Topics:
1. Academics: Grades, GPA, academic standing, and the academic year
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Homework 1 (2 points)
Complete the online exercise "Campus Vocabulary" anytime after the start of the semester and before 15 January 2010. Once you've scored 100%, email the results (with your name) to your instructor and to your personal email account.
Bring the book from the UNYP Library that you signed up for to class this week.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 1
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
UNYP was founded in the year ______
UNYP is part of the __________ Group of schools, which includes campuses in:
All study programs at UNYP are taught in which language?
What percentage of teachers at UNYP are native English speakers? Less / More than 50 %
How many different countries are UNYP's teachers from? Less / More than 10
About how many of UNYP's teachers are Czech? None, 1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, All
About how many of UNYP's teachers are American? None, 1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, All
How many different countries to UNYP students come from? Less / More than 50
The largest nationality of UNYP students is: American, Czech, Russian, Slovak
The add / drop deadline is:
To add or drop a course during the add/drop period, you must pick up a form from which office?
If you drop a course, you do / do not lose your tuition money.
The withdrawal deadline is:
If you withdraw from a course, you do / do not lose your tuition money.
The chair of your department is:
The Student Affairs Office is on which floor?
The Student Affairs Office can help you with (check all that apply)
The Registrar's Office is on which floor?
The Counseling Center is on which floor?
True/False: Smoking is not allowed in the UNYP building.
True/False: You may not use mobile phones in classrooms.
True/False: You may not consume alcoholic beverages in the UNYP building.
True/False: You must pay for any damage you cause to UNYP's facilities and equipment.
Notes:
Academic Calendars
Grading scale
A: Outstanding work
B: Good work, distinctly above average
C: Acceptable work
D: Work that is significantly below average
F: Work that does not meet minimum standards for passing the course
Grade distribution
Topics:
1. Academics: American university systems
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Homework 2 (2 points)
Briefly (in 250 to 400 words) describe your strengths and weaknesses as a university student, and your plans to improve the areas where you have weaknesses.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 2
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
Briefly define "continuous assessment."
The highest/best grade on the grading scale is:
The lowest/worst grade on the grading scale is:
Attendance is / is not required at all course meetings.
What information can you find in a course outline / syllabus (check all that apply)
What level is this course: UNYP 99101 Introduction to University Studies
The UNYP Honor Code specifically mentions which two offenses?
Courses in which you earn a D+ or below will / will not be accepted for transfer or counted towards a bachelor's degree by State University of New York, Empire State College or most other universities.
"GPA" stands for:
The lowest / worst GPA is:
The highest / best GPA is:
To be in "good academic standing," you must have a cumulative GPA of at least:
To be accepted by State University of New York, Empire State College as a student after your first two years of study, you must have a GPA of at least:
Define "pre-requisite course."
True / False: If you do not maintain a GPA of at least 2.00, you may be dismissed from UNYP.
If you would like to review your final exam for a course, you must contact:
A final course grade can only be changed if:
If you disagree with a grade you have received, you should contact:
An academic semester is how many weeks long at UNYP on the daily programs?
When does the withdrawal period usually end?
The exam period is how many weeks on the daily programs?
Where can you find a copy of the Academic Calendar? (Check all that apply)
Where can you find a copy of the semester's schedule of all classes? (Check all that apply)
Notes:
General Education: 10 knowledge and skill areas
* Mathematics
* Natural Sciences
* Social Sciences
* American History
* Western Civilization
* Other World Civilizations
* Humanities
* The Arts
* Foreign Language
* Basic Communication
General Education: 2 competencies
* Critical Thinking (Reasoning)
* Information Management
State University of New York, Empire State College
Prague Program Director - Evelyn Wells
From: J. Bradford DeLong, Claudia Goldin, and Lawrence F. Katz, in H. Aaron, et al., eds., Agenda for the Nation, Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution (2003).
pp. 20-21:
The United States led the world in mass education during the nineteenth century and substantially widened its lead over much of the twentieth century. It forged ahead by instituting mass secondary schooling early in the twentieth century and by establishing a flexible and multifaceted higher education system. And early in the twentieth century, the United States achieved the world's highest per capita income - a position that it maintained for the remainder of that century. The twentieth century can thus be thought of not only as the 'American century' but as the 'human-capital century.'
The twentieth century became the human-capital century because of wide-ranging changes in business, industry, and technology that increased the demand for particular cognitive skills. The early twentieth century rise of big business and or large retail, insurance, and banking operations, for example, generated increased demand for literate and numerate office workers. As technological changes - in industries ranging from petroleum refining to food processing - intensified the use of science in industry, demand increased not only for professionals and office workers but for educated blue-collar workers. The relative value of workers who could read blueprints and knew algebra, geometry, chemistry, and some physics increased enormously with electrification, with the spread of the internal combustion engine, and with the increased use of complex chemical processes. Farmers who understood chemistry, botany, and accounting had a competitive edge over their less educated neighbors. Education beyond the elementary grades was no longer just for the professionals. It was for all.
p. 27:
Changes in the wage structure are largely shaped by a race between the rising demand for skills, which is driven by technological changes and industrial shifts in employment, and an increasing supply of skills, which is driven by immigration, demographic shifts, and changes in educational investment across cohorts. Throughout the twentieth century, demand shifted toward industries and occupations that employed workers with higher than average levels of education. At the same time, technological change also increased the demand for well-educated workers, both within industries and within occupations. From 1915 to the 1970s, when increasing supply more than offset the added demand for skilled workers, educational wage differentials narrowed. Since 1980, demand for well-educated workers has outpaced supply, and educational wage differentials have been rising as a consequence.
Countries in which increases in educational attainment have recently slowed - including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada - have experienced greater increases in educational wage differentials, especially for younger cohorts, than have countries where educational attainment has continued to expand rapidly, such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
p. 29:
For nearly fifty years, economic analysis has shown that an increase in the quality of the labor force will boost output. [...]
Analysts disagree on the precise importance of the different channels by which education affects economic growth, but they concur that the overall effect of education on growth is large. Research comparing economic growth among different countries has found that per capita output increases more rapidly in nations that have both a high level of educational attainment and rapid growth in educational attainment.
p. 31-32:
Although the contribution is difficult to quantify precisely, increases in educational attainment also made a large indirect contribution to economic growth by fueling innovation and the diffusion of new technologies into the work place. Businesses with better-educated workers adapted new technologies sooner and showed greater productivity benefits from investments in information technology. Furthermore, highly educated labor is the primary input into research and development (R&D), and some estimates suggest that the intensity of R&D has been a significant (and possibly the largest measurable) contributor to growth in U.S. labor productivity over the past fifty years.
Topics:
1. Creating effective notes from textbook readings
Required reading / viewing / listening:
"Appendix: Statistical methods," in Wade & Tavris, Psychology, 7th ed.
