RACE & ETHNIC RELATIONS

Intersession 2001 On-line Course
December 3-21, 2001

Course web site: http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos

Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo Santos

santos_class@csub.edu

TEXTS & TEST SITE

• Joseph F. Healey, 1998. Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class . The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change. 2nd ed.. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge. ISBN: 0761985603

• John Kromkowski, 2001. Annual Editions. Race and Ethnic Relations 01/02. Guilford, CT: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0072433388

 

 

[Both books are available at the bookstore. Students who can't come to the bookstore may order the books by phone by calling (661) 664-2273 and asking for Rebecca or Christina; ask them to send you the "Soc. 327 Intersession textbooks" as soon as possible (overnight delivery available). Be prepared to give them a valid credit card number. Students are responsible for arranging to have the books delivered to them before the first day of class! Please make sure you order the correct editions!]
 

• All testing for this course will be done on the CSUB WebCT web site. To access and take a test, click the frame button "Tests & Quizzes" to your left (found also at Dr. Santos' welcome web page); alternatively, you may simply click (and bookmark) the URL address for CSUB's WebCT: http://webct.csub.edu/.

 

 

[Upon enrollment, students should immediately send an email to Dr. Santos at his email address above, to inform him of their full name, social security number, "official" email address for the duration of the course (if different from the "runner" account all students get), phone numbers, and place of residence. Dr. Santos will be sending further communications to the students by email and, if need be, by phone.]

This course is designed to provide the independent learner type of student with a broad, yet solid, introduction to the field of race & ethnic relations in the United States -- in an accelerated, three-week format. The historical and contemporary experiences of various ethnic and panethnic groups in the United States -- the so-called European Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, and Asian Americans -- are systematically analyzed in the Healey textbook. Various sociological concepts are defined to explain the origins and history of the interactions between these groups from colonial times to the present. In short, we seek to understand -- using sociological theory -- the history and dynamics of modern peoplehood in the United States .

The Healey book does so with various degrees of success, which is fine: there has been and currently is no consensus on a universal theory of modern peoplehood, race relations in particular, at least not yet; nor is there agreement over the content and significance of the historical record of racial and ethnic relations in countries such as the United States -- much less on the actual history of peoplehood in the modern world-system. But Healey's textbook is an excellent attempt at analyzing in some depth the broad historical sociology of race and ethnicity in a single country, the United States.

The emphasis is therefore placed on how race, ethnicity, & nationhood were and are socially (re)constructed in the U.S., and how these categories relate to various social structural processes such as free and forced migrations, conquest and imperialism, class stratification and struggle, the role of the state, patterns of cultural dynamics, and gender relations. We seek to elucidate the contexts in which the modern social categories of peoplehood originated and how they have evolved, how they were affected by -- and in turn affected  -- the broader political, economic, and cultural processes of U.S. history, up to the present.

The exploration of various topical issues and trends of race & ethnic relations in the United States and around the world will be pursued via the Annual Editions anthology of articles.

Self learning, Pace and Deadlines:

This course is designed for the mature, responsible, independent learner, capable of working on his/her own intensely for three weeks; the student must be already well acquainted with the World Wide Web and email, and have easy access to a computer well connected to both. It presupposes each enrolled student is willing and able to trade the time he/she would have otherwise spent in the classroom doing instead intensive reading of the two textbooks and successful testing on his/her own. Students should reserve at least four hours a day for this course during the three weeks it lasts. The course is entirely on-line and requires no physical attendance to any meeting, class, or scheduled testing site; each student is allowed to work at his or her own pace, go ahead of schedule, even finish early, but all work must be completed by midnight, Friday, December 21.

Tests Based on the Healey Textbook

To demonstrate competency, students must take a chapter test for the first eleven chapters in the Healey textbook, using for that purpose the WebCT web-based testing system at Cal. State Bakersfield. Each chapter test consists of 20 multiple-choice questions. You may take the chapter tests in any order, although it is highly recommended to follow the chapter sequence of the book. All tests will be accessible from 8:00 am on Monday, December 3, to midnight Friday, December 21. Once you start a test, you'll be given 60 minutes to complete it, so be prepared. To access and take a chapter test, click the frame button "Tests & Quizzes" to your left (also found at Dr. Santos' initial web page); alternatively, you may simply click (and bookmark) the URL address for CSUB's WebCT: http://webct.csub.edu/.

Extra: If you wish to improve a low chapter test score, you may take a second chapter test, so long as you do so before the deadline for all tests (Dec. 21 midnight). The chapter score that will be recorded will be the average of the two test scores. You may take any second chapter test at any time before midnight, Dec. 21; that is, it is not required that you follow a sequence.

