- Online Course
Exam Up early Friday morning, January
20. Due back Saturday, January 28 by 10
p.m.
1. You will have one week.
2. Send your essay responses from your EMail to me with subject line: 4B
Midterm #1. We do not accept attachments.
1. Read the seminars I have prepared for you on the 4B page, and the essays
I have written on how to take an Exam.
2. The details are in the syllabus and the Core Page. The issue is on thinking
, analysis, and organization. These are large questions that are difficult
to answer in a page. I will not take off for typing skills or grammar, especially
if English is your second language. I will take off, however, if it is not
well organized and thoughtful. Do not copy from any book, including the Web.
That is dumb.
3. You have been reading the text as structure, but using the Internet Book
as the 5 hour -a- week intensive substitute for traditional in-class lectures.
And primarily, you have been thinking. You have been learning! So use
the wonderful rich sources and think. I will be looking to see that you have
done these things!
4. BE THOUGHTFUL.
HERE IS WHAT I HAD IN MIND WHEN I WROTE
THIS EXAM. I REALIZE THAT THIS PERIOD OF HISTORY CAN BE VERY CONFUSING.
THERE IS SO MUCH IN IT ! ! ! SO IN EACH CATEGORY, I HAVE GIVEN
YOU AT LEAST ONE QUESTION THAT SHOULD ENABLE YOU TO LOOK AT THE BROAD BRUSH
AND USE YOUR OVERVIEW KNOWLEDGE AND INTEREST. I HOPE THIS WORKS FOR
YOU :)) I AM INTERESTED IN YOUR INTERESTS AND IN YOUR
SUCCESS.
QUOTING
COVERS:
COURSE
EQUIVALENCY
Exams must have the same "quantity" and rigor as in a 12 week quarter
and in a regular on-campus class. These courses are articulated to all private,
UC and CSU institutions. Therefore, we must require the same amount of thinking
and effort as required in the First Quarter of Western Civ in all those
institutions. In the regular Foothill 4A, students write 10 essay questions
each quarter plus the Other Book or a Paper. They do at least that much in
the CSU and UC. You will only write 9 essays!
SHOWING US THAT YOU HAVE "BEEN TO
CLASS"
We MUST SEE IN YOUR EXAM THAT YOU HAVE SPENT
INTENSIVE TIME USING THE WEB BOOK. YOUR regular "textbook" gives you the
structure - but the Web Book gives you content - the substitute for 50 hours
of lecture. You also must SHOW US you have done the above! How? By LISTING
with the submission of the EXAM, a list first of 10 chapters of the
web books, and then 20 sites that you have studied - at the end
of your exam. Use the exact URLs so I can click on them and check.
This exam is neither rigid nor traditional. That would contradict, I suspect, the very changes and new directions of Web-based courses. I have spent considerable time and thought in trying to craft for you an exam that is challenging, thoughtful, interesting, and fun. It should be fun for you to think about ideas and situations that intrigue you. It should be fun to try to put together what you already know or hunch, what you read, and most important what has fascinated you on the Internet. I wanted you to have the opportunity to:
I do not want this exam, however, to be based on "flights of fancy" and do insist upon solid attention to history and considerable evidence that you have been finding and working with the outstanding resources on the Web, supported by your textbook. I do, however, wish to learn from your thinking. In the meantime - ENJOY.
Answer one of the following questions
in a full and conceptual manner. Move from your facts into concepts
and your ideas - and the importance of the subject.I will be looking for
knowledge (read the material, gone through helpful
parts of the Web ), your thinking and pondering. I will not
grade on grammar and spelling. Be sure to answer all the parts. If I ask
you to "be someone," then BE that human.
1. Monasticism.
What do you think was the purpose (s) of monasticism?
Analyze the role played by monks and nuns in early medieval society?
What does it mean when an historian writes: "monks became the heroes of Christian
civilization?" Do you agree? Why or why not?