Homework due:
Homework 3 (2 points)
After you've read and marked up (e.g., highlighted, underlined, made notes in the margin, or made notes on a separate piece of paper) the reading for this week ("Appendix: Statistical methods"), scan your notes as a single electronic file on the scanner in the UNYP Library and email it to your instructor. Remember to write your name on your notes so I can identify your work.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 3
Quiz questions will be drawn from this week's reading, "Appendix: Statistical methods." Quiz questions will be drawn from the following:
In two to three sentences, define and state the significance of the following terms from the reading:
raw data
frequency distribution
grouped frequency distribution
graph
measure of central tendency
mean
median
mode
measure of variability
range
standard deviation
Define the following symbols from the reading: N, X, Σ
Notes:
Academic reading links, from Empire State College
Note-taking systems links, from Empire State College
Fastfacts - Learning from texts, from the University of Guelph
Fastfacts - SQ4R: A classic method for studying texts, from the University of Guelph
Topics:
1. Writing effective quiz answers
Required reading / viewing / listening:
Three student quizzes, posted below.
Homework due:
Homework 4 (2 points)
Read the three (anonymous) student quiz answers (below) and write a brief (250 to 400 words) page in which make a claim for one of them as the more effective set of answers. Be sure to refer to specific examples from the quizzes and the Wade & Tavris reading to support or illustrate your claims. Post your composition as a comment to this blog post no later than Tuesday 27 October.
Sample student quiz answers:
Quiz instructions: In two to three sentences, define and state the significance of the following term from the reading.
Term: Median
Answer #1:a midpoint, a measure of central tendency.
Answer #2:
Median is the middle number. We need this in case some number is too high or too low which might effect the average but not the median.
Answer #3:
- a measure of central tendency. the value at the midpoint of the distribution of the scores when the scores are ordered from highest to lowest.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 4Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
The American bachelor's programs at UNYP use which credit system?
In the American bachelor's programs at UNYP, 1 hour of class each week across a semester usually equals how many semester credits?
In the American bachelor's programs at UNYP, most courses are how many semester credits? How many ECTS credits?
On the daily programs, most bachelor's courses meet for how many hours each week?
ESC stands for:
SUNY stands for:
Students in the American bachelor's degree programs typically become ESC students after completing how many years of study?
Students in the American bachelor's degree programs must take how many semester credits in ESC courses?
Once students in the American bachelor's programs become co-enrolled with ESC, their academic advisor is called a:
The ESC Office is located on which floor?
The ESC Prague Program Director is:
The "majors" available at UNYP are:
True/False: An American bachelor's study program at UNYP consists of a) major requirements; b) General Education requirements; c) elective courses.
An American bachelor's degree typically requires how many years of full-time study?
To earn an American bachelor's degree at UNYP, you must complete at least how many semester credits?
To earn a bachelor's degree at UNYP, your cumulative GPA must be at least:
You must take State Exams to earn a Czech / American bachelor's degree at UNYP.
What does this refer to? "As a college of arts and sciences, Empire State College expects students to acquire the qualities of a broadly educated person. The purpose of a college education is to enable students not only to accumulate information, but also to appreciate what is learned in a broad context, relate what is being learned to what is already known, judge what one is told rather than merely accept it, and use what is learned in a practical and intellectual way."
What does this refer to? "The student's learning should extend beyond a single, narrow discipline or field. The student should demonstrate an understanding of several diverse perspectives (such as historical, literary, scientific, technological, esthetic, ethical, international, multicultural and gender based) and be able to apply such perspectives to situations in which they must analyze, explain or solve problems concerning human behavor, society and the natural world."
The competencies of "critical thinking / reasoning" and "information management" are part of what requirements at UNYP?
Topics:
1. Academics: European university systems and Bologna
Required reading / viewing / listening:
Listen and/or watch the lecture related to your major:
BUS: Shiller, "Technology and invention in finance"
COM: Deguid, "Open Source"
ENG: Bishop, "Literature in English: Organizational and Introductory lecture"
IER: Smith, "Introduction: What is political philosophy?"
PSY: Bloom, "Foundations: This is your brain"
Homework due:
Homework 5 (2 points)
As you listen to the online lecture for this week, write lecture notes (4 pages, maximum). Try to experience the lecture as a lecture - write notes without re-listening to the lecture. Remember to write your name on the notes so I can identify your work. Scan (if necessary) and email your lecture notes as a single electronic file to your teacher no later than Tuesday 3 November.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 5
Quiz questions will be drawn from the lecture you listened to for this week. You will not have a list of possible questions in advance.
Notes:
Cornell note-taking system
Note-taking systems, from Empire State College
Topics:
1. Discuss Freire, "The banking concept of education"
Required reading / viewing / listening:
Freire, "The 'banking' concept of education."
Homework due:
Homework 6 (2 points)
Freire's description of what he calls the "banking" type of education is what most readers grab hold of when they first read this chapter because it appears familiar; most of us can think of concrete examples where "Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat." But what Freire contrasts to "banking" education - "problem-posing" education - is more difficult to define (which should also be a hint to us that the "banking" concept of education may be a little more complicated, and less familiar, than we think).
In class, we will try to define what Freire means, and test his ideas. As a way to begin organizing your thoughts on this, write a brief paper (250 to 400 words) outlining what, concretely, a "problem-posing" class in your major would look like. Be sure to connect the examples you give with specific references to what Freire says in his essay.
In-class assessment:
Quiz 6
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide, and/or from lecture and class discussion.
ECTS stands for:
The Czech bachelor's programs at UNYP use which credit system?In ECTS, the workload of a full-time student during a year is how many credits?
1 ECTS equals how many hours of work?
If a 6 ECTS course meets in-class for 45 hours during a semester, how many hours of work outside class (preparation, study, homework, essay writing, etc.) should be expected on average?
What is a diploma supplement? What sort of information does it contain?
EQF stands for:
In the Bologna system, a bachelor's degree is a first / second / third cycle degree.
A Czech bachelor's study program at UNYP consists of (circle all that apply): a) major requirements; b) General Education requirements; c) elective courses.
A Czech bachelor's degree typically requires how many years of full-time study?
To earn a 3-year Czech bachelor's degree at UNYP, you must complete at least how many ECTS credits?
To earn a bachelor's degree at UNYP, your cumulative GPA must be at least:
State Exams are conducted in what language?
State Exams are oral / written exams.
True/False: The examiners at State Exams include teachers from other universities as well as UNYP instructors.
At the State Exams, you do / do not defend your Bachelor's Thesis.
How long does the State Exam last?
True/False: Your Bachelor's Thesis will be published on the UNYP website.
Topics:
1. Discuss Rodriguez, "The achievement of desire"
Required reading / viewing / listening:
Rodriguez, "The achievement of desire"
Homework due:
Homework 7 (2 points)
In class this week, we will discuss how Freire might make sense of the story Rodriguez tells in "The achievement of desire." To prepare for this, read Making Connections #1 in Ways of Reading (8th ed. p. 256), and write a brief (250 to 400 word) paper in which you outline how Freire would interpret Rodriguez's story.
Written assessment:
Quiz 7
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
Write out what the following abbreviations stand for:
UNYP
SUNY
ESC
NYC Group
BUS
COM
ENG
IER
PSY
GE or GenEd
GPA
L11
L72
SC
Topics:
1. Academics: The university, its history and role in society
2. Sign up for individual meetings with your instructor next week
Required reading / viewing / listening:
Three anonymous student essays, to be posted below.
Read two articles: the article related to your major, plus one of the other articles, from the list below:
BUS: Sturman, Walsh, & Cheramie, "The Value of Human Capital Specificity Versus Transferability"
COM: Brown, Campbell, & Fischer, "American Adolescents and Music Videos: Why Do They Watch?"
