Arts and Humanities Commons^™

My Interdisciplinary Perspective On Climate Change [Natural Sciences], Richa Gupta, Tuli Chatterji, Tao Chen, Rebecca Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

This assignment titled “My Interdisciplinary Perspective on Climate Change” was developed in Fall 2020 as the signature assignment of the STEM Learning Community LC50 for students enrolled in the Biology program of the Natural Sciences department, at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. The assignment targets Integrative Learning and Global Learning Core Competencies, and Digital/Oral Communication Abilities.

For this STEM Cluster, “Climate Change” is the shared theme that connects learning from the different disciplines and helps build students’ overall knowledge on an imperative issue that our planet currently faces. Work on this assignment entails a narrated digital student presentation on the various …

Library Treasure Hunt, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

FYS Discipline: Liberal Arts: Social Sciences and Humanities

Objectives of the Assignment:

Introduce students to the Library’s catalog and some of the more useful subscription databases in a practical, hands-on exercise. Included are an introduction to translating database articles, instructions on accessing The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times free of charge, and how to access the databases from home.

Amount of Time to Complete the Assignment:

The assignment is most effective when it follows several previous Library assignments:

• An introduction to the Library’s website in a computer classroom that guides students in exploring the Library’s resources
• A …

Language Awareness And The Library, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

FYS Discipline: Liberal Arts: Social Sciences and Humanities

Objectives of the Assignment:

Introduce students to the Library’s collection of books in languages other than English, to Queens Library and the public library system, and to the Library of Congress call number system for books in the stacks.

Amount of Time to Complete the Assignment:

The assignment is most effective when it follows several previous Library assignments:

• An introduction to the Library’s website in a computer classroom that guides students in exploring the Library’s resources
• A Library Orientation conducted by a librarian
• A Library Treasure Hunt for sources in the card …

Reflection 3 – Finding Your Purpose, Josh Goldblatt

Open Educational Resources

The assignment was used in the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities First Year Seminar (LIF 101).

The main objectives are:

1. Facilitate student self-examination and exploration of how interests, skills and values can connect to academic and professional goals
2. Build student capacity for reflective planning, including breaking out tasks and self-assessment
3. Build student knowledge of academic and career paths
4. Support students with making a decision on proper major
5. Increase engagement with college offices and staff
6. Build writing skills – including essay organization and development

Relevant student Performance Objectives for course:

1. Locate the multiple resources available at LaGuardia and use these …

Language Awareness And About Me, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

Objectives of the Assignment:

Showcase students’ skills or interests in languages other than Standard English as part of the About Me statement in the ePortfolio. The assignment addresses many students in a typical FYS classroom at LaGuardia Community College. It encourages:

• Students with a native ability in another language to see it not as a stumbling block to learning but as a resource to develop academically and professionally

• Native English speakers to explore other world languages and cultures, and to consider using their interest professionally

• All students to consider whether they have experience with a dialect or slang, texting language …

Exploring The Uses Of The Liberal Arts Through Beyoncé’S “Formation”, Christine Marks

Open Educational Resources

I first shared this assignment in LaGuardia’s Spring 2017 mini-seminar Introducing Your Discipline in the First Year Seminar. I developed the assignment drawing on both Beyoncé’s 2016 Super Bowl halftime show and her music video “Formation” to initiate a discussion about how the Liberal Arts may inform our readings of popular culture images and performances. Through an analysis of content and form of Beyoncé’s musical performance and the video, students are invited to reflect on the ways in which a Liberal Arts education can contribute to a deeper understanding of the social issues addressed in the work. In our …

Final Paper [Liberal Arts: Social Science And Humanities], Naomi J. Stubbs

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was created for LIF101 (New Student Seminar for Liberal Arts), which is a baseline course taken by students (typically in their first semester) in Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities (including the options) and Fine Arts. Students in this course have wide-ranging abilities, given that they may be in ESL or have transferred in advanced writing courses. As such, the final assignment needs to serve the goals of the course while not penalizing students for having lower abilities in writing and research. Similarly, the integrative learning rubric has several very different dimensions, and connecting them all in one …

(De)Constructing Identities Through Film: First Year Seminar-Liberal Arts Capstone Collaborative Assignment [Liberal Arts], Habiba Boumlik, Caron Knauer

Open Educational Resources

This high-stakes assignment was designed within the frame of Learning Matters Mini-grants Capstone-First Year Seminar Collaboration (Spring 2018). It was used in Caron Knauer’s First Year Seminar class (LIF101) and in Habiba Boumlik’s Capstone Liberal Arts—Humanism, Science, and Technology (LIB200). For this collaborative assignment, the primary Core Competency is Integrative Learning and the Communication Ability is Written.

The following dimensions of the relevant core competency and communication ability align well with this collaborative assignment:

1. Ability to draw insight from connections across relevant learning experiences, including personal, co-curricular, and academic-- what connections are there between culture, traditions and how gender is …

Digital Image Retouching – Evaluation Assignment [Photography], Thierry Gourjon

Open Educational Resources

“Digital Image Retouching: Evaluation Assignment” was developed in the context of a 2017-18 CTL sponsored mini-grant where the course HUA 231 Digital Photography II, which was formerly an elective, was redesigned as a required course in the Photography program. As part of the mini grant work, program’s curriculum map was also adjusted to reflect the changes. The students in HUA 231 are usually in their second to last semester as this is an advanced digital class. They have taken the pre-requisite HUA 131 (Digital Photography I) in earlier semesters. The assignment will be implemented for the first time in Fall …

Co-Curricular Report 1: Roundtable Discussion, Robin Bromley

Open Educational Resources

This assignment is designed for First Year Seminar -- Liberal Arts: Humanities and Social Science majors.

