Assignments and Schedule

Unit 1 Assignments

Topic: Overview of the Course and the Subject of Economic History

Required Completion Date:  Sept 1 (midnight)

What you need to do: 

Complete the Assigned Readings:

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:

  1. Login for first time into the Econhist-Commons. Login information such as what to use for username, your password, and how to recover your password will be posted.
  2. Make an initial post to the Commons to help introduce yourself to the class and to answer the following question:  What do you want to learn or get out of this class?
  3. Check and update information for your profile on the Commons. Again, instructions will be posted.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now: none for this unit.  More instructions and details will be posted after week one.

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):
Unit 1 Quiz (2 attempts – highest score counts)

Unit 2 Assignments

Topic: Prelude: Settlement and Colonies  (pre-Colonial and Colonial Times  – approximately 1600 up to 1780)

Expected Completion Date:  Sept 15 (midnight)

What you need to do:  Work your way down this page.  If you wish to print these readings, there are print and pdf buttons at the bottom. Do the following:

Complete the Assigned Readings:

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:  minimum of 3 status updates, observations, comments, or interesting quotes; At least one of them longer and more insightful.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now: Review the Instructions for Project.

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):  Unit 2 Quiz (2 attempts – highest score counts)

Unit 3 Assignments

Topic: Building a Nation (1780 to 1869 – American Revolution to War of 1812 to Civil War)

Expected Completion Date:  Sept 29 (midnight)

What you need to do:  Work your way down this page.  If you wish to print these readings, there are print buttons and pdf buttons at the bottom. Do the following:

Complete the Assigned Readings:

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:  minimum of 3 status updates, observations, comments, or interesting quotes; At least one of them longer and more insightful.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now: Get approval from me (Jim) for the book you have selected. You can do this by posting a status update on the Commons.  Then obtain a copy of your book to read.

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):  Unit 2 Quiz (2 attempts – highest score counts)

Unit 4 Assignments

Topic: Industrialization and Empires (1861-1914: Civil War to just before World War I)

Expected Completion Date:  Oct 13 (midnight)

What you need to do:  Work your way down this page.  If you wish to print these readings, there are print and pdf buttons at the bottom. Do the following:

Complete the Assigned Readings:

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:  minimum of 3 status updates, observations, comments, or interesting quotes; At least one of them longer and more insightful.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now: Read your book.  Post status update observations and notes on the commons as you read.

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):  Unit 4 Quiz (2 attempts – highest score counts)

Unit 5 Assignments

Topic: War, Boom, Depression, War  (1914-1945; World War I, Roaring 20’s, Great Depression, World War II)

Expected Completion Date:  Oct 27 (midnight)

What you need to do:  Work your way down this page.  If you wish to print these readings, there are print and pdf buttons at the bottom. Do the following:

Complete the Assigned Readings:

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:  minimum of 3 status updates, observations, comments, or interesting quotes; At least one of them longer and more insightful.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now: Review the Instructions for Project.

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):  Unit 2 Quiz (2 attempts – highest score counts)

Unit 6 Assignments

Topic: Superpower: Golden Age & Neoliberalism  (1945 to present)

Expected Completion Date:  Nov 10 (midnight)

What you need to do:  Work your way down this page.  If you wish to print these readings, there are print and pdf buttons at the bottom. Do the following:

Complete the Assigned Readings:

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:  minimum of 3 status updates, observations, comments, or interesting quotes; At least one of them longer and more insightful.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now:
You should be finishing your reading of the book.

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):  Unit 2 Quiz (2 attempts – highest score counts)

Unit 7 Assignments

Topic: Posting of Your Research Project Pages: Pulling Together Your Own View

Expected Completion Date:  Nov 24 (midnight)

What you need to do:  Work your way down this page.  If you wish to print these readings, there are print and pdf buttons at the bottom. Do the following:

Complete the Assigned Readings:

  • Jim’s Thoughts Unit 7
  • Weinberg book:
    Conclusion;
  • read (reply/comment if you wish) to fellow student posts and status updates on the Commons.
  • Read each other’s Book Review-Analysis Project Pages

Assigned Videos:  just any short embedded videos of Jim

Commons Activities:  minimum of 3 status updates, observations, comments, or interesting quotes; At least one of them longer and more insightful.

Book Project-related ACTIVITIES you should work on now: Complete and post the assignment
Submit your multiple choice questions as part of your project (form online).

Graded Assignments (all in LCC Desire2Learn):  no quiz.

Unit 8 Assignments

We’re near the end!  What you need to do to finish up is:

Topic: Summary, Discussion Review, Final Exam

Expected Completion Date:  Dec 12 (midnight hard deadline – not extendable)

What you need to do:  

Complete the Assigned Readings:

  • Read Student-created Book Review-Analysis Project pages on the Econhist-Commons. A special page (tab in the menu) listing the pages is available.

Commons Activities: Write 2 reflective posts to the COMMONS.  Specifically, I want to make a post about each of the following questions. Again, just posting will result in the points, I will not be “grading” them as right or wrong:

  • What’s the most significant ideas, information, or skills that you feel you learned during this course?
  • Much of the layout and format of this course was experimental.  What did you like about it, dislike about it, or what would you change?

Final Exam:Take the FINAL EXAM in D2L.  It is now done online during the last week on D2L. The exam consists of 25 questions with each worth 2 points. You will have 180 minutes to complete the test, but can only attempt it once.  It is closed book. The test will be all multiple choice, true-false, or matching questions.

  • Of the 25 questions, 8 are questions (16 points) that students submitted along with their book review projects, so reading your fellow student book review pages is well-advised before attempting the final exam.
  • Of the remaining 34 points, there is one 5 item matching question and 12 multiple choice questions. The questions are essentially concepts or ideas you have seen before on earlier quizzes. There is a focus on broad sweeps of the economy or regional economies in different eras, more than on details of names or dates. In particular, what technologies, innovations, or economic activities dominated various regions or eras of the economy will be the big focus. There is a definite bias towards questions covering the 1800’s and 1900’s and fewer on the pre-revolutionary or immediate post-revolutionary period.
  • Studying for the Exam: The best study guide for the exam will be your previous quizzes that you have taken online AND the book reviews done by your fellow students.