Faculty Syllabus

How will I show I’m learning in this course?

Assignments and Grade Breakdown

Attendance & Discussion…………….......20%

Smartbook Assignments….…………..….20%

“What’s Missing?” Timeline..…..…….......30%

Seven Generations Project….……..…….30%

Assignment Descriptions

Attendance and Discussion: Discussing the ideas you’ve read about, connecting them to your own life and experiences, resolving questions with others, and learning how others’ ideas may differ from your own are key components of learning. Each of our class meetings will allow you to reflect independently on the reading, discuss your ideas in small groups, and share out in a bigger group discussion. In class, we will create zines where you can add your notes, ideas, insights, and ask me any questions you may have that weren’t addressed in class. These zines will serve as the basis for your attendance and participation credit each day.

SmartBook Assignments: Reading a college textbook like the one we’re using can be intimidating, and it can be challenging to focus on the reading when there are distractions in your study environment or the material doesn’t seem that interesting. But, Dr. C, I’m always interested in assigned reading for class . . . said no student ever. SmartBook Assignments not only lead you through the reading assignments clearly, they also walk you through areas of focus, forms of annotation, and comprehension-building. 

“What’s Missing?” Timeline: Every textbook represents a set of choices an author makes to streamline students’ understanding of a field of study. That means that the author chooses to focus on some areas while excluding others. In the “What’s Missing?” Timeline, you’ll have an opportunity to think about what you don’t see in the textbook that you’d like to know more about. With guidance from Dr. C, you’ll research these topics and add them to a Padlet timeline where you can then present your research in class.

Seven Generations Project: In this final assignment, you will have an opportunity to consider your family’s origins and time-travel across the various continents and time periods we have discussed in class. This creative project, which may be composed in any format you choose, will trace your ancestors’ journeys over seven generations (back to the Renaissance period), allowing you to narrate their experiences across different times and places as you imagine what they must have seen and experienced based on your understanding of that time period from our class reading and discussions as well as your own research.

Our course will be accessing and referring to Landmarks in Humanities, 5th Edition, by Gloria K. Fiero. McGraw-Hill, 2024.

Required: Landmarks in Humanities eBook through Connect / McGraw-Hill, accessible through our course Blackboard site. During orientation for the course students will be setting up their accounts for access to eMaterials.

The course is a "First Day Access" or "Inclusive" course, so automatically with tuition, you should be set with your textbooks — the ebooks will be available to you through our course Blackboard site. Some more details are here: https://www.austincc.edu/academic-and-career-programs/first-day-classes

If you choose to "opt out" of First Day Access and have questions about materials, please contact your professor.

This course is a study of representative samples of literature, art, philosophy, and music of various periods and cultures from the Renaissance to the modern day. The study of the interrelationships of the arts and their philosophies emphasizes an understanding of human nature and the values of human life.

There are no course prerequisites for Introduction to the Humanities II. A passing score or the equivalent on the reading portion of the TSI test is required.

This course is divided into four cycles:

• Cycle 0: Orientation and Opening
• Cycle 1: Rebirth, Reformation, and Cross-Cultural Encounters
• Cycle 2: Questions of Authority from the Baroque through the Romantic Era
• Cycle 3: Industrialism, Modernism, and the New Globalism
• Cycle 4: Roots, Routes, and Relationships

1. Communication Skills - develop, interpret, and express ideas and information through written, oral and visual communication that is adapted to purpose, structure, audience, and medium,
2. Critical Thinking Skills - Gather, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and apply information for the purposes of innovation, inquiry, and creative thinking,
3. Personal Responsibility - Identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions, and consequences,
4. Social Responsibility (Civic and Cultural Awareness) - Analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.

1. Students will be able to identify a variety of significant works of art from various times and places in human history.
2. Students will be able to analyze works of art within their cultural context,
3. Students will be able to evaluate the relationship between the arts and human values.
4. Students will be able to demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities.
5. Students will be able to articulate how these works express the values of the individual and society within an historical and social context.
6. Students will be able to articulate an informed personal response and critically analyze works in the arts and humanities.
7. Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the influence of literature, philosophy, and the arts on cultural
8. experiences.
9. Students will be able to demonstrate an awareness of the creative process and why humans create.