Month: December 2020

Introduction to basic concepts photography/ video editing

2 CREDS

Course Goal:

Media are all around us. You see them on youtube, instagram, you name it. Have you ever wondered how one makes content on those platforms, and what skills are necessary to make an individual attracted to content? Well you came to the right place!

Humans have an attention span of an average of 8 seconds, which means….. if you’re already sidetracked while reading this course description, this is most definitely not for you. Now having that said, this class will teach you on how exactly to keep them occupied for the entire duration of the video. It will also teach you on positioning, lighting, which will significantly enhance your photo and video quality.

Required Readings/Texts:

none.

Required Materials:

• phone: Google snapseed, Splice
• computer: Adobe Photoshop/ Adobe CC (more expensive)

Grading:

Quizzes: 10%

Home practice: 30%

Final project: 55%

Attendance: 5%

Aaron Amirian Course Design Project- NCAA

“COURSE PROSPECTUS”

• The name of the course would be, “The Snake that is America”
• The learning goals would be to inform the kids about the truth about big business and how people are put at severe disadvantages in life based on their racial profile. This would be an Essay and Project based class where students must use the sources available to find examples where minority communities are underserved. They will write papers about how they think these factors contribute to what is happening in society today and solutions to these problems. They will also write about capitalism and how the white washed community we live in today treats people of different financial and social backgrounds. Also they will be able to discuss how society has made improvements in order to fix the lives of the minority groups.
• Books that we will read will include

1. “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism,”
2. “The souls of black folk” (1903) WEB Du Bois
3. “Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945‒2006,” (Third Edition 2007) by Manning Marable
4. “Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights”
5. “Freedom is a constant struggle” Angela Y. Davis
6. “How capitalism underdeveloped black america” Manning Marable

This course will be unique because it will be discussion based and the teacher will discuss with students but not grade them based on their opinions, but rather their ability to add intellectuality to the discussion. The teacher will discuss their own political views and be part of the conversation because that will contribute, but will remain respectful with everyone when discussing. This course is extremely valuable because this is an extremely relevant topic that can be discussed abundantly often in today’s world. The undeserving of minority communities like the black community is one of the biggest arguments in society today and is something that everyone should be informed about. Also this will prepare people about the cold hard truth about a capitalist economy and the downside that is usually hidden. When people are arguing about black rights matter movements, and you overhear, it’s time to speak up, no matter which side you are on. It’s time to be informed so that you are not trusting news corporations( Fox, CNN, CBS- only ones that i know) that subdue the same segregation they are arguing about. It’s time to learn about the truth about the world. Take “The Snake that is America” so that
you don’t get strangled.

COURSE NAME:

Science Democratization

GOALS/METHODS:

An increasingly important methodology, the process of democratizing science makes for more transparent, accessible and accountable scientific policy-making that gets the public involved! Learn about how fair and unbiased science is being attacked, why it must be stopped, and how you can stop it! Classes will be discussion based, with non intense but routine assignments that will challenge your perception of society.

SOME READINGS:

• “Deliberative democracy meets democratised science: a deliberative systems approach to global environmental governance”, Berg and Lidskog
• “Sciences, politics, and associative democracy: democratizing science and expertizing democracy”, Veit Bader
• “Proposals for Reform Volume II: National Task Force on Rule of Law & Democracy”, Brennan Center for Justice

GRADING:

Attendance: 20%

Participation in Discussion: 30%

Weekly Blog Posts: 20%

Final: 30% (One part written test, one part essay 15% each)

ENV 460/POL 100

Through a hybrid of these two courses, students will have the knowledge of repairing our planet from the harmful effects of climate change. This course will be primarily discussion based, with one final paper due at the end of the semester. There will be 5 discussion board prompt posted and you will be required to respond to it by the Friday of the week it is posted. We will meet on those specific Fridays and discuss our responses. This course is based on cumulative material.

1. Write a 3 page response (solely with prior knowledge) as to your standpoint on climate change and how we can solve the issue.
2. Research scholarly journals that prove the existence of climate change and summarize your favorite one.
3. List some companies whose products you utilize in your daily life and research how many emissions they produce in a one year period.
4. If you were to implement any policies into America’s governmental system to reduce the negative impacts of climate change, what would they be?
5. Which first-world country produces the least amount of emissions and what policies have they instated in their governmental systems? Respond to the policies with your own opinions.

Final Paper: With the very first discussion board prompt you responded to, elaborate on it by writing about if/if not your opinions have changed. Your paper should end with a detailed and reasonable policy change that can be implemented in our government in present time.

Grading:
Participation in discussions (attendance, contributing to the discussion) 60%
Responding to the discussion board prompts 20%
Final Paper 20%

To any interested students: I kept this course brief and succinct because one of the main objectives of this course is to learn how to argue about your opinions with and without evidence. This will be best taught with personal experience, and not solely through writing.
Other objectives include:
bringing awareness about climate change in a consumer oriented society
how to use research to support our planned solutions
building interpersonal skills between peers through discussion time

History of Rap ( RAP 1101 )

Learning Goals: Students will understand how rap came about to be and grew in popularity in the U.S. Students will also learn about several rap artists and what they brought to rap and did for the rap community as a whole.

