Course Format and Requirements

This course is organized around lectures, guest lectures, films, and interactive class discussion and small group activities. Active learning and discussion of problems are crucial elements in helping you gain a critical understanding of globalization processes. Because much of this will happen in class, attendance is mandatory. The only excused absences are for family or health emergencies (with proof), and you must report your absence to me, or it will be considered an unexcused absence.

You will be graded on the following:

Assignment	% of Grade
Attendance and Participation	10
Quizzes	25
Summit Participation and Brief	15
“This I Believe” Assignment	25
Final Exam	25

I will not always refer to the readings in our discussions, but it is essential that you keep up on the reading assignments because they provide crucial background on the issues we will cover in class. We will have five brief (15 minute) open-note (but not open-book) quizzes. The first will be a map quiz and the following quizzes will focus on all the readings completed since the previous quiz. If you miss class and have not cleared it ahead of time with me, you cannot make up the quiz.  If it is an excused absence, you can retake the quiz during one of the times I hold office hours. 

We will also have a final exam that will test how well you have learned the basic concepts and debates in Global Studies. This exam, which is scheduled for 12/16 from 9-11am, will combine key word definitions, short answers, and essay questions.

Throughout the semester, we will periodically hold an in-class "summit" to examine and debate key global issues and dilemmas. Each summit will consist of small groups who have been assigned to present a particular position. This assignment requires some basic collaborative research and planning in these groups. I highly recommend that at least one person from your group meet with me to get help with sources, arguments, etc. sometime before your summit. Within a week after your summit presentation, everyone who participated in that particular summit will independently write a three-page brief on his/her assigned position explaining why he/she agrees or disagrees with it or offering further analysis/criticism/perspectives on the debate itself. I will not assign a grade to this assignment; if you obviously take it seriously, offering well-researched and defended positions and writing a thoughtful analysis paper, you will receive full credit (15% of your overall course grade). If you don’t, you will receive no credit for this assignment (or I may ask you to rewrite a longer analysis paper). (For a more detailed handout on this assignment see here.

In order to provide you with the opportunity to develop your own perspectives on how you relate as an individual to globalization processes, each of you will write and then read to the rest of the class a short statement modeled on statements prepared and read for the NPR radio program "This I Believe." The statement will be between 300 and 500 words, and the central theme for you to address is what it means to you to be a "global citizen." Note: I do not want you to simply mouth truisms about how wonderful it is to be a "citizen of the world" – I am looking for a reflective piece rooted in critical thinking about what you think your place is in the broader world and what you consider is your responsibility to it.

We will work steadily on this assignment throughout the semester. There will be at least one opportunity for a peer evaluation. I will grade you on each step in that process, which include:

Credo Exercise (non-graded): Sept. 23

First Draft (30% of overall grade): Oct. 28 

Peer-review draft (non-graded): Nov. 20

Final Draft (55% of overall grade): Dec. 2

Presentation/reading (15% of overall grade) Dec. 4, 9, 11

Policy on Religious Holidays

If you will miss a class because of a religious holiday, the University policy is that you must submit in writing to me by the end of the second full week of classes your documented religious holiday schedule for the semester. I will permit students who miss work for the purpose of religious observance to make up this work.

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