The main course objectives addressed are that students:

• Demonstrate engagement in the life of the college and their use of key academic support services, advisement, and co-curricular organizations and activities critical to meeting those goals.
• Show growing mastery of the writing, reading, and speaking skills, as well as the study and management strategies essential for college success.

The primary purposes of this written and oral report are to encourage students to discover and use the campus resources and co-curricular opportunities critical for their success …

Inherit The Wind: Formal Essay [Liberal Arts], Luke Cardaio, Ian Alberts

Open Educational Resources

This common assignment was designed for students in an LMF 101 (First-Year Seminar for Liberal Arts: Math & Science) class and those in a capstone LIB 200 (Science, Technology, and Humanism) class. The assignment is aligned to the Integrative Learning Core Competency and the Written Communication Ability. In this assignment, the students in both classes critically read the play, Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, and the LMF 101 class is also shown the film based on the play. The play is based on the connection of two of the major themes of these classes: humanism …

Photography Book [Photography], Maureen Drennan

Open Educational Resources

HUA 130 Beginning Photography consists of majors and non-majors and is the foundation course in the Photography program curriculum. This photo book assignment was revised and refined through a Learning Matters mini-grant. The guidance from the CTL mini-grant was extremely helpful in altering it to be more reflective of the Integrative Learning Core Competency and Digital Communication Ability. Rethinking and reworking these assignments have helped to enhance our skills at planning and execution of future assignments. This process has also contributed greatly to our understanding of LaGuardia’s Core Competencies and Communication Abilities.

In this assignment, students engage in integrative learning …

Who Am I? Degreeworks Edition, Jesse Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

Designed for LIF101: Liberal Arts First Year Seminar, “Who Am I? DegreeWorks Edition” is developed with the intention to help students (and maybe also their professors!) navigate Pathways [a system of general education requirements and transfer guidelines designed to ease student transfer between CUNY colleges] facilitate advising, and understand general degree expectations. By projecting an actual DegreeAudit in class, students better understand academic requirements as well as their academic profile within CUNY.

The entire assignment takes one to two hours of class time, and then a further two to three hours for students to complete on their own. Obviously, as …

Lif101 Final Project: My Guide To Success, Ellen Quish

Open Educational Resources

Overview: This project is an opportunity for LIF101 students to reflect on their first semester at LaGuardia, to review what they’ve learned in the First Year Seminar for the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities, and to create a plan that serves as a resource for their academic and professional success moving forward. My Guide to Success requires students to think carefully about their time at LaGuardia and be intentional in planning their next steps through graduation, and beyond. The paper is worth 15 points out of 100.

Reflection In The First Year Seminar: Moving Beyond The Single Story, Christine Marks

Open Educational Resources

This series of in-class and at home reflective assignments was designed for the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities First Year Seminar. Drawing on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story” and the chapter “Citizens of the World” from Martha Nussbaum’s Not for Profit, students begin to develop an understanding of the role of the liberal arts in moving towards a more complex perception of cultural differences across the world. They also reflect on their own biases and experiences during the first semester. Students write the first reflection after discussing the TED talk and the …

Playwriting Project [Theater], Celia Braxton

Open Educational Resources

HUT 101, The Art of Theatre, is the entrance level course for the Theatre program. It addresses the integrative learning core competency and the oral communication ability. As a freshman course, it provides a baseline for measurement of this competency and communication ability. It is required of all Theatre majors, and is part of the CUNY Flexible Core in Creative Expression. There are generally more non-majors than majors in the class. This assignment was originally developed during our first mini-grant period (2016-17 the academic year) by Celia Braxton and Abby Gerdts with the global learning core competency rubric and digital …

Neighborhood Research Essay, Dominique Zino

Open Educational Resources

The following “Neighborhood Research Paper” assignment has been used in LIF 101 for Social Science and Humanities students, but could be adapted to give students the chance to practice disciplinary thinking in a variety of fields. The main objectives of the assignment are

1. to give students the chance to engage with guided secondary and primary source research by using key resources on campus, especially the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives and the Library;
2. to help students practice fundamental writing and critical thinking skills (summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, synthesis, analysis);
3. to give students a chance to conduct preliminary ethnographic research (i.e. field notes, …

Write A Manifesto [Composition], Caron Knauer

Open Educational Resources

This integrative learning writing assignment encourages students to develop a mission statement as they think about how we can all come together to make the world better. It asks them to research an issue to provide background, history, and contextual information; outline strategies and solutions for social change and/or justice; and organize a call to action. The focus of the assignment is interdisciplinary learning as well as for students to collaboratively reflect on how initiatives for change can directly affect their lives but to also be aware of resistance and potential obstacles in delivering change. This assignment was revised in …

Learning From And Reflecting On Marjane Satrapi’S Persepolis Ii: The Story Of A Return [Composition], Ece Aykol

Open Educational Resources

This staged Composition I - ENG 101 assignment in its entirety was completed over the course of approximately six weeks. Students were allowed to revise and re-submit their work along the way and the grade they earned from this module constituted 30% of their final grade for the course.

In addition to being aligned with the integrative learning core competency and written ability, the assignment emphasizes advancing the students’ abilities to closely read primary and secondary sources, synthesize their understanding of these texts in their writing, and reflect on their work and learning in all the parts outlined below.

While …