6.0482 Intro Humanities and Computing Course (1/36)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 5 Feb 1993 13:08:31 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0482. Friday, 5 Feb 1993.
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 93 19:19:55 EST
From: Karla Saari Kitalong <KITALONG@MTUS5.cts.mtu.edu>
Subject: seeking suggestions for intro humanities course
Next year I'm scheduled to teach an introductory course for undergraduate
Humanities majors (primarily scientific and technical communication, but
some liberal arts, too). I would like the course to split into two
components, the first being an exploration of the role of the humanities-
type in a technological society/engineering college, and the second part
being what can a person with a humanities degree DO for a living?
That being the case, I am looking for 2 different kinds of books that
would be accessible to first-year students. For the first section, Postman's
_Technopoly_ might work, but I'm afraid it's a little too critical of tech-
nology. In previous years, people have used Snow's _Two Cultures and a
Second Look_, which I'm also considering, but I fear it may come down too
strongly on humanists. I'm looking for suggestions that provide a balance
between the two extremes. I see the writings for this part of the course
consisting of journal entries or short response papers leading to class
discussion.
For the second part of the course, I may ask the students to take a career
aptitude/interest test, then write a short paper (either interview or
library research) in which they find out more about one of the careers
that shows up on their profile.
>From this experienced and diverse cadre of humanists, I'm looking for advice
on readings, critiques of the course layout and assignments, and any
suggestions people care to offer. Please reply privately; I will summarize
responses to the list.
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Karla Saari Kitalong
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Academic Support Specialist - Department of Humanities
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931
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E-mail: kitalong@mtus5.bitnet * kitalong@mtu.edu
Voice: work - (906) 487-3262 * home - (906) 482-3656
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