Courses tagged with "Fine Arts" (34)

The purpose of this course is to trace the twin paths of capitalism and democracy through American history.  This course is premised on the idea that capitalism and democracy are intertwined, though they have often conflicted with one another.  One reason that democracy and capitalism often conflict is because capitalism has the capacity for both enormous construction and enormous destruction; these contradictory impulses often appear in tandem.  This course is structured to provide students with a brief introduction to the history of capitalism and democracy in Europe and then to explore how they evolved in North America between 1600 and the present.  Throughout the course, students will be exposed to primary and secondary readings as well as video and audio lectures that will explore the connections between America’s economic and political development This course assumes a basic working knowledge of U.S. history.  A good resource for review is http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/US_History [1]. Also ava…

This course will focus on the wars and military conflicts that have shaped the social, political, and economic development of the United States from the colonial era through the present.  You will learn how these conflicts have led to significant changes in America social and political life during this 300-year period.  The course will be structured chronologically.  Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching themes, such as how colonial conflicts in the 18th century shaped the political organization of the United States, how regional conflicts in the 19th century culminated in the Civil War, how America cemented its status as a major world power through participation in the First and Second World Wars, how Cold War conflicts destabilized American social and political life, and how modern conflicts continue to redefine American social and political values and ideals.  By the end of the course, you will understand how three centuries of warfare have…

This course will introduce you to a comparative history of New World societies from 1400 to 1750. You will learn about European exploration and colonization as well as the cultures of native peoples of the Americas. The course will be structured geographically; each unit will focus on a particular New World society during a specific time period. Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the fifteenth-century conceptualization of the “New World” and colonization, the indigenous peoples living in the Americas at the time of European contact, and the effect of New World societies on native peoples and Africans. By the end of the course, you will understand how the new communities in the New World evolved from fledgling settlements into profitable European colonies and how New World societieswhether French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, or indigenouswere highly varied polities.

This course will introduce you to the history of Central Eurasia and the Silk Road from 4500 B.C.E to the nineteenth century.  You will learn about the culture of the nomadic peoples of Central Eurasia as well as the development of the Silk Road.  The course will be structured chronologically; each unit will focus on one aspect of the Silk Road during a specific time period.  Each unit will include representative primary- and secondary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the discovery and production of silk in China, diplomatic relations between Han China and nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe, the international scope of the Silk Road trade routes, European interest in finding a “new silk route” to China, and the “Great Game” between China, Russia, and Great Britain in Central Eurasia in the nineteenth century.  By the end of the course, you will understand how the Silk Road influenced the development of nomadic societies in Ce…

This course will introduce you to the history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to the twenty-first century.  The course will emphasize the encounters and exchanges between the Islamic world and the West.  It will be structured chronologicallyeach unit will focus on the emergence of a particular Middle Eastern society or empire during a specific time period.  Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the emergence of Islam in the seventh century, conflicts between Islamic and Christian peoples during the Crusades, European domination of Muslim territories in the nineteenth century, independence movements and the rise of nationalism in the 1900s, and the formation of Islamic fundamentalist groups and anti-Western sentiment in the latter twentieth century.  By the end of the course, you will understand how Islam became a sophisticated and far-reaching civilization and how conflicts with the Wes…

In the 1970s, the Chinese Communist leader Zhou Enlai was asked to assess the outcomes of the French Revolution of 1789.  He supposedly answered: “It is too soon to say.”  Though this story has a somewhat apocryphal status, it captures a fundamental truth about the world in which we live: it is a world which has been shaped by revolutions, and their legacies are always difficult to evaluate. In this course, you will gain a better understanding of the modern world by studying some of the most important political revolutions that took place between the 17th century and today.  You will seek to understand the causes of each revolution, analyze the ideologies that inspired the revolutionaries, examine revolutionary uses of violence, and consider how historical revolutions still shape contemporary politics.  Close and critical readings of historical sources will be crucial in this process. The course begins with a theoretical analysis of revolutions and a careful examination of pre-revolutionary Europe…

