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History 4:

World History to 1750

Instructor: James Seaman / Spring 2016
Email: / Online
Instructor webpage: / Dates: 2/8/2016 - 5/22/2016
Course webpage: / Ticket:17025

Course Description

History 4 is a survey of major themes and events in world history from the earliest civilizations to 1750. Emphasis will be placed on the rise of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; the early Indian, Chinese, Latin American, and African empires; and European expansionism and global encounters. The course is transferable to UC/CSU.

Course Structure and Requirements

This is an online course. In lieu of traditional classroom activities, you will be spending the majority of your time listening to recorded lectures, reviewing PowerPoint presentations, reading from your textbook and reader, watching videos, and participating in our discussion forums. In the forums you will be analyzing weekly discussion questions which will integrate the information from the recorded lectures, presentations, textbook, reader, and videos. If you are unfamiliar with Saddleback College’s Blackboard content management system, please consult the Saddleback College Blackboard Online Support Center at If you have general technical support needs, please consult I am a history instructor; I don’t have training in technical support and am therefore unable to troubleshoot any technical problems.

Formal evaluation will be determined as follows:

Participation: 45 pts(22.5%)

Weekly Quizzes: 55 pts(27.5%)

Paper:50 pts(25%)

Final Exam: 50 pts(25%)

Total:200 pts

  • Participation: Most weeks there will be one discussion question found in the “Discussion Forums” link in the main menu of our course Blackboard site (there are two in Week 5). Students are required to respond to the discussion question by Friday night at 11:59 pm (these are “initial responses”). Each initial response must be at least 150 words, and must directly address each component of the discussion question. Students are also required to respond at least once a weekto your fellow students’ initial responses by Sunday (these are “participation posts”). Each participation post must be at least 100 words in length, and must directly engage your fellow students’ initial response. Simply saying “I agree” is not engaging. Additionally, your response must help move the conversation forward by perhaps adding additional information, elaborating upon a point, asking thoughtful questions, or even respectfully disagreeing with the original post. To be perfectly clear, most weeks you are required to submit 2 posts: 1 initial response and 1 participation post (Week 5 requires 4 posts: 2 initial responses and 2 participation posts).
  • Weekly Quizzes: Every week (except for Weeks 1, 11, and 14) there will be a quiz which will cover content from the audio lectures, presentations, readings (both textbook and reader), and videos of that week. You can take the quiz any time during the week, but it must be completed by Sunday night at 11:59pm. You get one chance to take the quiz, and each quiz is timed, so be sure to read the quiz instructions carefully before starting the timer. Technical difficulties are not sufficient excuses to retake an exam.I have carefully and intentionally calculated the time necessary to take each quiz, so please don’t ask for an extension.
  • Paper: The paper will be an exercise in primary source evaluation. It is not a research paper, and the use of any sources outside of the ones explicitly assigned in our specific course’s Milestone online reader will result in an F for the assignment. A detailed “Paper Topic Handout” will be posted in the “Course Materials” link of the main menu early in the class. It will include the prompt, as well as various instructions, tips, and information pertaining to where, when and how to submit the paper online.
  • Final Exam: The final exam (Week 14) will be similar to the weekly quizzes, only cumulative and longer (2 hrs).

Late Policy

No late work will be accepted. All discussion posts, quizzes, and papers will be time stamped upon submission. This timestamp will be the only factor used in determining whether or not an assignment, quiz or paper was submitted on time. There are no exceptions to this rule. Since you have plenty of time to submit your posts and papers, and to take your assignments and exams, there is no excuse for turning work in late. Plan ahead and turn your work in early in to avoid any unforeseen problems that may arise during the week. Saddleback College’s Pacific time will be the only time I recognize.

Participation

Participation is 20% of your course grade, so it is in your best interest to be active and do well in the “Discussion Forums” from the very first week in class. If you do not post in any forum during Week 1 nor contact me and explain your lack of an online presence, you may be dropped from the course to make room for other students. If you want to drop the course, you must do so yourself, and not rely upon my doing so for you.

Plagiarism

In short, using someone else’s words and passing them off as your own by not properly quoting and citing them is plagiarism. This is a serious academic violation, and one that is all too common in online classes. If you find yourself copying and pasting anything from a book or a webpage, you are doing something wrong. This course requires you to think critically, to read and discuss historical topics using your own analysis. If you choose to support your ideas with someone else’s, you must put those words in quotes and properly cite where you received that information. Please note that should I discover someone is copying and pasting their responses in the discussion forums on in their paper, I will file an academic dishonesty report with the Dean’s office which could lead to your expulsion from the institution. Please carefully read Saddleback College’s “Code of Conduct” at

Course Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of the semester:

  1. Students will have learned about some of the basic movements, events, religions, and people in ancient, medieval, and early-modern world history.
  2. Students will have learned about the various types of historical inquiry, focusing on the differences between political, economic, social, and religious history.
  3. Students will have learned how to evaluate primary sources in history.
  4. Students will have learned to study history objectively, by setting aside their own political, religious, or social beliefs in the pursuit of historical understanding.
  5. Student will have learned some basic world political and physical geography.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

This course meets the requirements set forth in the accessibility checklist and universal design grid provided by Special Services. The Web pages, video presentations, textbooks and class materials used in this course are accessible to students with disabilities.

