United States History II Syllabus for 2016-2017
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Course

HIST-1302-007 United States History II

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: RDNG 0331-minimum grade of C or a score on a state-approved test indicating college-level reading skills

Course Description

A survey of the social, political, economic, cultural and intellectual history of the United States from the Civil War/Reconstruction era to the present. United States History II examines industrialization, immigration, world wars, the Great Depression, Cold War and post-Cold War eras. Themes that may be addressed in United States History II include: American culture, religion, civil and human rights, technological change, economic change, immigration and migration, urbanization and suburbanization, the expansion of the federal government and the study of U.S. foreign policy.

Student Resources Student Resources Website

Department Expectations

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Hours

(3 sem hrs; 3 lec)

Class Type

Online Course

Syllabus Information

Textbooks

There is one textbook used in this course: The American Nation: A History Of The U.S., 15th Edition Volume 2 by Mark C. Carnes and John A. Garraty, ISBN 0134594649.

You will receive an unbound paper copy of your textbook that you can place in a 3-ring binder and a card with an access code for REVEL. You will be using both during the course.

REVEL is a web based content delivery platform. You will be experiencing your textbook through REVEL: in addition to the written text, REVEL includes multimedia such as videos and interactive maps, the option to listen to the text being read by a narrator, and quizzes that will help you learn the material. You are required to use the REVEL version of your text.

Exams will be open book and note. You will be expected to make specific references to your text in the essay portion of exams: it is important that you have a paper copy of your text because you will not be able to access REVEL or any other resources on your computer when you take the exams due to Respondus Lockdown Browser. Additionally, you may find it easier to review using a paper book.

If you cannot obtain your text immediately, REVEL provides a 14 day free temporary access period, so not having your text will not be an acceptable excuse for missing assignments.

Supplies

You are required to have regular access to a reliable desktop or laptop Macintosh or PC computer and a reliable internet connection.

You must use a desktop or laptop Macintosh or PC to access Blackboard, which is where you will be taking your exams, writing discussion posts, and submitting parts of the paper project. Blackboard has limited compatibility with smartphones or tablets, so you should only be accessing blackboard with a PC or Mac. You may use a tablet computer or smartphone to access REVEL if it meets Pearson's system requirements (listed here).

You must install Respondus lockdown browser on your computer and use lockdown browser when you take the quiz on your knowledge of the syllabus and the two exams. Respondus lockdown browser is a free download through Amarillo College.

Although you will be using Respondus lockdown browser, you will not be using Respondus monitor, so no webcam is required.

Student Performance

Learning Outcomes  

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

1. Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.
2. analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources.
3. analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural, and global forces on this period in United States history.

Students Rights and Responsibilities

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Log in using the AC Connect Portal

In order to receive your AC Connect Email, you must log in through AC Connect at https://acconnect.actx.edu .

If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".

Expected Student Behavior

You are expected to follow all Amarillo College policies and procedures, particularly those relating to academic integrity and personal conduct. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be dealt with harshly. You will be respectful of your peers during class discussions.

It is only acceptable to use outside sources when specifically instructed to, such as for your paper project: your textbook provides plenty of material to work with. It is never acceptable to use non-scholarly internet sources: use of unauthorized sources in an assignment will result in it receiving a failing grade.

Course materials, including assignments, handouts, lectures, and similar materials and derivative works such as course notes are protected by copyright and for personal educational use only, and may not be reproduced, distributed, sold, bartered, or publicly posted to the Internet without your professor’s express written permission.

You are responsible for taking the proper steps to solve technical problems: a list of support resources has been provided for you under the “help” section of the course’s Blackboard site. It it particularly important to give yourself enough time to work through technical issues before due dates because technical problems will usually not usually be an acceptable excuse for late work.

Your professor is not a technical support person and will simply refer you to the “help” section if you come to him with technical problems; it is appropriate, however, to speak with him if you are unable to reach a resolution after consulting the appropriate resources.

The best way to get in touch with your professor is through email. Please use Blackboard’s email tool, linked to in the course menu, not your personal email or school email through ACConnect.

