Course Syllabus
Animated Chinese Scroll. https://changan-moon.tumblr.com/post/111608159393/gif-of-%E5%9B%BD%E7%94%BBtraditional-chinese-painting-by-artist Accessed 12/12/23
Please set aside some time to review the entire syllabus below as it contains important information on course materials, assignments, grading, resources, and policies. In order to succeed in this class, you must familiarize yourself with the syllabus.
Course Description
This introductory art appreciation course surveys major artistic styles, including European, African, Asian, American, and Oceanic from prehistoric times until 1500 C.E. The course focuses on the development, diversity, and interaction of art and cultural traditions and emphasizes the role visual expression as a reflection of differing cultural perspectives.
Student Learning Outcomes
Course Materials
There are no required textbooks or materials for this class! This class is an "Open Educational Resources" class, meaning that all course materials will be provided in the course. I have carefully selected top-notch, free, online resources for you to use in lieu of a textbook.
Class Meetings
100% online and asynchronous, meaning that there are no required Zoom meetings at designated times. You will watch the lecture videos at your convenience as long as you do it before the weekly deadlines posted in the schedule at the very end of this syllabus.
Instructor Announcements & Messages
I will post announcements throughout the semester using the Canvas Announcement feature. Students are expected to read ALL instructor announcements and will be held responsible for the content of those announcements.
I will also send reminder messages that will appear in your Canvas Inbox to help keep you on track and to check in on your progress. Just please remember that reminders are a courtesy rather than an expectation. Make sure that you set in place your own personal reminders for upcoming deadlines, as well.
Canvas notifies students of instructor announcements and messages according to each student's preferred Notification Preferences. So, please set up your notifications to get these announcements in the way you prefer (email or text or both).
Instructor Contact
The best and quickest way to reach me is by using Canvas Inbox (see Inbox icon on the far-left menu). Please email me ONLY via Canvas Inbox for all course related issues. I respond within 24-48 hours to emails from 9 am through 5 pm except on weekends and holidays. You may address me as Prof. Saleh or Dr. Saleh :)
For information on how to use the Canvas Inbox feature to email your instructor, TAs, PALS, Librarians, and classmates, consult this guide.
Office Hours
I will host both in-person and online office hours on Mondays from 11 am - 12:30 pm. To meet with me in-person, stop by my office on the Santa Rosa campus in the Art Gallery (ground floor of Doyle Library across from the Tutorial Center). If you'd prefer to meet online, then use the BigBlueButton (see link in the left vertical menu) to either chat or video-conference. If my office hours don't work for you, reach out and set up an appointment. I'm here to support you, so let's find a convenient time to meet, chat, or video-conference!
Support Team Contact
We're grateful to have a support team in this class, which includes TAs, PALS, Teaching Fellows, and Librarians that you can reach out to in addition to myself. Please contact our outstanding support team via Canvas email in the same way you contact the instructor (see link to guide above). They're knowledgeable, experienced, friendly, and here to support YOU and to ensure that you have a productive and successful semester.
In addition to my office hours, our class support team will host drop-in, online sessions using the BigBlueButton throughout the week. You may schedule an appointment with any of them if the posted hours don't work for your schedule.
This semester, your support team includes:
TAs (Teaching Assistants): Dakota Adelmann & Alexandra Egland
TF (Teaching Fellow) Bianca Draffen
PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Specialist): Ceann Ferguson
Librarians: Loretta Esparza & Phyllis Usina
We look forward to supporting YOU!
Standards of Conduct
Students are required to abide by the SRJC Student Conduct Code and Academic Integrity Policy:
SRJC's statement on Academic Integrity
Violation of these standards is basis for referral to the Vice President of Student Services or dismissal from class or College.
Collaborating on or copying of quizzes, papers, extra credit, discussion posts in whole or in part will be considered an act of academic dishonesty and result in a grade of 0 for that assignment. Receiving a 0 on any assignment in this class for any reason makes you ineligible to submit extra credit work at the end of the semester.
Acts of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Cheating: Any act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic work through the use of dishonest, deceptive or fraudulent means.
- Plagiarism: Any act of submitting the work of another, in whole or in part, as one’s own without properly referencing the source. This includes use of direct quotations, paraphrases, ideas and facts which are not common knowledge, whether the sources are published or unpublished.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): The use of any AI tools is not permitted in this class. Representing work created by AI as your own is plagiarism and will be prosecuted as such.
