Course Goals:

Students in HIST 1030 will learn the subject matter of World Civilization to 1500 in provincial, national and global contexts with particular emphasis on homocentricity. Jules Benjamin's A Student's Guide to History will introduce students to research methodology, principles, and concepts related to the discipline of history and historical research. Finally, students will learn about history's contribution to general knowledge, as well as how World Civilization teaches us about the human experience.

This section of HIST 1030 is a writing intensive course in ECU's Writing Across the Curriculum Program. In using WI Model #4, this course contributes to the twelve-hour WI requirement for students at ECU. For additional information, access: http://www.ecu.edu/writing/wac/.

Assignments (80%):

(1) Your summary/reaction journal in Evernote is worth 80% of your course grade. Your private, online summary/reaction course journal is your most important assignment, shared only between you and me--the class cannot see it, and carried out according to instructions I have sent to you via email. In your journal you summarize and react to all classes, readings, internet sites, and films. Your journal is due on 25 May (midnight, Sunday), 8 June (midnight, Sunday), and 21 June (midnight, Saturday). Grades for those dates are weighted 10%, 40% and 50% respectively. If your journal is incomplete when due for assessment, you will lose at least one letter grade. The method of assessment, table of contents, entry due dates, and other important information are located within the Evernote journal template. Your journal will be your course archive and your final exam study guide, should you choose to take the final exam.

(2) Several extra credit assignments will include two class projects, "Life in Athens and Sparta" and "Student Life in the Middle Ages." Volunteers will read an assigned article and craft a 7-minute speech to present to the class.

Final Exam (20%):

If you are satisfied with your course grade, you may choose not to take the final exam. If you take the final exam, it is worth 20% of your total grade. The final exam will have 3 sections, each having 2 essay questions. You will choose 1 question from each section. Your final exam will be administered during class, Tuesday, 24 June.

Texts:

J.R. Benjamin, A Student's Guide to History
Peter von Sivers, Charles A. Desnoyers, and George B. Stow, Patterns of World History, Volume 1: To 1600

Class Attendance Policy:

Three or more absences cause failure.

Class Decorum:

Please enjoy Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, email and your telephone before you enter and after you exit our classroom. In class you may use your communications device only for taking class notes. Your classmates and I thank you in advance for your good manners and respectful commitment to intellectual engagement in World Civilization to 1500.