Syllabus for Anthropology 4320: Human
Evolution
MY NAME IS Marc Kissel
and I’m excited to work with all of you in this class over the next month. The
goal of this class is to teach us to think deeply on what it means to be human
and how we became human. We will learn the tools & techniques necessary to
evaluate, engage, and debate ideas of human history and behavior. I see my role
in the class as to facilitate your understanding of human origins, promote a
critical learning environment, and craft an environment that helps students
learn to ask questions.
This class is a collaboration between
all of us. You bring a unique and important perspective to the materials that I
don’t have. Please share your voice and your thoughts with the class. I hope you
actively participate in this course as best as you can while social distancing.
I am committed to the
principle of universal learning. This means that our classroom and interactions
should be as inclusive as possible. Mutual respect, civility, and the ability
to listen and observe others carefully are crucial to universal learning.
About me
I am really
excited to teach this class. Human
evolution is my primary research focus and I so rarely get to talk about it
with people. So this is like my dream class! It not only gives me a chance to
think deeply on theses issues, I also get to learn along with you all, since
there is so much changing in my field that I can barely keep up.
Teaching
online is new to me so this will be a learning experience for all of us. I both
worry about giving too much work and giving too little. So let me know what
your experience is and what I can do better
A lot of work
has gone into how humans learn. Lectures, while often fun and engaging, are a
poor way to learn (sad fact: most students forget 75% of what they learn in a
class). So I tried to model this class based on the science of learning, which
is why most of it is having you all do posts and create content and discuss
ideas. While I know that is harder than listening to a lecture, it produces real
learning.
As some of you know, outside of class most of my time is spent with my
two daughters (8 and 5 years old). I will do my best to respond to all messages
(this is why I want to use Slack (see below) since it goes to my phone
directly) please me patient as we live in a 850 square foot house and sometimes
I can’t get a moment of peace.
Contact info
Phone: 828-262-6713
Office hours: 9 am – 12:00 pm,
Monday-Friday (but lets face it. I am always home so just let me know when you
want to meet
Accommodations
WE ALL NEED
accommodations to help us learn. If there are aspects of this course that
prevent you from learning or exclude you, please let me know as soon as
possible and we’ll develop strategies to meet your needs. It is never too late
to request accommodation in this class, but let me know as soon as possible.
if you have any kind
of disability, whether apparent or non-apparent, and you need accommodations or
alternatives to lectures, assignments, or project, please feel free to contact
me to discuss accommodations for your access needs. I welcome suggestions about
the format of readings and class discussions that will help make this class
accessible to all
I also encourage you
to visit the Office of Disability Services (828-262-3056 or http://ods.appstate.edu).
If you need official accommodations, you have a right to have these met. It
is the floor, rather than the ceiling, of what you should expect
Course Goals
·
Learn how fossil
evidence can be used to understand the lifeways of ancient peoples
·
Work together to
create projects that allow us to better understand human origins
·
Have new insights into
how we became human
How to succeed in this
class
It is my belief that
grades are the worst part of education. All research shows that they are harmful
to students and cause unnecessary stress. They also inhibit learning.
How, then, do we
measure success? To my mind, a course is successful if it is relevant to your
own college and learning goals. These goals may differ from mine. In fact, for
many of you this course is just the final checkbox on your degree. And that is
totally fine with me. If we can get to a place where the work you do leads us
to new understandings and new ideas and new viewpoints, then you have been
successful.
Communication
While this document and a few others are on AsULearn, much of
what we will do for this course will exist outside that system. You can see the
details below, but we will be using blogs, Slack, and annotation software as
the primary way to connect (which mimics more clearly modern communication).
My blog for this site, where I will be pushing updates through
is
We will spend the first class day making
individual blogs. The info to do this can be found here:
Course Info
Title IX
Gender discrimination,
sexual violence, and relationship violence are counter to the values of
AppState. I want to ensure every person is provided support, information, and
resources to address any misconduct and prevent its recurrence. If you believe
you are experiencing discrimination or any form of harassment including sexual
harassment/misconduct/assault, I encourage you to report that behavior.
However, please know that if you report to a faculty member such as myself or
to most university employees, they must notify the Title IX Coordinator about
the basic facts of the incident.
Course Materials
There is no textbook
for this class.
However, there are a
lot of assigned readings, all of which will be found on AsULearn or on
the Perusall site
The class readings can
all be found on https://app.perusall.com/home. Sign up for the site at
perusall.com and then enter the course code KISSEL-6N6B8 to gain access to the
readings. I won't be really looking at the gradebook portion of the site, but
you can use it if you want to think about your workload in the class.
(see class projects)
Jennifer Raff has
written a good primer on reading science papers, which you can find here
I choose these
readings since I think they are interesting and relevant. I may not agree with
all of them but I think they each have value.
If you blog or tweet
about anything related to class, use the hashtag #ant4320 to make sure we see
the conversation!
Attendance & late work
Living through a
pandemic is not easy and I am already proud of how you are all doing. . If you
need to miss a project for health reasons (physical or mental) I understand. We
all have days when we feel overwhelmed. It helps to remember that we tend to
compare our personal backstory to everyone else's highlight reel.
