Mar 28, 2024  
2019-20 Syllabus 
    
2019-20 Syllabus [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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IS 2060 - Global Cities-Online (4)


Oakland University, College of Arts and Sciences, International Studies Program
Syllabus

Course Information:
CRN: 14592
Campus: Internet
Schedule Type: Fully Online

This course introduces students to various aspects and processes that characterize rapid urbanization and the stark socio-spatial inequalities that exist between and within urban places. Students will explore notions of globalization, urban structure and spatial organization, and the powerful and diverse socio-spatial, cultural, economic, and natural forces, and processes that transformed places into urbanized and a hierarchy of cities. The course will emphasize a comparative analysis of cities in the global North and South, the more developed versus the less developed. Also, students will become more familiar with the lived and ordinary cities as layers and intersections of culture and religion, conflicts and risks, wealth and talents, as well as sites of co-creation where both challenges and hope are shared by both urban residents and the transients. 

Prerequisites/Comments: Satisfies the university general education requirement in the global perspective knowledge exploration area. THIS COURSE IS OFFERED AS AN ONLINE COURSE AND REQUIRES NO ON-CAMPUS MEETINGS. (Formerly IS 206)


Professor Information:
 Instructor: Annalie L. Campos, Ph. D.

Web Office Hours: By appointment

Email: alcampos@oakland.edu

Mode: via WebEx 

 


Learning Outcomes:
As a course designed to satisfy the General Education requirements in the global perspective knowledge exploration area, students are expected to 1) gain knowledge of two or more of the following: environments, political systems, economies, societies, and religions in any region outside of the United States; and 2) knowledge of the role that different cultural heritages (past and present) play in forming values in another part of the world, enabling the student to function in a global context. 

Specifically, students will be able to: 

• Explain globalization and processes underlying hierarchy of places and the emergence of global cities; 

• demonstrate the role of cities as nodes and embodiment of dual relationships between people, cultures, and their environment; 

• analyze the socio-spatial inequalities between cities in the Global North and South; 

• use geographic approaches to articulate the geopolitical and economic processes and consequences of globalization on urbanized places. 

 


Textbooks and Materials:
This course takes advantage of a vast open resources that are accessible through OU’s Library via remote access. 

Assigned eBooks on reserve: 

Stanley D Brunn; Jessica K Graybill; Maureen Hays-Mitchell (Eds. (2016) Cities of the World: regional patterns and urban environments, 6th ed. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Available as an eBook at OU’s Remote Access. Click here–> eBook. Pdf files by chapter are also available in E-Reserve. 

Clark, G. (2016). Global Cities: A Short History. Brookings Institution Press. https://doi.org/10.7864/j.ctt1hfr1jz available as an eBook 

Bell, D. & DeShalit, A. (2011). The spirit of cities: why the identity of a city matters in a global age. Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fgzb2 Available as an eBook 

Selected chapters in pdf from two readers: 

Brenner, N. & Keil R. (Eds.). (2006). The Global City Reader. New York, NY: Routledge. 

IS 2060 Global Cities2 

Miraftab, F & Kudva, N. (Eds.). (2015). Cities of the Global South Reader. New York, NY: Routledge. 

Data for research and other resources: Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Loughborough University: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/ 

Location Knowledge Resource: Access the LizardPoint resource HERE. Create your own student account and join the class at s.Global Cities_OU. The instruction for creating, validating, and joining the class is described in page 7 and is posted on Moodle. 

 


Assignments and Grading:
COURSE FORMAT, REQUIREMENTS, AND GRADING 

For this online course to be successful, you will need to interact with me and your peers. My role is to facilitate interactions in the course, but your participation is required. As a “knowledge-generator”, you will be responsible for constructing and managing your learning. This will make you an active partner in generating knowledge. Therefore, as you are learning, so are your peers. So, we need to commit to a learning environment that is relaxed, respectful, and conducive to quality and engaging interactions in an online environment. 

This course utilizes readings, discussions, short films, and various approaches in an asynchronous online learning environment. As a member of the learning community, expect to engage in forum discussions, complete quizzes and assignments, an exam, and critical short analysis based on film reviews and assigned readings, and a semester-long group project. The specific requirements are grouped into: 

1. Quizzes and Assignments (30%) 

To enhance and evaluate students’ comprehension and retention of concepts and themes, and how these are relevant in contemporary cities, there will be quizzes and other assignments throughout the term. 

Quiz. You will read the assigned materials and review discussions before taking a timed quiz on Moodle. The quiz includes multiple choice, true or false, location knowledge, summary and critique, and voice/video response question formats. See Moodle for the opening and closing of these quizzes. 

Film Analysis, Short Essays. Films and documentaries can be entertaining and educational. We will utilize both to take advantage of their effectiveness in stimulating unique perspectives and ideas and bringing history, culture, politics, victories and challenges to life. Expect to work independently or collectively with your peers in film review and analysis. 

2. Discussion Forum. A Student-led Discussion Forum via GAIN or Global Awareness Involving Neighbors (25%) 

The purpose of the GAIN forum is to promote a good discussion about processes and life in cities and places based on research, your experiences or original accounts or both. Using Brunn et al, 2016 (available in E-Book) as a main reference, and other assigned learning resources, you will have the opportunity to virtually experience and learn about people, cities, and places from different world regions. The world regions include North America (Canada and United States), Middle America and the Caribbean, South America, the Greater Middle East and North Africa (also NASWA or North Africa Southwest Asia region), the East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Russia, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania. 

