History 2
U.S. History: Reconstruction to Present

Description

History of the United States from Reconstruction to the present. Emphasis will be placed on distinctive patterns of political, economic, social, intellectual, and geographic developments within their global context. At the conclusion of the course, the student should understand major themes in the history of the United States, and be able to explain various ways in which ideas about federal vs. state power, ethnicity, class, and gender divisions have influenced the nation's development. This course has the option of a letter grade or pass/no pass. ADVISORY: Eligible for English 250 and English 260.

Instructor

Laura Guardino

Textbook

Goldfield, David, Carl Abbott and Virginia DeJohn Anderson. The American Journey Concise Edition Volume 2. Upper Saddle River: Peraron Prentice Hall, 2008.

Larry, Madaras and James M. SoRelle.Taking Sides: Clashing Views in United States History Volume 2 Reconstruction to the Present Twelfth Edition. Dubuque: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Friendly note- The Goldfield book can be found on the web for reasonable prices.  While the most current edition is nice it is not necessary.   We will be using this text in class for background information and the primary sources it provides.  The last couple of editions have not changed that much so find the best deal that you can.

For the Madaras book it is very important that you have the most recent edition and you are getting the correct title.  Taking Sides series has many different and similar titles in its catalog.  If you get the wrong book or a previous edition you maybe unable to complete some of the assignments and your final grade will be affected.

All books can be found at the Gavilan Bookstore.

Time Commitment and Basic Skills Required

Completion of this course which includes readings, online discussions, writing assignments, a midterm and final, will take a significant amount of time each week.  There is flexibility in an online class to complete assignments at your own pace but there will be specific deadlines to meet.  Please plan accordingly for the time it takes to read and complete assignments.

For successful completion of this course, you should be comfortable with the following skills:

• Basic computer operation, such as using a mouse and keyboard
• File naming conventions and file management principles
• Launching applications on your computer
• Creating and saving documents
• Copying and pasting from a clipboard
• Browsing the internet
• Downloading and installing browser plug-ins and other software

How to Succeed in this Online Class

• Block out time in your schedule to do work and follow the schedule.
• Read the syllabus and any other course material, carefully and frequently.
• Check in on class discussions regularly, if not daily.
• Treat your efforts and your fellow course participants' learning efforts with respect.
• Have patience and a sense of humor with technology.
• Ask for help when you need it, and assist others when you can help.
• Contribute to discussions early in the week, to allow others the opportunity to read, reflect, and respond to your posts.
• Respond to at least two classmates' posts each week with comments, to expand on the discussion.
• Use academic language in discussions and be respectful of others opinions.

Web Orientations

The Gavilan Library will offer several orientations to online courses during the first two weeks of the semester.

If this is your first online class or your sixteenth I encourage you to take the orientations that Gavilan offers.   Taking the orientations can save time by eliminating frustration.

For more details, see the schedule of orientations.

Online help is available at the Distance Ed. homepage.

Course Layout

Enter into the course site and get your bearings by exploring the different links.  Try not to let the format of an online class overwhelm you! 

Weekly Outline

In the middle of the course page are the course lessons, which are organized by week.  There is an area entitled, "Weekly Outline" which contains your starting point for this class.  Each week's instructional material appears in the weekly section.

Announcements

Announcements to the class will be posted in the News forum, to which you are already subscribed.  For each post to the News Forum, you and others enrolled in the course will receive an email of the message automatically at the email address that exists in your profile.  Your profile currently contains the email address you provided when you registered fro this course; you may change it to another preferred email address, by editing your profile.

Discussions

You are required to participate in assigned online threaded discussions each week of class.  Click on a discussion forum to read the discussion prompt and posts from others.  Select "Add a new discussion topic" to post our own contribution to the Discussion board.  See class syllabus for a schedule of assignments.

Syllabus

The class syllabus provides you with important information to guide you through the course.  I strongly recommend that you print out this document and refer to it for due dates, assignments and class policies.

Follow this link for the class syllabus.

Assessment

Course requirements are a combination of discussions, quiz and assignments related to the content covered in the class.  An important part of your participation is participating in the primary source and Taking Sides discussion every week.  You will also submit weekly outlines of the reading materials, complete two writing assignments, a midterm and a final.