HIST 207A Welcome Letter - Fall 2022

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***IF THE CLASS IS FULL PLEASE ADD YOURSELF TO THE WAITLIST VIA MY.CUESTA. CHECK YOUR POSITION REGULARLY AND KEEP IN MIND THAT IF ENROLLED STUDENTS DROP  PRIOR TO OUR COURSE START DATE (MONDAY, 8/15), YOU MAY BE AUTOMATICALLY ADDED INTO THE CLASS. IF YOU ARE STILL ON THE WAITLIST WHEN THE CLASS BEGINS ON MONDAY, 8/15, PLEASE EMAIL ME (SEE THE "CONTACT" SECTION BELOW) TO REQUEST AN ADD CODE. I WILL ACCOMMODATE AS MANY WAITLIST STUDENTS AS I CAN. ADD CODES CANNOT BE PROVIDED UNTIL MONDAY, 8/15.***

Dear Students,

Welcome to HIST 207A: History of the United States (CRNs: 70151 and 74605). My name is Professor Touryan and I will be your online instructor for the next 18 weeks.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course surveys the history of the United States of America from its beginning to 1865, focusing on broad political, economic, religious, social, and cultural themes as well as how these forces interacted and often conflicted with race, ethnicity, class and gender to create the country we know today.

ONLINE FORMAT

Please note, this class is fully online, there are NO mandatory meetings for this class. Please make sure you have a reliable Internet connection, a newer computer (no older than 5 years), and a current operating system.

IS AN ONLINE CLASS FOR ME?

I strongly suggest that all prospective online students complete the following "self-assessment" information put together by Cuesta College and the Online Readiness Tutorials designed by the California Community Colleges Online Education Initiative (Is Online Education for You?). Please also take the Online Education Readiness quiz to assess whether or not an online class is right for you. If, after reviewing these materials and completing the readiness quiz, your results show that an online is not right for you or may not be right for you, please drop this course and sign up for a traditional classroom course. Please see Class Finder for other options.

LENGTH OF COURSE

This class runs 18 weeks from Monday, August 15th through Thursday, December 15th. You must be able to commit to all 18 weeks of class. No assignments, quizzes, exams, or other coursework may be completed early to shorten the length of this class.

TEXTBOOKS

The following textbooks are required for this course:

  • FREE, NO-COST textbook: A copy of our U.S. History textbook is available via OpenStax
  • Additional primary source readings will be provided to students via pdf files on Canvas

ASSESSMENTS

There will be three types of assessments in our class: forum discussion posts, reading quizzes, and exams.

  • Forum Discussion Posts – Students will complete eight (8) forum discussion posts during the course. Through these discussions, students will have the opportunity to showcase their creativity and critical thinking skills as they wrestle with key concepts found in our weekly course lecture material and main textbook readings. Discussions will be in both video (Flipgrid) and written format. For additional instructions and specific due dates, please refer to the forthcoming course syllabus.
  • Reading Quizzes  Students will complete seven (7) reading quizzes based on weekly primary source readings. Study guides will be provided to students to help them prepare for these quizzes. For additional instructions and specific due dates, please refer to the forthcoming course syllabus.
  • Exams  Students will take two (2) exams during the semester - 1 midterm exam and 1 final exam. The midterm exam will focus on all the material mentioned above for weeks 1-9. The final exam will focus on the material mentioned above for weeks 10-17. Study guides will be available on Canvas to help students prepare for these exams. All exams are timed. Once you begin an exam, you must complete it within the specified time limit (e.g. 2 hours for both the midterm and the final exam). For specific exam dates, please refer to the forthcoming course syllabus.

WORKLOAD

While some weeks are lighter than others, expect to spend an average of 6-8 hours a week completing course readings, reading through weekly course lectures material, watching supplemental films, and studying for and completing assignments/assessments.

COURSE SYLLABUS

One day prior to our course start date (Sunday, 8/14), students will receive an email from the instructor containing the course syllabus, which contains specific information about the course not found in this welcome letter, including specific due dates for assignments, a full list of course readings and lecture topics for each week, etc.  Please check your my.cuesta email address for this information as we approach our class start date.

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

We will be using Canvas for our course. Please read the following instructions for logging in:

To visit Canvas, visit www.cuesta.edu and click on the word “Canvas” which is located on the upper left hand corner of Cuesta’s homepage, you can also access Canvas via your MyCuesta homepage, or type in the link below into your browser: http://cuesta.instructure.com/

  • Your login name matches your My.Cuesta login name: firstname_lastname
  • Your Canvas password also matches your My.Cuesta password 
  • Once you are logged in, you will see your Canvas dashboard with a list of courses in which you are currently enrolled (you should be automatically enrolled in HIST 207A)
  • If you need further technical support, please read the following Canvas Quick Reference Guide. for students or email: support@my.cuesta.edu (in the email, please include your name, section number (CRN), class name, instructor’s name and describe the specific problem you are having; please allow 48 hours for a response)

ACCOMODATIONS 

For students with disabilities, please visit the following link to DSPS and familiarize yourself with their available services. If you wish to contact DSPS directly with more specific questions, please email them at: dspsinfo@cuesta.edu

CONTACT

If you should have any further questions regarding our course, feel free to contact me at: elena_touryan@cuesta.edu. For high school students taking this course, please be advised that you must email me directly; I cannot communicate with your parents and will not respond to any emails received from them at any point during the course.

COURSE OUTCOMES

  1. Demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of U.S. History through 1865.
  2. Demonstrate knowledge of selected Native American cultures prior to European contact as well as efforts by minority groups to secure unabridged legal, political, and economic equality.
  3. Demonstrate an understanding of different labor systems (ex. slavery) and social inequalities as well as their rationales (race, class, gender, etc.).
  4. Explain and analyze the significance of scientific and technological developments as well as their impact on environment, economy, etc.
  5. Demonstrate knowledge of America’s political structure and foreign policy through 1865.
  6. Demonstrate ability to interpret, analyze, and compose arguments utilizing appropriate support from primary sources (letters, diaries, speeches, etc.) and secondary sources (work produced by historians such as textbooks, articles, quotations, etc.).

I look forward to meeting each of you and learning with you this semester. 

 

Bon Voyage,

Professor Touryan

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