Course Format                                                                                                                   

• Group Discussion & Short Lecture:

My role will be a facilitator who supports your learning. In particular, this course is built on group discussion and collective learning. Most learning will be based on reading assigned materials, discussion, and class activities. I will supplement these activities with short lectures that help contextualize readings, articulate learning themes across weeks, and move the discussion forward.

• A Student-centered Learning Approach:

I employ a student-centered learning approach in this course rather than a traditional lecture format (i.e., you listen to lectures to learn knowledge). The methods of learning in this course, thus, involve two major aspects:

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  • Careful and critical reading of assigned materials. I will provide a weekly study guide to help you think and read materials with intention.
  
  
  • Moderated group discussion. Everyone will be assigned to a discussion group of around 5-6 students. You will be mainly interacting with these group mates throughout the semester. Everyone will rotate to serve as a group discussion facilitator and write summary reports for the group discussion.
  
  
  
  

Learning Activities                                                                                                               

• Collective Annotation & Weekly Memo:

I will provide guiding questions for each assigned reading to help you navigate and understand readings. These questions will not be difficult and only involve the readings’ most important aspects of knowledge. You will need to “answer” these guiding questions by taking notes in any way you prefer. You are not required to write lengthy answers or take extensive notes. The minimum requirement is 2-3 sentences for each question.

• Innovation Assessment Report

Throughout the course, you will also need to investigate a specific innovation of your choice. At the end of the semester, you will need to finish a “Innovation Assessment Report” using analytical tools that we learn in each week. I will also assist you to finish this report every step of the way. Thus, I have divided the report into four tasks that you will accomplish in different weeks of the semester. I will also provide a more detailed guideline for each task during the course.

1. Preliminary report outline


2. First draft


3. Finalized report


4. Class Exhibit

• The Innovation This Week:

To facilitate you to cultivate familiarity with innovations across the global development arena and develop tools and skills to stay connected with the global world, I developed this learning activity called “The Innovation This Week.” Everyone will rotate to share the background of one specific innovation.

• Study Journal:

Study Journal is a Google document you share with me. I will provide detailed instructions later for how to create your Study Journal. I hope this Study Journal will serve as a platform for you to monitor and track your learning progress. It will also be a good way for me to know how you are doing during these four months and what measures I could do to support your learning. You will be responsible for maintaining this Study Journal throughout the 4-month course. In specific, this Study Journal will include four components.

1. At the beginning of the course, you will need to develop your learning schedule for all the course assignments stated in the syllabus. (mandatory)


2. In the 9^th week of the course, you will need to do a mid-term reflection to evaluate your learning so far and how you may adjust your study plan in the next two months. (mandatory)


3. At the end of the course, you will need to write a brief report evaluating your learning during these four months. (mandatory)


4. You are welcome to write an update on your learning progress and status any time during the semester (e.g., once a week) on the same document. (optional)

Schedule of Classes        

• Accumulative

There are five types of assignments you will finish during the course. As you can see, there is NO mid-term or final exam. All the grades are accumulative. This means you will accumulate your grades with each task you accomplish. But this also means you need to spend an equal amount of time on the course each week, and you will NOT have the chance to “cram” all the coursework at the end of the semester.

50. Grade Calculation

There is no textbook for this course. We will read a chapter from one book each week. I also encourage you to explore other chapters in these books. One major reason I assign book chapters is that I hope you enjoy the details of each empirical issue and gain a better sense of the materialities of each locale of the world society.