Contact Information

Aaron Gulyas e-Mail/Googletalk: aaron.gulyas@mcc.edu Phone: 810-232-2993 Office: MMB2120D Fine Arts/Social Science Division Office: 810-762-0332 Office Hours: See BlackBoard Be sure that in any correspondence you include your name, phone number (if you want a phone response) or email address and the best time to reach you. The best way to contact me is via email as I check this several times each day during the week (less on weekends).

HIST-113-WWW01 History of East Asia, 1600-Present Winter, 2012

Course Description This course will cover the political, social, and cultural history of China, Japan, and Korea from 1600 CE to the present. This course will emphasize the relationship of human creativity to needs, beliefs and values showing how others have understood themselves and how this understanding has shaped our views and conditions today. Course Objectives 1. Evaluate the late imperial period in China 2. Evaluate the late imperial period in Japan and Korea 3. Assess the fall of the Qing dynasty and the development of Nationalist China 4. Analyze the growth and development of communism in China 5. Evaluate the development of Japanese militarism and East Asia during World War II 6. Assess the development of China since the Communist victory 7. Assess the development of Japan since World War II 8. Assess the role of East Asia in the Cold War 9. Analyze historical evidence I will post required readings to BlackBoard. There are no textbooks for this course.

If you wish to talk with me in person, the best time to call or drop by is during my office hours.

Structure of the Course The first week of the course will be introductory, getting you up to speed on how the course works and discussing the nature of history in general. Each subsequent week, we will cover a chapter in the textbook. Each week will begin on Monday at Midnight and end on the following Sunday at 11:59 PM. Specific dates will be listed on Blackboard. In general, this is what I recommend: Read the posted materials for the week. This will consist of historical documents, articles, outlines or other reading. Watch/listen to lecturecast. o This is a audio/visual mini lecture where I talk about a couple of (what I think) are key concepts for the weeks topics. o Not every week will have a lecturecastsometimes there will be other supplementary information for you. Complete any assessments for that week, primary source analyses, discussion boards, etc. See below for details. You may want to view the lecturecast first--whatever order works for you is fine with me-- just be sure that you read/view the course materials and complete the assessment exercises within the week.

Assessment I will assess your performance in this course in a variety of ways. By successfully completing these tasks you will demonstrate competency and earn a grade in the course. 1. 3 exams, given online. Exams will cover all class material and readings assigned during that period of the course. Each will contain (a) a number of identifications asking you to link a specific person, event, or idea to its historical context and significance, (b) a number of questions on the primary sources and other readings and (c) an essay question asking you to incorporate course material into larger themes. Full details and a review guide will be available at least one week prior to the exams. Each exam will be worth 100 points. 2. 10 weekly assessmentsa brief review activity, quiz, or analysis of an historical document, worth 20 points each. Dates for these assignments are listed on the schedule. 3. 10 required course blog postings, worth 20 points each. Instructions for each blog will include a. The topic for discussion. Examples include i. discussion of articles or documents ii. discussion and critique of history websites or exhibits iii. discussion of historical topics relevant to the chapter being studied in class b. The nature of the posts/responses (length, content) c. The due date for blog postings

Thus, the total number of points available is 700 Percentage wise, this is how grades will break down: 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.0 90% and higher 85% - 89% 80% - 84% 75% - 79% 70% - 74% 65% - 69% 60% - 64% 59% and lower

Schedule: weeks run from Saturday to Saturday. Work is due by 11:59 PM on the dates listed. For example, assignments for chapter 12 would be due by 11:59 PM, January 28. January 14-January 21: Start-Up January 21-January 28: China: From Qing to Ming January 28-February 4: Tokugawa Japan February 4-February 11: Japan and the West February 11-February 18: China and the West February 18-February 25: Exam 1 February 25-March 3: Japan in the 19th Century March 3-March 10: China, Japan, and Korea in an age of Imperialism March 10-March 17: Spring Break March 17-March 24: China in Chaos March 24-March 31: 20th Century Japan March 31-April 7: Exam 2 April 7-April 14: The Pacific War and Post-War Japan April 14-April 21: The Peoples Republic of China April 21-May 2: Exam 3 Attendance Federal Title IV Fund Eligibility Guidelines require the college to keep attendance records in order for students to maintain their Title IV funding eligibility. Excessive absences may affect your eligibility for financial aid and in some cases may require you pay back portions of your loan if you stop attending a class. To satisfy Federal attendance guidelines, it is mandatory that you log into the class at least once a week and complete assignments. Simply logging in is insufficient. I report all attendance to the Registrar's Office. Course Policies Incompletes A student must initiate a request for an I (incomplete) from an instructor. The I will be given at the sole discretion of the instructor. Typically an I will be given only when the student (a) has completed at least 75% of the class but is unable to complete the class work because of extraordinarily unusual or unforeseen circumstances or other compelling reasons, (b) has done passing work in the course, and (c) in the instructors judgment, can complete the required work without repeating the course.

NS Instructors may assign an NS grade which indicates that the faculty member has had, in their judgment, insufficient instructional contact with the student. NS grades are given at the instructors discretion and are only assigned at the end of the semester. NS grades are not given because a student request one (therefore dont even ask) and are not given because you do not meet the criteria for an Incomplete grade. W/Withdrawals A w is a student-initiated withdrawal and can be initiated up to the 90% point in the course. As the instructor, I CANNOT WITHDRAW YOU FROM THE COURSE! If you choose not to complete course requirements, you must withdrawal yourself or risk a failing grade in this course. Technology Notes As this is an online class, each student is required to meet the minimal technological requirements for Distance Learning. You may use the Internet at home, on campus, or at any other location but it MUST BE REGULAR AND RELIABLE. If for some reason your computer breaks down, it is expected that you will take immediate action to find regular and reliable access to another computer. Computer crashes and other personal software or hardware problems do not excuse you from class materials and due dates! You must have an email address from which you can send and receive emails. Each student taking a Mott course is given a Mott email address to use (preferred). You may use a non-Mott account although you are responsible for going into Blackboard and changing where you wish to receive my emails to you. It is your responsibility to clean out your email mailbox and update your email address as needed so as to be able to receive emails. Failure to receive any of my emails sent out from Blackboard due to full mailboxes, incorrectly entered email addresses, non-active email accounts or other email issues will not excuse you from the information disseminated. You must also have access to specific software throughout the semester, such as Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files; Microsoft PowerPoint, the free PowerPoint viewer, Apple Keynote, or Openoffice for viewing PowerPoint presentations; a Java enabled browser for accessing Blackboard; software to play MP3 files (such as Windows Media Player, itunes, winamp); and a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, for typing papers. BlackBoard may go down for maintenance during the semester. I will not accept BlackBoard was down as an excuse for not completing work. You have one week to complete assignmentsthis is more than enough time. Waiting until the last minute to do your work may have unpleasant results for your grade if BlackBoard decides to go down at the same time. I recommend Firefox or Chrome as the best browsers for BlackBoard. Apples Safari also works well. Internet Explorer has significant problems with BlackBoard. I recommend using almost anything else. Academic Dishonesty MCCs policies on Plagiarism and academic dishonesty can be found here: http://www.mcc.edu/18_policies/student_acad_integrity.shtml. This helpful page includes examples of plagiarism, cheating, and other academic crimes. My policy on academic dishonesty is that even one instance of it is unacceptable. If I have reason to believe that you are using someone elses words or work as your own, you will receive a 0.0 for the

assignment in question and will be reported to the registrars office for discipline. If you do it again, you will receive a 0.0 for the course and a second disciplinary referral.