HIST 100 uses a major theme in history to introduce methods of historical interpretation and to explore issues, developments and trends across time and place. Theme varies by instructor.

The theme for this section of HIST 100 is “Engineering the Past.” In this course, we will explore what it means for an object, place, or system to be engineered, and we will consider the different ways people have expressed their habits, beliefs, and values through engineering. Along the way, we will interpret relevant texts from the past, learn how to “read” engineered objects, and consider the ways people have designed, adapted to, or resisted engineered environments and systems.

Name:  Dr. Leslie Madsen-Brooks
Office:  313J Riverfront Hall
Office Hours:  Vary by week. View the schedule for each week’s hours.
Phone:  (208) 426-1700
E-Mail:  lesliemadsen-brooks@boisestate.edu

This course has no prerequisites. Students of any major are welcome!

After finishing the course, the successful student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate genuine curiosity about the past by asking thoughtful or productively provocative questions—and trying to find initial answers to those questions.
2. Initiate research into the past, and formulate arguments about it based on reliable evidence, critical thinking, and some cognitive associative leaps.
3. Explain how they are part of complex systems engineered over many generations, and how their values may align or conflict with those of these systems’ developers.
4. Communicate their knowledge about the past to different audiences, in ways that are meaningful and relevant to the student and each audience.
5. Understand, and even empathize with, people from cultures unlike their own (and/or remote from them in time and place).
6. Collaborate thoughtfully with others on a complex and significant project.

To better understand this course, I recommend you view the entire set of learning objectives.

The Foundational Studies Program is organized around eleven University Learning Outcomes (ULOs) that every Boise State University graduate is expected to have met, regardless of major or baccalaureate degree.  These outcomes guide the development of the courses students take throughout the undergraduate degree.  Please review the Boise State University Learning Outcomes.

The University Learning Outcomes developed in this course include:

U1.  Write effectively in multiple contexts, for a variety of audiences.

U2.  Communicate effectively in speech, both as speaker and listener.

U3.  Engage in effective critical inquiry by defining problems, gathering and evaluating evidence, and determining the adequacy of argumentative discourse.

U4.  Think creatively about complex problems in order to produce, evaluate, and implement innovative possible solutions, often as one member of a team.

U5.  Analyze ethical issues in personal, professional, and civic life and produce reasoned evaluations of competing value systems and ethical claims.

U6.  Apply knowledge of cultural differences to matters of local, regional, national, and international importance, including political, economic, and environmental issues.

U10. Apply knowledge and the methods of inquiry characteristic of literature and other humanities disciplines to interpret and produce texts expressive of the human condition.

Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York: Vintage, 2004. ISBN 978-0375725609.

Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Book of the Fair. Chicago: The Bancroft Company, 1893. Available online.

Materials available on the open web or in the campus library’s databases. (See course schedule for links.)

This course is conducted entirely online. You can complete this course on your own schedule, but please stay on track or ahead of the due dates each week.  It is important for you to recognize that this class will require a minimum of 2.5-3 hours of coursework per credit each week; as this is a 3-credit course, you can expect to spend 7.5-9 hours on HIST 100 each week.

There are 15 weekly modules. After the first week, which opens on a Monday, each module will open no later than Friday afternoon. Each activity or assignment instruction will include its due date. You can access the modules via the Schedule link on the course menu at the top of every page.

Each module contains a variety of activities. Typically you will need to read or view some material, interact with your assigned group, and—individually or as a group (as explained in each prompt)—post your thoughts or findings to the course’s WordPress site (the same site you are viewing now). You will also need to comment on your group members’ posts.

You can access instructions on how to post to the course’s WordPress site on the tiny Blackboard site set up for the course.

Many of the modules in this course require you to respond to the work of your group members. Here’s a list of the groups and their members.

The week-to-week requirements of this class are simple: do the required reading, reflect on it, engage in thoughtful discussion. (I promise to do the same.)

Your digital presence in class is very important. Participation in course discussions and small group work constitutes a significant portion of your grade. To receive an A for your participation, you must participate meaningfully in class more than once per week.

You will be submitting writing assignments—mostly blog posts and comments—at least once a week in this course. You will not be graded on each individual post. Rather, you will be assigned an overall grade on the collection of your posts and comments across the semester. I will respond regularly to the content of your posts, and I will let you know (via e-mail) if your blog posts and comments are not meeting my expectations; in that case, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

The quality of your writing—both its clarity and the depth of thought expressed in it—contributes significantly to your final grade in this course. It is imperative, then, that you schedule sufficient time to do the reading required for each assignment, write a solid first draft, and revise it. For each larger assignment, I expect you to undertake several revisions. When you are working in a group, I recommend you form a writing group with students outside your group to swap assignments and get their feedback on your group’s work, as well as on your individual work.

Because of the number of students in my courses, I can’t review entire drafts of your assignments.  That said, I’m happy to look over your proposed thesis statement, an outline, and a paragraph or two that you’re finding troublesome.  Please do come see me for help with your assignments, as—with the exception of the “Two Perfect Pages” assignment—there won’t be opportunities to rewrite them for better grades.

