HIST 2086 - New York City in Revolution: Reacting to the Past

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2020

This course uses sophisticated role immersion games as a way to learn American history, and the history of New York City. The first game, New York City in Revolution, takes you to the streets of eighteenth-century New York, where you will be given a real historical character, and lots of similarly placed friends, who will then help you vie for control of the city as it descends toward anarchy in the days leading up to the American Revolution. You will risk death as you navigate the mob violence that pervades the city and will try to assert the interests of your faction, while preserving private personal goals that must remain secret. The second game, Greenwich Village, 1913, will allow you to fight for justice amidst the inequalities of the now early- twentieth-century metropolis. As you wander the bohemian coffeehouses and bars of lower Manhattan, you will encounter dreamers of all kinds. Talk of revolution will be in the air. Should women get the vote? Should anarchist ideas reshape America? Should racial discrimination be eradicated? Which should come first? Both games involve reading some of the most classic documents in American history in order to allow students to live and breathe the historical drama. Students have consistently rated this course as one of the very best learning experiences they have had in their Arts degree. One of the reasons for this is that the course provides a highly social learning environment through which students can make new friends. See the YouTube promotional video 'Learn History and Win' for more information..

Open All

Course Details

Course Code	HIST 2086
Course	New York City in Revolution: Reacting to the Past
Coordinating Unit	Historical and Classical Studies
Term	Semester 1
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Assessment	2 x Quiz 10% each, 2 x paper 15% each, 2 x journal 5% each, 2 x participation 10% each, take home final 20%

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Tom Buchanan

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

This course has a different enrollment format to most other classes in the Arts degree. Students will enroll not for the traditional lecture and tutorial--but for a seminar capped at 25 students. The three contact hours composing the seminar will be then divided into two hour and one hour sessions. During the enrollment process students will see a number of these seminars on offer to fit various student timetabling needs.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Course Learning Outcomes Discipline of History Learning Outcomes

1 Gain knowledge of two key events in early modern American history	understanding of a broad range of historical knowledge ranging over tim, space, and cultures
	recognising the value of a wide range of methodologies, conceptual approaches and competing narratives
2 The ability to empathise with the experiences of diverse peoples from the past	an awareness of the ethical, social, and cultural implications of historical enquiry within a global context
3 The ability to work effectively with others within the game experience	ability to work independently, and/or cooperatively, using appropriate methodologies, in order to engage with historical problems
	capacity to contribute productively to group based outcomes
4 A greater understanding of historical causation	understanding of change and continuity over time
5 Ability to analyse primary documents	ability to contextualise, sythethetise and critical evaluate hsitorical sources
6 Ability to do independent research in order to build an argument	ability to identify and access a wide range of relevant primary, secondary, textual and visual sources
	ability to evaluate and generate ideas and to construct evidence-based arguments in various formats in a planned and timely manner.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1, 3
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	3, 4, 5
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	5, 6
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1,3,4,5,6,8,9,10
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	1,9
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	9,10

Learning Resources

Required Resources

The course uses two required texts which will be available in the unibooks, but these often run out. It is essential for students to obtain the Offutt book by whatever means necessary by the first day of class.

Bill Offutt, Patriots, Loyalists, and Revolution in New York City, 1775-1776 (New York: W.W. Norton, 2013)

Mary Jane Treacy, Greenwich Village, 1913: Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman (New York: W. W. Norton, 2015)

Recommended Resources

Students looking to prepare for this course can consult the following recommended resources:

Edward Countryman, The American Revolution (1985)

Christine Stansell, American Moderns: Bohemian New York and the Creation of a New Century (New York:Henry Holt, 2000).

Online Learning

Because this course is seminar-based there are few lectures. The ones that I do give will be recorded. But class sessions, in general,will not be recorded since being present is essential to succeeding in realising character goals. Myuni will be used for online submission of written work, marking, and the course will use gradebook as welll. Use of other MyUni functionality is to be announced.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course is workshop based, featuring student-led active learning across three hours per week.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

This course is equivalent to 156 hours of study across the term.

Learning Activities Summary

The semester is broken into two parts, with weeks 1-6 devoted to the American Revolution game, and weeks 7-12 devoted to the suffrage/labour game set in New York City in 1913.

Specific Course Requirements

Not applicable.

Small Group Discovery Experience

The small group nature of this course makes it a unique educational experience. The entire game-phase sections of this course (weeks 2-6 and weeks 8-12) involve students working on problems under the guidance of the instructor.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Essay: Two 1000 word essays.	Summative	Midterm and End of Term	15% each	3, 4
Quiz: Two multiple choice quizzes	Summative	Weeks 3 and 9	10% each	1
Behind the Scenes Participation Journal (300 words)	Summative	End of term	10%	6
Participation	Summative	all term	20%	5
Final Reflection 1000 words	Summative	End of term	20%	8, 9,10

Due to the current COVID-19 situation modified arrangements have been made to assessments to facilitate remote learning and teaching. Assessment details provided here reflect recent updates.

The “Behind the Scenes Participation Journal” (10%) is now removed. Each essay has an additional 5% weighting.

Assessment Related Requirements

There are no firm requirements in terms of attendence or submission of work in order to pass. The only requirement is that students achieve a total of 50% of possible points in the course.

Assessment Detail

The following are further details:

Quizzes

These will test content knowledge of the game context. They will occur before we begin to play each game so that everyone understands the historical situation.



Papers

The paper objectives for each student are all unique, because they follow the unique instructions given to each student. What is different in this course in general, however, is that all papers are written from the perspective of the assigned character given to each student. Students will comment on general course readings from the perspective of their character, but also do research that reveals their characters perspectives and experiences.



Final Reflective Essay

This final essay asks students to evaluate why history unfolded as it did in our games, compared to the actual historical record. It will focus on the process of historical change and continuity, getting students to think through one of the building blocks of the discipline of history. It will pull together what they have learned across the term.



Class participation

Speaking publically in front of your peers and engaging in online discussion is a key skill developed across the term. To achieve their goals, students must engage with others.

Behind the Scenes Participation

This provides students with a chance to display their non-public engagement. It is a brief dot point journal of significant conversations with classmates during the term.

Submission

Online Submission

All assessment for this course will happen via MyUni. Online submission and marking will be used following the agreed upon due dates.

Extensions

These follow Faculty guidelines

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator