Course Title: U.S. History II
Campus Course Code: HIST 2314
Campus: UT Pan American
Program: GenEd
Course Description
This is a course in United States history from the time of the Second Industrial Revolution (1870s) to the present. This is a “hands-on” course that is designed for the student to develop a solid foundational knowledge of American history. The “online” nature of this course will actually help facilitate the attainment of this goal. Students will need a word-processing program that saves documents as a webpage and in “Rich Text Format.” Microsoft Word is highly recommended although any program that saves documents in “Rich Text Format” and as a webpage is fine. Microsoft Word can be obtained for a low price at your UT campus bookstore.
Students should feel confident in performing the following tasks for this online course: navigating and conducting research on the Web, sending and receiving e-mail, operating a word-processing program and Microsoft PowerPoint, and saving documents in “Rich Text Format.”
Students should not feel overly concerned if they have not used or operated Blackboard, the course management system for this class. This system is fairly easy to learn and there will be orientation exercises during the first week of the course so that the students will obtain the requisite knowledge to confidently operate this program.
The course is divided into three units. Each unit is composed of two assignments. The first unit assignment is the “Hikipedia Assignment” which consists of posting a series of replies to unit questions and to other student’s responses. The second is called the “Cause and Effect Assignment” and you will be required to delineate the various causes and effects of historical events. You will be using both the course textbook and the Internet as sources for your research. There are two exams, the Mid-Term and the Final.
Course Goals
- Distinguish and analyze different types of historical evidence and differing historical points of view;
- Recognize and apply reasonable criteria for the acceptability of historical evidence;
- Read and interpret historical texts (primary and secondary), critically and synthesize them for written and online discussion;
- Analyze social, political, economic, cultural, and diplomatic impact on the area under study;
- Understand the roles of choice and of cause and effect in history; and
- Assess the use and the potential misuse of historical analogies in contemporary situations.
The attainment of these goals will be manifestly demonstrated by the student in online interactions and completion of the course assignments and tests.
The following are the ten historical units that you (and your group) will be required to complete your assignments on:
- The Second Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age
- American Politics and Society in the last Decades of the 19th Century & the Emergence of the American Empire
- The Progressive Era
- World War I
- The Jazz Age
- The Great Depression and the New Deal
- World War II
- The Cold War and the Affluent Society of the 1950s
- The 1960s: Conflict Abroad and at Home
- 1970s-Present
Materials
To see a complete list of materials needed for this course, as well as any important notes and instructions provided by the instructor, visit the UTTC Book Lists.
Credits:3
Level:Undergraduate
Faculty
Ned Wallace
ewallace@panam.edu
956-318-5366