History 4A: Early Western Civilization
I will be teaching this course again in Fall 2024 ~ I can't wait!
Meanwhile, check out the other courses I teach by clicking on "Courses" up in the right hand corner.
Fall 2024 Course Sections:
CRN: 71243
This course will be taught 100% remote with no required face to face meetings.
Welcome!
I am so excited to return to teaching History 4A! I have always been interested in digging into all the new ideas about the development of civilization, and even whether or not there is a “West.” In fact, I started out my academic career studying archaeology – Lucy was wonderful! Now there’s Ardi! In Summer 2019 I traveled throughout Eastern and Western Europe, Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. I gained a deep appreciation for the long histories present in these areas. In Fall 2020 I enhanced my travel experiences by adding a sabbatical spent reading the Cambridge series on World History published in 2015 that added all the latest research to my considerations for this course. We will warm up with some of the latest research on early migrations out of Africa, define “civilization” and look at some of the earliest settlements, discover agriculture, writing systems, early western philosophies, all kinds of different gods and rival emergent states. The pyramids of Egypt and the mysterious Book of the Dead… the Golden Age of Greece, the Roman Empire, what could possibly be more fun? The Dark Ages! Aside from the rampant itchy skin diseases, extraordinary malnutrition, short life spans, horrific plagues, and determined search for heretics, the era produced significant changes that we consider a move toward modern civilization. In fact, if we consider Medieval Europe a “blank slate” it might explain the creative ways that Arab and Eastern knowledge successfully mixed it all up to create new breakthroughs in knowledge and world views. The Renaissance that followed gave rise to the modern mind – defined by the use of the scientific method to apply reason to society, government, religion, trade, everything! Join Me!
How to Enroll
Enrolling Before Class Begins
If you would like to take this course, and there are still available seats, register for this class online. If the class is full but there are seats available on the waitlist, put your name on the waitlist. Waitlisted students will receive first priority to add the class as seats become available. If the waitlist is full, students need to find an alternate section of the course.
Enrolling After the First Day of Class
If you would like to take this course and the course has already started, you need to request an authorization online. After you request an authorization online, I will receive a notification of your request and either approve it or deny it depending on the number of students already enrolled. If I approve your request, you will receive an email in your CCSF student email. This email will provide instructions for how to add the class online. You will then be enrolled. All students who add the course after the first day of class will be expected to immediately catch up on all coursework already assigned.
Attendance, Participation, and Getting Dropped from the Course Policy
This course is a three (3) unit lecture course. According to federal requirements, three (3) unit lecture courses require fifty-two (52) total hours of lecture and one hundred four (104) hours of homework to earn credit for the course. That is a total of one hundred fifty-six (156) hours expected to complete this course. In the Social Sciences Department, any student who misses more than six (6) hours of “lecture” may be dropped by the instructor. In an online course attendance and participation are the same thing. Both are required. In this course, participation is measured by turning in assignments. These are the participation rules:
Module One must be completed within 72 hours of the start of class.
This course is very popular and fills before the first day of class. There is a waitlist of students who also need the course for graduation. All students must complete all three Module One assignments within seventy-two (72) hours or they can be dropped as a “No Show” and their spot will be given to another student. Students added to the course after the first day have seventy-two (72) hours from gaining access to Canvas to complete all assignments in the first module.
Weekly assignments count as participation.
Each individual quiz, required written assignment, required discussion, or midterm counts as one (1) hour of class attendance. If you miss a combined total of six (6) or more quizzes, required assignments, or exams they will be counted as absences and you may be dropped for nonparticipation. Assignments labeled “extra credit” are not counted in this calculation, unless they are plagiarized.
Plagiarized assignments, whether required or extra credit, count as an absence.
If you plagiarize an assignment or cheat on a quiz or exam, whether required or extra credit, it will be scored as a zero, a report will be filed with Student Services, and it will count as an absence (since you did not do the work yourself).
Please see the Policies section of the syllabus for more details.
Yes, all your assignments will be checked for plagiarism.
My apologies. The vast majority of students in my classes are doing their own work. I only have to say this so that the policy can be used to enforce the Student Code of Conduct for the very few students who do cheat: If your written response has a greater than ten percent (10%) similarity report, it will be considered plagiarized. You can view your plagiarism report by submitting your assignment, then going to Assignments. Next to the assignment there is a flag. Click on the flag to see your similarity report. If you are caught using an online essay generator for an assignment, it will be counted as plagiarized. If you copy your peer’s written responses and then edit them into your own response, it will be counted as plagiarized. If you are caught not taking the quizzes or exams on your own, it will be counted as plagiarized. The best thing to do in this course is to not use outside resources (the internet, other classmates, other friends and family) to complete your assignments. Do your own thinking. Follow the assignment instructions.
Any student with six (6) or more absences may be dropped from the course for non-participation.
Important Dates
This course is completed entirely online with no required in-person meetings. Please check all important course dates in the official online class schedule. These dates include the first day of class, the last day to drop with a refund, the last day to drop with a W, the date of the final.
Required Text and Materials
There is no textbook required for this course. This Course uses all free online resources that are already embedded in the Canvas Shell.
Syllabus
Course syllabus for Spring 2024
Course syllabus for Fall 2024 is under construction.