Overview

   General Education 111x is designed for entering university students. The course will introduce you to the major world civilizations from AD 1500 to the present. We will explore the many factors that come together to create what we call "civilization." These factors include social, political, and economic systems; environmental contexts; the creation of states; and philosophy, technology, and the arts. Primary texts and artifacts will help to provide insight into the lives of individuals. As a part of WSU's general education system, World Civilizations also offers an introduction to essential university-level practices such as critical thinking, synthesis of concepts from diverse sources, and clear expression of ideas. Finally, the course will introduce you to some basic approaches to knowledge from various academic disciplines. Because General Education 111x is a distance learning course, it differs in some respects from the course offered on the Pullman campus. In its objective and work load, however, it is fundamentally the same.

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 in most cases completing a written assignment. In addition to the unit assignments, there are two integrative essay assignments and one book review. 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 DDP office before the expiration date of the initial one-year enrollment. Unless the course instructor directs DDP 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 introductory material in the Bridge (Event 0.0) 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; (8 total) will comprise 40% of your final grade for the course.

2. Integrative Assignments: In addition to the Speakeasy assignments described above, you will complete two integrative essays. These essays will require you to integrate facts, concepts, and arguments from several of the units that you have just completed. The work that you did in the Bridge assignments will provide a foundation for the integrative essays. You should begin by looking over what you wrote in the Bridge assignments to find material that you can use in a rough draft for your integrative essay. You may also wish to review some of the Bridge submissions from other students; this material is also available for you to use in your integrative essays--as long as you indicate with a citation where the information comes from. Finally, you may use published sources--from the internet or from the library--to construct your integrative essays; you'll need to use citations for this material also. You do not need citations for your own Bridge submissions; it's your work and you can use it as you see fit.

Integrative essays should be completed after units 5 and 15 and should be submitted via My DDP. The integrative essays will comprise 40% of your final grade.

3. A book review: This review is based on a book that you read for Unit 12 on Latin America. The book review will comprise 20% of your final grade.

Library Services

All students enrolled in WSU distance courses can use the WSU Libraries online databases (accessible at <http://griffen.wsu.edu>) and receive reference and research assistance from the Distance Degree Library Services (DDLS). You can also borrow books and other circulating material and receive photocopies of journal articles. For logon assistance and additional information about library support, call DDLS at 1-800-435-5832 or e-mail <edplib@wsu.edu> or check out the DDLS Web page at <http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/electric/library/index.html>. If you leave a message or send an e-mail, please include as many details as possible, including how to get in touch with you.