core 120 syllabus spring 2015 [1st draft]

8/10/2019 CORE 120 Syllabus Spring 2015 [1st Draft]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/core-120-syllabus-spring-2015-1st-draft 1/4

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What makes a community good, just and sustainable? In the age of instantaneous andopen communication, economicglobalism and intercontinentaltravel, never has the question of thepossibilities and limits of humancommunity been more important.What are the practices andinstitutions that bind us together?What are the structures ofcommunities and how do these limitand define us as individuals?Exploring such questions throughhistory, philosophy, sociology andeconomics, students will develop aninterdisciplinary perspective oncommunity in the modern worldand their place in it.

History, philosophy, sociology,economics—the material in thisclass is heavy, but its incrediblyfascinating. The readings may bedifficult, the questions asked mayrequire a lot of thought. What youlearn here will likely not lend itselfdirectly to your area of study.

Yet, what you will learn in herew i l l c o n t r i b u t e t o y o u runderstanding of humanity andculture. That is one of the centralpurposes of a university education,after all.

What you will learn here willopen your eyes if you let it. In COR120, the onus is on you, and you are

expected to be an active participanin your own learning. There will beno real lectures. Instead, I will be

your guide as together we exploreour notions about communities andour roles in them. As we read ourtexts, you will formulate your ownideas based on hypotheses andevidence and from your research.

This method of instruction relieheavily on you and your activeengagement in the class. Thus, it i

very important that you keep upwith the readings and assignments—without that preparation, we won’be able to do anything meaningfuin our class time together. This is thefirst step to being a good clas

community member.What else does it take to have a

good, just and sustainablecommunity? What does it take tobe such a community member?

Let’s find out.

CORE 120

S E C T I O N S 1 0 , 1 1 , 1 2

W E D N E S D A Y S & F R I D A Y

S

S p r i n g

2 0 1 5

on pts

in thissyllabus>>>

What isConcepts ofCommunity?

Grade

Breakdown

WritingResources

Nitty-GrittyDetails

Course Calendar

questions?

concerns?contact me

here:>>>

email: [email protected]

phone/text: 715.937.0507

office/office hours: Aiken100/TBA

Course Website: We’ll useCanvas LMS. Find it under“Current Students.

Classrooms: Joyce 301, 203

An Overview of the Course, Expectations, Assignments, and Objectives

Your Instructor:

Brett Sigurdson

Textbook: Plato, Republic

Trans. by C.D.C Reeve

ISBN:9780872207363

Champlain College

o m ni y

Teachings from the

Worldly Philosophy by

Robert Heilbroner

ISBN:9780393316070

Albion’s Seed: Four British

Folkways in America by

David Hackett Fischer

ISBN:9780195069051

fClass Cohort

Christine [email protected]



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Everything that youneed to succeed in thiscourse

AssignmentsThis class will consist of two groupprojects and one long individual paperthat will stand as your final assignment.We will also have almost weeklydiscussion assignments (worth 25 pointseach), writing notebooks (more on thosebelow) and class participation. For moreinformation on assignments, see thefinal page.

To keep up with things, pleasecheck Canvas daily. There you will findinformation on the class, includingdigital copies of all assignments, yourgrades, links to important websites, andpostings concerning class discussionsand topics of interest to our work.

Writing NotebookPlease bring a notebook solely for free-writing assignments beginning thesecond day of class and continuing untilthe end of the semester. Your notebookwill be the place where you explore yourideas, doodle, react to writing prompts,and hopefully plant the seeds of ideasfor future writing projects. The type ofnotebook that you provide is of littlesignificance. What matters is that you’recomfortable writing in it and that you

use it only for this class.I will require you to turn in yourwriting notebooks an unspecifiednumber of times at least twicethroughout the semester, something

which will count towards your overallgrade. Note: I have a strict deadline fornotebooks. If I leave campus without yourwriting notebook, you will not receive points forthe assignment. If you will be away from class, you can send it to class with someone.

Class PhilosophiesThis is not a difficult class, though it’snot easy either. The most successfulstudents in my courses aren’t necessarilythe best writers; rather, the mostsuccessful students simply do the work.To succeed in this class, you simplyneed to show up, do each assignment,push yourself to create your best work,and revise, revise, revise. While thequality of your work takes precedenceover anything else in terms of yourgrade, the above-mentioned things willlead to quality work.

Here are some other things to keepin mind:

1. No matter what, you eachhave something to gain from thisclass. I expect everyone to pushthemselves.2. At any point during thesemester, I will be happy torespond to questions or concernsregarding this course. Please feelfree to visit me during my officehours or to make an appointment.3. I reserve the right to changeassignments, due dates, etc. on thesyllabus. However, I will attempt toprovide you with any pertinent

changes at minimum a week beforesaid change is going to occur.4. You have a number of ways tocontact me. I expect you to workwith me if you are having problems

with your work or the coursePlease don’t wait until the end-ofcourse evaluations to share youissues or struggles with this class.5. Finally, let’s face it: technologbreaks. servers go down, transfertime out, files become corrupt. Thlist goes on and on. These are noconsidered emergencies. They arpart of the normal productioprocess. An issue you may havwith technology is no excuse folate work. You need to protec

yourself by managing your timand backing up your work.

