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Hello Prospective Students,
Welcome to History 161: World History I
(section number 71098). In this course we will explore the
broad regional histories of the world (China, India, Middle
East, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Pre-Columbian America),
from pre-history to about 1600. After completing this course,
you should be able to identify and appreciate the major events,
people, ideas, eras, and geographical characteristics that
shaped the regional civilizations that underlie our present
global community.
World History is a rich and rewarding
subject to study, but it is also challenging due to the
complexity of understanding historical causation and because of
the need to learn a lot of regional vocabulary. These
challenges will be complicated by the dual facts that this is
an accelerated 7-week course (8/29 to 10/17) and it is a hybrid
course (meeting online and in a traditional classroom).
Since the duration of the course is half the length of a
traditional course, it requires a very high level of discipline
to learn the course material at twice the speed. Since the
course is a hybrid course, you will have to take a much greater
role in your education than in a traditional classroom. If you
sign-up for this course, you need to be a disciplined,
motivated, and computer savvy student in order to succeed. If
the responsibilities of this class are too much for you, I am
also teaching a traditional full-length World History course in
CCC-400 on Tuesday nights (starting on August 25).
In this hybrid course, you will do most of
your learning online. However we will have five traditional
classroom meetings on the Saturdays of 8/29, 9/12, 9/26, 10/10,
and 10/17, from 10:40 – 1:10 pm. The first classroom meeting
(8/29) is mandatory and meets in room CCC-400 (Canyon
Country Campus). It is also highly recommended that you
attend all five on campus classes, or your likelihood of passing
this course will be greatly diminished.
This course will use the Blackboard
Learning System as a supplement to information and materials
provided in the class sessions. You may access the system by
going to:
http://bb.canyons.edu
Your username is your 7-digit student ID
and your password (initially) is ‘student’. Upon logging in for
the first time, enter your e-mail address and change your
password.
Information and tutorials about the
Blackboard Learning System can be found on the College of the
Canyons Distance Learning website at:
http://www.canyons.edu/offices/distance_learning/blackboard/
Your textbook is
A History of World Societies,
Vol. I. You should probably purchase your textbook at the
COC bookstore (the new editions have a textbook website
password that you will need). You should also make your
purchase before the course starts, because the course moves too
fast for any unanticipated delays. I would recommend getting
familiar with the textbook and the companion website before the
course starts (reading ahead would also be wise).
While this course is officially part of the
PACE (Progressive Adult College Education) program, it is not a
requirement that you are enrolled in the PACE program.
The course website will not be made
accessible to you until the first day of class (Saturday, August
29). If you still have questions, it is probably best to hold
them until the first night of class, but if you cannot wait,
then you can contact me at my COC email address
kevin.hughes@canyons.edu
(for efficiency, do not try to contact me through voice
mail).
I look forward to meeting you on Saturday, August 29th
at 10:40 in CCC-400.
Best wishes,
Kevin Hughes
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