Colloquium Syllabus

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SYLLABUS

IDS 3920 – CRN  10302

University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future

Fall, 2012

Office of Curriculum & Instruction, Florida Gulf Coast University

3 credit hours

Meeting Times and Locations:  Reed 236 8:00-10:45 or 8:00-12:00 on Field Trip days

Campus: Main

Contact Information

Instructor: Nora Egan Demers, PhD

Office: Whitaker Hall Room 218

Telephone: (239) 590-7211 or cell (239) 246-4537

E-Mail:  ndemers@fgcu.edu

Office Hours: T/Rr 3:30-5:00 and R 8:00-9:00 and 10:30-11:30

Course Description:

 The University Colloquium brings together students from all five colleges in a series of interdisciplinary learning experiences. These experiences are designed to address the ecological perspective outcome in relations to other university outcomes and guiding principles. Critical thinking and communication skills will be enhanced through field trips, discussion, projects, and a journal to be maintained by each student. (Advisor approval needed for virtual sections only) (Gordon Rule)  

Student Learning Outcomes

Students are expected to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of environmental issues through writing and class participation.
2. Critically analyze environmental issues from economic, social, political, and ecological perspectives.
3. Describe the unique ecological features of the area and analyze the unique challenges posed to South Florida by rapid growth.
4. Demonstrate a working understanding of sustainability, sense of place, and ecological literacy.

Required Texts:

The World Watch Institute. (2010). State of the world: Transforming Cultures From Consumerism to Sustainability. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

University Colloquium Reader (2008) Selected Readings for IDS 3920. Available from the FGCU bookstore.

Manatee Insanity (2010):  Inside the war over Florida's most famous endangered species.  University of Florida Press (available at Amazon for $18.15)

Course suppplementary website:  http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/ndemers/colloquium/colloq.html
This site has ample resources about the course including historical documents and presentations from prior sessions that you may find helpful as exemplary to help you complete assignments for this class.  Additional there are resources for the fieldtrips, journalling hints and current events.

Course Outline:

Introduction to the University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future:

Conceptual basis for University Colloquium

Adopted January 15, 1997:  Dean’s Council Meeting

            We have made a commitment as a university to make environmental education an integral part of our identity.  One of our university-wide outcomes is that all students will develop “an ecological perspective.”  A way to accomplish this perspective is to devise a course, or group of experiences, with an environmental focus that all FGCU undergraduate students must complete, and in which faculty from all five colleges would be involved.  Because “ecology” applies to our total living space and interrelationships, human and natural, it is relevant to all our disciplines and professions.  Thus, an ecology course would touch on all nine of the university-wide goals and outcomes, and more.  Students would not be introduced to FGCU values, they would participate in them.

Goals:

The University Colloquium is an interdisciplinary environmental education course designed to explore the concept of sustainability as it relates to a variety of considerations and forces in the environment. In particular, we will consider ecological, social, ethical, historical, scientific, economic, and political influences. The course goals are:

• To provide a "sense of place" and an understanding of the unique ecological features of the environment of which you are a part,
• To assist in achieving the Florida Gulf Coast University learning goal of developing "an ecological perspective" and in teaching the related outcomes that the student will "...know the issues related to economic, social, and ecological sustainability, analyze and evaluate ecological issues locally and globally, participate in projects requiring awareness and/or analysis of ecological and environmental issues;"
• To provide experiences to assist in moving toward achieving the eight other FGCU learning goals and their related outcomes.
• To enable a working understanding of sustainability, of environmental education, and of ecological literacy.

Process:

            Study will be through reading and discussion, writing, and extensive field experiences.  Students will reflect upon and demonstrate their learning through analysis in papers, class discussions and presentations, a reflective journal, and a final presentation. The integration of these learning experiences will be expressed in a final project. The final presentation based on the final paper may take the form of a poem, web page, song, PowerPoint presentation, or other mode of expression negotiated by the student and the instructor. Students are to write four short reflective papers (in addition to the final paper) on the questions raised by certain readings, as assigned.  Classroom discussion will be required on a weekly basis. Journals are to be kept regularly and shared with the instructor.

            Grades will be earned based on an assessment rubric, which provides the weighting of and standards for assignments (below). The course is officially designated as a writing intensive course, it will require graded writing assignments and will satisfy a portion of the Gordon Rule requirements for graduation (State DOE Rule 6A-10.030).

            Off-campus field trips and service learning experience are required for successful completion of the course. These experiences (and others identified throughout the course) are to be documented in your personal journal. Required papers are in the form of short academic essays and should follow the guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Language Association of America (MLA).  Citation style guidelines may be accessed electronically at http://Library.fgcu.edu/ddsg/ddsg.asp?id=3384.              

Access class information via ANGEL and this URL:

http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/ndemers/colloq.html

Student Assessment/Grading:  

Assessments*

Ecological literacy is becoming more difficult, I believe, not because there are fewer books about nature, but because there is less opportunity for the direct experience of it. Fewer people grow up on farms or in rural areas where access is easy and where it is east to learn a degree of competence and self-confidence toward the natural world. Where the ration between the human-created environment to the purely natural world exceeds some point, the sense of place can only be a sense of habitat. One finds the habitat familiar and/or likeable but without any real sense of belonging in the natural world. A sense of place requires more direct contact with the natural aspects of a place, with soils, and wildlife.

David W. Orr

from Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World

pp. 88-89

*NOTE: Students with a passing grade on assignments who do not complete their service-learning activity or the Colloquium assessments will be assigned a grade of "F".

Attendance Policy:

            As University Colloquium is a seminar/discussion course, your attendance and participation are vital to the class.  There are of four core field trips that explore fresh water, marine, agricultural and urban environments.  Students must attend all field trips.  

Service Learning Component:

The guiding principles of Florida Gulf Coast University include the conviction that informed and engaged citizens are essential to the creation of a civil and sustainable society.  The University Colloquium course provides an opportunity for you to become active participants in service to your community, while at the same time learning collaboratively about the environmental and sustainability needs you will encounter.  This opportunity will provide you with a foundational service learning experience that will prepare you for life-long learning and ongoing positive civic engagement. Participation in Field Experience/Service Learning is required to pass the course.

Educational Assessment/

Course Completion Requirement:

            There is a completion requirement for the FGCU Ecological Literacy Instrument and the CSAS (Community Service Attitudes Scale).  Students must complete both assessment instruments in order to pass the course.  The student’ responses or scores on these assessments will not be reported back to faculty or calculated in the final grade.  If students do not complete these assessments, they will be assigned a grade of ‘I’ and given one additional semester to complete the assessments.

            University Colloquium focuses on two of our student learning outcomes:  community awareness and involvement (Goal 9) and ecological perspective (Goal 3).  The assessments taken in University Colloquium are designed to measure student learning related to these two outcomes, and will help University Faculty and Staff determine how well they are assisting students in the achievement of these objectives. 

University Statements:

Academic Dishonesty/Cheating Policy:

"All students are expected to demonstrate honesty in their academic pursuits. The university policies regarding issues of honesty can be found under the "Student Code of Conduct" on page 11, and under "Policies and Procedures" on pages 18 - 24. of the Student Guidebook . All students are expected to study this document which outlines their responsibilities and consequences for violations of the policy. "

Disability Accommodations Services:

Florida Gulf Coast University, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the university’s guiding principles, will provide classroom and academic accommodations to students with documented disabilities. If you need to request an accommodation in this class due to a disability, or you suspect that your academic performance is affected by a disability, please see me or contact the Office of Adaptive Services. The Office of Adaptive Services is located in Howard Hall 137. The phone number is 590-7956 or TTY 590-7930.