Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

After successful completion of HUM 203 students will be able to:

• Use critical thinking to analyze and evaluate how technology affects peoples, societies and nations and how it can be managed.
• Understand and appreciate how people from diverse cultural backgrounds create and interact with modern technological developments and forecast future technology.
• Demonstrate college-level communication skills by speaking, listening and writing clearly about current and future technology.

The SAC expects that instructors will assess student learning throughout the term using a variety of methods. The SAC encourages instructors to consider the following in determining the achievement of course outcomes: 

• Analyze primary and secondary sources of information
• Individual or team oral dialogues
• Investigative papers that analyze historical topics or issues
• Assess how civilizations have changed over time
• Participation in, and contribution to, all large and small group discussions and activities
• Quizzes, exams, response papers, and exercises
• Evaluate different interpretations of past events and develop their own
• Associate past events to contemporary times

Themes

• State formation: the rise and development of political entities
• The role of women
• Cultural continuity and change
• Acculturation
• Political and economic progress
• Developments in literature, art and music
• Conflict and cooperation
• Religions and philosophies
• Leadership

Concepts

• Revolution
• Religious pluralism (belief systems)
• Self-understanding (world views)
• The Diaspora
• Pan Africanism
• Leadership and statecraft
• Colonialism and imperialism
• Historical interpretation
• Resistance

Issues

• Domestic and commercial slavery
• Ethnicity, gender and socio-economic class
• Inter- and intra-ethnic cooperation and conflicts
• Impact of Christianity and Islam
• State-building and empire building
• Cultural evolution
• Colonialism and its impact
• Negritude and other aspects of cultural pride
• The symbiotic relationship between Europe and Africa

COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS

• Critical and creative thinking
• Evaluate interpretations of historical events
• Effective communication orally and in writing
• Analyze the causal relationship between two or more historical events
• Connect past and present events
• Problem posing
• Work collaboratively with others
• Clearly articulate thoughts in discussions and other activities
• Close reading of primary and secondary sources
• Select what is important from a large body of material