Late WorkTo be determined

AttendanceTo be determined

Class ParticipationTo be determined

TechnologyTo be determined

C O R E 1 2 0 F a l l

2 0 1 5

Whoever degradesanother degrades me,

And whatever is done or

said returns at last tome.

Walt Whitman

In addition to skills and knowledge,

Champlain College aims to teach

students appropriate Ethical and

Professional Standards of Conduct.

The Academic Honesty Policy

exists to inform students and

Faculty of their obligations in

upholding the highest standards of

professional and ethical integrity.

All student work is subject to the

A c a d e m i c H o n e s t y P o l i c y .

Professional and Academic practice

provides guidance about how to

properly cite, reference, and attribute the

intellectual property of others. Any

attempt to deceive a faculty member or to

help another student to do so will be

considered a violation of this standard.

The penalty for plagiarism in this course

may include, but is not limited to, failure of

English 112. For questions or concerns, I

encourage you to consult a reputable

source, the Writing Center, or me.

AcademicIntegrity



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course calendar...

C O

R E

1 1 5

F a l l

2 0 1 4

Week One—Introduction W [1/14]: Community Discussion/

Activities

F [1/16]: Course Introduction

Week Two—Defining a community W [1/21]: Discuss class rules

F [1/23]: Discuss community

Week Three—Ideal Communities W [1/28]: Puritans

F [1/30]: Puritans

Week Four—Facets of Communities W [2/4]: Puritans

F [2/6]: Puritans

Week Five—A method of exchange W [2/11]: Adam Smith

F [2/13]: Adams Smith; Malthus and

Ricardo

Community Paper #1 Due

Week Six—Research W [2/18]: Malthus and Ricardo

F [2/20]: Information Literacy

Week Seven—Individuals andClasses

W [2/25]: Plato; Cavaliers

F [2/27]: Cavaliers

Week Eight—Politics W [3/4]: Cavaliers

F [3/6]: Cavaliers

Individual Project Proposal/

Annotated Bib. Due 3.6

Spring Break 3.9–3.13

Week Nine—Communism/

Collectivism

W [3/18]: Marx; Back Country Ways

Reports

F [3/20]: Bentham; Back Country

Ways Reports

Week Ten—Examples of

Communities

W [3/25]: Beats; Back Country Ways

Reports

F [3/27]: Hippies; Back Country Ways

Reports

Week Eleven—The Environment &

Community

W [4/8]: Gary Snyder; Back Country

Ways Reports

F [4/10]: Aldo Leopold; Back Country

Ways Reports

Community Paper #2

Week Twelve–Research Week

W: No Class

F: No Class

Week Thirteen—Food Systems W [4/15]: Real Food Revolution;

Michael Pollan

F [4/17]: Michael Pollan

Week Fourteen—A Place in Space

W [4/22]: Walden

F [4/24]: Workshop

Week Fifteen—Finals Week [4/27–

5/1]

Presentations

Final Paper Due Wed., 4.29

This is a broad overview of this course’s trajectory. This will most likely evolve

and change as we progress and figure out where we need to spend more or less time.

Homework will be given each day in class and on the class blog. You should read

each chapter before the day it is listed on the schedule.

Champlain College is taking precautionary measures to ensure that this class can continue in a"virtual environment" even during an extended emergency such as severe weather, contagious disease,

physical infrastructure failure, campus closure, or similar incident. This course will continue eitheronline through a college-provided learning management system (Canvas), or through some other

process unless cancelled.In the event of such an emergency, students are expected to continueinstructor-designated class activities, as directed by the instructor. Due to the nature of the "virtualenvironment" learning activities may differ slightly from the on-campus course. In order for thisemergency preparedness plan to be effective, you are asked to ensure that you will have a computer andinternet access at the location in which you will reside during an extended campus closure, prepare

yourself with the basic skills of logging into Canvas via the dashboard, finding your course(s) andentering them, and participate in a "warm up" online activity in the "virtual environment" when directed

to do so by your instructor.

Business Continuity

! Identify and apply the

fundamental language and methods

of each focus discipline to critically

evaluate materials within that

discipline

! Compare/contrast approache

from the various focus disciplines –

identifying the strengths and

limitations of each

! Relate the fundamental

language, methods, and approaches

of the focus disciplines to

professional fields and programs at

Champlain

! Integrate multiple definitions

of the concept of community and

present a cohesive understanding o

the communities to which they do

and do not belong

!

Relate the approaches fromthe focus disciplines in COR 110 wit

those in COR 120, and identify the

strengths and limitations of all focu

disciplines

! To identify the characteristic

of a community of scholars and

recognize the value of appropriate

participation

Students RequiringAccommodations

If you believe that you requiraccommodations in this class, pleasc o n t a c t C o u n s e l i n g a n dAccommodation Services as soon apossible. You will be able to schedula meeting with Denise Myers anhave your documentation reviewedDuring that meeting, Denise wiprovide you with letters for youfaculty, which will detail your needeaccommodations. It is the studentresponsibility to seek and securaccommodations prior to the start o

a test or project.C o n t a c t : D e n i s e M y e r sCounseling and AccommodationServices, via phone (802.865.5484) oemail ([email protected]). Heoffice is located in Skiff Hall, room100.

Feeling depressed? Anxious?

Get help

Counseling & Accommodation

Services Center:

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

core 120 syllabus spring 2015 [1st draft]

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