Course Outline
This is a dynamic document. Any printed copy may be obsolete. Check the online version regularly.
Weekly Outline
- Everyone will spend the first week of the course establishing a web page (Webfolio) (September 12th) for posting your future chapters and creating the Opening Chapter. (September 19th.)
- After completing the Opening Chapter, the categories are neither sequential nor necessarily linear. With the exception of the Opening Chapter (Chapter 1) and the last, Collaborative Survival Connections (Chapter 14), you start where you want and follow any sequence you decide fits your learning and knowledge-building pattern. I only require that you upload a chapter or modified chapter ( 500 to 1000 words and links - cited sources) approximately once every two weeks. See due dates. Of course this is a minimum. You are certainly permitted to move along at a faster pace and change or modify anything you have already done if you are so inclined. The material does become infectious.
As an example of a webfolio, you might want to visit this site to see what some students have done in terms of creating a web site (Webfolio) around the Victorian time period.
- SLN - Questions/Discussion - This section attempts to mirror or replacate a classroom discussion. You must be responsive on a weekly basis to the questions posted on SLN. These are a series of 7 questions that must be followed in sequence. Each question category requires two responses wit one response each week: one initial response - the first week - to the question and one - the second week - to an already posted response. Thus it requires at least two visits for each question, one visit each week. Each question has an open and closing date (see below) . Of course you may go ahead, but you cannot return once the particular question portal is closed; once closed, it will not be re-opened.
- SLN Question Portal - Opening and Closing Dates:
- Question #1 - 09/13 - 09/17
- Question #2 - 09/18 - 10/2
- Question #3 - 10/03 -10/17
- Question #4 - 10/18 - 11/01
- Question #5 - 11/02 - 11/16
- Question #6 - 11/17 - 12/01
- Question #7 - 12/02 - 12/16
I have supplied a total of twelve (12) chapter categories. You must supply the content for the first, (Opening Chapter) last ( see Collaborative Survival Connections below) and any five (5) additional chapters of your choosing. That's a total of seven (7 ) chapters.
Collaborative Connections
The last category is called Collaborative Survival Connections and is mandatory. This will be completed collaboratively. Each member will be randomly placed on a team. The content of Collaborative Survival Connections is to be determined by the team, but essentially, it should be a summation of your findings over the course of your research. The larger question you might address is, "What enables an individual or group to survive physical, emotional or psychological threats to their well being?" This chapter will be written by the team. How you break up the content and distribute responsibility is determined by each individual team. (See Teams)
Content of Categories II - XII
The goal here is not simply to parrot or summarize what you read. Explore and issues. The subtext of this course is connections. What connections can you make? In life nothing happens independently of anything else. Much of what evolves is interrelated; everything is part of a system. The world, after all, is made up of dynamic systems. I want you to explore different ways to build the capacity to think systematically and to ask the kinds of questions that lead to greater understanding.
Move from being a passive receptacle of what you read to being an active learner. Unleash your curiosity; allow it to wander; seek out solutions and explanations.
Systems thinking is the ability to understand (and sometimes predict) interactions and relationships in complex, dynamic systems: the kinds of systems that surrounded and were embedded in the society you are studying. Systems thinking enables you to see the big picture, the minute details that make it up and the way parts interact over time. The ocean does not exist in isolation It is part of a larger system. Rainfall, temperature wind and the earth's rotation all affect the ocean.
Analyze and understand the interdependencies among parts of a system, the conditions that create those interdependencies, and the effects of those over time and space.
Trace the cause and effect relationships to see how an event evolved. What are the possible everyday unintended consequences of some discoveries?
Essentially, in each of these chapters, you are to build a network of interrealtionships ( use graphs or maps if you want to illustrate your view) that illustrate what you have learned.
In an attempt to assure that you do not initially fall behind, I have reluctantly incorporated the following into the course requirements:
The initial web page must be posted by Friday, September 12th at midnight. There are two voluntary workshops: September 9th @ 7:00 a.m and September 10th at 11:00 a.m. for those unfamiliar with the process of creating and posting web pages. You must, however, register for one or the other if you plan to attend. Failure to post the initial web page and /or failure to participate in the workshop may result in your being dropped from the course.
Opening Category I
|
Touching the Void – Joe Simpson Available at Amazon.com |
Categories II - XIII
| General | Nautical | Alpine | Aviation | Personal | Wilderness |
| Holocaust | War | Community | Multimedia | Women and Survival | Student Suggestions |
Closing Category XIV
|
Outline Due - November 1, 2003 Chapter XV due - December 19, 2003 |