DROP
POLICY: Logging in to the course counts as first week
attendance
for
the
purpose of instructor drops.
If you
are reading this, you have confirmed your participation in the class
and will not be dropped unless you do so yourself. You
will be charged for any class you do not drop by Sunday, July 1, 11:59pm (end of the 1st
week).
To
drop a class, go to mylane.lanecc.edu
and
click the myEnrollment tab, then Add/Drop Classes. You
should also check your schedule the second week to make sure you have
not been dropped from any of your classes,
as there is a
$100 "add grade" fee
for registering
for a course after grades have been issued for the term.
Being able to log into the course in Moodle
does not mean you are still
officially registered; often there is a lag between being
dropped and being able to access Moodle. Check your
myLane
student schedule to see the classes in which you are officially
enrolled.
The last day to
drop without a refund
(or
change your grading option
to pass/no pass or letter grade) Friday, July 6th
at
5pm (the end of the 2nd week). If you do
not
drop by this deadline, you will
receive a grade. For students
who forget to drop and do not complete the course, this grade will be an F.
MOODLE
MESSAGING
|
IMPORTANT:
Primary
and
preferred form of communication.
Using Moodle messaging for communication allows
me to give first priority to students enrolled in my
classes, makes sure I don't miss important messages in the junk which
floods my inbox daily and creates message history we can both easily
consult. To send me a message, click on my name anywhere
in Moodle and click the Send message
button at the bottom of my profile. If you click the Add Contact button in the messages
tab, you can easily send me messages by clicking the word Messages in the Message block in the upper left of
the main course page. When I respond, you will see an indicator in the Messages
block. To use Moodle messaging, make sure your
web browser's pop-up blocker is off or is set to allow lanecc.edu. The SHeD can help you with
this. If you leave the Messages
pop-up window open, it will
automatically check for new messages every minute; otherwise, you will
only see
new messages when you click on something in the course or log in to the
course again.
You can also set your profile to receive email notifications of new
Moodle messages, which is recommended if you do not log in to Moodle
every day. Instead
of
replying
to these notification email messages, login to Moodle and respond via
Moodle message. Please make sure your
current
email address is in your myLane account and Moodle profile. USE MOODLE MESSAGES FOR ALL TIME-SENSITIVE
ISSUES. This is crucial in our
abbreviated four week term You will receive a response within
24 hrs or less during the session - you may wait several days to have
an email returned, longer for a voicemail. |
| EMAIL |
borrowdalej@lanecc.edu Please
ONLY email me if you are UNABLE
to send me a message via Moodle instant messaging. If you get an
email copy of a Moodle message from me, log into Moodle to
reply. Do not reply by email!
If you must use email, use a
descriptive
subject
line. Note that emails with no subject or subject lines like
"Test" "Hey" or
"Hi there!" will probably be filtered out by the Digitar spam filter
and may never be read. Always use
Moodle
messaging for all time-senstive issues. |
| PHONE |
463-5434. Least
preferred form of contact. On
voicemail messages please give your name and call-back number clearly
and slowly
so I can write them down correctly. Phone messages are answered last,
after I've answered all incoming Moodle instant messages and
email
and are generally not checked evenings, weekends, or
holidays. |
| OFFICE
HOURS |
Moodle
Instant Messaging, Mondays 5-6pm and by appt. Note: You can send me a
Moodle message any time, but at this time I am guarnateed to be
available for an instant reply and back and forth conversation.
|
| SUBJECT
MATTER |
This
is
a
course
in
three dominant religious
traditions originating in the Middle East: Judaism, Christianity and
Islam.
Our focus will be on the early historical development of these
traditions and their sacred texts, essential beliefs, basic practices
and major sects. As time permits, we will discuss ways in which these
religions affect (or are affected by) contemporary culture, geopolitics
and daily life.
|
| TEXT |
Borrowdale, Religions of the Middle East: An
Anthology
of Sacred Texts from Judaism, Christianity and Islam, 6th
Edition (available at the LCC Titan Bookstore)
|
REQUIREMENTS
RELIGIOUS
SERVICE
OR
FAITH INTERVIEW REPORT |
Sunday,
July 8 before 11:55pm (end of Week 2)
|
10%
of grade
|
FIRST
MIDTERM
EXAM
(Intro, Judaism)
|
Take
by Thursday of Week 2
|
30%
of grade |
SECOND
MIDTERM
EXAM (Christianity)
|
Take
by Thursday of Week 3
|
30%
of
grade
|
FINAL
EXAM
(Islam)
|
Take
by Thursday of Week 4, 5pm
|
30%
of grade |
COURSE OBJECTIVES: The objectives for this course
are that each student
(1) know how each of the major traditions was founded and developed,
and what their essential beliefs and practices are today (2) see
how these
beliefs and practices have influenced world history and continue to
affect social and political dimensions of the modern world (3) acquire
or sharpen critical and analytical reasoning skills, particularly those
involving hermeneutics (textual analysis and interpretation) (4) see
the fallacies which underly subjective, hyper-symbolic, mystical,
conspiratorial, hyper-mythological, extra-terrestrial, Marxist and
other misinterpretations of religious
texts (5) be
able to see the world from the perspective of another religious
tradition (6) understand both conservative and liberal interpretations
of religion (7) grapple with the problem of religious pluralism (8)
come to some conclusions about which, if any, of the beliefs studied
are true, or nearest the truth, and more generally about the nature of
religion itself.