ENG: Moretti, "The Slaughterhouse of Literature"
IER: Hidalgo-Redondo, "Electoral and non-electoral lessons of the crisis of Spanish leftist alliance Izquierda Unida"
PSY: Preiss and Fráňová, "Depressive symptoms, academic achievement, and intelligence"
Homework due:
Homework 8 (2 points)
Read the three (anonymous) student essays (to be posted below), and write a brief (250 to 400 words) page in which make a claim for one of them as the more effective essay. Be sure to refer to specific examples from the essays to support or illustrate your claims.
Sample student essay #1
Paolo Freire in his essay "The Banking Concept of Education" describes and compares two types of education: problem-posing class and the banking education. He analyzes possible problematic outcomes of each approach. Richard Rodriguez in his biographic essay "The Achievement of Desire" describes the education he obtained. Freire would interpret Rodriguez's schooling as a typical case of banking education.
Rodriguez describes his attitude to learning through his schooling. He admired his teachers, especially the nuns, and he wanted to become a teacher, not because he wanted to teach somebody, but he aspired to have the same authority and knowledge as his teachers. Freire would interpret this attitude as confusing "the authority of knowledge with his or her (teacher's) professional authority", which is one of the basic point of the banking education. Another major point is that the banking concept will never propose to students to critically consider reality. That was exactly what Rodriguez did when he read all the books without understanding them. Moreover, when he had personal troubles, he tried to find the solution in his books, what seems to be a bit comical.
Another evidence that Rodriguez's education was an example of the banking education, is that he later realized his schoolwork took him away from his family. Freire would say that he discovered that his present way of life is inconsistent with competence of being human.
In my opinion, Freire would conclude that Rodriguez dealt with the problems of banking approach successfully although his life could be easier if he was taught in problem-posing classes.
Sample student essay #2
Results of educational system
The whole reading is connected with Freire's description of the banking system. This is understandably because of educational system that the text is telling us about.
In the beginning we can see one of the most fundamental conflicts between school and family life. Children only change one authority. They do not cooperate with teacher. Teacher is for them the vessel of knowledge. The knowledge is being given as finished or unchangeable and without any linkage. Children that start to attend the school like it. This imposes them. It is possible not to always obey parents. However teacher is a big authority. As the result parents become inferior. Children see their future in teacher's personality.
Teacher shows them the world as run of events. He does not show how to influence these events. The problem posing education shows this problem. Even thought the system of education is not suitable, parents have to pay a large amount of money to let their children study. The results of banking system are also shown in the second part of the text. I mean the part of text where scholarship boy lies in books. Books should act as collection of knowledge. In text books are described as another well of knowledge. Scholarship boy remembers books and then cites them. He does not think about their meaning. He is not as good in solving problems. Teachers who use the banking education like this type of students. It is possible to say that scholarship is the collector of thoughts. However he is not the creator of thoughts. Then a scholarship boy realizes that the life is on only about memorizing books. Freire would say that it scholarship boy had been educated in problem posing education, he would not have felt any dissatisfaction with his status.
Sample student essay #3
Rodriguez appears to be very conscious about his educational path. He often refers to himself as a "scholarship boy". Out of this concept it is understandable that anyone attaining a scholarship is somewhat intelligent as well as hard working. Indeed, Rodriguez worked hard in school, he brought home trophies and all sorts of prizes. However, Rodriguez tries to explain that there were many moments where he became "too anxious, too eager." He was anxious about schooling and failed to separate life from school. He was encouraged by his parents almost too much and he explains that there also many other types of students who are not scholarship boys who very often fail school because of the lack of encouragement from their "middle class homes."
But slowly his view on things changed. He started embracing the concept of his schooling. He no longer minded being above average, the ambitious pupil, yearning to solve the problems written on the black board. He didn't feel any anger towards his parents who had continuously encouraged him in his academic work. In his family education was a key point to success. He explains his mothers life and her benefits as an educated woman. At the end of the day, she became an educated woman without having gone to college.
Education I believe is probably one of the most important things in life today. Without it we wouldn't advance. The question remains how far you are willing to go to make these changes. Rodriguez was a scholarship boy. He is a "collector of thoughts, not a thinker, the very last person in class who ever feels obliged to have an opinion of his own."
In my opinion I find that Rodriguez is extremely modest by calling himself a "bad scholar." He may not have studied as much as other peopl would to get accepted to Stanford, but it should never mean that he was bad. The only thing I would put the blame on are the schooling methods that Freire describes in his text. One method is set out more for the scholars advancement in life one could say exercizes that require applied knowledge, while the other requires less thinking and basic structured tasks. Looking at the text, there is always a mix of the two teaching methods and that is how it is even today in all schools. Rodriguez isn't a bad student and It is good that his parents were enthusiastic for the greater bits of his school and university life.
Written assessment:
Quiz 8
Quiz terms will be drawn from the academic articles you read for this week. You will not have a list of questions in advance.
No class meeting. Individual meetings in my office on the 3rd floor (L72).
Topics:
1. Review of grades, participation, and performance thus far;
2. Discussion of Essay 1.
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Essay 1 due.
In-class assessment:
None.
Topics:
1. Academic petitions
Required reading / viewing / listening:
Learning style description for your "learning style," as indicated by the exercise below.
Homework due:
Homework 9 (2 points)
Complete the "Index of learning styles questionnaire." Once you've completed and submitted the questionnaire, print out the "Learning styles results" page. Be sure to write your name and the date on the printout. Then learn more about your learning style in "Learning style descriptions."
Written assessment due:
Quiz 9
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the reading for this week ("Learning style descriptions"), the UNYP Student Guide, and/or from lectures and class discussions.
Notes:
Academic petition example 1
Academic petition example 2
Topics:
1. Time management skills and tools
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Homework 10 (2 points)
Complete the online exercise "Developing a schedule: Detemine how you spend a typical 24-hour day" and print the results. Be sure to write your name and the date on the printout.
Written assessment due:
Quiz 10
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide, and/or from lectures and class discussions.
True/False: UNYP conducts fire drills every semester.
True/False: In case of a fire, take the elevator to get to the ground floor.
In case of a fire, the designated gathering point outside the UNYP building is:
The emergency phone number in the Czech Republic and other European Union member states is:
Where do you find signs explaining "emergency procedures" in the UNYP building?
Notes:
Time management links, from Empire State College
Topics:
1. Academics: Academic integrity
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Homework 11 (2 points)
Complete the How to recognize plagiarism tutorial from Indiana University's School of Education. Take the online test anytime after the start of this semester; once you've successfully completed the test, print your confirmation certificate, fill in your name in the form at the bottom of the confirmation certificate, and hand it in in class this week.
Written assessment:
Quiz 11
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide, and/or from lectures/class discussions.
During most of the year, the UNYP Library is open how many days per week?
The UNYP Library is on which floor?
What items are specifically not allowed in the library?
Where do you get a key to the lockers in the hall outside the Library?
Circulating materials in the Library may generally be borrowed for how many days?
You may renew your borrowed materials (circle all that apply) in person, by phone, by email.