The Annual Editions anthology of articles contains 47 articles.  To demonstrate competency, you must read all 47 articles and take a quiz on each of them, in any order you wish to take them, though it is recommended you follow the textbook  sequence. All quizzes will be accessible from 8:00 am on Monday, December 3, to midnight Friday, December 21. These quizzes are very short, with 5 to 7 multiple choice questions. Once you start a quiz, you'll be given 15 minutes to complete it, so be prepared. You will be allowed to take a given article quiz only once. To access and take an article quiz, do as you would with the chapter tests: click the frame button "Tests & Quizzes" to your left (found also at Dr. Santos' home page); alternatively, you may simply click (and bookmark) the URL address for CSUB's WebCT: http://webct.csub.edu/.

Instructions on Taking Quizzes and Tests at CSUB's WebCT

To access and take an article quiz or a chapter test, click the frame button "Tests & Quizzes" to your left (found also at Dr. Santos' initial home page); alternatively, you may simply click (and bookmark) the following URL address for CSUB's WebCT in your browser: http://webct.csub.edu/.

Important:  Before you start, you will need to know your WebCT ID and password. Your WebCT ID is the same as your RunnerMail Logon ID. For example, if John Smith's runner email account is "jsmith3@runner.csub.edu", then his WebCT ID would be jsmith3. If you donít know your CSUB RunnerMail Logon ID, contact the Student Technology Help Desk in the library (Lower Level Room 1), by phone at 661 665-6677. Your WebCT password is your Social Security Number (just the nine digits, no spaces or dashes). Do not change your password.

Be prepared,  read first before you test! The maximum duration for an Annual Editions quiz is 15 minutes, or roughly 3 minutes per question. The maximum duration for a Healey chapter test is 60 minutes, again roughly 3 minutes per question. This gives you ample time to carefully read the question -- most mistakes happen when students read the questions too fast and misunderstand what is being asked.

Beware of software glitch! Also, the testing software is quirky about changing answers, so try to make up your mind first: if you change your mind on a specific answer, don't forget to save it again (twice if possible)-- the computer will not know you changed an answer until you save it again, and even then it tends to store the original answer! SO TRY NOT CHANGING ANSWERS!!

Once you enter the course testing site for the course, you may proceed to take any quiz or test you wish, but no Annual Editions article quiz can be taken twice and no Healey chapter test may be taken more than twice. At the end of each quiz or test, a student may find out his or her score as well as call up a summary of his or her accumulated scores. The maximum duration for each Healey chapter test is 60 minutes, for each Annual Editions article quiz 15 minutes. For security reasons, always quit the WebCT site and the browser (Netscape or Explorer) after you are done with testing, especially if you are using a public computer -- otherwise, someone may access your own WebCT account and "try out" some tests (this is because your access codes stay active until you quit the browser). And remember never to share your access codes with anyone.

Extra Points Based on Dr. Santos' Web Readings

The chapter tests and article quizzes described above will constitute 100 percent of the final grade. Students seeking a few extra points (no more than five) may select up to five web readings from Dr. Santos web site if they wish, read them, and submit accompanying web reading reports via email. These reports are meant to be critical thinking assessments of the readings, explicitly relating the concepts and facts found in the Healey textbook to the reading in question. The length of these reports should be no more than the equivalent of a printed page, double-spaced.

To access the web reading lists, click here, or click the frame button "Readings" to your left. Please note: To access the web readings, you will be prompted to enter a username and a password once per session; these two access codes are generic (the same for everyone) and will be sent to you by Dr. Santos via email, if you previously sent him your email address as requested above. (Note: these reading access codes are different from the username and password you will be individually assigned for access to WebCT testing.)

To generate and file a web reading report, click the frame button "Reading Reports" to your left, fill the form that will appear on a separate window, and send it. You may submit web reading reports anytime between 8:00 am, Monday, December 3 and midnight, Friday, December 21.

Note: Due to campus web system freezes and malfunctions, it is highly recommended for students to first write and edit their web reading reports separately using their own word processor (Word is recommended), save their original text files in their own computers, then open the Reading Report form and merely copy and paste the text onto it; do not worry about how "pretty" or "clean" the text is pasted! Always end your reports with your full name within the text. Once you paste your report text onto the form, always fill out all the other form fields with all requested information before you send it, especially your official email address and assigned web reading list. Two copies of your report will automatically be sent: one to Dr. Santos' email address and the other to your "official" email address.

There are several other frame buttons to the left of the course's web site which will not be used during this term and may be ignored.

Grading:

The Healey chapter tests taken together are worth 60 percent of the final grade. The Annual Editions article quizzes taken together are worth 40 percent. The web reading reports taken together are worth up to five extra points. The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:
 

Dr. Santos will email your final grade no later than Friday, Dec. 28 (the official deadline to submit the grades), probably sooner.

E-Mail to Dr. Santos:

Dr. Santos will not be available for office visits during the Intersession, nor can you call him by phone - though he may phone you. Students are encouraged to communicate with him via email at his email address above. Please be advised, though, that usually email communication has to be brief and to the point, not open ended. Always email him from your official email address and sign off with your full name. If you need to have an open-ended phone consultation or discussion, please request one by email (include your phone number & time available) and Dr. Santos will try to accomodate you.

Good luck everybody!