Printer Friendly(Sections in blue have been completed by Prof. Liebowitz as a guide for faculty submitting forms. Alternate approaches may be appropriate. Please check with the GECC if you have questions.)
Submit this form, along with the course syllabus and separate paragraphs for Sections I-V. Please download the form from the web site and then complete it. Print out the completed form and submit it with the course syllabus to Tony Szczesiul in O'Leary 411.
Course number and title: 43.106 History of the Modern World
Catalog description:
Examines the major forces in the development of modern European history in a global context from the origins of the French Revolution to the present.
Proposed area for consideration (Complete paragraphs I-III):
x Arts and Humanities Social Sciences Science and Technology
And/or (Complete paragraphs IV and/or V):
x Diversity Ethics
The following course (SYLLABUS ATTACHED) has been reviewed by the Departmental General Education Review Committee (DRC). The DRC certifies that the course meets the standards for a General Education course as formulated in the General Education Requirements passed by the Faculty Senate May 3, 1999 and is recommended for acceptance as a General Education Course.
In responding to Paragraphs I-V below, make specific references to the course syllabus. Indicate the types of assessments (quizzes, exams, papers, projects, etc.) and explain how they measure the achievement of the goals outlined under each rubric. Use separate sheets if necessary.
I. (Learning outcome #1) The General Education Program’s BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE standard requires students to "demonstrate familiarity with several different areas of knowledge and several different modes of inquiry outside their major program.” How does the course help students achieve breadth of knowledge? What modes of inquiry does it introduce?
History of the Modern World introduces students to the history of the world since the eighteenth century.They study major forces that have created the world we live in today, including the revolutions of the past several centuries (American, French, Russian, Chinese); the social and economic transformation that began with the Industrial Revolution; the expansion of the West to dominate much of the rest of the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and then the revolt of the colonized in the twentieth century; the horrors of two world wars; and the convergence and turmoil of the late twentieth century. In learning about these topics students appreciate better their own origins and gain an understanding of other peoples and cultures.
Students demonstrate familiarity with the historical mode of inquiry, which includes several components including narration (e.g., the origins, course and consequences of the First World War), comparison over time and place (e.g., the role of women in seventeenth century China and Europe), periodization (What makes the Modern World modern? Is that still a useful way to divide history?); and analysis of primary sources (How does Dickens’s Hard Times help us understand society in England during the Industrial Revolution?). Quizzes and exams require that they show knowledge of specific developments and also that they use their understanding of historical inquiry.
II. (Learning outcome #2) The CRITICAL THINKING standard requires students to “demonstrate the ability to synthesize information, discover connections, differentiate between facts and opinions, assess evidence, draw conclusions, construct arguments on both sides of a debate using the best available evidence, solve problems, develop and test hypotheses.” How does this course help students achieve the goals of critical thinking?
In their written work and in classroom discussion students demonstrate their ability to think critically. All of the essay exams ask for critical thinking; the following are instances of several types. Students synthesize information when they are asked to draw from the many factors presented in class and the text the most important cause of imperialism and justify their answers. They discover connections when a test question requires comparison of the consequences of the French and American Revolutions. All of their exams require them to introduce relevant evidence (thus assessing its bearing on the topic and judging its value). Quizzes and discussions on all the paperbacks ask the students to look critically at the arguments of the authors: (e.g., What kind of evidence does Spence use? How does Dickens depict the position of the workers during the Industrial Revolution in a novel? Can we trust fiction? Has Spiegelman made a proper choice in recounting his father’s Holocaust experience through cartoons?) Students are presented with tables of mortality in the two world wars. They are asked to demonstrate their ability to develop hypotheses about the wars and use the figures in the tables to test them. Critical thinking thus permeates all features of the Modern World History course.
III. (Learning outcome #3) The CLEAR COMMUNICATION standard requires students to “demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively: to articulate, support, and defend a position using appropriate modes of communication.”? How does the course help students communicate clearly?
Students demonstrate their ability to communicate by writing essays. The three quizzes on the reading are all essays, and the mid-term and final exams have significant essay components. The essays ask students to articulate and support a hypothesis. For example, one question in the quiz on Spence’s, The Death of Woman Wang asks students to discuss whether an individual could be independent of his/her family in seventeenth century China. Students are expected to answer the question in the affirmative or negative and then support their arguments with evidence or examples from the book. Part of their grade depends on how well they introduce the relevant evidence as well as how well they make their argument. A mid-term exam question similarly asks students to describe what they have learned from a trip to the Boott Mills Museum about working conditions during the Industrial Revolution. A good answer will spotlight several aspects of the conditions (noise, possibility of accidents) and then introduce evidence from the student’s visit to support his/her case.
Paragraphs IV and V are OPTIONAL, required only if a course is being submitted for the Diversity and/or Ethics standards:
IV. (Learning outcome #4) The DIVERSITY standard provides that: “Students must demonstrate the ability to understand diverse groups of peoples, cultures, and views. Diversity is defined broadly to include culture (i.e., national origin, language, ethnicity, and religion), race, gender, social class, age, sexual orientation, and disability.” How does this course help students understand diversity?
Inherent in any course on the History of the Modern World is an understanding of diverse peoples, cultures, and views. Issues of race, gender, and class are at the heart of any examination of history. Some examples: When analyzing the Industrial Revolution, we explore its impact on women and children workers. A visit to the Boott Mills Museum brings these different groups into focus. An understanding of China requires a survey of Chinese religions (among other elements of Chinese culture). Confucian beliefs are contrasted to those of western monotheisms. Are western ideas of religion the only possible ones? Explorations of nationalism, imperialism and the Holocaust require asking why some people look at others as different (implying that they are inferior) and what the consequences of such attitudes may be.
In all these ways, the Modern World History course is permeated with issues that help students understand diverse groups and, more importantly, help them think about cultural diversity in general.
V. (Learning outcome #5) The ETHICS standard requires students to “demonstrate an awareness of the implications of choosing various principles of action.” How does this course help students achieve this goal?
From: ________________________, Chair,
Departmental Review Committee, Department of ________________________
Date: _______________________________
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