The library's email address is:
To check out books or use reserve materials in the Library, you must have what with you?
Items on reserve (non-circulating items) may only be used where, and for how long?
Where does the Library keep items on reserve (non-circulating items)?
The penalty for late return of circulating items is how much per item per day?
The penalty for late return of items on reserve (non-circulating items) is how much per item per day?
Where can you find a list of local libraries with English-language collections?
Where can you find a list of local booksellers/distributors, in case you want to buy your own books?
Which online library resources are available at UNYP?
If you wish to use UNYP's wifi network, which office should you contact?
Notes:
Academic integrity pages at Empire State College
Avoiding plagiarism pages at the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
Topics:
1. Academic and institutional quality assurance
Required reading / viewing / listening:
None.
Homework due:
Homework 12 (2 points)
Complete the online exercise "Academic vocabulary" anytime after the start of the semester. Once you've scored 100%, email the results (with your name) to your instructor and to your personal email account. Business majors should select "Business" as their academic discpline; Communication and Psychology majors should select "Psychology / Sociology"; English Language and Literature majors should select "Literature"; and IER majors should select "Politics / Government."
Written assessment:
Quiz 12
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
Briefly define and state the significance of "quality assurance."
UNYP uses the following as part of its regular quality assurance processes for academic programs (circle all that apply): Student Course Evaluations, Peer Course Observations, Departmental Meetings each semester, Individual meetings with teachers each year, a statistical report of grading, review of a representative collection of course materials.
True/False: All teachers have a course/section observed by a department chair or mentor each academic year.
True/False: The goal of Student Course Evaluations and Peer Course Observations is to provide teachers with feedback so they can improve the effectiveness of their teaching.
True/False: You can find UNYP's annual reports to the Czech Ministry of Education on the UNYP website and in the UNYP Library.
The sports teams UNYP currently supports are:
Student Council officers are elected / appointed.
Who is eligible to vote for Student Council officers?
Who may attend Student Council meetings?
What do you need to bring with you to access to one of the fitness centers that UNYP subsidizes?
Notes:
UNYP Annual Report for 2008 (in Czech)
Qrossroads pages on Quality assurance and accreditation in Europe
No class meeting.
Essay 2 due.
Using the assigned lectures, readings, and our discussions as your primary evidence, define the work of the university, the role that students and teachers play in it, and the relation of the university to society (the community, government, the professional world of work and careers).
It may help you to think about differences - how is university different from your secondary (high school) education; how is being a student different from being an employee; and what defines the work of professionals in academia (i.e., the people teaching your classes).Your essay should be 1,000 - 1,500 words. The assignment is due to your teacher by email by Monday 30 November.
All essays must:
* be word processed;
* use a 12-point font;
* be double-spaced;
* have numbered pages;
* include your name and a title on the first page;
* use APA citation format;
* use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation;* use Rich Text Format (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.
This assignment meets or partially meets these learning outcomes:
* apply effective academic skills in a variety of typical academic contexts (lectures, discussion, tests, essays, presentations);* understand the requirements and characteristics of scholarly work;* develop coherent, sustained arguments or interpretations in writing, supported by appropriate examples;
* manage self and time to successfully meet course requirements, including preparation (homework and studying), attendance, active participation, and the timely submission of assignments.
Grading criteria
An "A" paper:
This paper is exceptional. It takes some intellectual risks, and carries out its project with an impressive sophistication of thought and style. The main idea or thesis is clearly communicated. While significant and worthy of being developed, it is also limited enough to be manageable. The paper shows an awareness of some complexity in the thesis: it may discuss possible contradictions or qualifications of the thesis and their implications. The paper's terms and keywords are clearly defined and all sources are critically examined. The structure of the paper is clear, whether it is a "logical" structure or a more "associational" organization. The paper is generally free from grammatical and spelling errors.
A "B" paper:
This paper does more than fulfill the assignment. It carries out its project with a noticeable degree of skill and competence. It has a clearly stated thesis and organization. It touches on the complexity of the thesis and shows careful reading of the sources. All relevant terms are defined. The paragraphs are unified and relate to the thesis. It has no major distracting errors in usage or mechanics (grammar and spelling), and no major lapses in diction or organization.
A "C" paper:
This paper acceptably fulfills the assignment, though in a routine way. There is a thesis, though it may be rather general. The complexity of the thesis may be touched upon but is not really addressed. The paper's terms and keywords tend to show a similar generality. The paper's concepts and thesis are clear enough, but their generality is often a way for the writer to avoid engaging the issues in any real depth. The paper may use sources and cite counter-arguments, but does not critically engage them. The paper has a structure that the reader can discern, though it may be interrupted at times by random or unclear paragraphs and sentences. There may be errors in usage or mechanics.
A "D" paper:
This paper does not have a clearly defined and meaningful thesis, or shows a lack of engagement on the part of the writer. The paper may lack a meaningful purpose: that purpose could be so vague that the reader is unsure why the writer is writing the essay, or the purpose could be so specific that the reader is uncertain why he or she is reading the essay. The paper does not have a coherent structure, uses few or inappropriate transitions and lacks coherent paragraph structure. Specific and relevant evidence is often missing to support the paper's assertions. There are enough mechanical errors to make it difficult for the reader to understand the writer's point clearly and quickly. Typically, this paper will have problems such as vague diction, ambiguous phrasings, awkward sentences, undefined terms, unexamined sources, or no sources at all.
An "F" paper:
This paper does not respond to the assignment, or has no main idea or thesis and uses no sources. There is no clearly discernable organization or structure to the paper. There is no relevant supporting evidence. The amount of mechanical errors makes it difficult to follow the sequence of ideas. A stylistically adequate paper that does not respond to the assignment is an "F" paper, as is a paper that is not turned in on time.
This course has immersed you in the details of UNYP as an academic institution. It has also asked you to consider larger questions: what a university is, and what role it plays in the world and in the lives of individuals. The assignments of the previous weeks have asked you to articulate various aspects of this, especially Essay 1 (in which you defined the role of the university) and Homework 2 (in which you described yourself in terms of academic skills).
Working with the material you created for these assignments, write an essay in which you describe your long-term personal and professional goals; how a university education can contribute to these goals, and what you can contribute to the university environment of UNYP.
Your Essay 2 should be 1,000 - 1,500 words. The essay is due by email to your teacher on or before Monday 18 January.
Paper requirements:
All essays must:* be word processed;* use a 12-point font;* be double-spaced;* have numbered pages;* include your name and a title on the first page;* use APA citation format;* use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation;
* use Rich Text Format (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.
This assignment meets or partially meets these learning outcomes:
* apply effective academic skills in a variety of typical academic contexts (lectures, discussion, tests, essays, presentations);* demonstrate a practical knowledge of institutional resources and policies;* understand the requirements and characteristics of scholarly work;
* define their personal learning goals;* develop coherent, sustained arguments or interpretations in writing, supported by appropriate examples;* manage self and time to successfully meet course requirements, including preparation (homework and studying), attendance, active participation, and the timely submission of assignments.
