This page has a copy of the syllabus so you can always refer to it
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
I don't really think I should set the goals of the class, but it seems that I have to include this as part of a syllabus. So these are my goals but you all should come up with your own 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.
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
This is the way we will communicate about class ideas etc informally (kinda like a group chat). It has a slight learning curve but is a really popular way of communicating in the business world
You can create and join our Slack using this link
You can create and join our Slack using this link
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
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”
You can pick one from the Google sheet or choose your own and add it to the list. [See here for more info on using this site and creating a good presentation]
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
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feel free to comment on any of this here. Over the semester we will be using the comment form a lot to leave ideas and thoughts on our work!