Understanding the Past

What is a U. P. Course?

Understanding the Past courses (commonly referred to as U. P.) represent the "Learning Domain" of DePaul’s Liberal Studies Program most concerned with historical questions. Most of the classes offered under the rubric are taught by faculty from the History Department, but U. P. also includes courses offered by the departments Archaeology, Anthropology, Computer Science, Economics, Geography, Literature, and Sociology, among others.

U. P. courses study human life in past societies as a process of continuity and change over time. They are distinguished by their interest in reconstructing the past through the analysis of primary evidence, in critically reflecting on the ways the past has been explained and understood, and in examining the ways human experience is shaped by diverse geographies and chronological periods.

U. P. courses are largely offered at the 200-level and without prerequisites, as they are designed to be introductory in content and relatively general in scope. Nonetheless, courses offered at other levels of the undergraduate curriculum are included in the Domain.

Students in U. P. Courses

Most students taking these courses will be seeking Liberal Studies (i.e., general education) credit. Unless otherwise instructed by their home College or School, DePaul University students are required to take two courses in U. P. from two of the following geographical categories:

• Africa
• Asia
• Europe
• Intercontinental/Comparative
• Latin America
• North America

Students may not take more than one course in any given category. Doing so will result in one of those courses counting as elective credit, rather than fulfilling the U. P. requirement.

Though most students take their U. P courses early in their time at DePaul, others(especially transfer students) will be fulfilling their requirement as juniors and seniors. And, though U. P. courses are offered by faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students taking the courses will come from the range of DePaul Schools: LA&S, School of Education, College of Commerce, School of Music, Theatre School, and School of Computer Science, Telecommunications, and Information Systems (CTI). In light of these enrollment variables, it is best to be prepared to encounter a range of interests and levels of preparation among your U. P. students.

Finally, in any given U. P. course, faculty will have students who are applying the course credit to their majors, minors, or concentrations.

   Course Guidelines

Mandatory Syllabus Information

All syllabi for courses taught in U. P. must carry a statement about Liberal Studies credit, preferably near the top of the first page. Many instructors include this statement after the course abstract or objectives.

"Note: This course carries Liberal Studies credit in the Understanding the Past Learning Domain. It belongs to the geographical category of ________. Students may not take more than one U. P. course in any given geographical category.

The central U. P. learning goal is to help students become literate about the past and the methods used to understand the past. DePaul considers that this learning goal is achieved if students are able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes in their written work, exams, and/or contributions to class discussions:

1. that they have acquired knowledge of prehistoric or historical events, themes, and ideas;
   
   
2. that they can reason through analysis, evaluation, and/or synthesis of a range of primary and secondary source evidence;
   
   
3. that they understand that there are different perspectives on the past, whether those be historical or methodological in nature;
   
   
4. that they can express knowledge and reason effectively in written work.

Reading: How Much and What Kind?

The reading load in most courses will vary a bit from week to week, but most U. P. courses taught at the 200-level should aim to include at least 40-50 pages of reading per week, but generally no more than 100 pages per week. Instructors may adjust these expectations downward as appropriate, particularly when assigning particularly dense or theoretical readings that may require more time for students to digest.

The inclusion of a variety of readings is one of the three U. P Instructional Objectives: "All courses must provide students with a variety of readings, and instructors are required to include more than a single textbook." "Variety" can be achieved through a range of strategies, and instructors are encouraged to be creative in their interpretation of this requirement. The following are suggestions, not mandates:

• Include a documents reader with a textbook.
  
  
• Include a few scholarly essays or articles in addition to a textbook.
  
  
• Compile a "reading packet," composed of a range of different essays, articles, book chapters, and/or primary evidence, instead of a textbook.
  
  
• Design websites that allow students to read about visual/material evidence and/or scholarly interpretations of the same, in addition to other secondary readings.
  
  
• Include book-length readings—these could be monographs or primary sources like autobiographies or novels.