Grading criteria
An “A” paper:
This paper is exceptional. It takes some intellectual risks, and carries out its project with an impressive sophistication of thought and style. The main idea or thesis is clearly communicated. While significant and worthy of being developed, it is also limited enough to be manageable. The paper shows an awareness of some complexity in the thesis: it may discuss possible contradictions or qualifications of the thesis and their implications. The paper’s terms and keywords are clearly defined and all sources are critically examined. The structure of the paper is clear, whether it is a “logical” structure or a more “associational” organization. The paper is generally free from grammatical and spelling errors.
A “B” paper:
This paper does more than fulfill the assignment. It carries out its project with a noticeable degree of skill and competence. It has a clearly stated thesis and organization. It touches on the complexity of the thesis and shows careful reading of the sources. All relevant terms are defined. The paragraphs are unified and relate to the thesis. It has not major distracting errors in usage or mechanics (grammar and spelling), and no major lapses in diction or organization.
A “C” paper:
This paper acceptably fulfills the assignment, though in a routine way. There is a thesis, though it may be rather general. The complexity of the thesis may be touched upon but is not really addressed. The paper’s terms and keywords tend to show a similar generality. The paper’s concepts and thesis are clear enough, but their generality is often a way for the writer to avoid engaging the issues in any real depth. The paper may use sources and cite counter-arguments, but does not critically engage them. The paper has a structure that the reader can discern, though it may be interrupted at times by random or unclear paragraphs and sentences. There may be errors in usage or mechanics.
A “D” paper:
This paper does not have a clearly defined and meaningful thesis, or shows a lack of engagement on the part of the writer. The paper may lack a meaningful purpose: that purpose could be so vague that the reader is unsure why the writer is writing the essay, or the purpose could be so specific that the reader is uncertain why he or she is reading the essay. The paper does not have a coherent structure, uses few or inappropriate transitions and lacks coherent paragraph structure. Specific and relevant evidence is often missing to support the paper’s assertions. There are enough mechanical errors to make it difficult for the reader to understand the writer’s point clearly and quickly. Typically, this paper will have problems such as vague diction, ambiguous phrasings, awkward sentences, undefined terms, unexamined sources, or no sources at all.
An “F” paper:
This paper does not respond to the assignment, or has no main idea or thesis and uses no sources. There is no clearly discernable organization or structure to the paper. There is no relevant supporting evidence. The amount of mechanical errors makes it difficult to follow the sequence of ideas. A stylistically adequate paper that does not respond to the assignment is an “F” paper, as is a paper that is not turned in on time.
Cumulative grades for F09 Introduction to University Studies.
Course: UNYP 99101 Introduction to University Studies
Credits: 1 semester credit / 2 ECTS
Length: 1 semester (15 weeks)
In-class contact hours: 15
Language of Instruction: English
Level: Lower-level course in a bachelor's degree program
Pre-requisites: None
Teaching methods: Lectures, readings, discussion, in-class exercises
Class times, rooms
Classroom 22
6 different sections: Mondays 12:00; 13:00; 14:00; Thursdays 12:00; 13:00; 14:00
Instructors
William Barnard, Ph.D.
Catalog DescriptionA required graded course for all new UNYP students with no previous university studies. Basic academic and organizational skills necessary for success at university; institutional resources and policies; integration into the university community.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:* apply effective academic skills in a variety of typical academic contexts (lectures, discussion, tests, essays, presentations);
* apply effective organizational skills in the successful completion of the course;
* demonstrate a practical knowledge of institutional resources and policies;
* understand the requirements and characteristics of scholarly work;
* define their personal learning goals;
* actively engage with the university culture in both academic and non-academic fora;* develop the skills needed to be independent life-long learners.
To successfully complete the course, students will:
* develop coherent, sustained arguments or interpretations in writing, supported by appropriate examples; * articulate ideas, and respond to the ideas of others, in the context of group discussions;* manage self and time to successfully meet course requirements, including preparation (homework and studying), attendance, active participation, and the timely submission of assignments.
General Education Requirement
The competencies of Critical Thinking / Reasoning and Information Management are infused throughout this course.
Critical Thinking / Reasoning
Students will:* identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments as they occur in their own or others' work; and* develop well-reasoned arguments.
Information Management
Students will:* perform the basic operations of personal computer use;* understand and use basic research techniques; and
* locate, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources.
Required Readings, Viewings, Listenings
Bartholomae, D., & Petrosky, A. (2008). Ways of Reading (8th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Bishop, J. (2008). Lecture: Introduction to Literature: Organizational and introductory lecture. University of California, Berkeley. 27 August 2008.
Bloom, P. (2007). Lecture: Foundations: This is your brain. 22 January 2007. Yale University.
Brown, J., Campbell, K., and Fischer, L. (1986). American Adolescents and Music Videos: Why do they watch? International Communication Gazette 37, 19-32.
Deguid, P. (2006). Lecture: Open Source. 27 November 2006. University of California, Berkeley.
Freire, P. (1970). The "banking" concept of education. Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In D. Bartholomae & A. Petrosky, Ways of Reading (8th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Hidalgo-Redondo, Ó. (2008). Electoral and non-electoral lessons of the crisis of Spanish leftist alliance Izquierda Unida. European Electoral Studies, 3(2), 140-161.
Moretti, F. (2000). The Slaughterhouse of Literature. Modern Language Quarterly 61(1), 207-227.
Preiss, M., & Fráňová, L. (2006). Depressive symptoms, academic achievement, and intelligence. Studia Psychologica 48(1), 57-67.
Rodriguez, R. (1982). The achievement of desire. Chapter 2 of Hunger of Memory: The education of Richard Rodriguez. In D. Bartholomae & A. Petrosky, Ways of Reading (8th ed). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Shiller, R. J. (2008). Lecture: Technology and invention in finance. 18 January 2008. Yale University.
Smith, S. B. (2006). Lecture: Introduction: What is political philosophy? 11 September 2006. Yale University.
Sturman, M., Walsh, K, and Cheramie, R. (2008). The Value of Human Capital Specificity Versus Transferability. Journal of Management 34(2), 290-316.
UNYP Student Guide 2009-2010
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2002). Appendix: Statistical methods. In Psychology (pp. 659-663). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
All readings are available on NetLearn, or through the internet if linked to above. Some readings are also available in the UNYP Library. Audio/video lectures accessible on the World Wide Web.
Course Requirements, with estimated workloads
* Quizzes (best 10 out of 12) - 1 hour of preparation per quiz, 10 hours total
* Homework (best 10 out of 12) - 1 hour preparation per paragraph, 10 hours total
* Essays (2) - 8 hours preparation, writing, and revising per essay - 16 hours total
* Active, positive participation in class meetings - 1 hour per week, 14 hours total
* Weekly readings / viewings / listenings - 10 hours total
Total estimated workload for the semester: 60 hours
Criteria for Determination of Grade, including evaluation methods* 20 % Quizzes* 20 % Homework* 20 % Participation* 20 % Essay 1* 20 % Essay 2
Criteria for evaluating specific assignments are included with the assignment.
General Requirements
* All course work is governed by the UNYP Honor Code, and students are expected to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. All students are expected to be familiar with the UNYP Honor Code.
* All readings / viewings / listenings should be completed before that week's class meeting; they form the basis of that week's work in class.
* Students should have a copy (paper or electronic) of the week's readings at each class meeting.
* Mobile phones should be on silent; no calling or texting during class meetings (wait until the breaks).
