Questions? Email Prof. Wilson about the trip! NOTE: When it is available, I will post a complete syllabus here. I will arrange for five pre-departure meetings during the fall of 2007, all of which will combine practical, academic, and group-building components. One of these meetings will be a brief crash-course in survival German for those enrolled in the 200-level HUM course; students enrolled in GER 310 will assist me in helping teach the HUM students, thus establishing early on their roles assisting their fellow students understand Central European customs and language. Three meetings will focus on images of the three cities to accompany brief lectures on their histories and cultures. They will each conclude with films-Der Golem (The Golem), The Third Man, and Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire). The final meeting will involve an evening at my house to test basic German involving traveling and restaurants and to try some of the foods typical to Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. Students will be assigned the more historical readings over the course of the fall, and they will be required to complete an essay exam based on their notes on these texts (in English for HUM students, in German for GER 310 students) due a few days into the trip. Students will also practice sociology-inspired field observations in the US in preparation for using this mode of observation in Europe, and will get feedback on them before we leave in January. Because this course will take place abroad, it will involve largely non-classroom modes of learning. Brief lectures will be used, especially while in transit between sites, as will group discussions of the lecture materials and the sites, and group presentations on supplemental topics. While at a site, students will be encouraged to make the most of a potentially overwhelming richness of material through targeted tasks: making sure to visit certain paintings, undertaking "scavenger hunt"-like searches for cultural artifacts or photos of them, being guided through certain museums by the professor or local guides, sociology-inspired observations of individual and social activities, etc. As much as possible, students will encounter and engage real objects. Beyond the common materials of the course for all students, each participant will be required to develop his or her own special supplemental topics to present to the whole group. Students will be evaluated through a combination of traditional and non-traditional means. 10% of the course grade will come from the essay exam due early in the trip. A series of quizzes will ensure that students are keeping up with reading assignments and are getting the most out of site visits (10%); oral presentations, both individual and group will be graded (10%); students' sociology-style "field observations" will be written up as we leave each city (10%); guided daily journaling will be used to encourage both observation and reflection (20%); general participation in discussions will be graded each day (20%); and a brief paper will serve as a means to evaluate students' mastery of the general themes of the course in a specific context (20%). Journals will be collected once per week, and student papers will be due upon arrival back at the airport in Lexington. A primary difference between GER 310 and the 200-level HUM course will be the language used: students enrolled in GER 310 will be required to do readings in German and English, will be required to submit most written assignments in German, will be assigned additional oral presentations, and will serve as small group leaders (due to their existing expertise in the course content). The percentages for overall course grading will remain the same, although I will employ slightly different standards for evaluating written work in German (75% content/25% expression, which is my standard rubric for advanced German courses). I will evaluate students enrolled in the 200-level HUM course with standards slightly higher than those I use in HUM 110 and 120. For students enrolled in GER 310, I will evaluate them with the same standards I use in other 300-level German courses. Possible Texts: |