- Collusion: Any act where a student knowingly or intentionally helps or is helped by another student(s) to commit an act of academic dishonesty.
- Other Academic Misconduct: Any act such as stealing, altering grades, forging, sabotaging the work of others, lying or any other acts of academic dishonesty as deemed by instructor.
Consult this link on Plagiarism:
UCLA Best Practices for Avoiding Plagiarism
Acknowledgement of Diverse Course Content
Each of us identifies in multiple ways, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, language, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, health, age, religion, culture, socio-economic status, political affiliation, veteran status, etc... And each of these diverse identities, along with many others not mentioned here, shape the perspectives our students, faculty, and staff bring to our campus. At SRJC, we work to promote diversity, equity and inclusion not only because this approach fuels compassion, understanding, and collaboration, but also because a diverse atmosphere encourages intellectual growth and innovation.
Critically examining and assessing our most basic assumptions and values is one of the tasks vital to the college experience and our growth as human beings. This course requires the study of artworks and images that may include nudity, violence, and sensitive content, which may reflect religious, political, sexual, cultural, and economic opinions that differ from your own worldview. As part of your college journey of learning and exploration, you are expected to maintain an open mind and to work to understand differing viewpoints (especially when dealing with topics that you may find uncomfortable). By enrolling in this class, you have given your informed consent to exposure to such topics and materials.
Due Dates
Assignments for this class will be due before 11:59 pm PST every Wednesday. All due dates are subject to change. Some due dates may be moved to an earlier time, while others may be pushed to a later time. Due date changes will be sent through instructor announcements in Canvas.
Late Policy
Late submission of required assignments will be deducted 5% off for each day past the due date. It's not advisable to re-do or re-submit work (in order to improve a grade) more than a week after a deadline has passed, since the late penalties will negate any benefits. Also, late submissions are not allowed for the last module and extra credit work. And no work will be accepted after the last day of class.
Quizzes
There is a required multiple-choice quiz at the end of each module. Questions come from the class lectures and suggested readings. Each module will include a list of all the important images and vocabulary terms to help you focus and prepare for the quizzes.
You are allowed to take each quiz up to 5 times, and your highest score will be recorded. Make sure that you set aside time (without distraction) to take the quiz and submit it on time. Quizzes submitted after the deadline will lose 5% for each day submitted late, so please weigh the pros and cons or re-taking a quiz after the deadline. It is not recommended to re-take a quiz a week or more after the deadline, since the late penalties will negate any improvements in the grade.
Discussion Board Posts
You will participate regularly on the discussion board, which is a significant component of your grade. The discussions are important to your retention of important themes and concepts and will help keep you on track with the course materials. It's also a great way to engage in course-related dialogue with your classmates. Please be polite and sensitive to each other- let's work constructively as a community!
For each module, you'll be expected to post your answer to the prompt and make one comment on a classmate's post.
Please follow the instructions for each prompt very carefully! Your discussion posts must be unique to you, so you can't repeat content another student already shared. Also, your discussion posts must be 100% your own thoughts, ideas, and words. If/when references are made, they must be cited correctly. A plagiarized discussion post will result in 0 points and no chance to re-submit.
If you are the first person in your group to submit a post, you must leave us a note in the assignment comment box (not in your post or as a reply to your post) to inform us that you are the first one to post. This will ensure that we do not deduct points for missing a peer comment.
You may re-submit your discussion post one (1) time to correct any errors or omissions. You can re-submit your post once to fix mistakes. However, if you forget to include your peer reply initially or forget to inform us that you're the 1st to post, then you can't add the peer response or the 1st to reply note later (even if you submit your work before the assignment deadline). So please double-check your work and submit your response and peer reply together. Once your work is graded, your discussion grade is final.
If you chose to resubmit your discussion post, you must delete your original post and notify us using a comment on your own assignment that alerts us that you've submitted a corrected version of your post and that you're requesting that we re-grade it based on the changes that you've implemented. We will never know that you made corrections and are requesting a grade modification, unless you inform us by leaving a comment (not a reply) on the assignment. The comment can be a simple "made corrections, please re-grade" or something similar.