Required Readings

Textbook:

Bentley and Ziegler, Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, From the Beginning to 1500 (6th ed., vol. 1, ISBN: 978-0-07-750490-8).

I strongly suggest you do not use an edition of the textbook other than the one listed above. I will, in part, be testing out of readings from the book above, and if you have different editions, the page numbers listed on the syllabus for your weekly readings will not correspond to your book. However, should you feel that you can make the proper adjustments, using the 5th edition of the Bentley/Ziegler text should be fine.

Primary Sources Reader:

MilestoneDocuments.com, James Seaman, History 4 (17025), Spring ’16 subscription.

Milestone Documents Instructions:

a. Purchase a Milestone Documents access card at the bookstore, or proceed directly to the website below to purchase access using a credit card.

b. Go to

Make sure to use this exact URL, or else your account will not be tied to the Course and your reading assignments will not display on your My Courses tab.

c. Follow the instructions to select this course and create your account.

d. All assignments and instructor alerts are visible on your My Courses tab.

e. Note: You must be logged in to use the site.

Getting a Milestone Documents subscription is a class requirement. Please understand that I will receive a list of all subscribers in this class as well as reports showing your activity on the site, so I will know if you don't have one. Please inform the Milestone Documents staff immediately (email: ) if you have any trouble accessing the site.)

Schedule

Week / Topic / Readings
1
(2/8) / A. Prehistoric Times and
River Valley Civilizations / A. Text: 2-39; 53-69
Reader: Unit I
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 1 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 1 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. No quiz in Week 1.
2
(2/15) / A. Hebrews and Early Greek Civilizations / A. Text: 40-44; 194-200; 212-213
Reader: Unit II
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 2 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 2 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
3. Take Week 2 Quiz. (5 pts)
3
(2/22) / A. Ancient Indian Civilization / A. Text: 74-89; 174-192
Reader: Unit III
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 3 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 3 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 3 Quiz. (5 pts)
Week / Topic / Readings
4
(2/29) / A. Ancient Chinese Civilization / A. Text: 90-108; 152-159
Reader: Unit IV
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 4 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 4 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 4 Quiz. (5 pts)
5
(3/7) / A. Classical Greek Civilizations
B. Hellenistic Civilizations / A. Text: 134-140; 200-202; 210-212
Reader: Unit V
B. Text: 140-142; 202-207; 213-214; 238-250
Reader: Unit VI
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 5 lectures and presentations that correspond to the topics above.
2. Watch the videos listed under Week 5 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (6 pts)
4. Take Week 5 Quiz. (5 pts)
6
(3/14) / A. Roman Civilization / A. Text: 216-233
Reader: Unit VII
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 6 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 6 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 6 Quiz. (5 pts)

3/21-3/27: Spring Break, no class

7
(3/28) / A. Christianity and the Transformation of the Roman World / A. Text: 233-236; 246-247; 253-256
Reader: Unit VIII
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 7 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 7 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 7 Quiz. (5 pts)
Week / Topic / Readings
8
(4/4) / A. Chinese and Japanese Empires / A. Text: 159-173; 245-246; 250-252; 264-287
Reader: Unit IX
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 8 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 8 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 8 Quiz. (5 pts)
9
(4/11) / A. African Empires / A. Text: 50-53; 69-73; 382-401
Reader: Unit X
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 9 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the videos listed under the Week 9 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 9 Quiz. (5 pts)
10
(4/18) / A. Byzantine and Islamic Empires
B. The Americas before 1500 / A. Text: 142; 146-150; 288-310; 334-340; 367-378
Reader: Unit XI
B. Text: 110-123; 426-439
Reader: Unit XII
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 10 lectures and presentations that correspond to the topics above.
2. Watch the videos listed under the Week 10 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 10 Quiz. (5 pts)
11
(4/25) / A. The High and Late Middle Ages / A. Text: 340-355; 402-425
Reader: Unit XIII
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 11 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 11 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. No quiz in Week 11.
5. Paper due in “View/Complete” link in the Week 11 tab by the Sunday of Week 11 (see “Paper Topic” document in our “Course Materials” section for details). (50 pts)
Week / Topic / Readings
12
(5/2) / A. The Renaissance / A. Text: 463-465
Reader: Unit XIV
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 12 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above..
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 12 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 12 Quiz. (5 pts)
13
(5/9) / A. The Reformation / A. Textbook: No readings
Reader: Unit XV
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 13 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above..
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 13 link.
3. Participate in both Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Week 13 Quiz. (5 pts)
14
(5/16) / A. European Expansionism and Global Encounters / A. Text: 446-463; 465-472
Reader: Unit XVI
Assignments:
1. Listen to and watch the Week 14 lecture and presentation that correspond to the topic above.
2. Watch the video listed under the Week 14 link.
3. Participate in the Discussion Forums. (3 pts)
4. Take Final Exam (Parts 1 and 2). (50 pts)