Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | HIS-1111-VO01 - World History to 1500

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

James Blynt
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Gilberto Diaz Santos

General Education Requirements

VSCS Humanistic Perspectives

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This survey course explores the economic, political, cultural, and social developments in world history from the rise of civilization to 1500 CE in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The course highlights geography, cultural and political movements, and human interactions that influenced the historical evolution of various world societies and their interrelationships within a global context.

Essential Objectives

1. Explain the relationship between the world’s physical and natural environments and the development of ancient world societies and cultures.
2. Explain the development and significance of distinctive forms of political, economic, and social organization in ancient world societies and analyze how they compare to modern world societies.
3. Assess significant characteristics of social identity found in ancient world societies and discuss resulting social, racial, and gender inequalities.
4. Analyze ways in which human groups have come into contact and interacted with one another, including patterns of migration, trade, conquest, and cultural diffusion, and critique the diverse impacts of those exchanges as experienced by advantaged and disadvantaged communities.
5. Investigate the diverse ideologies and religions found in ancient world societies, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and secular philosophies.
6. Identify the major shifts in philosophical, cultural, and scientific ideas and developments that occurred in this timeframe and evaluate their implications.
7. Analyze the theses, context, values, perspectives, and facts in historical primary and secondary sources.
8. Engage in and evaluate historical research using information literacy skills.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Fall 2025 textbook details will be available on 2025-05-19. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Prohibited: The use of generative AI is not allowed in this course, with the exception of spellcheck, grammar check and similar tools. This course rests in the value of students engaging in the learning process without relying on AI-generated content. Students will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills independently, owning their learning journey from start to finish. If you use these tools, your actions would be considered academically dishonest and a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

Methods

Required Texts:

• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (any edition)
• Online world history text (provided free to you in class)
• Other short readings (provided free to you in class)

Weekly work:

Reading. Students will complete all reading so as to be prepared for the discussion early in the week. In addition to this weekly reading, students will also be reading Guns, Germs, and Steel. Other short readings may also be assigned in some weeks.

Discussion forum. Students will post written responses on the weekly reading (and other material, such as videos) Discussions are open from Tuesday morning until the end of the day on Sunday. Most weeks have one discussion. You must post 3 comments in each discussion. Your first written response must be made sometime on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Your other two responses (to other students) can be made any time during the week. Specific guidelines and information will be given.

Multiple choice quizzes on weekly readings and Guns, Germs, and Steel. Quizzes are open from Tuesday morning until the end of the day on Sunday. They are untimed. You may take as much time as you need, as long as you submit the quiz by the deadline. Quizzes are open-book. You may use the text to complete the quiz, but you may not work with other students or any other resources except the Yawp chapters.

Paper. Students will submit one essay on their reading of Guns, Germs, and Steel. Information on this assignment will be provided in class.

Evaluation Criteria

All grades are weighted equally. Your final grade will be calculated as a straight average of the following:

14 weekly discussion forums
1 discussion forum on Guns, Germs, and Steel
4 open-book quizzes on weekly readings
4 open-book quizzes on Guns, Germs, and Steel
Essay on Guns, Germs, and Steel (counts twice)
Overall Class Participation

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

Students are expected to be active participants in all weekly discussion boards.

Missing & Late Work Policy

You will have plenty of time to complete and submit all assignments. Late work will not be accepted for any reason.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.