FYE 101: Section 7

Mutual Understanding

Instructor: Patrick Goold

I. Course description:

There is a common FYE catalog description: "A course designed to help students engage and succeed both academically and socially in Virginia Wesleyan's liberal arts learning community. In the process of investigating an essential problem or question, students will develop foundational inquiry skills that emphasize critical thinking and independent learning. Through diverse co-curricular workshops, events, and activities, students will gain additional academic as well as personal resourcefulness."

The problem. Section 7 of FYE 101 focuses on human subjectivity: Who are you? Who am I? How do we know? Is mutual understanding possible? Can we even understand ourselves?  What are the barriers to such understanding?  Can they be surmounted?  What is a self?

We will pursue these questions through close reading and discussion of three novels written in the early 1930's by the Czech writer, Karel Capek (pronounced CHAH-pek). This trilogy explores the difficulties of understanding who someone is from three very different perspectives.

The approach. All sections of FYE 101 are committed to inquiry-based learning. This is defined for us as follows: " a process wherein one begins with an essential, complex question, derives additional questions that structure investigation, obtains the facts that address those questions, then uses that information to arrive at judicious responses to the original question. Inquiry-based learning is thus an engaged, purposeful approach to problem solving that begins with real questions and uses critical thinking processes to arrive at compelling insights."

Section 7 will approach this process in a particular guided way, the Learning Through Discussion (LTD) method, as described in the pamphlet Learning Through Discussion by Jerome Rabow et al.

Goals and objectives. Our primary goal is to enhance our understanding of human subjectivity through focused discussion of Capek's novels. Behind this primary goal lie six larger course objectives. If all goes well, FYE 101 should give each of us:

1) enhanced ability to formulate complex questions;

2) greater understanding of what it means to think critically;

3) practice in thinking critically;

4) acquaintance with reading and study strategies that help to identify main ideas in a text and the arguments supporting them, to take notes in class, and to prepare for classes and for exams;

5) greater understanding of the VWC general studies frames and graduation requirements in terms of how they relate to a) academic disciplines, b) types of analytical questions or ways of knowing, and c) the principles of a liberal education

6) increased commitment to the academic program and to the larger VWC community.

FYS and graduation requirements. Completion of First-Year Seminar with a passing grade is a graduation requirement for all students entering with fewer than 24 college credit hours. Students who fail First-Year Seminar in the fall will be required to enroll in a special section the subsequent spring.

Because of the logistical challenges of first-year seminar enrollments, students cannot withdraw from or change their FYS section. Additionally, while the Spring section is a requirement for students who fail in the fall, it is not an option in lieu of a fall section.

II. About the Instructor

Dr. Patrick A. Goold received a B.A from Saint John's College in 1977, an M.Litt from Saint Andrews University in Saint Andrews, Scotland in 1981 and a PhD from Brown University in 1985. He wrote his dissertation on the pseudonymous works of Soren Kierkegaard. His research interests include the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory and the history of the notions of reason and enlightenment. For more information see his website at http://facultystaff.vwc.edu/~pgoold/

His office is in Blocker 222.. He can be reached by telephone at 455-3357 (or just 3357 if you are on campus). His e-mail address is goold@vwc.edu.

Office hours for Fall 2007 are: Monday and Wednesday 1-3, and Tuesday and Thursday 9-11.

III. Requirements

Grades for this section of FYE 101 will be based on the following factors:

A. Attendance at the Tuesday sessions is required. Anyone missing more than THREE sessions fails the course. Absences will be excused only in cases of genuine emergency and solely at the discretion of the instructor.

B. Participation. This means participation in the classroom discussion. Criteria for grading participation are taken from the "Member Role Inventory" on page 59 of Learning Through Discussion.

C. 10 weekly responses to the reading and discussion. Beginning on September 20, by 9PM on Thursday of each week you must post a response to the previous Tuesday's reading/discussion on the course blog, which is located at http://fye101-7.blogspot.com/. The postings should be at least 100 words long and should engage the reading or the discussion of that Tuesday in a significant way. Late postings will not be counted except in cases of genuine emergency and solely at the discretion of the instructor. Comments on postings by others in the class are encouraged and may be awarded extra credit at the discretion of the instructor. The technical information about how to post to the blog will be presented in class. No response is due on November 21, that being Thanksgiving. The final blog response is due on November 29.

