COURSE OBJECTIVES + OUTLINE

Mining the university

Spring 2013

Here’s the deal.  We never meet.  We have no classroom, there are no lab fees, no materials to buy.  We are on a scavenger hunt, excavating the intellectual resources of the university for stimulation.  There are no guarantees, no direction.  Learning in this class will be self-directed, self-selected.  Self-service.  Grades will be self-determined. 

Each week you will attend a lecture, or event outside of your major.  To be more specific, if you are an art major, no lecture or event sponsored by the school of art and design will be credited for this class.  If you are a physics major, you may not post or attend any lecture/event from the Physics department, etc., etc., etc.  It is assumed that you will avail yourself of those opportunities because they are part of your 4 year study.  Instead, you will excavate, share and attend minimum one lecture per week OUTSIDE the school of art and design or your major program (but within the Champaign-Urbana area).  Entertainment does not count (concerts, movies, openings, parties; unless you can make a case for the expansion of your awareness and knowledge bank).  Any event that provides growth outside of your intellectual neighborhood will work. 
  

You are required to ‘excavate’ and post one event or lecture per week on the class blog (edited by me if necessary).   This must be posted by Wednesday noon of each week (reply to the blog post I have already created for each week with your events).  If you find that someone has already posted the event you were about to post, then you must excavate another to post.  Each post should have a short description  of the lecture or event so that others might consider going, and should include times and locations.  Links would be great if available.   

From this list, you will choose one event or lecture to attend.  You do not have to attend the lecture/event that you excavated/posted.  You may attend alone or with friends from or outside of class, but you must also document your attendance in two ways:  a photograph of yourself physically at the lecture or location (insert creativity here) and a journal entry about the lecture, what you thought about it, what surprised you, what you thought was interesting or boring, a connection to your work or anything else.  Discussions with friends immediately after are obviously encouraged.  No matter how bad your lecture or event might turn out, you must find something worthwhile from the experience, and communicate that.  This journal entry and photo must be posted on your own blog page (linked to the class blog).  You will need a gmail account so that you can create and link your own blog.

Class requirements summary:

-Post notice of one unique event or lecture per week on the class blog by Wednesday noon

-Choose one event to attend

-Document your attendance

-Write about it and post along with attendance documentation on your own blog.

-Semester summary of what you have gained, written for your blog.

Grading: 

excavations (25%)  journal/documentation (25%) summary (25%) quality (25%)

Participation: One for your excavation and post of a lecture/event (by Wednesday noon) and one for your attendance/journal and documentation.

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15 excavations = A   15 journal/docs = A

                           14 = A-                       14 = A-           

                           13 = B+                      13 = B+

                           12 = B                        12 = B

                           11 = B-                       11 = B-  
                           10 = C+                      10 = C+

                           9   = C                         9   = C

                           8   = C-                        8   = C-

                           7   = D+                       7   = D+

                           6   = D                         6   = D

                           5   = D-                        5   = D-           

                           4   = F                          4   = F 

there will be no excuses for lack of a post, and excuse for missing lectures/events must come from emergency dean or mcKinley stating you are out of commission for the entire week.  Don’t even think of asking for any other excuse.

In addition, you will be graded on the quality of these posts as well as your summary of the semester’s experience.