Class sections will be divided between lectures and seminar discussions. The seminar discussion sessions will serve as a forum for the analysis and discussion of scholarly literature and as a testing ground for student hypotheses. The instructor will encourage students to elaborate, refine and revise ideas. Discussion sessions will also include tutorials in conducting historical research, the exploration of primary source documents, and practice in oral presentations. Participation in both lectures and seminar discussions is required for the successful completion of the course.
A sample course outline would include the following topics.
Note: Content may vary according to the instructor’s selection of topics.
- Introduction to the Twentieth Century
- Imperialism: Europe and the World before 1914
- Origins of World War One
- Total War: The War in Europe and Asia
- The Consequences of the Peace
- The Russian Revolution
- The Struggle for Women’s Rights
- Origins and Impact of Fascism
- The Great Depression
- Nazi Germany
- Towards Independence: India and China
- The Origins of World War Two
- The Second World War
- The New World Order: 1945
At the conclusion of the course, successful students will be able to demonstrate historical thinking skills, research skills, critical thinking skills and communication skills appropriate to the level of the course by:
1. Locating, examining, assessing, and evaluating a range of primary sources and secondary scholarly literature critically and analytically (reading history).
2. Constructing historical arguments, taking historical perspectives, and interpreting historical problems through different types of writing assignments of varying lengths (writing history).
3. Participating in active and informed historical debate independently and cooperatively through classroom discussion and presentation (discussing history).
4. Independently and cooperatively investigating the ways that history is created, preserved and disseminated through public memory and commemoration, oral history, community engagement, and other forms of popular visual and written expressions about the past (applying history).
Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation policy. Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans. There will be at least three separate assessments, which may include a combination of midterm and final exams; research essays; primary document analysis assignments and essays; quizzes; map tests; in-class and online written assignments; seminar presentations; student assignment portfolios; group projects; creative projects; class participation.
The value of each assessment and evaluation, expressed as a percentage of the final grade, will be listed in the course outline distributed to students at the beginning of the term. Specific evaluation criteria will vary according to the instructor’s assessment of appropriate evaluation methods.
An example of one evaluation scheme:
Participation, In-Class Work 15%
Seminar Presentation 15%
Primary Document Analyses 20%
Reading Notes / Reading Journals 15%
Research Essay or Research Project 15%
Midterm Exam 15%
Final Exam 20%
Textbooks and Course Readers may be chosen from the following list, to be updated periodically.
An instructor’s custom Course Reader may be required. Additional online resources may also be assigned. Additional reading lists and links to specific resources also may be provided online or in the instructor’s course outline.
Brower, D.R. The World in the Twentieth Century: From Empires to Nations. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2014.
Findley, C.V. and J.A. Rothney. Twentieth-Century World. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Keylor, William R. The Twentieth-Century World: An International History. 2nd e. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Kinney, Tracey J. Conflict and Cooperation: Documents in Modern Global History. 3rd ed. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014.
In addition monographs, memoirs, or novels with historical applications may also be assigned. Examples may include:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.
Bessel, R., ed. Life in the Third Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Fallada, Hans. Little Man, What Now? Brooklyn: Melville House, 2009.
Fitzgerald, Scott F. The Great Gatsby. Toronto: Penguin Books, 2000.
Fredrickson, George M. Racism. A Short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Graves, Robert. Goodbye to All That. Toronto: Penguin Books, 2000.
Herge. Tintin & the Blue Lotus. London. UK: Egmont UK, Ltd, 2003.
Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia. Toronto: Penguin, 2003.