* All media and communication devices, including computers, may not be used in ways that distract you or other students from our work during class meetings.
* Unless otherwise specified, homework and papers / essays are due by email before noon on the day of that week's class meeting.
* Late work is not accepted.
* Missed work / assignments / assessments may not be made up.
Students with disabilities
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact their teacher as soon as possible to discuss reasonable accommodation.
Grading scale
A: Outstanding work
B: Good work, distinctly above average
C: Acceptable work
D: Work that is significantly below average
F: Work that does not meet minimum standards for passing the course
Specific grading criteria are included with each assignment.
Technology Expectations
* Regular use of word processing software
* Regular use of internet
* Regular use of UNYP NetLearn
* Regular use of your UNYP email account
* Regular use of this course blog.
WEEKEND 1 (September 26)
Topics:
1. Introductions
2. Course outline and schedule
3. Academics: Grades, GPA, academic standing
4. Academics: European university systems and Bologna
5. Academics: Academic integrity
6. Time management skills
7. Writing effective quiz answers
8. Academic and institutional quality assurance
9. Academic petitions
Required readings / viewings / listenings:
None.
Homework due:
None.
In-class assessment:
None.
Notes:
Department Chair - Business Administration - Václav Chvalovský (acting chair)
Undergraduate Program Coordinator - Zuzana Krahulcová
Grade distribution
Time management links, from Empire State College
Sample quiz answers
Instructions: Briefly (in two to three sentences) define and state the significance of the following terms from the readings and viewings for the class:
Thomas Paine
Answer #1
- his most significant work Common Sence
- he wrote it in the language of citizens so it was easy to read
- main idea is that America has finally find her way to be, exists on her own
- it is essential to govern America by the colonists in order to ensure peace and suverenty and liberty
Answer #2
English & American; Author of the Common Sence (letter against the king George III)
Answer #3
- Writer
- Common Sense
conquistador
Answer #1
Spanish explorer(s) soldier(s).
↓
during the 15th - 19th century
Answer #2
Desoto, Pizzaro
Man who try to find some valuable items (gold, advanced civilization, silver) in explored land violence against native inhabitants
guns and germs
Answer #3
"Conquistador" is the name applied to the Spanish conquerors of the New World - especially Mexico and South America, notable ones being Cortez and Pissaro.
Bering Strait
Answer #1
During the ice age place covered on ice where hunters-gatherers went to "new world". It melted → isolation → native Americans (Alaska)
Answer #2
Bering Strait is a strait that connects East Eurasia and West North America. It was from here that the first human settlers started to explore Americas from Asia thousands of years ago.
UNYP Annual Report for 2008 (in Czech)
Qrossroads pages on Quality assurance and accreditation in Europe
Academic petition example 1
Academic petition example 2
WEEKEND 2 (October 10)
Topics:
1. Creating effective lecture notes
2. Academic essays: Basic structure
3. Discuss Freire, "The banking concept of education"
4. Discuss Rodriguez, "The achievement of desire"
5. Course quiz
Required readings / viewings / listenings:
Freire, "The banking concept of education"
Rodriguez, "The achievement of desire"
Wade & Tavris, "Appendix: Statistical methods"
Shiller, "Technology and invention in finance"
Learning style description for your "learning style" as indicated by the learning style test
Homework due:
Unless otherwise specified, all homework is due by email no later than 9 October.
Homework 1: Strengths/weaknesses as a student (2 points)
Briefly (in 250 to 400 words) describe your strengths and weaknesses as a university student, and your plans to improve the areas where you have weaknesses.
Homework 2: Learning styles exercise (2 points)
Complete the "Index of learning styles questionnaire." Once you've completed and submitted the questionnaire, print out the "Learning styles results" page. Be sure to write your name and the date on the printout. Then learn more about your learning style in "Learning style descriptions."
Homework 3: Campus vocabulary exercise (2 points)
Complete the online exercise "Campus Vocabulary". Once you've scored 100%, email the results (with your name) to your instructor and to your personal email account.
Homework 4: Academic vocabulary exercise (2 points)
Complete the online exercise "Academic vocabulary" anytime after the start of the semester. Once you've scored 100%, email the results (with your name) to your instructor and to your personal email account. Business majors should select "Business" as their academic discpline.
Homework 5: How to recognize plagiarism exercise (2 points)
Complete the How to recognize plagiarism tutorial from Indiana University's School of Education. Take the online test; once you've successfully completed the test, print your confirmation certificate, fill in your name in the form at the bottom of the confirmation certificate, and hand it in in class this week.
Related resources:
Academic integrity pages at Empire State College
Avoiding plagiarism pages at Purdue University's Online Writing Lab
Homework 6: Mark-up exercise (2 points)
After you've read and marked up (e.g., highlighted, underlined, made notes in the margin, or made notes on a separate piece of paper) the reading "Appendix: Statistical methods" by Wade & Tavris, scan your notes as a single electronic file (you can use the scanner in the UNYP Library) and email it to me. Remember to write your name on your notes so I can identify your work.
Related resources:
Academic reading links from Empire State College
Note-taking systems, from Empire State College
Fastfacts - Learning from texts, from University of Guelph
Fastfacts - SQ4R: A classic method for studying texts, from University of Guelph
Homework 7: Lecture notes exercise (2 points)
As you listen to the online lecture by Shiller, write lecture notes (4 pages, maximum). Try to experience the lecture as a lecture - write notes without re-listening to the lecture. Remember to write your name on the notes so I can identify your work. Scan (if necessary) and email your lecture notes to me as a single electronic file.
Related resources:
Cornell note-taking system, from Cornell University
Homework 8: Effective quiz answer exercise (2 points)
This exercise is cancelled, because we did it in class.
Homework 9: Freire response paper (2 points)
Freire's description of what he calls the "banking" type of education is what most readers grab hold of when they first read this chapter because it appears familiar; most of us can think of concrete examples where "Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat." But what Freire contrasts to "banking" education - "problem-posing" education - is more difficult to define (which should also be a hint to us that the "banking" concept of education may be a little more complicated, and less familiar, than we think).
In class, we will try to define what Freire means, and test his ideas. As a way to begin organizing your thoughts on this, write a brief paper (250 to 400 words) outlining what, concretely, a "problem-posing" class in your major would look like. Be sure to connect the examples you give with specific references to what Freire says in his essay.
Homework 10: Rodriguez response paper (2 points)
In class, we will discuss how Freire might make sense of the story Rodriguez tells in "The achievement of desire." To prepare for this, read Making Connections #1 in Ways of Reading (8th ed. p. 256), and write a brief (250 to 400 word) paper in which you outline how Freire would interpret Rodriguez's story.
In-class assessment:
Quiz questions will be drawn from the list below. Answers can be found in the UNYP Student Guide and/or lectures and class discussions.
About UNYP
UNYP was founded in the year ______
UNYP is part of the __________ Group of schools, which includes campuses in:
All study programs at UNYP are taught in which language?
What percentage of teachers at UNYP are native English speakers? Less / More than 50 %
How many different countries are UNYP's teachers from? Less / More than 10
About how many of UNYP's teachers are Czech? None, 1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, All
About how many of UNYP's teachers are American? None, 1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, All
How many different countries to UNYP students come from? Less / More than 50
The largest nationality of UNYP students is: American, Czech, Russian, Slovak
The add / drop deadline for weekend courses is:
To add or drop a course during the add/drop period, you must pick up a form from which office?
