HUMN 10 - The American Style

Instructor: Jeremiah Bodnar
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Course Description

Humanities in the United States. Major works of literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, film, music, philosophy, science, religion and political and social institutions. Particular attention to values and meanings that reflect the American cultural experience.

To take this class, you must have daily access to a computer with an Internet connection and experience using a web browser. You will also need to utilize your college Zonemail account. Learn more about Zonemail.

Check the college catalog for CSU/UC transferability and to see if this course meets AA/AS degree requirements.

The instructor may drop students who miss the first meeting of a course. The first meeting of online or hybrid Distance Education courses is the first day of the class as specified in the class schedule listing. For these courses, instructors may drop students who do not log into their Blackboard course and/or complete indicated activities by the third day of classes. DE instructors may drop students if they have not submitted work and/or accessed the class for two consecutive weeks.

This class begins June 11 and ends July 20.

On-Campus Meetings

There are no required on-campus meetings for this class. You can attend an OPTIONAL, on-campus orientation to Online Learning on June 7 from 1-2:30 p.m. It will be in room 2420 on campus. There will be a virtual session offered on the Internet on June 11 from 5:30-7 p.m. Learn more about these orientations, which are NOT course-specific.

How This Class Operates

This is not a self-paced class; there are due dates throughout the semester that you are expected to meet, just like in a traditional, face-to-face class. Some assignments will be done on your own; others will be done in groups. Active participation is required.

Communications will take place primarily via email, discussion boards, and chat rooms.

This class is divided into Modules, and each Module contains various activities. All the Modules will be accessible from the Course Materials area, but students will only be able to access currently active and open Modules.

Module 1 is designed to help you become familiar with the technological aspects of taking an online course. The remaining modules focus on specific aspects of the American experience.

Class Activities

Each module after the introductory module will involve class activities where you are asked to expand on the material covered in that module. In these activities, you will explore American art and ideas and apply the lessons learned to your own American experience. You will also interact with others in the discussion threads as part of each assignment.

Class Project(s)

As with the class activities mentioned above, the final project for this course will involve analyzing American art and ideas and applying the lessons learned to your own American experience. The final project will be unique in that it will ask you to pull together several examples of art and several ideas covered in class into a sustained analysis of American culture.

How Students are Graded

All of your assignments will be graded according to criteria established and published in the course. Each assignment involves a specific set of criteria, and each element in each assignment is given a set number of points. The total number of points earned will result in a percentage score that will be graded on the traditional
scale:

A=90% and above
B=80-89%
C=70-79%
D=60-69%
F=59% and below

Succeeding in an Online Course

Students who succeed in online courses tend to be independent, self-motivated learners with good computer skills. If you are a procrastinator who relies heavily on the instructor for motivation, can't use a computer too well, have taken less than 21 units of college credit in your lifetime, and/or have a grade-point-average under 2.0, you should probably consider enrolling in a face-to-face course instead.

Also, don't enroll in this class if you believe the myth that learning online requires less effort than learning face-to-face. This course covers the same content and has similar activities as the face-to-face version of the course; only the method of delivery changes.

LPC offers a tutorial called "Succeeding in an online course" that will not only tell you if you are a good fit for online learning, but it also offers many strategies -- among other pertinent information -- that will help you succeed online. Please complete the tutorial.

Blackboard

This course will use the Blackboard course management system as its virtual classroom. To learn how to log in to Blackboard, go to the Blackboard Login Procedures page. Once you enroll, you will not be able to log in until the first day of class.