2. Medieval Life-Early/Middle Middle
Ages.
I need you to describe and analyze Medieval Life in the early and Middle
"Middle Ages." Pick 5 important components and work with them. You
may use any 5 categories that strike you - from politics to food to sanitation
to medicine to economics or any of a dozen or so others. Its
your pick. Depending upon what you do with them in your essay, they
are all important! By working with them, I "think" I mean what strikes
you, gives you second thought, impresses you, and has some historical
significance in terms of impact, or development, or whatever!
3. "Dark" Ages.
"In the aftermath of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, a new era began
in Europe and the Mediterranean world. The ancient certainties of the Pax
Romana lay in ruins and while the eastern emperors, ruling from Constantinople,
kept the light of Roman civilisation burning, in the west that light flickered
and almost... almost, went out. And so began the period of European history
known as the Dark Ages, when out of the ruins of the Western Empire grew
a number of new successor kingdoms, ruled over by the barbarian, usually
Germanic, peoples who inherited it."
QUESTION:
What in the world does this business of the Dark Ages mean?
What do you think is a good definition of the Dark Ages.
How do you think the scholars decide a period is Dark? How seriously
should we take this Dark bit?
Finally, explain briefly the 5 major components that YOU believe made
up the Dark Ages.
Answer one of the following questions
in a full and conceptual manner. Move from your facts into concepts
and your ideas - and the importance of the subject:
4. Charlemagne's Governance.
Identify and comment briefly on the techniques and methods that Charlemagne
used to
Govern,
Expand,
Strengthen his vast empire.Evaluate the political
organization of the empire created by Charlemagne.
How well do you think his empire functioned ?
NOW, was he great? Why? Or Why Not? You must state your own
definition of greatness.
Any important legacies?
5. Feudalism.
Define feudalism .
Then build a picture of feudalism and explain how it arose out of the political,
economic, and social conditions of the age.
Are you surprised to see its development or expected it? Why? or Why
not?
How important was it?
6. Byzantium
What is the big deal about the Byzantine Empire. And the
great city of Constantinople? Why do historians and the texts feel it is
so important? After all, it isn't even in Western Civilization, is it? It
is just Turkey.!
7. Pick an area, a subject in this time period - a subject that you have been "surfing" and thinking about, that interests or intrigues you. Or an area in which you have many impressions or a vivid impression from your surfing and reading. Write your own question and then answer it or integrate your impressions into a thoughtful, analytical or creative essay. If you find yourself answering it in less than one full EMail page, you are on the wrong track. You are graded as much for your question as your answer. ALERT, THE major mistake students make with this question is to ask themselves too simple a question or to ask a question that results in a listing of facts or items.
IF, INSTEAD, YOU WOULD RATHER RESPOND TO A "REGULAR" QUESTION, YOU MAY WRITE INSTEAD ON ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO:
8. Emergence of a Distinctly European Society.
It is said that between 733, when the Muslims were defeated at Tours, and
the division of Charlemagne's empire in 843, a distinctly European society
emerged. Three of the main developments of this new society were Charlemagne's
empire, the rise of feudalism, and an intellectual revival.
Discuss this new Europe by describing each of these developments.
Was this a unique new society?
In what ways was this society different from that of Roman times?
9. Germanic Peoples/Barbarians.
What's the big deal about the barbarians?
Were the barbarians truly barbaric?
NAME:___________________________________________________
COURSE_________________________________________________
By sending forward this form, I hereby certify that I have copied absolutely nothing from anywhere unless I have use quotation marks and cited exact sources. I also certify that I have read the article on plagiarism and have been careful with my paraphrasing. I understand that copying will ABSOLUTELY result in immediate, severe consequences and that there is no such thing as legitimately "shoplifting a little" or "copying a little." I also understand that if I fail to send forward this form, my exam will not be accepted. And that understanding what copying or paraphrasing means is my responsibility.
Dr. KF