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World Regional Geography

GEOG 150-01L - Summer 2015

Welcome to the online version of World Regional Geography. This summer you will be exploring

the world’s cultural regions through online exercises, websites, online videos, and online writing.

This course is entirely online so will be important for you to build yourself a schedule for

completing your work each week. By the end of this course, you should be familiar with aspects of

the physical, cultural, economic, urban, and population geographies of the world’s regions.

The majority of your grade will be based on your essays on each world region. In order to do well

in this course, you must actually do the work. This class will be all about active learning and

writing. I have posted a number of videos and websites for each world region. I expect you to

watch the videos and complete the exercises on the websites, and show evidence of it in your

essays and projects. There will also be a final exam. There is no textbook for this course.

Instructor: Prof. Ines Miyares

Office: HN 1045

Department Office: HN 1006

Telephone: (212) 772-5443

Office Hours: By appointment only

email: imiyares@hunter.cuny.edu

Email is the best way to contact me.

Week 1: Folder 1: US and Canada video assignment

Week 2: Folder 2: Latin America and the Caribbean video assignment

Week 3: Folder 3: Africa and Southwest Asia video assignment Week 4: Folder 4: Europe and Russian Domain video assignment

Week 5: Folder 5: Central Asia and East Asia video assignment

Week 6: Folder 6: South Asia and Southeast Asia video assignment

Week 7: Folder 7: Australia and Oceania video assignment

Week 8: Online Final Exam

I have posted a grading rubric for essay assignments. I encourage you to review it. I will be

strictly following that rubric.

All essays must be submitted in either that week’s Assignments dialog box or uploaded as

attached documents to that week’s Assignment. To access the assignments folders, open

“Assignments”, then that week’s folder, then click on the assignment title to open the dialog box

and see the rubric. Assignments submitted in any other manner will not be graded.

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If a video is no longer available: I will be double-checking regularly that the videos are working and are what I expect them to be.

However, sometimes a source takes down the video or attaches a different video to that link. If

that happens and I missed it, please let me know right away so I can replace the video.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the semester, students will:

Be able to describe characteristics of the world’s major regions

Be able to compare and contrast characteristics of countries within those regions

Be able to write critically about key issues affecting these regions

Grading:

Essays comprise 70% of your grade. The final exam comprises 30% of your final grade. Each

essay is worth 10% of your grade. Timeliness is part of your grade. If you wait until the last

minute to turn everything in, it will be mathematically unlikely you will receive a passing grade.

As you will see in the essay rubric, a portion of your grade is based on whether your paper is

submitted on time and in the correct format; a portion is based on the content—whether you give

evidence in your paper that you actually watched the videos; and a portion is based on whether

you give evidence that you have critically thought about the question of the week. Do not only

watch the videos you think will inform your essay. Every assigned video may appear as a

question on the final exam.

Incompletes:

I do not give incompletes as a final grade except in cases of legitimate documentable

emergencies. If you experience an emergency that will require you to need additional time to

complete your work, let me know immediately. If you are traveling and there is a possibility that

you will not have internet access, please complete your work before you leave. If you need to

take the final exam earlier than week 8, please let me know so we can make arrangements.

Hunter College statement on Academic Integrity: Hunter College regards acts of academic

dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and

falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of

intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity

and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic

Integrity Procedures. Plagiarism, dishonesty, or cheating in any portion of the work required for

this course will be punished to the full extent allowed according to Hunter College regulations.

If I suspect that you have plagiarized your essay(s), I will run a plagiarism check. If there is clear

evidence that you have plagiarized, you will receive a Zero for that assignment and I will notify

the Dean of Students.

If you use outside sources (other than the assigned sites and videos), cite your sources. I will post

a PowerPoint that demonstrates how and when to cite and how to write a bibliography and what

it means to paraphrase.