SYLLABUS PART 3: HELP (2019)

LAST UPDATED: 2018-08-31

This year, in a dramatic change from last year, I’ve not updated anything other than adding this one sentence; so if you see anything that’s no longer true and accurate, please let me know and I’ll make the necessary changes (and of course credit you for your generous crowdsourcing collegiality).

(The second general-purpose appendix to any syllabus.)
folon-villebleue2

I (Dr O’Brien) am sharing some general useful resources below: openly-accessible freely-available information from the University. I use these resources a lot in the advising side of my work, you might also find them helpful, and they could also help you to help someone else. There are many people here at UBC who can help; even if it is “just” talking to someone with whom you feel comfortable and whom you trust, who will listen to you, that alone is already a vital service.

The same goes for any need to talk and to find support, whether something has happened to you or to someone you know, and also if nothing has happened but you worry that it might. Even if sometimes this seems like an overwhelmingly large university, and impersonal through its size and complexity: UBC is a compassionate caring community, made up of individual human beings.

QUICK NAVIGATION:

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SYLLABUS PART 2: THE RULES (2019)

It’s that time of year again. Time for updating the general-purpose appendix to all syllabus for all courses … and for playing Spot The Difference with previous incarnations … This year, in a dramatic change from last year, I’ve not updated anything other than adding this one sentence; so if you see anything that’s no longer true and accurate, please let me know and I’ll make the necessary changes (and of course credit you for your generous crowdsourcing collegiality).

LAST UPDATED: 2019-09-30

la règle du jeu / renoir

QUICK NAVIGATION

→ I. Aims and objectives
→ II. Expectations
→ III. Responsibilities
→ IV. Grading criteria
→ V. Academic integrity & avoiding plagiarism
→ VI. In-term academic concession: late work, extensions, and rescheduling missed tests or examinations (UPDATED 2019-09-30: new UBC Academic Concession policy, effective September 2019)
→ VII.Quick links to UBC rules, policies, and procedures

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Syllabus (1): 200-level Romance Studies, medieval to early modern, “Animal Reading”

Here’s another syllabus, again in the interests of sharing resources, in case it helps others elsewhere and as this is a public university in a part of the world (BC, Canada) that’s keen on open education. This one is for UBC RMST 221B. There’s a publicly-accessible version at UBC Blogs (this is just a copy from there). That site also has other materials for students (there will be more next week), and more on UBC’s “Learning Management System” (yes, I know, sorry). These are just for my students (sorry). I have once again over-complicated my own life, and perhaps that of others, by including not one but TWO kinds of weekly discussion (on that LMS, Canvas). And by integrating peer assessment and self-assessment. And by trying to figure out a Cunning Plan for reading Montaigne’s Essays in one term. And it’s not the only reading. The Cunning Plan hinges on different kinds of reading, and on collaborative reading in a way that, I hope, will create a community of learning and knowledge in the class. (Famous last words, ask me again in December. Or in two weeks.) There will be a Public Knowledge contribution: “Humanimals Reading: A Local Bestiary.” More on that in December.

I am very excited about all of this.

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Syllabus (1): beginners’ French (2019)

In the interests of sharing resources, in case it helps others elsewhere and as this is a public university in a part of the world (BC, Canada) that’s keen on open education, I’m sharing some UBC FREN 101 things here. There’s a publicly-accessible version at UBC Blogs (this is just a copy from there). That site also has a password-protected area for other colleagues who are teaching the course—it’s a large multi-section course—and other materials for them in a shared Dropbox, and also other materials for students in another shared Dropbox and on UBC’s “Learning Management System” (yes, I know, sorry). These are just for my students (sorry). For more about how and why I’m over-complicating my own life, see this post from earlier in the week.

This syllabus follows UBC’s new format, via Senate. (more…)

An old talk: Arts ISIT workshop, “Multidimensional Learning through Digital Platforms” (September 2018)


In mid-September last year, four of us UBC faculty were invited to share our experiences with open learning platforms in a UBC Arts ISIT (Instructional Support and Information Technology) workshop. It was fun, and what we’re doing and have done might be useful for other people too. The workshop is archived here and you can watch our presentations here. Our organiser and chair was Meena Kahlon, and my co-presenters were Dr Katherine Bowers (CENES, European Studies, Science & Technology Studies, and one of this year’s Wall Scholars), Dr Tristan Grunow (History, East Asian Studies; and now at Yale), and Dr Jenny Peterson (Political Science, International Relations, and Vantage College). (more…)