Western Civ B Self-Paced Materials

I suspect that since you are reading this you have enrolled in Western Civilization 104B--Self-Paced. This site includes a course description, a course outline, a course assignment sheet, a list of lecture notes and other assorted handouts used in the regular Western Civilization class.

This page should provide you with all the information needed to complete your specific tasks. If you have not done so already, please proceed to my office (8320). On the left side of my door you will find a large brown envelope marked for this course. Carefully place your hand in the envelope and remove the sheet of paper that says GUIDELINE FOR COMPLETION. The sheet of paper provides you with a guideline as to when I expect you to complete the assignments and the exams. You will also find a copy at the bottom of this page. In the envelope as well is a 5 x 8 card. You can fill this out and slipped under my door or place it in my mailbox in the faculty mail room on the second floor of building #1--this becomes your official registration in the course. If you prefer you can fill out a form online: Instructor's Course Registration. If I fail to receive a 5 x 8 card or the online form from you, I will list you as a no show.

You may complete this course at your leisure-of course that means by the end of the semester. The sheet you took out of the envelope on my door jam says “GUIDELINES.” Guidelines are not specific due dates, but a concept of what needs to be done and when to complete this course in one semester. The preferred way of turning in the required assignments is via e-mail. Send them to me at akirshner@ohlone.edu. Either attach them as a Word or PDF document or copy and insert them in the body of the e-mail. DO NOT send Works or Word Perfect attachments. I will be posting grades evey few weeks on the internet at
http:// www.ohlone.edu/ people/akirshner/gradeswc.html and
http:// www.kirshnerisms.com/gradeswc.html

When you are ready for Exam I, Exam II or Exam III, please request them via e-mail and I will send you the exam. However, I will not send an exam until I have received your reaction reading papers that are scheduled before the exam. I will also not send an exam if I haven't received the last exam from you even if you completed the papers. I grade the exams like I would a mini term paper—meaning, I expect loads of information with lots of typed pages. Please remember to place the exact question you are answering on your answer sheets or mail me back the exam paper I sent to you. If you prefer, you can take the exam on campus during my office hours as posted.(NOT AN OPTION FOR SUMMER COLLEGE) If you cannot make it at that time, I might be able to set a different schedule. If I cannot be in my office during your availabilty to take the exam you will have to take the e-mail option. You cannot use notes or books on exams taken at Ohlone. However, on the take-home exams you can, in fact should, do as much research as you would with a term paper.

If you do not complete the course by the end of the semester I will be forced to give you an F (failure). If you must miss the final exam for a college approved reason you can obtain an Incomplete form from the Registrar’s office. If you receive an incomplete, DO NOT reregister for this course. The computer will throw you out anyway. An incomplete maintains your registration.

This course can be taken credit/no-credit. If you want to go this route, fill out the form in the Admissions Office before the fourth week of school. I do not have to be informed that you have taken advantage of the credit/no-credit option.

If you have any questions you can contact me at my office. My office (8320) hours are posted at About My Courses. (NOT AN OPTION DURING SUMMER COLLEGE) You can call me at 659-6242 during those times or leave a message on my tape machine at any other time. You can e-mail your questions, papers or exams to me at akirshner@ohlone.edu.

1. Few students complete the self-paced course. Not that this course is any more difficult than the classroom course, but most students are not use to scheduling their own time. I always advise students to take the classroom section as there is an instructor with a whip over them. If this is the only way your schedule permits you to take this course--GOOD LUCK!

2. Treat this course like any other scheduled class. If you set up a regular schedule you will finish the course and receive an excellent grade. Very few students who complete the course get a grade less than B. Most students get A grades, but as I wrote above, few students complete the course.

3. I advise you to follow the “Guidelines on Completion” as close as possible. Few students who wait for the last moment to turn in their work have done well. Getting ten two page reaction papers and three term-paper size exams done in a few days is near impossible.

