Winter 2023 GEOG 02 Pre enrollment information

Introduction to Human Geography Online

Winter 2023 Pre-Enrollment Information

Welcome! I'm Allison Lenkeit Meezan, your look forward to meeting you this winter quarter in Introduction to Human Geography online at Foothill College.

This is not the class syllabus, but rather some information provided prior to the start of the term to help prepare you for class and answer some common questions. I will give you a detailed syllabus on the first day of class, January 9, 2023.

This course uses the Canvas course management system. This is where you will access lectures, office hours and links to optional Zoom meetings. You need to be enrolled to log into the course site. Our course site will be available to you a few days before the start of the quarter.

Login to MyPortal using your Student ID Number and Password
Click on the Students tab
Look for "My Online Courses"
Click on "Log into Canvas"

Course Essentials

What is Human Geography?

Geography is a part of your everyday life. Human geography looks at the diverse ways that people interact with each other and the world around us. This course will give you new tools with which to look at and understand the world around you, and give you a renewed appreciation for the landscape that you call your home.

This quarter the focus of the class is on food and food culture. We will examine how what we eat, how we eat it, and where it comes from reflects who we are, and we will look at the equity and sustainability of our food system. Join us for a fun (and tasty) look at a the patterns and forces that shape us, divide us and unite us.

This is an introductory level college course in Physical Geography. It requires no prior experience with the subject. It is fully transferable as a lab science (including UC and CSU).

Pre-requisites: What you need before you take this class

This class has no pre-requisites, other than enthusiasm and curiosity. Fluency in written and spoken English is strongly encouraged.

If you have questions or concerns about your preparation for this class, please email me. Science is all about observing the world around you. In this class we will build on your existing skill set to become practiced observers of the world around us and build out skills of observation, pattern recognition and inference.

Required textbooks: Come to class prepared

Books are posted at the Foothill Bookstore. We have one book for this class: The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography by James M. Rubenstein. You can buy or rent an e-book for $39.99 directly from the publisher, or you can purchase a used version of the text through the Foothill Bookstore. NOTE: You ONLY need the text (hard copy or e-book). You do not need to purchase the ''Mastering'' material.

You should also have access to a computer. While our class is mobile friendly (and the Canvas app is great), many of our projects require using online mapping sites that you will need to access with a computer web browser. The Foothill Library will be distributing loaner Chromebooks the first week of the quarter at the main campus library.

How to be successful in our class

Set aside time for learning

Fitting in school while balancing work, family and the stresses of post-pandemic life, is not easy. Getting good grades can be stressful enough, without recovery from a global pandemic, climate change and a incendiary socio-political landscape. To be successful in our class, allow yourself the time and space you need to work through the material and reach out to me or your peers if you are stuck.

You should plan to 'attend' class regularly by logging in 2-3 times per week. Set a regular schedule for yourself, just as if you were taking a face to face class. Plan to sit down for some quality time with Physical Geography several times per week. In the face to face classroom, we would meet for 4 hours per week . Budget in additional time to complete homework, readings etc, and you are looking at 8-12 hours each week for our class.

No ghosting: If you do not turn in three assessment items in a row (quizzes, projects, discussions) without contacting me, you will be dropped from the course for 'non attendance'.

Your first week of class

Class begins Monday, January 3. I will open our Canvas course a few days before the start of the quarter so you can look around. I will email all enrolled and waitlisted students the Thursday before our quarter begins to let you know the class is open and share login information.

I release new class material every Monday in our Canvas classroom. Plan to login and spend 2-3 hours on the class early in the week orienting yourself to the class, reading the lecture and participating in discussions. We will jump right in with course material, and you will have an opportunity to get to know your classmates.

The college requires that we drop 'no show' students, so you will have a required course policy quiz based on the syllabus - the actual one posted in Canvas, not this course info sheet! The course policy quiz must be completed by Thursday of the first week of class. If this quiz is not completed, you will be dropped as a ‘no show’.

Make sure to come to class prepared with your textbook!

Exams, Projects and live Zoom meetings

Our class has several projects that will involve working with maps and exploring food culture in your city. Projects in our class this quarter will provide you with the opportunity to:

Examine the many clusters of ethnic groups in the United States, identify where they are and why they exist
Try a food from a culture that is different from your own and learn about how it reflects the geography of the place where it originated
Map out your neighborhood and discover the demographic, spatial and cultural characteristics that make your neighborhood unique.

There is no midterm exam. We do have a final exam as required by the college. Please mark your calendars:

Final exam open for 30 hours, due Tuesday, March 28, 11:30PM

We do not have required Zoom meetings, but will have optional recorded meetings on Zoom several times throughout the quarter to go over projects and review material. I will post the dates and times for these a week or more in advance. I also hold office hours throughout the week and encourage you to stop in to say hi or chat about class material.

Accommodations for students with learning differences

The Foothill Disability Resource Center can arrange for extended testing time, low distraction testing environments and adaptive equipment. The Disability Resource Center can also help build a customized accessibility plan for you to make the course material accessible to you based on your individual needs.

If you have a visual impairment that requires that you use a screen reader to interpret graphics, it is extremely important that you contact me immediately and also notify your DRC case worker as we will need to work together to build in customized accommodations for the maps and software in this course.

Still have questions?

You are always welcome to email me at meezankaren@foothill.edu. Once our class starts, I will show you how to communicate directly with me through the Canvas Inbox messaging system. I get a lot of emails, so I filter out student messages sent through Canvas so that I can make you, my students, my top priority.

For questions about whether this class class will transfer to your selected four-year school, or whether you can transfer in credit from another school instead of taking this class, please reach out to the Counseling department at Foothill. They are best equipped to answer your question (and if you email me to ask, I will probably send you to them anyway!)

For more information about Geography or Geospatial Technology degrees and certificates at Foothill, see our Geography program website and the Geospatial Technology program website.

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