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FULL-TIME UNDERGRADUATE CALENDAR 2005-2006
Contemporary Studies
| ACS 100 Ideas That Shape the World I | |
| This course studies ideas shaping the contemporary world and arguments that invigorate and challenge our sense of what it means to live as an individual, citizen, and member of the complex, multifaceted, volatile global society. The focus is on these issues as they have arisen in a Canadian context; it studies the contribution of Canadian thinkers to global debates; and it challenges students to articulate their own responses to central issues of the contemporary experience.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 102 Learning and Development Strategies | |
| Assuming that the 21st century will be led by those who learn best, the objective of this course is to equip students to realize their full potential and maximize their learning in the program, as well as prepare them for life long learning. The course will include opportunities for self‑assessment, team work, application and skill development.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 105 Informal Logic and Rational Discourse | |
| Rational discourse has long been viewed as a principal force for social change. In this course, we will examine the structures and principles that undergird all forms of rational discourse, and we will learn how to assess the logical strength and persuasiveness of particular discourses. These skills will be applied to arguments found in everyday life, and to the formulation of one’s own positions.
| | Antirequisite: PHL 214 | | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 106 Introduction to Language | |
| This is a course about language. Language is arguably what separates human beings from all other animals. It is what enables us to think, create, reason, and even find meaning in our lives. This course is designed to introduce the basic ideas of how language works, how it is used, how it is acquired, and how it changes over historical and social dimensions. The perspective is interdisciplinary. The course will be taught with multimedia.
| | Lab: 3 hrs | | back to top |
| ACS 200 Ideas That Shape the World II | |
| This course examines the work of some seminal thinkers, writers, religious leaders, and artists of antiquity. Beginning with the ancients, the course traces the development of intellectual traditions up to the Renaissance. These traditions develop and explore ideas about the origins and structure of the physical world, human existence, the relationship of the individual to communities, the concepts of the state and politics, and the sacred.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 201 Conflict Resolution and Team Building | |
| Negotiation, group work and conflict are inherent in interpersonal and organizational relationships. Many of us are “conflict averse”, but it is possible to respond to conflict productively. The objective of this course is to develop and enhance knowledge and skills about negotiation, team building and conflict transformation.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 205 Writing as a Cultural Act | |
| This writing‑intensive course, which takes writing itself as its subject, explores the social and cultural implications of print. In particular, we examine whether writing, and the various modes of reproducing words, can influence the way we think, what we believe, and how we organize ourselves socially. By exploring the shift from oral to print culture, the role of scribes and writers in communities, and the impact of digital technology, this course examines how and why we write.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 300 Ideas That Shape the World III | |
| The Renaissance and Enlightenment mark the departure from a God-centred universe, as thinkers of this period developed scientific explanations of the universe. Exploration and discoveries began to map the cosmos, but also suggested the boundaries of the human. The ideas studied concern the effects of science and rationalism on critical reflection and the imagination, and the profound consequences of a shift towards a print-based culture.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 301 Research Design & Qualitative Methods | |
| This course will focus on the student gaining an understanding of the uses of qualitative research designs and techniques. Topics include sampling methods, questionnaire design and implementation, interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and action research. Methodological assumptions, concepts and procedures will be presented. Students will develop their ability to review existing literature and to construct their own research.
| | Lect: 2 hrs/Lab: 1 hr. | | back to top |
| ACS 302 Introduction to Culture & Entertainment | |
| This course introduces the concepts and debates about the nature of culture and the development of culture industries. Students will examine a range of perspectives on the “invention” of art and the boundaries between high and low culture. The various meanings of “entertainment” will be explored. The creation of ideas outside the dominant culture will also be addressed.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 303 Introduction to Science & Technology | |
| This course examines the character and influence of modern science and technology. Questions to be addressed include: What do current scientific theories, such as Darwinism and Quantum Mechanics, tell us about ourselves and our universe? How are such theories produced? Do they have a privileged claim to truth? How is scientific knowledge used, and who is, or should be, controlling it? How does technology shape our lives? Are we now too dependent upon it?
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 400 Ideas That Shape the World IV | |
| This course focuses on key themes of the Victorian and modernist experience: Evolution, Revolution, and Relativity. In a cosmos increasingly experienced as destabilized and volatile, the powers of the imagination collide with a sense of alienation and powerlessness in the face of technological, economic and political forces. In music, painting, politics, literature and social thought, individuals explore the uncertainties of the human position, giving voice to new frames of meaning, new grammars of human expression.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 401 Introduction to Research & Statistics | |
| This is a one-semester course within the Arts and Contemporary Studies program with a format of two one-hour lectures and a one-hour lab per week. No familiarity with the fundamental elements of research or statistics is assumed. The course gives students the practical methods needed to statistically describe and analyze phenomena and to present those results. Emphasis throughout the course is on practical uses and application of these techniques, rather than on their mathematical derivations.
| | Lect: 2 hrs/Lab: 1hr. | | back to top |
| ACS 402 Introduction to Global Studies | |
| Do we really live in a “global village”? The focus of this course is on the historical evolution of political, cultural, economic, and environmental inter-relationships between peoples and nations. Beginning with the 19th and 20th centuries we examine the creation and collapse of empires, the emergence of international law and organizations, the origins and consequences of war and the conflict over global integration. Nationalisms, ideologies, ethnic and religious conflicts, terrorism and other dynamics are studied within these contexts.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 403 Introduction to Equity and Diversity | |
| This course examines different forms and expressions of diversity and inequity, including social class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, ability, and age. We will explore the social‑historical origins and structural determinants of these foundations for organizing inter‑group relations, while paying attention to the complex ways in which they intersect. Major emphasis will be put on a critical examination of institutional practices, policies, and government legislation related to diversity and equity.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 500 Ideas That Shape the World V | |
| This course focuses on volatile themes of contemporary and post-modern experience, as the world is opened up to the voices of the “other”. The marginalized, and thinkers and artists of other cultures, expand and destabilize the boundaries of the human, while discoveries of genetic science suggest something of the profound unities that underlie the evolution of human diversity. The ideas to be considered range from the genome project to contemporary architecture to the Uncertainty Principle.
| | Lect: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
| ACS 800 Senior Group Project | |
| This capstone course brings students together for a collaborative project enabling application of various skills, competencies and knowledge acquired in the program. “Showcase” event(s), such as charrette, simulation, forum or conference, on a critical issue or area of engagement in contemporary society, will be planned, organized, marketed and presented by the students. The “showcase” event, highlighting what students have learned in the program, will be open to the public, including prospective employers.
| | Lab: 3 hrs. | | back to top |
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