Each GAIN forum will highlight the relevance of specific theme/s and concepts in various cities in a world region and is expected to stimulate a rich and informative dialogue among you and your peers. The description and instruction for each GAIN Forum discussion assignment will be posted on Moodle. 

Location Knowledge/Map Quizzes on Open Resource 

Within the GAIN Forum Discussion assignment is an opportunity for you to get familiarized with the location of countries and cities from different world regions and enhance your mental map of the world. How? Join the s.GlobalCities_OU Class at LizardPoint. 

 

You will practice and complete map quizzes at your convenience and pace through the Lizard Point Geography, which is an open resource that will help develop and strengthen your mental map of cities, and various places in different parts of the world. 

To play and practice map quizzes, follow a self-intuitive process for creating your account and joining our class at s. GlobalCities_OU. 

1. Start by clicking the link here -→ Lizardpoint. 

2. Create/Register using an active email account. Use your full last and first name (Last, 

First) that you used when you registered for Global Cities to display your name. 

3. LizardPoint will ask you to verify your account using the email address that you used at 

registration. 

4. Look for the “My Account” on the menu bar and click it. 

5. Scroll to the bottom and choose Join/Leave Class. Look for s.GlobalCities_OU. Make 

sure that you see my name as the class instructor. 

6. After joining the class, you will now be able to do practice quizzes on your own. Click on ‘My teacher’s quizzes’ and take any regional quizzes that I created. You will want to practice the quizzes on regional tourist attractions. 

I will not see your scores but any quiz that you complete will be recorded in s.GlobalCities_OU and I will be able to track your completed quizzes at different levels (i.e. test, practice). Please note that your scores in LizardPoint will not be added into your Course Gradebook. However, it is expected that you will take advantage of your practice map quizzes when you participate in GAIN forums and complete the scheduled timed quizzes. 

3. The Global City Project (30%) 

The Global City project develops and assesses students’ ability to synthesize course concepts and themes from class discussions, assigned readings, published data from reliable sources and be able to apply them in real world context. Also, it provides students with opportunities to gain an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the interdependencies of social and physical characteristics that shape global cities and be able to apply their best practices in the local context such as the City of Pontiac. There are three parts to this project: a) A brief plan; b) a 10-page paper, and c) a webpage. 

With a partner, you will conduct a study of a global (distinctive) city in a specific world region other than North America and be able to apply concepts and best practices to a local city of your interest (i.e. the City of Pontiac, Flint, Waterford). In this study, you will 1) describe and analyze the social, cultural, economic, and political dynamics as well as opportunities and challenges facing your global or distinctive city. Also, you will 2) analyze the city’s linkages to 

 

other places. Then, you will 3) analyze the best practices and explore one practice that has a potential for revitalizing and addressing a specific challenge that you found confronting a local city (i.e. crumbling infrastructure in downtown City of Pontiac, Flint). 

Based on your analysis, you will write a 10-page paper and develop a webpage using OU’s Google Site Website Creator. Your webpage must highlight key features of your distinctive city and an application of a best practice/s to a local city. The instruction for planning and completing the Global City project, a list of useful resources, and an example of a Global City paper will be posted on Moodle. 

Reflection Essay Assignment 

You will submit a 2-page Reflection Essay at the end of the term. The essay is worth 10 points and counts toward your final grade. Details of the content, and how it is graded will be available to you in a separate assignment document on Moodle. 

4. Exam (15%) 

You will take one (1) exam consisting of multiple-choice, true or false, short answer, fill- in-the-blank questions and a location knowledge section that tests your ability to locate and identify places or features on a map. The exam is worth 100 points. 

SUMMARY OF COURSE REQUIREMENTS 

Requirements % Grade 

Distribution Quizzes and Assignments 30 Discussion Forum 25 The Global City Paper (Brief proposal, Full paper, Website) 30 Exam (1) 15 Total 100 % 

Grading Scale 

Numerical 

Grade 4.0 3.7 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.3 2.0 1.7 1.3 1.0 

0 (No credit) Letter Grade A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F 

Percent% 

92- 100 

90- 91.99 

85- 89.99 

80- 84.99 

77- 79.99 

73- 76.99 

70- 72.99 

67- 69.99 

63- 66.99 

60- 62.99 <60 

IS 2060 Global Cities8 

COURSE POLICIES 

Missed Exam, Assignments/Exercises 

In an online environment, students are expected to engage with the course materials at their own pace. However, students need to complete assignments and exercises on time. Unless due to a documented emergency, there will be no make-up or extension for missed exercises or assignments. You will have 24 hours to inform or anyone you authorized to notify me of your emergency before I make arrangement for a make-up or extension to an assignment’s deadline. You must provide a valid documentation or proof of your emergency (i.e. a signed doctor’s note, a summon for court’s appearance) before I can arrange an alternative schedule. No exceptions will be made for other reasons that I deem are unacceptable. Therefore, plan on submitting assignments and other requirements well-ahead of due date and time to avoid possible delays particularly due to computer and internet glitches.


Classroom and University Policies  



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