General Education Annual Course Assessment Form
(due September 1)
Course Number/Title Humanities 128: Perspectives on the Twentieth Century: The West in
Global Context___ GE Area _V____
Results reported for AY _2010-2011_ # of sections 4_ # of instructors__3_(Lindahl, Scaff,
Trost)_
Course Coordinator: _Susan Scaff________________ email: _sscaff@sbcglobal.net_
Department Chair: __CHRIS JOCHIM___________ College: _______H&A________
Instructions: Each year, the department will prepare a brief (two page maximum) report that
documents the assessment of the course during the year. This report will be electronically submitted by the department chair to the Office of Undergraduate Studies with an electronic copy to
the home college by September 1 of the following academic year.
Part 1
To be completed by the course coordinator:
(1) What SLO(s) were assessed for the course during the AY? SLO#2: identify the historical
context of ideas and cultural traditions outside the U.S. and how they have influenced American culture.
(2) What were the results of the assessment of this course? What were the lessons learned from
the assessment?
The results for this SLO were good. Assignments in 128 addressing ideas and events outside the
US are strong in all sections and are contextualized in historical and cultural circumstances.
What is more difficult for teachers is continuously to integrate the impact of foreign events on
American culture. This second part of the SLO, I have noticed, is sometimes left implicit or
treated simply as a discussion item rather than a graded written assignment.
Scaff: In my sections of Hum 128 I teach multiple events and movements from around the world
during the 20th century. These include communism in China that we study through a novel set
during the Cultural Revolution, Israel and the Middle East presented through a Power Point
presentation, and African colonial issues introduced through Chinua Achebe’s postcolonial novel
Things Fall Apart. All of these topics are placed in historical and cultural context
While many of the discussions move toward the impact of foreign events and movements on
American culture, in some parts of the course I make the topic explicit. This occurs in our study
of the world wars, where I include a section on the American role in each war. Every student
must prepare a short essay or presentation on the American entry into World War I or the re-
sponse in the US to President Wilson’s 14 Points and advocacy of the League of Nations. I give
a similar assignment for World War II around Pearl Harbor, D Day, and the atomic bombings.
Lindahl: Prof. Lindahl requires three essays, each on a choice of given topics on events around
the world, for example, a the critique of European imperialism in Africa in Chinua Achebe’s
Things Fall Apart or the uniqueness of Freud’s ideas about human psychology. The topics directly cover significant events from around the globe considered in historical context.
Additionally, Lindahl has integrated America into the discussion of foreign material to meet the
second part of SLO # 2. His use of Yakhlif’s novel A Lake Beyond the Wind offers, he says, “a
Palestinian perspective on the Israeli takeover of Palestine . . . rarely offered in the U.S.” that
“helps explain the turmoil in the Middle East as well as attitudes toward the U.S. for its support
of Israel.” In another example, he uses Frisch’s novel Homo Faber to offer “a perspective on
American obsession with technology and consumer culture” and assigns it with a reading on
globalization focused on the impact of American overconsumption worldwide.
Trost: Prof. Trost uses Fiero’s anthology, The Humanistic Tradition, on the world culture of
twentieth century and draws attention to “the interaction and influence of cultures.” In her
words, she “focused class discussion on several of the most remarkable and influential of these,
namely the influence of African and Oceana culture on Picasso's work, the influence of Asian
forms of poetry on the development of imagist poetry, and the influence of Asian architecture on
Frank Lloyd Wright's work” and then asked students to write an essay on one of these “examples
of influence, especially of cultures outside the West upon writers, artists, etc. of the West.”
The results on the assignments gradewise in these three classes have been good. I have records
from winter session 2011 for the World War 1 assignment of 7 grades of A, 8 of B, and 4 of C,
with one failure owing to the fact that the paper was late. Prof. Lindahl reports grades ranging
from 78-96 on his written assignments. Prof. Trost did not provide grades, but reports in an
email that the group presentation were all good and that essays requiring consideration of an artifact in cultural context were also well done.
(3) What modifications to the course, or its assessment activities or schedule, are planned for the
upcoming year? (If no modifications are planned, the course coordinator should indicate
this.)
I would say that these courses cover the first part of SLO #2, establishing historical and cultural
context for worldwide events and movements, exceptionally well. In terms of the impact of
these specifically on American culture, more of the graded written assignments and tests might
be constructed to address this American part of the SLO explicitly.
Part 2
To be completed by the department chair (with input from course coordinator as appropriate):
(4)
Are all sections of the course still aligned with the area Goals, Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), Content, Support, and Assessment? If they are not, what actions are
planned?
YES.