Course Syllabus: World Foundations 101

World Foundations 101 is a three-credit class that begins in ancient times and ends with the close of the Middle Ages. This class is a prerequisite for World Foundations 201, which is a three-credit course that starts with the Renaissance and finishes with the modern period. Both courses must be completed to receive credit for the Cultural Awareness portion of Foundations.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Understand various general and specific Redemption Patterns and Moral Truths.
  2. Understand historical contributions up to the 15th Century as context for our lives.
  3. Understand the relationship of civilization (a Just Society) to Redemption (religious ritual and myth).
  4. Understand a contextualized, historical overview of several civilizations.
  5. Appropriately evaluate the ways in which a civilization's art, architecture, music, drama, and literature reveal its values, redemptive rituals, moral truths, and concepts of social justice.
  6. Look for and acknowledge moral truths found in other cultural and religious traditions.
  7. Increase your awareness of self as a learner by applying tools and articulated processes to the business of learning.
  8. Engage other cultures or traditions with a conscious attempt to manage biases and prejudices inherent in one's own culture.
  9. Gain a greater appreciation that the gospel encompasses all truth.
  10. Evaluate cultures, literatures, music, arts, philosophies, and religions to better understand different cultures, traditions and perspectives.
  11. See through the eyes of another who is very different from yourself.
  12. Write/present in a way that is clear, persuasive, and engaging.

Course Schedule

The course has been designed to follow a weekly schedule in which students complete one lesson per week. You are expected to complete all of the learning activities for each lesson in the order that they are listed for each lesson. The instructor may shift the order of completion for some assignments, and may even extend the deadlines, if circumstances warrant it for the whole class. However, for most assignments and quizzes, you are expected to have them completed by the end of each week. See calendar for due dates. At that time, all access to the quizzes and assignments for that week's lesson will be removed. In addition, any assignments or quizzes submitted after the due date will receive zero points. That will also be the time that you will be given access to the learning activities for the next week's lesson. This is done so that you will be able to work on that lesson over the weekend, if you would like to get ahead.

On average, it takes approximately 9 hours to complete all the learning activities for each lesson. So, if you want do well in this course, you should plan on spending about 9 hours on "homework" each week. You may be invited to participate in online class meetings or view a recording, if you are unable to attend. These meetings will allow you to get to know your peers and instructor better, as well as give you the chance to both teach and learn from your classmates. Although attendance to these live meetings is not required, you may be asked to view a recording if you are unable to attend. You will be expected to complete work each week by the weeks end deadline, even if Monday happens to be President's Day or some other holiday.

Lesson Schedule

Week Lesson Title
Week 01 Lesson 01: Course Introduction
Week 02 Lesson 02: Introduction to the Temple Pattern and Egyptian Civilization
Week 03 Lesson 03: Mesopotamian Civilization and the Monomyth
Week 04 Lesson 04: Greek Civilization and The Odyssey
Week 05 Lesson 05: Oedipus the King, Greek Philosophy, and the Cave Allegory
Week 06 Lesson 06: Introduction to World Religions and Moral Truth
Week 07 Lesson 07: Hinduism Ritual, Buddhism Ritual, and Moral Truth
Week 08 Lesson 08: Roman Civilization
Week 09 Lesson 09: The Aeneid and St. Augustine
Week 10 Lesson 10: European Middle Ages
Week 11 Lesson 11: European Middle Ages Continued
Week 12 Lesson 12: Islamic Civilization
Week 13 Lesson 13: Dante Essay and Final Exam
Week 14 Lesson 14: Course Conclusion

Required Texts

  1. The Epic of Gilgamesh: 0-555-03892-0
  2. Saint Augustine, Confessions: 0-536-708322-3
  3. The Three Theban Plays: 0-536-66939-2
  4. Dante: The Divine Comedy 1 Hell: 978-0140440065
  5. Dante: The Divine Comedy 2 Purgatory: 978-0140441055
  6. Dante: The Divine Comedy 3 Paradise: 978-0140441055
  7. World Foundations 101 Reader*

*Custom Edition for BYU-Idaho: Available only from the BYU-Idaho Bookstore

Compare prices for your textbooks through the University Store Price Comparison site. They will show you all of the options from the University Store plus several online options to help you find the best price.

Note on Texts

It is strongly recommended that you purchase the required texts through the BYU-Idaho bookstore, as a discounted bundle. If that is not possible, the ISBNs have been included so that the correct edition can be acquired. Documents in the reader may be found online.

Grading

Grades will be based on a percentage of the total number of points students earn from assignments and quizzes, participation in online class meetings (if applicable), and completion of any other learning activities assigned by the instructor. Individual instructors may or may not choose to round.

Grades will be determined as follows:

A = 94-100%

A- = 90-93%

B+ = 87-89%

B = 84-86%

B- = 80-83%

C+ = 77-79%

C = 74-76%

C- = 70-73%

D+= 67-69%

D = 64-66%

D-= 60-63%

F = 0-59%

Films

The clips used in the Buddhism presentation come from the films Little Buddha and Kundun.

Optional: If you would like to watch the films (outside of class) they are available through the university library at the following links:

Little Buddha: http://search.alexanderstreet.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/view/work/1791803

Note

In the past, some students have had difficulty with being asked to view art that contains representations of nude figures. The purpose of this activity is to help prepare students for dealing with this situation. For many students, once they understand the value in studying the art, viewing these pictures is not a problem. However, there may be some students that have struggled with viewing inappropriate materials in the past, or even have had to overcome addictions to pornography. In order to help these students, we are giving all students the option of contacting the instructor and asking for an alternative assignment. They don't even have to explain their reasons why they don't want to do the original assignment. All they have to do is request the alternative. So, when students make this request, you will need to work with them to negotiate an alternative that you believe that will help them achieve the learning goals of the lesson or course.