HISTORY COURSES AT Austin Community College – What You Can Expect

 

The History Department welcomes you to our courses. We have an outstanding faculty and you will find that many of your classmates are also outstanding students. With a collaborative effort on the part of BOTH faculty member and student, your experience with us should be most productive and rewarding.

 

History courses at Austin Community College are intellectually challenging and require that the student is both academically and socially prepared for college-level work. Successful completion of our courses requires a student commit a significant amount of time, effort, and personal responsibility.

 

The following is a summary of some of the requirements that are typical for a History course at Austin Community College. By providing you with this information, we hope you will be better able to assess your readiness to enroll in these courses.

 

§       All ACC college-level History courses presume that the student has successfully completed the basic high school U.S.  History, Economics and American Government courses.  All HIST 1301 and 1302 sections are taught moving forward from that base of knowledge.  Thus, students are expected to already have a prior knowledge of the fundamentals of U.S. History, the Constitution, function and structure of the U.S. and state governments, and basic economic concepts including tariffs, the Federal Reserve, inflation, depression, and supply and demand. Students who do not have this prior knowledge and experience may find the courses more difficult.

 

§       Each History course includes a substantial reading component of approximately 500 to 700 pages of material. Students will be expected to be familiar with the material covered in each daily assignment and to have read the appropriate sections of the text PRIOR to attending class. The textbooks used in the classes are written at the 14+ grade reading level. If your reading and/or English language proficiency is not at this level, you should consider enrolling in English as a Second Language classes or in developmental reading classes.

 

§       In all ACC History classes, some type of writing assignment is a requirement for successfully completing the course.  Many classes include essay questions on each exam.  In addition, many classes require research papers, analytical book reviews, a family history, film reviews, and/or thought piece assignments as a substantial portion of the final grade.  These assignments will be graded for form (grammar, spelling, and punctuation) as well as content. If you do not possess these necessary writing skills, we recommend you postpone taking History courses until after you have completed ENGL 1301 (English Composition 1).

 

§       The normal mode of instruction is by the lecture method, supplemented in many cases by PowerPoint, video, and internet clips. The student has a responsibility to come to class prepared, ready to participate, and able to take notes based on the reading assignment, class presentation, or lecture.  In some courses, taking notes is required.

 

§       All History courses use learning objectives (sometimes called “study questions”) to assist the student in identifying the most important aspects of the material. These learning objectives are usually contained in the course syllabus or in a separate “Study Guide.”  They are not word-for-word identical to the test questions nor do they by themselves give the answers to test questions in advance. Rather, they highlight some important topics and direct the student to the relevant material that may appear on the test. Learning objectives often are derived from both the lecture and the textbook.

 

§       Each faculty member has attendance policies and class behavior policies to which students must adhere.  These include

 

§       attending class regularly,

§       arriving on time and staying for the entire class,

§       preparing for class by doing the required reading and assignments, and

§       being respectful of fellow classmates and the professor. This includes silencing all cell phones and other electronic devices and using computers ONLY for taking notes.

 

·       Since most college courses usually meet only two times per week (in some cases only once each week), the pace of each class may be more intense than what students experienced in high school, where classes met five times a week. Students should be especially careful not to overload themselves by enrolling in more classes than they have the time in which to adequately study for the courses.

 

·       These are college courses and all students enrolled in such courses will be treated as college students regardless of the location at which the class meets.  All students are protected by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.  In compliance with this Act, instructors will not discuss student grades, academic progress, or class attendance and participation with a student’s parents, spouse, or significant other, unless the student is present.

 

·       Students enrolling in Distance Learning courses must possess maturity, ability, time management skills and self-discipline to successfully complete the course. The student will be required to do the same amount of work and the same quality of work as students enrolling in the “in-class” section of a course. Distance Learning courses are designed for mature and capable students endowed with a great degree of self-discipline and responsibility. Distance learning classes are not for everyone. There are many very fine students who find that their preferred learning style is classroom lecture and participation, so for them, the “in-class format” better meets their needs. If you have any questions or concerns about Distance learning, please consult a History faculty member prior to enrolling in this type of course.

 

In conclusion, we hope that sharing these expectations will result in a very successful and satisfying experience in your ACC History courses. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.