A student commits plagiarism not only if she turns in someone else’s work as her own, but also if she borrows others’ ideas or phrases without giving them credit.  We can discuss this online if anyone has any questions.  Any student who plagiarizes or cheats on any assignment may receive an F on the assignment or in the course and may be subject to academic discipline by the university.

I am interested in your thoughts and your creative and analytical work.  Please share them with me!

I need to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require some modification of seating, assignments, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made.  Please see me after class or during my office hours. (You will also need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located on the first floor of the Lincoln Garage, at 208-426-1583 to meet with a specialist and coordinate reasonable accommodations for any documented disability.  For more information on the BSU Disability Resource Center (DRC), visit its website.

Your grade will be calculated based on your work on these assignments:

• Blog posts and comments (graded collectively, not individually): 30%
• Two perfect pages: 20%
• Concept map: 10%
• Pictorial essay: 15%
• Final group project: 25%

Your work will receive letter grades, not points.

Any work not submitted by the assigned due date will be considered late. Late assignments are docked one-third of a grade (e.g., a B becomes a B-) immediately after the deadline and for each 24 hours thereafter. You will be able to post past the deadlines, though your work will be considered late.

That said, I’m not heartless.  If you have an emergency and anticipate not being able to turn in your work on time, contact me and we’ll see if we can work something out.

Please note: Technological failure does not constitute an emergency.  Hard drives fail, servers go down, file transfers time out, and files get corrupted. You must plan for such contingencies: keep backups of your files, have extra ink cartridges handy, know where the local wifi hotspots are in case your home internet connection goes down. Technological issues are not excuses for late work. Please protect yourself (and your grades) by managing your time and backing up your work.

Our grading scale will be:

Percentage	Letter Grade
99-100%	A+
93-98	A
90-92	A-
86-89	B+
83-85	B
80-82	B-
76-79	C+
73-75	C
70-72	C-
66-69	D+
63-65	D
60-62	D-
0-59	F

The course’s WordPress site is not a sufficiently secure place to post grades, so your instructor will post your grades in Blackboard.

I will be available during my office hours to address your concerns with the class and assignments. My office is in Riverfront Hall 313; simply give your name to the administrative assistant at the front desk and let her know you are a student in HIST 100, and she will alert me. My office hours vary slightly by week, but each week’s office hours are posted on the Schedule page.

I encourage you to come see me if you feel you have not been offered a chance to participate in class discussion, you are troubled by a particular assignment, you would like to talk more with me about an issue raised in class, or you have concerns about your performance in the course. 

If you can, come see me in person, but if you cannot visit campus, my office phone number is (208) 426-1700. With an appointment, I am available to chat via FaceTime, Skype, or Google Hangout. While I typically am on campus from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, I often have a very full schedule of meetings, so outside of my office hours, it’s best to set up an appointment to be sure I will be there for you.

I am, of course, also available via e-mail at lesliemadsen-brooks@boisestate.edu. I check my e-mail at least twice a day Monday through Friday, and during the workweek I try to respond to all student e-mail within 24 hours. Response times may be slower on weekends.

Some of the materials you are required to read in this course are copyrighted. Many, however, are not. As your instructor, I have spent many, many hours finding free and open versions of the information needed in this course. Why?

In short, it saves you money. (You’re welcome!) I want this course to be accessible and affordable to all students. Accordingly, aside from Devil in the White City, all materials are free of further cost to you. (Your tuition and fees have already paid for subscriptions to the library’s digital materials.) In fact, much of the material on this site—it’s the material marked “public domain” or “Creative Commons” at the bottom of the page—can be reused or remixed by just about anyone.

Learn more at these links:

• Open Educational Resources
• About Creative Commons
• <eCampus Center’s page about copyright

In addition to the policies governing academic integrity, Boise State University has adopted a Statement of Shared Values. In a culture of  intellectual inquiry and debate, where the search for knowledge and discovery flourish, campus community members are expected to demonstrate civility, abide by norms of decorum, and adhere to the principles of civil discourse. Civility is expressed in the Statement of Shared Values which includes Academic Excellence, Caring, Citizenship, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility, and Trustworthiness. I encourage you to read these statements carefully and consider them when interacting with faculty, fellow students, and members of the community.

Additional resources for online learning

Learn More about Online Classes

The page linked to above provides a good deal of guidance about not only the technical requirements for being successful in an online course, but also the level of commitment and the mindset required to successfully complete a course online. Please read it carefully.

Boise State eCampus Center Student Support

The eCampus Center provides a number of services and resources to help online students succeed. This site includes a quick-start guide with strategies for being successful in an online course, as well as links to academic resources such as the Writing Center, Disability Resource Center, Albertsons Library, and more.

If you would like to receive assistance from any of the offices or services, please make contact with them as soon as possible. It is much better to start receiving these services at the beginning of the semester, rather than waiting several weeks before you initiate contact.

Technical support for this course

If you need assistance with accessing or posting to this course site, you need to contact the professor, not campus technical support. If you need assistance with your computer, your e-mail, or other hardware or software supported by campus, you can learn about those at the Office of Information Technology’s “Services for Students” site.

Boise State University values course participation enough that nonattendance can lead to a faculty-initiated drop, defined as failure to attend the first class session of a class that meets once weekly. In an online course, the first week’s attendance is verified by other means that show a student has at least logged in to the course.