Please observe the proper etiquette for business emails when contacting your professor: provide a descriptive yet concise subject in addition to a professional salutation (such as Hi) and closing (such as Sincerely); additionally, you should write in complete sentences and avoid net- or text-speak. Your professor earned his PhD, so it is appropriate to address him as Doctor (abbreviated Dr.). Most workplaces use email, so this should be good practice for you.

Email is not an instantaneous form of communication, so give your recipient time to respond. Dr. Fauss checks his email at least once a day from Sunday through Friday, which means that usually, but not always, you will get a response within 24 hours.

Grading Criteria

The following will be the graded components of this class:

You will participate in an introductory discussion during the first 6 days of class; late posts will not be accepted. The introductory discussion will be worth 3% of your course grade.

You will take a 10-question quiz on your knowledge of the syllabus during the first 6 days of class; you may not take the quiz after this period. The quiz will be worth 3% of your course grade.

You will submit a short backup plan for dealing with computer emergencies during the first 6 days of class; late backup plans will not be accepted. The backup plan will be worth 3% of your course grade.

You will complete 7 assignments in REVEL, most consisting of two chapters in the textbook. Each chapter is broken into sections, each containing a 15-point quiz, and each chapter has a 75-point quiz at the end. Late REVEL assignments will receive no credit. The average of all of the REVEL Assignments will be 21% of your course grade.

In addition to the introductory discussion, you will participate in 2 class discussions. Each discussion will present you with a prompt and a primary source (a document from the past): you will write a well-organized response utilizing copious specific references to your textbook and the primary source. The discussions are designed to help you prepare for the exams: for this reason, you should think of your response as a small essay. After writing your initial post, you will then reply to one of your classmates’ responses with suggestions for improving his/her post, again making specific references to your textbook and the primary source. Initial posts and responses will have different due dates; posts that fail to meet the specified deadlines will be penalized by 5 points for each day late. Each discussion will be 5% of your course grade.

You will complete a multi-component course paper project. First, you will learn and practice how to correctly cite sources in Turabian style. Second, you will learn how to research journal articles, and in the process write a summary of an article you have chosen to help write your paper. Lastly, you will write your paper, which will be a reflection on how you would make a decision that poses an ethical dilemma, noting what experiences or personal values you would draw upon to resolve the dilemma. Late paper project components will be penalized by 5 points for each day late. The citation exercise and article summary will each be 5% of your course grade, and the ethical dilemma paper will be 10%.

Finally, you will take 2 exams on Blackboard. Each exam will have 25 multiple choice questions (50% of the exam grade) and an essay (50% of the exam grade). You will have seventy five minutes for each exam. You may use your textbook and notes during the exam to help you. Exams will be available for a specified 72-hour period and must be taken during that time. Each exam will be worth 20% of your course grade.

There will be no extra credit awarded in this course. Exceptions to rules such as due dates or exam/quiz dates will be dealt with on a case by case basis and will typically be considered only when advanced notice of a conflict is provided. If you fall behind, it is important to get in touch with your professor as soon as possible in order to work out a plan for catching up: being an 8-week course, the course moves very fast.

You may view your grades and course average any time using the “My Grades” link in the course menu.

Work will usually be graded within a week and a half of receipt. 

Apart from multiple choice questions, each assignment will be evaluated using rubrics: you will be able to view the rubric used before and after you submit your work in order to understand how specific things will be/were assessed.

Final grades will be calculated according to the following criteria:

90-100 = A

80-89 = B

70-79 = C

60-69 = D

Below 60 = F

Your final grade will be rounded to the nearest integer.

Attendance

The online US History course will not have any on campus meetings. Failure to complete a graded component of the course by census day (10/31) will result in you being administratively dropped from the class.

Calendar

Additional Information

This course has been designed to be every bit as rigorous as an in-person course. Expect to put in at least 10-12 hours of work each week: this breaks down to to 6 hours for REVEL assignments (3 hours per chapter); 2-3 hours for discussions, exams, and the paper project; and another 2-3 hours reviewing material already learned.

You will need to spread the number of hours you work on the course throughout the week: you will probably not be successful if you only spend one night a week working on the course.