What in the World is Going on?
CUL493 - Seneca College
Alex Venis
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Hi Everyone!
Hi Everyone!
My name is Alex Venis and I'll be your instructor for the course, 'What in the World is Going on?'. Please take some time to watch this video. It's a short introduction to who I am. Then, explore the rest of this page to figure out how the class works, what we'll be doing, and how you can be prepared for the first week.
See you in class!
-Alex
This website is a syllabus for our class. Bookmark it. It's main purpose is to establish a first impression for the course, and spell out what you can expect of me and what I can expect of you. This is going to be a great course!
What is this course?
What is this course?
This course is about current events. So, we talk about things going on in the world, and topics that impact the entire world. To do that, we will be reading the news. But, reading the news isn't always easy. There are bad articles out there, misleading news publishers, and generally, we need to have some good skills in reading the news before we can dive into topics.
The first half of our course is focused on digital literacy. We'll cover:
Critical Thinking
Fallacies and cognitive biases
The political spectrum and how it relates to news coverage
Fact Checking and lateral reading
This first half will help us make sure that we have the skills and resources we need to read the news effectively in this course, but also for any news reading you do outside of this course.
In the second half, we'll turn our attention to events going on in the world that have real global impacts. Some topics we cover are:
Recycling - Did you know that less than 10% of plastic gets recycled? Why is that?
Security - What about that the RCMP has used facial recognition technology and has lied about it? Law enforcement agencies all over the world use facial recognition technology. Should they? Is it an invasion of privacy? Does it make society safer?
Conspiracy theories - Why do people believe them? Are they dangerous? Can we do anything to stop their spread? Should we?
Global Wars - The UN has declared the War in Yemen to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis. What's going on in Yemen?
We'll consider documentaries, news coverage, articles and video clips to understand these topics and formulate opinions about them.
How This Course Works
How This Course Works
This is a 14-week fully online course
The course is split into two halves: each lasting 7 weeks, with study week in the middle
It is asynchronous, meaning that all materials are to be completed on your own time
It is not self paced. Every Monday, I will release the week's learning materials
While we do not meet regularly, you can always e-mail me to schedule a meeting
There will be a variety of discussion forums, polls and knowledge checks that are not graded. They are there for your own learning.
My Teaching Philosophy and Our Course Values
My Teaching Philosophy and Our Course Values
My teaching philosophy can be best summed up like this:
I am here to help you think for yourself, not tell you what to think.
I am going to give you the tools so that you can make up your own mind. We all come from different backgrounds, have different experiences, and have different strengths and weaknesses. You might be smarter than me. That's ok. Many of you might go on to do things that I will never do. That's great! I'm the instructor because I am knowledgeable about current events, am great at explaining complex topics, and have studied logic and arguments in school. I hope to share my skills and knowledge with you so that you can go out in the world and develop your own opinions, refine them over time, and generally, become the best thinker that you can be.
Our course has three core values that are central to everything we do:
Keep an Open Mind
Some things you thought you knew will turn out to be wrong
Sometimes an idea seems weird but is true
Sometimes your ideas change over time
But, all the time, we all do better by keeping an open mind.
Read a Variety of Articles from a Variety of Sources
Read something that you disagree with
Read a few articles about the same story - each time, some new facts are discussed and emphasized
There's an old saying, 'There's three sides to a story: your side, my side, and the truth.' We want the truth. So we want to get all the sides to the story so we can make up our minds.
Question Everything
Ask questions, ponder things, research things. That's the way to learn. Be curious.
Yes, you can (and should!) question me. If I can't defend an idea in a reasonable way, you shouldn't believe it.
On the other side, if you can't defend your own ideas to yourself in a reasonable way, you shouldn't believe them!
Explore the other pages in this website, and start getting excited for class! By the time you read this, I'll already be stoked!
Got a question? Email me at alex.venis@Senecacollege.ca
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