If you drop a course, you do / do not lose your tuition money.
The withdrawal deadline for weekend courses is:
If you withdraw from a course, you do / do not lose your tuition money.
The chair of your department is:
The Student Affairs Office is on which floor?
The Student Affairs Office can help you with (check all that apply)
The Registrar's Office is on which floor?
The Counseling Center is on which floor?
True/False: Smoking is not allowed in the UNYP building.
True/False: You may not use mobile phones in classrooms.
True/False: You may not consume alcoholic beverages in the UNYP building.
True/False: You must pay for any damage you cause to UNYP's facilities and equipment.
Write out what the following abbreviations stand for:
UNYP
NYC Group
BUS
GPA
L72
SC
Academics, grading
Briefly define "continuous assessment."
The highest/best grade on the grading scale is:
The lowest/worst grade on the grading scale is:
Attendance is / is not required at all course meetings.
What information can you find in a course outline / syllabus (check all that apply)
What level is this course: UNYP 99101 Introduction to University Studies
The UNYP Honor Code specifically mentions which two offenses?
Fill in the blanks in the grade table, below.
"GPA" stands for:
The lowest / worst GPA is:
The highest / best GPA is:
To be in "good academic standing," you must have a cumulative GPA of at least:
Define "pre-requisite course."
True / False: If you do not maintain a GPA of at least 2.00, you may be dismissed from UNYP.
If you would like to review your final exam for a course, you must contact:
A final course grade can only be changed if:
If you disagree with a grade you have received, you should contact:
An academic semester is how many weeks long at UNYP on the daily programs?
When does the withdrawal period usually end?
The exam period is how many weeks on the daily programs?
Where can you find a copy of the Academic Calendar? (Check all that apply)
Where can you find a copy of the semester's schedule of all classes? (Check all that apply)Reading: "Appendix: Statistical methods"These questions are drawn from the reading, "Appendix: Statistical methods." In two to three sentences, define and state the significance of the following terms from the reading:
raw data
frequency distribution
grouped frequency distribution
graph
measure of central tendency
mean
median
mode
measure of variability
range
standard deviation
Define the following symbols from the reading: N, X, Σ
Lectures, articles in the Business major
Quiz questions will be drawn from the lecture you listened to and the article you read in the Business major. You will not have a list of possible questions in advance.
Bologna system
ECTS stands for:
The Czech bachelor's programs at UNYP use which credit system?
In ECTS, the workload of a full-time student during a year is how many credits?
1 ECTS equals how many hours of work?
If a 6 ECTS course meets in-class for 45 hours during a semester, how many hours of work outside class (preparation, study, homework, essay writing, etc.) should be expected on average?
What is a diploma supplement? What sort of information does it contain?
EQF stands for:
In the Bologna system, a bachelor's degree is a first / second / third cycle degree.
A Czech bachelor's degree typically requires how many years of full-time study?
To earn a 3-year Czech bachelor's degree at UNYP, you must complete at least how many ECTS credits?
To earn a bachelor's degree at UNYP, your cumulative GPA must be at least:State Exams are conducted in what language?
State Exams are oral / written exams.
True/False: The examiners at State Exams include teachers from other universities as well as UNYP teachers.
At the State Exams, you do / do not defend your Bachelor's Thesis.
How long does the State Exam last?
True/False: Your Bachelor's Thesis will be published on the UNYP website.
In case of emergency
True/False: UNYP conducts fire drills every semester.
True/False: In case of a fire, take the elevator to get to the ground floor.
In case of a fire, the designated gathering point outside the UNYP building is:
The emergency phone number in the Czech Republic is:
Where do you find signs explaining "emergency procedures" in the UNYP building?
The UNYP Library
During most of the year, the UNYP Library is open how many days per week?
The UNYP Library is on which floor?
What items are specifically not allowed in the library?
Where do you get a key to the lockers in the hall outside the Library?
Circulating materials in the Library may generally be borrowed for how many days?
You may renew your borrowed materials (circle all that apply) in person, by phone, by email.
The library's email address is:
To check out books or use reserve materials in the Library, you must have what with you?
Items on reserve (non-circulating items) may only be used where, and for how long?
Where does the Library keep items on reserve (non-circulating items)?
The penalty for late return of circulating items is how much per item per day?
The penalty for late return of items on reserve (non-circulating items) is how much per item per day?
Where can you find a list of local libraries with English-language collections?
Where can you find a list of local booksellers/distributors, in case you want to buy your own books?
Which online library resources are available at UNYP?
If you wish to use UNYP's wifi network, which office should you contact?
Quality assurance
Briefly define and state the significance of "quality assurance."
UNYP uses the following as part of its regular quality assurance processes for academic programs (circle all that apply): Student Course Evaluations, Peer Course Observations, Departmental Meetings each semester, Individual meetings with teachers each year, a statistical report of grading, review of a representative collection of course materials.
True/False: All teachers have a course/section observed by a department chair or mentor each academic year.
True/False: The goal of Student Course Evaluations and Peer Course Observations is to provide teachers with feedback so they can improve the effectiveness of their teaching.
True/False: You can find UNYP's annual reports to the Czech Ministry of Education on the UNYP website and in the UNYP Library.
Student activities
The sports teams UNYP currently supports are:
Student Council officers are elected / appointed.
Who is eligible to vote for Student Council officers?
Who may attend Student Council meetings?
What do you need to bring with you to access to one of the fitness centers that UNYP subsidizes?
Essays due (post-class)
There are two separate essays required for this class. Both are due by email no later than Monday 19 October 2009.
Essay 1 assignment
Using the assigned lectures, readings, and our discussions as your primary evidence, define the work of the university, the role that students and teachers play in it, and the relation of the university to society (the community, government, the professional world of work and careers).
It may help you to think about differences - how is university different from secondary (high school) education; how is being a student different from being an employee; and what defines the work of professionals in academia (i.e., the people teaching your classes). Your essay should be 1,000 - 1,500 words.
This assignment meets or partially meets these learning outcomes:
* apply effective academic skills in a variety of typical academic contexts (lectures, discussion, tests, essays, presentations);
* understand the requirements and characteristics of scholarly work;
* develop coherent, sustained arguments or interpretations in writing, supported by appropriate examples;
* manage self and time to successfully meet course requirements, including preparation (homework and studying), attendance, active participation, and the timely submission of assignments.
Essay 2 assignment
This course has immersed you in the details of UNYP as an academic institution. It has also asked you to consider larger questions: what a university is, and what role it plays in the world and in the lives of individuals. Your work of the previous weeks have asked you to articulate various aspects of this, especially Essay 1 (in which you defined the role of the university). Working with the material you created for these assignments, write an essay in which you describe your long-term personal and professional goals; how a university education can contribute to these goals, and what you can contribute to the university environment of UNYP. Your Essay 2 should be 1,000 - 1,500 words.