Late penalties (5% off per day) apply if you re-submit your post after the assignment due date. Re-submissions are not recommended a week or more past the deadline because the late penalties will outweigh any benefits.
There may be multiple sections of this course, in which case student names and published coursework may be visible to students in another section.
Feedback
Your grades are available for you to review in your Gradebook, which includes comments that explain why you missed points and what you need to do to regain those points: How do I View Assignment Comments from My Instructor?
Grading Policy
| A | 90% or more |
| B | 80-89% |
| C | 70-79% |
| D | 69-60% |
| F | 59% or less |
Course grades are assigned automatically and will not be rounded-up under any circumstance. If you feel that you're on the border-line between one grade to the next, make sure that you complete extra credit work that may be able to bump your grade up.
Pass‐No Pass (P/NP)
If you are taking this course on a pass/no-pass basis, then you must earn at least a C letter-grade to receive credit for the course.
Dropping the Class
If you decide to discontinue this course, it is your responsibility to officially drop it through your student portal. Make sure to consult SRJC's Academic Calendar for important deadlines. I will keep an eye on your participation and check in with you via email if you have not participated in the course for more than three weeks. Based on the situation, I will either recommend that you drop the class using this petition or set up an educational plan to help you get back on track. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to drop the class if you're no longer interested in it and/or no longer participating.
Extra Credit
After you've completed ALL the required assignments and received no 0s (for any reason) on the required assignments, you will have an opportunity to improve your final grade by submitting extra credit work during finals week. There will be a variety of options to select from, and they will all be listed in the Extra Credit Module (the last module located at the very bottom). Please note that the Extra Credit Module will be locked until all the required Modules have been completed. Once you've completed all the requirements for the class, the Extra Credit Module will unlock and reveal detailed instructions and submission links.
Extra credit work is not a substitute for missing required work. Use the extra credit option to improve grades on certain assignments, rather than "make-up" for missing work.
Physical & Mental Health
Should you experience any physical or mental health issues, know that all of us at SRJC care about your well-being. SRJC’s Student Health Services (SHS) has nurse practitioners and mental health therapists available. Confidential sessions are provided via secure Zoom or in-person. Sessions are free for SRJC students taking credit or non-credit classes, and some providers can converse with you in Spanish if you prefer. SHS also has on-site COVID rapid testing and vaccinations available at no cost.
To start the process for any type of physical or mental health appointment contact Student Health Services at 707-527-4445 or email studenthealthservices@santarosa.edu
Disability Resources Department
It is the mission of SRJC to support inclusive learning environments. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or to accurate assessment of achievement, please notify me as soon as possible.
Students are also welcome to contact the Disability Resources Department (DRD). DRD is a resource for students that provides authorization for academic accommodations, training and access to assistive technology, and collaborates on strategies for academic success.
Lanzamiento for Latinx Students
This class participates in the Lanzamiento initiative designed to support academic achievement among Latinx and first-generation college students. All students are welcome in this program, and all students who enroll in Lanzamiento sections have dedicated resources available to them such as academic counseling, peer tutoring and success coaching, library support, mental health services, financial aid workshops, and opportunities to learn about transferring to a four-year university.
Umoja for African & African-American Students
The Umoja program assists students of African descent in completing their Associate degree and transferring to a 4-year university by providing support resources that include: access to free books and school supplies; application waivers; transfer assistance and college tours; dedicated counselors and a support team; among other benefits. Join the Umoja community by submitting this Umoja interest card, and an umoja counselor will reach out to you.
Intercultural Center
In addition to the resources mentioned above, please check out the Intercultural Center, which offers a supportive community for Native American, Asian Pacific Islander, and LGBTQA+students, faculty/staff, and their allies. I'm also proud to be a co-founder of the MENAA (Middle Eastern & North African Association), and if you identify as MENAA or have interest in the region, please let me know so that we can welcome you into our community.
Maat: The Egyptian Goddess of Truth and Justice, with vulture wings. Detail from the Tomb of Nefertari. https://www.historymuseum.ca/mission-nefertari-resource-page/ Accessed 12/12/23.
IMPORTANT: The course summary below is a chronological list of assignments to help you keep track of due dates. It does NOT contain links to course learning materials. Please access the course materials through the modules.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|