This course will focus on the emergence and evolution of industrial societies around the world.  We will begin by comparing the legacies of industry in ancient and early modern Europe and Asia and examining the agricultural and commercial advances that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.  We will then follow the history of industrialization in different parts of the world, taking a close look at the economic, social, and environmental effects of industrialization.  The course is organized chronologically and thematically.  Each unit will focus on key developments in the history of industry as well as on representative areas of the globe, using primary-source documents, secondary readings, and multimedia resources to illustrate the dynamic nature of industrial change.  By the end of the course, you will understand how industrialization developed, spread across the globe, and shaped everyday life in the modern era.

This course will focus on the history of humankind’s relationship with the environment.  We use the word “environment” to refer to the nonhuman components of the natural world.  We will examine how environmental factors have shaped the development and growth of civilizations around the world and analyze how these civilizations have altered their environments in positive and negative ways.  The course will be structured chronologically.  Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching themes, such as how early humans adapted natural resources for new purposes, how the expansion of civilizations led to environmental changes, how the interaction between European explorers and Native Americans led to significant and unexpected environmental consequences, and how modern societies have responded to environmental problems that threaten the well-being of humans and the environment.  By the end of the course, you will better understand the reciprocal rela…

This course provides an introduction to the history of technology for the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) major.  The course surveys major technological developments from ancient to modern times with particular attention to social, political, and cultural contexts in Europe and the United States.  You will also think critically about the theory of technological determinism, the ways in which technology has defined “progress” and “civilization”, and the major ethical considerations surrounding today’s technological decisions. This course begins with discussions of the promotion of technology in centralized states of the ancient and medieval worlds: the Roman Empire, Song and Ming China, and the Islamic Abbasid Empire.  After a period of relative decline, the states of Western Europe centralized and flourished once again, having benefited from the westward transmission of key ideas and technologies from the East. The focus of the course then shifts to the West, to the technologies of the…

Great managers are made, not born. Learn about the qualities and skills of great managers in this Business 101 course. Instructor Sherri Hartzell holds both an MBA and Ed.D., so she's an excellent choice to teach you about principles of management.

Start by learning about the different levels of management in organizations and then dive into how good managers lead to great employees. Students of business, budding entrepreneurs and independent online learners alike can benefit from these short, engaging video lessons and interactive online quizzes. Business 101: Principles of Management can prepare you to earn real, widely transferable college credit by taking the Principles of Management CLEP exam or the Excelsior Principles of Management exam .

Great managers are made, not born. Learn about the qualities and skills of great managers in this Business 101 course. Instructor Sherri Hartzell holds both an MBA and Ed.D., so she's an excellent choice to teach you about principles of management.

Start by learning about the different levels of management in organizations and then dive into how good managers lead to great employees. Students of business, budding entrepreneurs and independent online learners alike can benefit from these short, engaging video lessons and interactive online quizzes. Business 101: Principles of Management can prepare you to earn real, widely transferable college credit by taking the Principles of Management CLEP exam or the Excelsior Principles of Management exam .

Professor Lynn Hunt lectures in this course which covers a broad, historical study of major elements in Western heritage

This course examines both the

US History Overview 1: Jamestown to the Civil War. US History Overview 2: Reconstruction to the Great Depression. US History Overview 3: WWII to Vietnam. Appomattox Court House and Lincoln's Assassination. Communism. Korean War Overview. Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam War. Pattern of US Cold War Interventions. Allende and Pinochet in Chile. When Capitalism is Great and Not-so-great. 20th Century Capitalism and Regulation in the United States. US History Overview 1: Jamestown to the Civil War. US History Overview 2: Reconstruction to the Great Depression. US History Overview 3: WWII to Vietnam. Appomattox Court House and Lincoln's Assassination. Communism. Korean War Overview. Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam War. Pattern of US Cold War Interventions. Allende and Pinochet in Chile. When Capitalism is Great and Not-so-great. 20th Century Capitalism and Regulation in the United States.