Senior Colloquium (UHON 495)

Click here for pdf version of entire syllabus.

General Description:
In this two-part course exclusively for UHP seniors, students will earn 6 credit hours for enrollment in both Senior Colloquium (3 CR) and Senior Service Learning (3 CR). While we will integrate these two parts of the course as much as possible, students must be prepared to perform work and meet assignments equivalent to earning 6 credits. This means you will be doing the workload of two Honors courses to fulfill this portion of your Honors curriculum. Since this joined course is intended to serve as a capstone experience for Honors seniors, substantial work in terms of assignments and personal effort will be expected of all students.

Colloquium Description
French writer and aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupery once wrote that “When it comes to the future, our task is not to foresee it, but rather to enable it to happen.” In this Senior Colloquium, we will explore a myriad of near and far futures as a means for enabling graduating UHP seniors to create the new worlds we all want and hope to live in. To accomplish this seemingly daunting task, we will study present-day visions of the future in science fiction literature, contemporary U.S. politics, television and film, sociology, architecture, and modern technology, among other fields. Our discussions will include works such as: John Lennon’s song “Imagine”; current environmental concerns, Star Trek and The Jetsons television shows; the possible colonization of Mars; concepts from the new interdisciplinary academic field of Future Studies; classic as well as contemporary and feminist science fiction literature; social cartoons of imaginary inventions; robotics, and architecture of sustainable cities and buildings. However, while many contemporary perspectives on the future are bleak or apocalyptic, this class will focus its investigations on texts and materials that offer decidedly optimistic views. In our efforts to comprehend the possibilities of tomorrow, we will work with two primary modes of examination: 1) Research, using traditional academic methods and source materials to develop papers and presentations; and 2) Imagination, in which students’ creativity will be given free rein to envision the future through short exercises in writing and art.


Objectives:
At the end of this course, successful students will accomplish the following measurable objectives:

● Study perspectives on and approaches to the future from several different disciplines;

● Advance their knowledge of local, national, and global issues surrounding the future of human life and culture;

● Strengthen their critical thinking and problem-solving skills through various types of formal and informal written and oral exercises;

● Expand their formal writing and research skills;

● Explore their abilities to express ideas through creative media formats;

● Enhance their ability to collaborative effectively in small and large group discussions.

Texts:
I'm Working on That: A Trek From Science Fiction to Science Fact, by William Shatner and Chip Walter
Future Files: The 5 Trends That Will Shape the Next 50 Years, by Richard Watson
Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century, edited by Alex Steffen

Note about readings from Worldchanging:
While I think you will want to own a copy of Worldchanging for yourself or to pass along to someone else, you do not have to buy this book for the purposes of our course. Instead, you may read articles from the appropriate sections on the Worldchanging website instead of pages from the actual book. Also, when the calendar below lists Worldchanging as a reading assignment, I expect you to browse the section from the book and/or the website and read as much of it as possible, but you are not required to read the entire section. However, you should plan to read 2-4 hours of material from the book or website or from both each time Worldchanging appears on the syllabus. If you read much less than this, our class discussions will be less useful and interesting and the learning experience of the entire class will suffer.