4. Ohlone's withdrawal policy permits a student to withdraw before the third week of class without a grade or notation appearing on the transcript. Between the third and twelfth weeks of school a student must receive a W if s/he withdraws(BE SURE TO CHECK EXACT DATES IN THE CATALOGUE). If the student fails to withdraw after the stated date, s/he can only receive an F or an I.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

Academic dishonesty defrauds all those who depend upon the integrity of the college, its courses, and its degrees and certificates. Students are expected to follow the ethical standards required in Ohlone courses. These standards are defined in the Policy on Academic Dishonesty. Violations of this policy include cheating and plagarism.

STANDARDS OF STUDENT CONDUCT:

The student has the right and shares the responsibility to exercise the freedom to learn. The student is expected to conduct himself/herself in accordance with the standards of the College that are designed to perpetuate its educational purposes.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is a survey of the cultural, social and political developments in Western Civilization with a world perspective from the rise of the nation-state through contemporary times with a speculative look at the future.

Dennis Sherman and Joyce Salisbury, The West in the World, 3rd edition, 2008. ISBN-13: 9788-0-07-340692-3

INSTRUCTIONS:
1.   In this packet is a reading list applicable to each section of the course outline. Upon completion of each reading assignment you must submit a two-page typed paper explaining what you learned about history, your society or yourself. This reaction paper is from the readings within this packet and in the textbook—not the lecture videos. Please note that I am asking for a reaction paper, not a summary of the readings--I have read the material. Each paper is worth 10 points.
2.   The assignment sheet lists videopodcasts that must be downloaded from iTunes Ohlone and must be viewed. Please note the words “must view.” This means that they are required. If you prefer not to download them, you can obtain the iTunes videocasts by providing me with two blank DVD disks and an envelope or box with sufficient postage to mail the iTunes videos back to you.   You will still need to download itunes, if you do not have it on your computer, to view the videocasts. You can download iTunes free from Apple for a PC or Mac. http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/   Some of the iTunes Video podcast I did failed. In those situations you will need to view applicable vudeo tapes that are on reserve in the library. They have been placed on reserve for this class--Dr. Kirshner's Western Civilization 104B Course. The lecture videos cannot be taken home. Assignments are listed below under Course assignment. If any problems arise, please let me know as soon as possible.   Sometimes new clerks lack familiarity with this course. Using the call numbers I have listed with the material should help.
3.   After you have complete all the required assignments for Sections I through III, please contact me via e-mail to send you an exam or for you to make an appointment for Exam I at the college during my office hours. After you have completed all the required assignments for Sections IV through VII and Exam I, please contact me via e-mail to send you an exam or for you to make an appointment for Exam II at the college during my office hours. After completing all the required assignments for Sections VIII through X and Exam II, please contact me via e-mail to send you an exam or for you to make an appointment for Exam III at the college during my office hours. All exams, whether you take them at Ohlone or via e-mail, will consist of essay questions and you will have to answer one of the three questions provided. Only e-mail exams are availble during the summer.
4.   If you have any questions regarding the readings or would like to discuss an historical even with me, you are welcome and encouraged to visit me in my office. Since I do not hold office hours during the summer, you will need to sends me your questions via e-mail.
5. Again let me state that your exams MUST be mini-term papers. A term-paper is generally 25 to 30 pages. So I will let you decide what a mini-term paper is, but you can be sure it not 2 or 3 pages.
6.   Your grade will be an exact average of three exams and the sum total of ten two-page reaction papers (worth 10 points each).

