose "My EDP," log in and select "Current Courses." Choose "view" next to GenEd 1110x and follow the directions to submit your course work.) This assignment will comprise 20% of your final grade.

3. Native American Internet Assignment: This assignment (due in Unit 15) will comprise 10% of your final grade. It is an integrative assignment, in that it requires you to consider many aspects of culture and civilization as you do research on the internet on a Native American group. The research assignment should be submitted through the Bridge; for Unit 15.

Grades

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:

A=93-100; A- =90-92; B+ =88-89; B =83-87; B- = 80-82; C+ =78-79; C =73-77; C- =70-72; D+ = 68-69; D = 60-67; F =below 60

NOTE
   Textual material and assignments may be revised from time to time. Therefore, if you print online materials you should print them only when you are ready to begin a unit, rather than printing all materials when you begin the course. Changes to assignments will not increase or decrease the workload.