READING: There is quite a bit
of reading for this course, almost all from primary source texts. Topic
headings are given to help guide your reading. If there's something you
don't understand, make a note of it and continue reading. You'll be
tested on basic concepts and broad themes, key figures and events and
only some important details, which will be highlighted in the review
questions and study guides.
REVIEW QUESTIONS: At the end of
each section of reading, there are a series of review questions.
Writing out the answers to these questions will help you understand the
reading and prepare for exams.
PODCASTS: You will be listening
to class
recordings on mp3, supplemented by powerpoints and whiteboard notes
from the version of this class taught in Fall 2011. These recordings
will clarify and elaborate on the text
and some material is covered in class recordings which is not in the
text.
There are about 8 hours
of recordings to listen to per week. To succeed in this course will
require you to keep up
the listening schedule in the weekly outline. There may be a few
instances where at the beginning of class I am speaking about an
upcoming campus event or administrative issues - feel free to fast
forward through these sections. I may be posting some supplementary
text or audio recordings as well.
EXAMS: Three exams are required.
You cannot take them from home. You
must take them at the
Social
Science
Testing
Lab in
CEN 456 on the Main Campus in Eugene or at the
Cottage
Grove Center. You will need a photo I.D. and to
know your L Number and MyLane/Moodle PIN to log into the test.
You must
arrive one hour before closing. Most
students finish in an hour or less.
If you are
taking this course from out of the Eugene area and cannot make it to
one of the campuses, you must arrange a proctor THE FIRST WEEK OF
CLASSES to allow time for processing the request. Please send me a
Moodle message immediately with the proctor's name, email and
institution and then fill out the form at http://lanecc.edu/distance/testproctoring.html
The
exam
format
will be multiple choice and true/false questions and be between 50 and
75 questions. A study guide is avaialble for each in the weekly outline
in Moodle.
During
the
exam
you
may use a 3 x 5 card note card (both sides) or a
piece of paper measured with a ruler and cut to the
same size. These
cards will be collected by testing personnel. If you would like your
cards back, put your name or some identifying mark on them and send a
request by Moodle message.
MAKE-UP EXAM POLICY: You must
contact the instructor
before the
deadline via Moodle messaging to receive an automatic extension
without penalty.
Please include the date you plan on taking the exam in
the message. Note: Because the Testing Lab closes on Thursday of Week
4, no make-ups are possible for the Final Exam. Send me a Moodle
message about taking an Incomplete if you are unable to take the Final
on time.
PENALTIES FOR CHEATING: Students caught cheating
will be given an F in the course.
RELIGIOUS SERVICE OR FAITH INTERVIEW
REPORT: Students will
either
interview a person of an unfamiliar faith or visit an unfamiliar
religious service and sum up their experience in report due at the end
of the 2nd week of classes,
Sunday,
July 8 before 11:55pm. Start early. These reports will be graded
on a ten point scale. Partial credit is typically assigned in cases
where the student does not follow the directions, the report is of
insufficient
length, suffers from typographical errors and grammatical problems or
is late. Keep in mind that
10% is the equivalent of a letter grade. If you do not turn in the
report, your grade will be one letter grade lower.
Before beginning the assigment,
click on it in Moodle
and
read the directions.
Plagiarism
of any kind will result in an F in the course.
GRADING: At
the end of the
term, the class will be graded on the
following absolute scale.
| A+ 97% -100% |
A 93% - 96%
|
A- 90% - 92% |
| B+ 87% - 89% |
B 83% - 86% |
B- 80% - 82% |
| C+ 77% - 79% |
C 73% - 76% |
C- 70% - 72% |
| D+ 67% - 69% |
D 63% - 66% |
D- 60% - 62% |
| |
F 0% - 59% |
|
AVAILABILITY
OF
THE
INSTRUCTOR: I am
available by Moodle messaging, email or phone.
If
you are having difficulties with the class, please contact me as
soon
as possible; I am here to help. If you performed poorly on your
first exam, please come by office hours or make an appointment to see
me to see what we can do to improve your next exam score. I am also
available to discuss
any issue
in
the class which has piqued your intellectual curiosity, or which you
find
interesting or important, outside of the realm of assignments and
testing.
DISABILITY
SERVICES: If you need support
or assistance because of a disability, you may be eligible for academic
accommodations through Disability Service. For more information,
contact the Disability
Services at (541) 463-5150 (voice) or 463-3079 (TTY), stop by Building
1,
Room 218, or contact Nancy Hart (541) 463-3010. You may also want to
check
out Lane's On-Line
Resource Page
for students with disabilities.