St. Cloud State University
General Education Goal Area 5 Designation
History and the Social & Behavioral Sciences
Academic Affairs Use Only:
Response Date: ______________________
Effective Date: ______________________
1.
Prepared by: Maureen O’Brien
Phone: 8-4985
Proposal Number: _________________
Email: mmobrien
2.
Requesting Unit: History
3.
Department, Course Number, Title: HIST 101 Studies in World History
4.
New Course
5.
Will this course be flagged as a diversity course?
Already Designated as Diversity
6.
Will this course also satisfy another General Education Goal Area?
If “Yes” specify which goal area.
Goal8 GE Global Perspectives
Existing Course
No
Diversity Proposal Accompanying This Form
No
Yes
7.
Course bulletin description, including credits and semesters to be offered:
An interpretive study of general trends and selected topics in various periods and subjects that are crosscultural, national, and regional in scope. May be repeated with different instructor and subject but not for general
education purposes. 3 Cr. ANNUAL.
8.
Indicate the clientele for whom this course is designed. Is the course for general education only, or
does it fulfill general education and other program needs for this or another department? Obtain
signatures from any affected departments.
All undergraduates seeking general education course in areas 5 and 8. Does not satisfy requirements for
history major, but may recruit students to history major or minor by sparking interest.
9.
Indicate any changes that must be made in offerings or resources in your department or other
departments by offering this course.
None
10.
For new courses or courses not yet approved for General Education, indicate any other SCSU departments
or units offering instruction that relates to the content of the proposed course.
n/a
11.
Courses designated as General Education are included in the assessment plan for the Goal Area(s)
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for which they are approved. Courses for which assessment is not included in the annual GE
assessment report for two years will be removed from the General Education Program.
The Requesting Unit understands and recognizes the above conditions.
12.
Provide a concise explanation of how the following goal is a “significant focus” of the proposed course.
Goal Area 5: History and the Social & Behavioral Sciences
Develop understanding of human societies and behaviors, and of the concepts, theories, and methods of
history and the social sciences.
Through the examination of topics in “World History” students will acquire a familiarity with major
events and figures as studied via different human societies and behaviors. The student will also develop skills in
critical reading of both primary and secondary sources, in research, in the comprehension of textual and lecture
material, in class discussion, and in the composition of essays.
13. In order for a course to be designated as fulfilling Goal Area 5, it must address at least 4 of the 5 student learning
outcomes (SLOs) below. Check the SLOs below that are focused on in the proposed general education course.
1. Describe or use the methods and data by which historians, social scientists, or behavioral scientists investigate
human conditions.
2. Analyze human behavior, cultures, and social institutions and processes from the perspectives of history or the
social and behavioral sciences.
3. Develop explanations for and explore solutions to historical or contemporary social problems.
4. Reflect upon themselves in relation to family, communities, society, culture, and/or their histories.
5. Apply and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories about human societies and behaviors.
14.
Discuss how each Student Learning Outcome checked above is achieved in this course. (Note: Although
descriptions of typical assignments or types of assignments may be part of this discussion, it is not
appropriate to submit copies of actual assignments.)
Students demonstrate each of the SLOs through instructor generated examination questions, student
generated essays, and student oral presentations. A sample assignment is listed with each SLO below.
1. Students locate, identify, and critically analyze primary and secondary sources (available in English). Students
demonstrate this outcome in, for example, written essays and in-class assignments that require them to locate and
identify particular primary sources, to discuss their content and meaning, and to utilize secondary sources to place
the primary source into its historical context.
2. Students analyze human behavior, cultures, and social institutions and processes from the perspective of history
through in-class discussion, primary source analysis, exams, study questions, and short analytical essays. Students
demonstrate this outcome in, for example, written essays and in-class assignments that require the students to
analyze primary sources from different historical periods. As part of their analysis they must identify and discuss
what we can learn about the people’s behavior, culture, etc. and how that may or may not be representative of the
period/region in which they live.
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3. Students are challenged in various assignments to develop explanations for and explore solutions to historical
problems through the use of their historical empathy coupled with their critical detachment. Students demonstrate
this outcome in, for example, exam questions and essays that require students to analyze the goals people may
have been seeking and how they saw their situation, then to connect all this with what they did. Students learn
how to explain a historical event, such as the persecution of minorities, without condoning it.
4. Students reflect upon themselves in relation to family, communities, society, culture, and/or their histories in
the same types of assignments that ask them to employ their historical empathy. Students demonstrate this
outcome in, for example, essays and in-class discussions when they analyze historical questions that still have
resonance in the present, such as political and religious conflicts in the Middle East.
15.
List or attach the Course Outline (adequately described and including percentage of time to be allocated
to each topic). Curriculum Committees may request additional information. Topics larger than 20% need
to be broken down further. Indicate in your course outline where the Student Learning Outcomes
checked above are being met.
The Student Learning Outcomes are met throughout the curriculum described in the course outlines
below:
Introduction to World History (Outline 1): From earliest times to A.D. 1500 with emphasis on movements of
global impact intended to introduce students to the discipline of history and to the origins and development of
early civilizations.
I. The Discipline of History
(10%)
A. Sources of Historical Information
B. History, Pre-history, and “Historical Epochs”
II. The Emergence of Man (10%)
III. Eurasian Ancient Civilizations (10%)
A.
Origins and Styles of Civilizations in the Near East; Indus; Shang.
B.
The Nomadic Invasions and the End of Ancient Eurasian Civilizations.
IV. Classical Eurasia and the Eurasian Ecumene (to A.D. 500). (20%)
A.
The Classical Mediterranean
B.
The Indo Aryans and Classical India
C.
Classical China
V. The Civilizations of Eurasia and the Eurasian Ecumene (1000-1500) (20%)
A. Traditional Civilizations: Byzantine, Islamic, and Confucian.
B. Western Civilizations.
VI. The Non-Eurasian Regions: Africa, America, and Australia. (20%)
VII. The Challenge to the Concept of “Regional Isolation,” Recent Scholarship on links between Pre-Columbian
America and the Old World. (10%)
Introduction to World History (Outline 2): A survey of the history of Scandinavia, with special emphasis on the
cities of Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
I. Introduction (15%)
II. Denmark (20%)
A.
Age of Dominance, 1380-1660
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B.
Absolutism, 1660-1800
C.
19th Century, 1800-1914
D.
Wars and Peace, 1914-45
E.
Age of Affluence, 1945 to Present
III. Sweden (20%)
A.
Age of Greatness, 1611-1810
B.
Nineteenth Century, 1810-1918
C.
Democratic Sweden, 1918-1945
D.
Welfare State, 1945 to Present
IV. Norway (20%)
A.
In eclipse, 1300-1814
B.
Constitutionalism, 1814-1918
C.
Independent Norway, 1918-1945
D.
Contemporary Norway, 1945 to Present
V. Scandinavian Cities (15%)
VI. Conclusion (10%)
Introduction to World History (Outline 3): A comparative study of the European family from the Middle Ages to
the First World War and the American family from colonial times to the present.
I. Introduction—Theories of the Family. (15%)
II. European Family Before Industrialization (20%)
A.
Medieval Period
B.
Renaissance
C.
17-18th Centuries
III. Russia and the Pre-industrial Family (20%)
A.
Tsars, Bureaucrats, Reform
B.
Agarian Economy and Society
C.
18th Century Family
D.
19th Century Family
IV. England and the Industrial Family (20%)
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