D. Community Engagement Contract. Details of the CEC are posted on the FYE website at the following url:

http://www.vwc.edu/academics/programs/fye/community_engagement.php

Note that this page contains links to all kinds of information, including how to submit your responses. Be sure to read all the associated links. Also note that all students are required to attend the Honor Convocation (August 30 11 a.m.) and the Equalogy program (Sept. 6, times to be announced). Beyond these you will commit to 10 other FYE-appropriate events chosen from the list on the website. These include 1) academic enrichment events, 2) academic and personal support skills workshops, and 3) campus life activities. Please choose at least three events from the academic enrichment category. Finally, complete one event each week. I will not accept more than one response from you in a week. You cannot wait until mid-semester to start attending these events.

In addition to attending the events on your contract you must submit a 100-word reflective response to each event. These responses should be placed in the Blackboard electronic drop-box for this section of FYE 101 no later than 10AM the following Tuesday. See the webpage at http://www.vwc.edu/academics/programs/fye/credit.php

for details on how to do this. Late responses will be accepted only in cases of genuine emergency and solely at the discretion of the instructor. Altogether the CEC is worth 25% of the final grade, with the grade determined by the percentage of appropriately engaged and detailed responses submitted. For example, a student who completes 9 of 12 events/responses completes 75% and earns a "C."

E. Final Examination. The final examination is worth 10% of the final grade. It will be given on November 29, the penultimate Thursday of the semester, at 11 o'clock. The examination will consist of just one question: How has reading and discussing in LTD format Capek's three different stories about personal identity changed how you understand other people and how you understand yourself?

F. A 900-word interpretive essay on some aspect of Capek's trilogy. We will discuss possible topics later in the semester. The essay is due by 5PM on Thursday, December 6. Late papers will be accepted only in cases of genuine emergency and solely at the discretion of the instructor.

Your grade for the course will be calculated using the following weightings: 25% for the Community Engagement Contract; 25% for class participation; 25% for the blog; 10% for final exam and 15% for the final interpretive essay.

Accommodations for students with special needs: The standard procedures for meeting the responsibilities associated with this course can be modified for students with certain disabilities. To qualify for such accommodations, a student must provide the college with appropriate professional documentation that confirms the presence of the disability. To begin the confirmation process or for further information about it, contact our coordinator of disability services, Fayne Pearson, at 455-3246.  

IV. Syllabus

A. Required texts:

Jerome Rabow et al. Learning Through Discussion (3^rd Edition). Waveland Press, 1994. [Referred to below as LTD].

Karel Capek. Three Novels: Hordubal, Meteor, an Ordinary Life. Catbird Press, 1990. [Referred to below as TN].

B. Schedule of readings and assignments:

Date	Assignment	Work due
Aug. 28	Peter Berger "On the Obsolescence of the Concept of Honor." (xerox)
30	Honor Convocation. Attendance required.
Sept. 4	LTD pages 1-24.	Write-up of Honor Convocation
6	Equalogy program: Attendance required. 6:30 PM Hofheimer Theater.
11	LTD pages 25-53.	Write-up of Equalogy program
13
18	Hordubal in Three Novels [TN] pages 11-59.	CEC write-up #3
20		Blog on Hordubal
25	Hordubal in TN pages 60-107.	CEC write-up #4
27		Blog on Hordubal
Oct. 2	Hordubal in TN pages 108 to end.	CEC write-up #5
4		Blog on Hordubal
9	Meteor in TN pages 153-200.	CEC write-up #6
11		Blog on Meteor
16	Meteor in TN pages 201-230.	CEC write-up #7
18		Blog on Meteor
23	Meteor in TN pages 231-310.	CEC write-up #8
25		Blog on Meteor
30	An Ordinary Life in TN pages 315-366.	CEC write-up #9
Nov. 1	Advising session to prepare Spring schedules.	Blog on An Ordinary Life
6	An Ordinary Life in TN pages 367-412.	CEC write-up #10
8		Blog on An Ordinary Life
13	An Ordinary Life in TN pages 413-464.	CEC write-up #11
15		Blog on An Ordinary Life
20	"Introduction" by Wiliam Harkins and "Afterword" by Karel Capek in TN.	CEC write-up #12
22	Thanksgiving Holiday.
27	G.W.F. Hegel "Who Thinks Abstractly?" (xerox)
29	Final Examination.	Blog on Hegel
Dec. 4	Concluding discussion. Evaluation of LTD method.
6		900-word Interpretive essay