The class will meet once a week on zoom where I teach the students about rap artists and show them clips. The zoom will be just a summary though of the weekly readings from the textbook/articles. There will be weekly homework with the readings, five exams(lowest one gets dropped) and a final paper about a rapper of your choice.

Some readings include:

1. Lyric, rhythm, and non-alignment in the second
   verse of Kendrick Lamar’s “Momma” by Mitchell S. Ohriner
2. Hip-Hop White Wash: The Impact of Eminem on Rap Music and Music Industry Economics by Ryan Ford
3. Reading Billboard 1979–89: Exploring Rap Music’s Emergence through the Music Industry’s Most Influential Trade Publication by Anthony Kwame Harrison and Craig E. Arthur

This course will make you a fan of rap music if you weren’t already and teach you about all different aspects of life by analyzing lyrics.

Grading:

Attendance in zoom – 10%

Homework – 15%

Tests – 50% ( 12.5% each test )

Final Paper – 25%

If the topics and themes of my research paper were remixed into a college course, students would learn why cyberbullying is extremely harmful and what they can do to bring an end to cyberbullying. The name of the course would be “Cyberbullying: Are Kids Just Being Kids?” This name stems from the idea that there are adults who claim that bullying is simply a part of growing up. But, this is far from the case. Bullying, whether it occurs online or in person, has adverse side effects. These side effects can impact a child for the rest of their life. 

In this course, there will be a weekly discussion board. This would ensure that students would have the ability to interact with one another. A question would be posed at the beginning of the week regarding cyberbullying. By Wednesday, the students would need to post their responses to a question. Then by Sunday evening, each student would need to respond to two peers. This would encourage students to communicate with one another and share ideas. There would be no tests or quizzes in the class. The final project would be conducted in small groups where they devise a strategy to implement in a school to reduce cyberbullying. Students will be assessed on their participation in discussion boards and the quality of their project. 

One reading that will appear on the syllabus is Cyberbullying by Lauri S. Freidman which focuses on how cyberbullying occurs through the internet. Another reading on the syllabus will be Words Wound: Delete Cyberbullying and Make Kindness Go Viral by Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hindjua. This book provides information for those who have been bullied online or have acted as the bully. It also incorporates information on how to make schools and communities kinder and safer. 

This course is unique because students in college can still be victims or act like a bully. It is valuable because the knowledge students gain can help transform the college campus and be passed onto future generations. They can share what they learned in life with their own children.

Course Name: Environmental Studies 4009 (Government and Corporate Effects on the Environment)

Course Description: This lecture based course will focus on the unethical and ethical decisions of governments and corporations around the world that are in relation with climate change. We will study their decisions as well as an important phenomena which is their recent shift of blaming consumers for climate change. Students will pick certain corporations to focus on and study their decisions, as well as local or national governments. Students will interview locals and see how responsible they feel for climate change, and if it’s an excessive amount (which the government and corporations want). 

Each student will be assessed on their research as well as what they bring to the table in our lively debates. This valuable course will bring each student different insights about who is really to blame for climate change, and why it’s important to take the first step to actually recognize who it is. So then we can continue to the next step of really fixing the issue. 

Readings:

–Mother Earth and Uncle Sam How Pollution and Hollow Government Hurt Our Kids  by

Steinzor, Rena

– “Corporate Honesty and Climate Change: Time to Own Up and Act” by Joshua Axelrod 

Films: 

“David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet”

Course Breakdown:

Projects- 40%

Homework-15%

Participation-25%

Final- 20% 

Course Name – Environmental science 1001

Course Description – I actually took this course in high school and my research paper is a large part of this class’s curriculum. In environmental science, the students explore the ecosystems that exists in the world and how each one of them is sustained. We also learn about new ways to keep there world safe and prevent certain issues from happening. Pollution is one of the main topics we discussed in this class and it is a very effective way to teach the next generation to care for the world.

Course Goals:

•  To inform the students about the world they live in
•  Help the students identify certain problems in the world and design ways to prevent them

Course Readings:

• “Air Pollution ties to 30,000 U.S. deaths” by Gaby Gavin
• “Air pollution is getting worse, and data show more people are dying” by Christopher Ingraham
• “American’s air quality worsened, Ending years of gains, study says” by Nadja Popovich

Class Breakdown:

• Attendance and Participation – 30%
• homework – 20%
• tests – 20%
• group project – 10%
• Final – 20%

Course Description:

In this course students will look at the history of the American criminal justice system and laws to voice their opinions on the morality of the criminal justice system. Students will create reforms for the laws they believe to be flawed. The course is designed to challenge students’ creativity when it comes to reforms and logistics.

This is a debate-style class where students will explore what they believe to be flawed and how they will attempt to correct it. Students will agree/disagree with these reforms and ideologies. Students will be voicing their opinions, but it is their reasoning, creativity, and logic that will be looked at. Exams will be in the form of papers written on reforms for a law, which will be given every 2 weeks. You’re final will be in the form of a presentation.

Course Goals:

• Develop debate/discussion skills
• Develop humanitarian skills
• Challenge creativity and problem solving skills

Course Breakdown:

Class Participation: 40% (participation is highly critical since this is a debate/discussion-style class)

Exams (paper): 20%

homework: 15%

presentation (final): 25%