If there is a death in
the family or other event please know that you have my sympathies. I won't ask
for proof (When I have had traumatic events no one ever asked me for proof ).
Rather I will just let you know I am there for you. If you need help let
the Dean of Students know, as they can help in many
ways.
Student Hours
These are times that
you can come and chat about class topics of other issues of interest to you. If
you feel lost or have any questions this is a great time to stop by. You can
use this link to setup a time [Meet with me] or send me a direct message on Slack
Course Calendar
Click the link here to
go to the interactive course calendar:
Or find a static copy
here:
Academic Integrity
My general teaching
philosophy is that I start by trusting students.
And I ask that you
trust me.
Course policies
Discrimination
I am committed to
promoting a campus climate that understands and respects the needs of a diverse
student body. No discrimination of any kind will be tolerated. Please let me
know as soon as possible if you feel that you have been treated unjustly.
I will listen to your concerns, evaluate the situation, and take appropriate action
to address the problem.
Food insecurity & basic needs
If you have difficulty
affording groceries or lack a safe and stable place to live I urge you to
contact the Dean of Students. This is super important nowadays and you
can find up-to-date info here
Diversity and inclusion
Professional courtesy
and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics
dealing with marginalized populations. I will gladly honor your request to
address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this
preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my
records and let me know if I fail to address you properly
Course Projects
We are going to be
working on five main projects for this class
1.
Individual blogs to
use to respond to class readings and prompts
2.
Slack discussions to
chat about class work
3.
Annotations on
readings to ask questions and make comments on the materials
4.
An online presentation
on a fossil
5.
A group-created
interactive game to help teach human origins
1.
Blogs
This is the main
writing project for the course. You will use your blog to interact virtually
with other class members and to share your thoughts on the readings, videos,
and concepts.
Once you have setup your blog send me the link (or post it on
the Slack Channel) so I can share it with everyone
2.
Slack
3.
Annotations
We will be using the
Perusall site to make annotations on our reading list. All of the class
articles are there (see the calendar for a list of when to be reading them) . You don't have to comment on all of
them but I ask that you do so a few times during the week at least. You can
also answer or respond to other comments. This is sort of taking the place of
the standard discussion board which seems to never work very well
To use this site, go
here https://app.perusall.com **Make sure to use the class code KISSEL-6N6B8
when you sign up so you get access to our site**.
The readings are
posted on AsULearn as well in case you want to batch download them
4.
Online presentation
We will be using Sutori to create an interactive presentation on a fossil.
1.
Go to https://www.sutori.com/signup and sign
up for the site
2.
When the site asks “Before you get started,
let us know who you are for a more tailored experience” make sure to choose
‘student’
3.
When the box pops up asking for a code put
this code there: twwk4
Note: if you
are having trouble setting this up, you might want to open the site in
“incognito mode”
4.
Group game
This is the major group project. I admit that it might not
work out perfectly but i think it will be fun to try.
The major
group project for this course is to create a location-based game. We are going
to use Aris to make a situated documentary game that teaches the player about
the fossil record of human evolution. Everyone will choose a fossil/skeleton
and research information on that. This info will be used to both create an
interactive presentation using Sutori and then used as part of the game info.
Aris lets
players interact with real world locations. Since we can’t walk around and
visit these sites, we can use this to get a feel for where sites are located
and what sorts of information we can learn. The software is a bit wonky but i
think it would be more interesting/fun than writing a paper!
Follow the
links below to learn to create an account and make the game in the tutorial
about the reporter:
The basic idea
I had was that we would make a game where a player could virtually go to
different sites, meet a paleoanthropologist there, and have them tell the
player something about the fossils they found. The player could also ‘get’ the
fossil and maybe then do something with it.
You will get a
chance to create a portion of the game, using your Sutori presentation as the
background you need
5.
Capstone
If you are in the capstone let me know and we will figure
out what to do for that!
Assessment
THIS COURSE IS ABOUT
QUALITATIVE rather than quantitative assessment. In other words, we focus on
learning rather than memorizing. You will get feedback (from both me and fellow
students) throughout the course but you won’t be getting a grade on any
assignments. At the end of the class we will talk about what you got out of the
class.
But what is my grade?
This class is an
experiment in actual learning. We are trained to memorize facts, hold back
what we really think, and avoid taking risks for fear that it will hurt our
grade. Learning has been replaced by the ideas of 'achievement.' We thus value
grades over true, real learning.
I want to turn our
virtual classroom into a place of active learning, whether though lecturing,
discussing, or reading. However, this does not mean there is no work. As you
see, we will be working together to create blogs, games, presentations, and
other media to help us better contextualize human origins.
Twice in the semester
I will send you a link that has 3-4 questions for you to answer about how you
are doing in the class. At the end of the course you will tell me what grade you think you deserve in the class.
You can use the posts, Sutori presentation, the game, and your annotations to
help you assess your own learning. However, I reserve the right to be the final
arbiter of your grade. I understand this is kinda scary. But the point
here is that outside of college most of your own work will be self-assessment.
Learning how to do this, and how to advocate for yourself, is a very important
skill (one I am still working on myself!)
If at any time you are
concerned about your progress please let me know and we will set up a time to
talk