Primary Sources

Courses must also address a second U. P. Instructional Objective: "All courses must give significant attention to establishing and explaining the difference between primary evidence (textual, oral, visual, and/or material) and secondary sources. Moreover, courses must give significant attention to showing how historical interpretations of the past are based on the analysis of primary evidence."

Again, instructors are encouraged to adopt a range of approaches and styles within these broad guidelines. Different fields will have distinct ways of approaching the question of sources and their uses in historical analysis. The goal is to introduce students to the ways that we use primary evidence to explain the past, and any problems and challenges that this may present.

What follows are suggested strategies for success:

• Include primary evidence, in whatever form most appropriate to the course in question, in the lectures/readings/assignments for the class.
  
  
• If there are documents or other types of primary evidence presented and analyzed in your textbook, consider how you can take advantage of this through classroom discussion and/or other assignments.
  
  
• Include secondary readings that allow students to analyze or discuss the sources and methods used by a particular scholar or school.

Writing: What Kinds and How Much?

Writing forms the third U. P. Instructional Objective: "Courses must require students to submit essays and write essay exams (as at least part of the exam process,) and these essays must focus in some way on historical analysis or interpretation. Moreover, at least six pages of writing must be completed outside of class."

What this means is that, regardless of content and strategies for teaching critical thinking, all courses must use writing as an evaluation tool While in-class writing exercises or essay exams are useful especially in terms of assessing knowledge acquisition, instructors should assign at least six pages of written work that students complete outside of class.

Such assignments should be designed to evaluate both content-based knowledge and skills in critical thinking, reading, and writing; they should not be limited to "opinion" or "response" pieces. In lower division courses, instructors are encouraged wherever possible to favor shorter, more frequent writing assignments over long end-of-term papers, in order to create more opportunities for students to practice writing and to receive comments and writing instruction from faculty. Revisions of papers are especially encouraged and will be counted toward fulfilling the page requirement above (i.e., a 4-6 page paper that is graded as a rough draft and as a revised paper would constitute 8-12 pages total outside writing).

The following approaches seem to work well in both in-class exams and take-home paper assignments:

• assignments that ask students to contextualize primary evidence within the "big picture" of historical change in the period under examination
  
  
• assignments that ask students to compare and contrast multiple scholarly interpretations/debates about the past
  
  
• assignments that ask students to define and explain the meaning of important historical changes, events, or ideas

Most important is that instructors craft assignments that are clearly structured and that are attentive to the goals of writing in U. P. Assignments that ask students to compare and contrast views on a particular historical issue or event, to analyze primary evidence in light of a number of themes identified by the instructor, or that ask students to take a critically-informed and well-supported position on a given debate in the field are generally more effective than assignments that ask students to "critique" or "reflect" on a reading without explicit guidelines for how to do so.

Criteria for Inclusion

Courses offered in U. P. should reflect at least one of the Four Learning Goals of the entire Liberal Studies Program: reflectiveness, value consciousness, critical and creative thinking, and a multicultural perspective.

In general, the Liberal Studies Council will give special preferences and encouragement to courses that exhibit a number of the following nine characteristics:

• writing intensive experiences
• the use of quantitative methods in courses not usually associated with such methods
• the use of active learning pedagogies
• the use of group projects
• an original research requirement
• an emphasis on original rather than secondary works
• a course structure designed to utilize the resources of the urban area
• courses with a service learning component
• courses that offer an interdisciplinary perspective

Finally, all U. P. courses must meet the following three U. P. Instructional Objectives in order to be included in the Domain:

1. All courses must provide students with a variety of readings, and instructors are required to include more than a single textbook.
   
   
2. All courses must give significant attention to establishing and explaining the difference between primary evidence (textual, oral, visual, and/or material) and secondary sources. Moreover, courses must give significant attention to showing how historical interpretations of the past are based on the analysis of primary evidence.

Courses must require students to submit essays and write essay exams (as at least part of the exam process,) and these essays must focus in some way on historical analysis or interpretation. Moreover, at least six pages of writing must be completed outside of class.