I.        BOUNDED: The Rise of National-States
A. A look back
B.   Machiavellian
C.   Absolutism vs. Constitutionalism
D.   Mercantilism--International Conflict

II.       EMERGING: The Baroque Era & The Enlightenment
A.   Balls are Heresy
B.   Cities--Structure twisted straight
C.   Free Schools
D.   Science, Sex and Culture

III.       EXPULSION: The Age of Revolution
A.   Examining the land and the people
B.   American Dreams and French Realitie
C.   Liberty and Equality
D.   Napoleonic Complex

IV.       CHANGE:   The Rise of Nationalism
A.   Lets be Romantic!
B.   Ripe Fruit or Strong Winds?
C.   Upheavals
D.   Blood and Iron

V.       ENERGY:   Industrialism and the Rise of the Masses
A.   Power
B.   Capital and Labor
C.   Impact
D.   Sex, Society and Culture

VI.      SCRAMBLE: Western Imperialism
A.   Penetration
B.   Migration
C.   Neo-Colonialism
D.   Responses

VII.    EXPLOSION: World War I and Its Aftermath
A.   A Closed System
B.   The shot heard round the world
C.   Lenin vs. Wilso
D.   Once they've seen Paree

VIII.   ANTITHESIS: The Mass Movements of Marxism & Fascism
A.   Totalitarianism of the right and the left
B.   Ideologies
C.   Stalin's Russia
D.   Fascist & NAZI Expansion

XI.        IMPLOSION: World War II and Its Aftermath
A.   First they came for . . .
B.   BOOM!
C.   An Iron Curtain
D.   A Look to the East

X .       POLARIZATION: Cold War-Détente & MODERNITY
A.   East-West Conflic
B.   North-South Reaction
C.   The Myth of Sisyphus
D.   It Ain't What It Use To Be!

NOTE:
All readings stated as required are required. Viewing the class lectures on video tape or reading the lectures online is also required. Video tapes are from the Spring 1995 Western Civilization 104B course. This Spring I created video podcasts of my classroom lectures. You can download them from Ohlone’s iTunes College: http://itunes.Ohlone.edu You can substitute the video podcasts for the lecture videos (REQUIRED VIEWING) listed below. I suggest you watch them in the small screen version as the resolution at larger sizes is very poor due to the need to reduce the size of the video file. Please use call numbers on videos, tapes and tapescripts.

I.       BOUNDED!

REQUIRED READING:
pp. xxiii-xxxii, Chapter 12 & 13

REQUIRED VIEWING:
          Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 1/29/07 (Part 1), 1/29/07 (Part 2), 1/31/07, 2/9/07, 2/12/07 and Lecture 2 (VID/621), Lecture 3 (VID/622), Lecture 4 (VID/622), Lecture 5 (VID/623)

REQUIRED VIEWING:
Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 2/21/07, 2/28/07, 3/5/07, and Lecture 7 (VID/624), Lecture 8 (VID/624), Lecture 9 (VID/625),

REQUIRED READING: Chapter 15 and Chapter 16

REQUIRED VIEWING:
Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 3/7/07, 3/9/07, 3/14/07

REQUIRED READING: Chapter 18 and Chapter 19

REQUIRED VIEWING:
Ohlone iTunes video podcasts , 3/14/07 (repeat--especially last part of tape) 3/16/07, 3/19/07, 3/21/07, 3/23/07

REQUIRED VIEWING:
Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 4/2/07, 4/4/07, 4/6/07, 4/9/07
ALSO VIEW: Video, "Disease in the 19th Century"(#VID/071)

REQUIRED READING:    Chapter 20

REQUIRED VIEWING:
         Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 4/11/07, 4/13/07

REQUIRED READING: Chapter 23

REQUIRED VIEWING:
         Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 4/30/07, 5/2/07, 5/7/07
         Also VIEW:   Videos, "Fit to Rule" (#VID/072)
         and "The Twisted Cross" (#VID/073)