This assignment meets or partially meets these learning outcomes:* apply effective academic skills in a variety of typical academic contexts (lectures, discussion, tests, essays, presentations);* demonstrate a practical knowledge of institutional resources and policies;
* understand the requirements and characteristics of scholarly work;
* define their personal learning goals;
* develop coherent, sustained arguments or interpretations in writing, supported by appropriate examples;
* manage self and time to successfully meet course requirements, including preparation (homework and studying), attendance, active participation, and the timely submission of assignments.
Paper requirements for both essays
All essays must:* be word processed;* use a 12-point font;
* be double-spaced;
* have numbered pages;
* include your name and a title on the first page;* use APA citation format;
* use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation;
* use Rich Text Format (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.
Grading Criteria
An “A” paper:
This paper is exceptional. It takes some intellectual risks, and carries out its project with an impressive sophistication of thought and style. The main idea or thesis is clearly communicated. While significant and worthy of being developed, it is also limited enough to be manageable. The paper shows an awareness of some complexity in the thesis: it may discuss possible contradictions or qualifications of the thesis and their implications. The paper’s terms and keywords are clearly defined and all sources are critically examined. The structure of the paper is clear, whether it is a “logical” structure or a more “associational” organization. The paper is generally free from grammatical and spelling errors.
A “B” paper:
This paper does more than fulfill the assignment. It carries out its project with a noticeable degree of skill and competence. It has a clearly stated thesis and organization. It touches on the complexity of the thesis and shows careful reading of the sources. All relevant terms are defined. The paragraphs are unified and relate to the thesis. It has not major distracting errors in usage or mechanics (grammar and spelling), and no major lapses in diction or organization.
A “C” paper:
This paper acceptably fulfills the assignment, though in a routine way. There is a thesis, though it may be rather general. The complexity of the thesis may be touched upon but is not really addressed. The paper’s terms and keywords tend to show a similar generality. The paper’s concepts and thesis are clear enough, but their generality is often a way for the writer to avoid engaging the issues in any real depth. The paper may use sources and cite counter-arguments, but does not critically engage them. The paper has a structure that the reader can discern, though it may be interrupted at times by random or unclear paragraphs and sentences. There may be errors in usage or mechanics.
A “D” paper:
This paper does not have a clearly defined and meaningful thesis, or shows a lack of engagement on the part of the writer. The paper may lack a meaningful purpose: that purpose could be so vague that the reader is unsure why the writer is writing the essay, or the purpose could be so specific that the reader is uncertain why he or she is reading the essay. The paper does not have a coherent structure, uses few or inappropriate transitions and lacks coherent paragraph structure. Specific and relevant evidence is often missing to support the paper’s assertions. There are enough mechanical errors to make it difficult for the reader to understand the writer’s point clearly and quickly. Typically, this paper will have problems such as vague diction, ambiguous phrasings, awkward sentences, undefined terms, unexamined sources, or no sources at all.
An “F” paper:
This paper does not respond to the assignment, or has no main idea or thesis and uses no sources. There is no clearly discernable organization or structure to the paper. There is no relevant supporting evidence. The amount of mechanical errors makes it difficult to follow the sequence of ideas. A stylistically adequate paper that does not respond to the assignment is an “F” paper, as is a paper that is not turned in on time.
Grades
Cumulative grades for F09 Introduction to University Studies (Intensive Weekend Format)
Notes:213: Narration (with the teacher as narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into "containers," into "receptacles" to be "filled" by the teacher. The more completely he fills the receptacles, the better a teacher he is. The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are.
Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the "banking" concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. They do, it is true, have the opportunity to become collectors or cataloguers of the things they store. But in the last analysis, it is men themselves who are filed away through the lack of creativity, transformation, and knowledge in this (at best) misguided system. For apart from inquiry, apart from praxis, men cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry men pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.
214: It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.
215-16: Implicit in the banking concept is the assumption of a dichotomy between man and the world: man is merely in the world, not with the world or with others; man is spectator, not re-creator. In this view, man is not a conscious being (corpo consciente); he is rather the possessor of a consciousness: an empty "mind" passively open to the reception of deposits of reality from the world outside. For example, my desk, my books, my coffee cup, all the objects before me - as bits of the world which surrounds me - would be "inside" me, exactly as I am inside my study right now. This view makes no distinction between being accessible to consciousness and entering consciousness. The distinction, however, is essential: the objects which surround me are simply accessible to my consciousness, not located within it. I am aware of them, but they are not inside me.
It follows logically from the banking notion of consciousness that the educator's role is to regulate the way the world "enters into" the students. His task is to organize a process which already occurs spontaneously, to "fill" the students by making deposits of information which he considers to constitute true knowledge. [2] And since men "receive" the world as passive entities, education should make them more passive still, and adapt them to the world. The educated man is the adapted man, because he is better "fit" for the world. Translated into practice, this concept is well suited to the purposes of the oppressors, whose tranquillity rests on how well men fit the world the oppressors have created, and how little they question it.
[2] This concept corresponds to what Sartre calls the "digestive" or "nutritive" concept of education, in which knowledge is "fed" by the teachers to the students to "fill them out." See Jean-Paul Sartre, "Une idee fundamentale de la phenomenologie de Husserl:; L'intentionalite," Situations I (Paris, 1947).
221: In sum: banking theory and practice, as immobilizing and fixating forces, fail to acknowledge men as historical beings; problem-posing theory and practice take man's historicity as their starting point.
Rodriguez, "The Achievement of Desire"
I came home. After the year in England, I spent three summer months living with my mother and father, relieved by how easy it was to be home. It no longer seemed very important to me that we had little to say. I felt easy sitting and eating and walking with them. I watched them, nevertheless, looking for evidence of those elastic, sturdy strands that bind generations in a web of inheritance. I thought as I watched my mother one night: of course a friend had been right when she told me that I gestured and laughed just like my mother. Another time I saw for myself: my father's eyes were much like my own, constantly watchful.
But after the early relief, this return, came suspicion, nagging until I realized that I had not neatly sidestepped the impact of schooling. My desire to do so was precisely the measure of how much I remained an academic. Negatively (for that is how this idea first occurred to me): my need to think so much and so abstractly about my parents and our relationship was in itself an indication of my long education. My father and mother did not pass their days thinking about the cultural meanings of their experience. It was I who described their daily lives with airy ideas. And yet, positively: the ability to consider experience so abstractly allowed me to shape into desire what would otherwise have remained indefinite, meaningless longing in the British Museum. If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education had finally given me ways of speaking and caring about that fact.
My best teachers in college and graduate school, years before, had tried to prepare me for this conclusion, I think, when they discussed texts of aristocratic pastoral literature. Faithfully, I wrote down all that they had said. I memorized it: "The praise of the unlettered by the highly educated is one of the primary themes of 'elitist' literature." But, "the importance of the praise given the unsolitary, richly passionate and spontaneous life is that it simultaneously reflects the value of a reflective life." I heard it all. But there was no way for any of it to mean very much to me. I was a scholarship boy at the time, busily laddering my way up the rungs of education. To pass an examination, I copied down exactly what my teachers told me. It would require many more years of schooling (an inevitable miseducation) in which I came to trust the silence of reading and the habit of abstracting from immediate experience - moving away from a life of closeness and immediacy I remembered with my parents, growing older - before I turned unafraid to desire the past, and thereby achieved what had eluded me for so long - the end of education.
