American Visions Syllabus

Professor Campbell
California State University, Sacramento
History
College: Arts and Letters

Spring 2002

Instructor

Calendar

Overview

Resources

Syllabus

WebCT

Objectives

Assignments

Grades

Technology

Materials

HIST161. The American Vision. A media survey of American life from the beginnings to the present. Integrates slides of American art, architecture, popular culture, and technology with history, literature and contemporary music. Note: Fulfills state graduation requirement for U.S. History. 3 units.

Course Requirements; Each student must have a Saclink account and subscribe to our Class Listproc, HIST 161-L. Up to 3 points of extra credit can by earned by participating in our Class Listproc. 

Course Description: Fulfills GE Area D3 requirement: American Institutions
        Focusing on seminal documents and designs, "American Visions," is a survey of conflicting cultural visions - as consciously and unconsciously held and carried - by different "American" peoples from the beginnings of Anglo/European conquest, c 1600, to America's preeminent role in the global ecological world, c 2002. 

Course Goals: To present a coherent overview of America's growth in a global ecological world c 1600 - c 2002.
          In this course, the historic development of conflicting American cultural visions will be examined as a series of stories, tales or myths about what has or might have happened. While North America was initially settled by Native Americans, we will focus on the Anglo/European culture of conquest - viewed in the larger pattern of European global conquest - that invaded the Eastern Seaboard in the early years of the 17th century. 
        Our goal in this course is to understand the conscious and unconscious premises of this Anglo/European "E Pluribus Unum" culture of conquest; and to better understand the role of American transnational corporations and cultural values in the 21st century global ecological world. 

Required Readings:
         - Campbell, Gregg M., "American Visions, " Study Guide           
          - Library, Readings
Reference Works:
         - Encyclopedic Dictionary of American History, RBR
        - Millennium Year by Year, RBR 
        You will be expected to consult appropriate works in the Reference Sections and the Reserve Book Room, Library in completing your assessments. 

View the course schedule.

View a sample online module.

Course Objectives

• List what you would like the student to know by the end of the course.
• List what you would like the student to think by the end of the course.
• List what you would like the student to do by the end of the course.

Assignments

 The following assignments are due on the dates indicated.

Assignment	Points	Due Date
Enter Assignment Title: and brief description of assignment.	xx	Date
Title	xx	Date
Title	xx	Date
Title	xx	Date
Title	xx	Date

Grades and Grading Policy

Enter your course grading information in the table below.

A	Outstanding achievement; you might want to link to an "A" paper or project	minimum points or percentage
B	Excellent performance; clearly exceeds course requirements	minimum points or percentage
C	Average	minimum points or percentage
D	Passed, but not at average achievement standards	minimum points or percentage
F	Failure to meet class requirement	minimum points or percentage
	Incompletes: Enter information on the department's policy for issuing incompletes.

Technology Requirements

Students will need an electronic mail account and computer access to the Web. All CSUS students enrolled in one or more units can create a SacLink account for electronic mail and Internet services. Although a home computer with a high speed modem running Netscape or Internet Explorer would be beneficial, students can use the Web from one of the campus student labs.

Computing Recommendations

You should be comfortable using a computer and willing to browse the Web. This class requires online class participation on the Web assignments and electronic discussions.

You need:

• Macintosh compatible with System 9 or higher or Windows compatible Pentium running Windows 95/98 or Windows NT.
• 64 MB of RAM
• 28.8K or faster modem - preferably 56K
• Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape 4.0 (or higher)
• SacLink or other Internet Account
• Word processing skills

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  Students need an electronic mail account and computer access to the Web. All CSUS students enrolled in one or more units can create a SacLink account for electronic mail and Internet services. Although a home computer with a high speed modem running Netscape or Internet Explorer would be beneficial, students can use the Web from one of the campus student labs.

Materials

 Required: The text for the course this semester is/are:

You can purchase books through the Hornet Bookstore. Check their Distance and Distributed Learning page at http://www.bookstore.csus.edu/bookstore/distance/ for ordering information.