X.     POLARIZATIONREQUIRED READING: Chapter 25 and Chapter 26

REQUIRED VIEWING:
         Ohlone iTunes video podcasts 5/18/07

Western Civilization 104B: Lecture Video List
Lecture Title Taped Call #
1 Orientation 1/18/95 VID/621
2 Orientation & Review of WC104A 1/20/95 VID/621
3 Nation-States & Machiavelli 1/23/95 VID/622
4 Nation-States & Hobbes 1/25/95 VID/622
5 Nation-States: Gunpowder & Europe 1/27/95 VID/623
6 Nation-States & Locke(Group Meeting: Social) 1/30/95 VID/623
7 War, War & More War 2/03/95 VID/624
8 Dare to know to grow! 2/06/95 VID/624
9 Do you need to lose weight? 2/08/95 VID/625
10 Tick-Tock: Starry Messenger Video 2/10/95 VID/625
11 Tick-Tock 2: The Enlightenment 2/13/95 VID/626
12 The Age of Revolution 2/24/95 VID/626
13 The French Revolution: Circular Reasoning 2/27/95 VID/627
14 French Ideals and American Realities 3/01/95 VID/627
15 GO OVER EXAM & Rights of WO/MAN 3/06/95 VID/628
16 Nationalism: Let’s be romantic! 3/08/95 VID/628
17 Nationalism: High Winds & Storms-Group Meeting 3/10/95 VID/629
18 Nationalism:The Unification of Italy & Germany 3/13/95 VID/629
19 The Industrial Revolution 3/15/95 VID/630
20 No Green! Group Meeting 3/17/95 VID/630
21 Germs Video 3/20/95 VID/631
22 Germs Finished + Imperialism 3/22/95 VID/631
23 Imperialism: Halford J. Mackinder 3/24/95 VID/632
24 Imperialism: Mackinder + WWI Introduction 4/03/95 VID/632
25 The Great War 4/05/95 VID/633
26 The Marx’s Brother 4/12/95 VID/634
27 Marx’s Continued:Up, down & sideways 4/14/95 VID/634
28 GO OVER EXAM II: History of the USSR 4/17/95 VID/635
29 USSR & China + Group Meeting 4/19/95 VID/635
30 Opposites Attract & Attack 4/21/95 VID/636
31 Nazism’s Aftermath 4/26/95 VID/636
32 Hitler and the end of WW II 4/28/95 VID/637
33 Aftermath of WW II + Group Meeting 5/01/95 VID/637
34 A look to the East: Korea & Vietnam 5/03/95 VID/638
35 Vietnam continues 5/05/95 VID/638
36 Post War Europe 5/10/95 VID/639
37 Nuts, Mads & Star War 5/17/95 VID/639
38 Restaurant at the end of the Universe! 5/19/95 VID/640

The schedule that follows suggests completion dates for your assignments. Although it is not mandatory, I strongly suggest you adhere to this schedule. All the lectures are mandatory and can be downloaded from http:// itunes.ohlone.edu. Please be sure to read the material on my internet site http://www.ohlone.edu/people/akirshner/wcbsp.html or http://www.kirshnerisms.com/wcbasp.html. All the lectures are mandatory. They can be downloaded from http:// itunes.ohlone.edu or you can provide me with two blank DVD’s and a mailing envelope with appropriate postage to send you copies. A few of the podcasts are not viewable. For those lectures (as noted) you will need to go to the library and view the 1995 tapes.

You can send all your papers to me via e-mail—this includes your exams. This is the preferred method. Either attach as a Word or pdf file or copy and paste the paper into the e-mail—especially if you are using Microsoft Works or Word Perfect. You write your papers based only on the textbook readings. This is explained further in the packet online.

Grades will be posted periodically at http://www.Ohlone.edu/people/akirshner/gradeswc.html. My e-mail is: AKirshner@ohlone.edu

EXAM I = October 8 (If you have not turned in at least one paper by this date, I urge you to withdraw from the class.)

EXAM II = November 7(if you are only ready to take Exam I by this date, I urge you to withdraw.)

EXAM III = December 16 (If you haven't completed the course by this time you will receive an F for this semester. If you want an incomplete the form must be obtained at Admissions and filled out completely. Records clerks do not need to know why you will miss the exam. You can discuss this with me when you bring the form for my signature before December 16.)