BILTMORE AND BEYOND
The Arts and Architecture of Asheville
A First-Year Experience Course
IST 173
Instructors: Helen Wykle
Ellie Marsh
Fall 1998
RL 123
RL 125
Tuesdays: 2:00 - 4:30 pm
251-6621
251-6636
Ramsey Library (RL 136)
hwykle@bulldog.unca.edu
emarsh@unca.edu
8/26/98
OFFICE HOURS: Both Ellie Marsh and Helen Wykle are generally available in the Reference area of Ramsey Library from 9:00 – 5:00 M-F. If you wish to make an appointment you may e-mail or phone the addresses given above.
COURSE OVERVIEW:
This course satisfies the general education
requirement for LR 101 or LR 102 Library
Research. LR 101 or LR 102 is a pre- or
co-requisite for LANG 102 and a prerequisite for declaring a major.
Biltmore and Beyond is a course for those interested in the cultural history of the Asheville area. During the semester-long course we will focus on the arts and architecture of the community as a vehicle for learning many of the basic information retrieval skills that will be required of students as they move through their academic experience. We will explore how information can enrich our cultural lives. We will visit and research specific sites, in and around Asheville, which relate to its cultural history. Sites will include the following:
·
Early American Indian archeological site (Swannanoa)
·
Pack Library Asheville collections
·
ZebulonVance Birthplace
·
Walking tour and bus tour of the
architecture of Asheville and its environs
·
Asheville Art Museum
·
Thomas Wolfe Memorial
·
Grove Park Inn
·
Biltmore Estate
· Cultural Event - REQUIRED October 8 "Encountering Drama", 7 pm Laurel Forum
Familiarity with cultural history is among the responsibilities of the liberally educated person. It is expected that this course will increase the student’s capacity for participation in the cultural life of their community and will help to clarify the responsibility we all share for the quality of our lives and for that of our community.
Emphasis will be placed on building a conceptual framework for effectively and efficiently accessing the vast array of information sources and information systems which keep us in touch with our cultural heritage and responsibilities. Students will utilize standard paper-based information retrieval tools as well as a range of electronic sources. In-classroom instruction and hands-on use of electronic sources will be provided. The course will explore
·
how information is physically
organized and accessed
·
how information is identified and
defined by experts
·
how information is structured, and
how it is intellectually accessed.
Students will be expected to attend all field trips and to participate in group and individual research projects. Student projects and assignments will be based on the site visits and will emphasize the different processes of description, interpretation, biography and critical analysis. An annotated bibliography will be prepared by each student which will be related to a site or to an individual the student encountered during the course of their study. Each student will also be required to attend three First Year Experience Seminars (see attached list of seminar options).
The course will be team-taught and will emphasize models of active learning; specifically, group participation and discussion. It will also emphasize writing as a pragmatic and social act, which places the emphasis on the student to develop their own way of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, and concluding. It will explore the writing and research styles found in the course text, Robert Brunk’s May We All Remember Well, as examples of research and composing styles.
·
To provide the beginning student with a successful transition into the
social and academic life of the University
and the community of Asheville through a series of interactive cultural experiences.
·
To provide students with a conceptual framework for effectively and
efficiently accessing information.
·
To encourage critical and analytical skills.
·
To promote good writing skills through a series of pragmatic exercises and
the evaluation of a selected essays found in the text May We All Remember Well by Robert Brunk.
·
To include the SIX CORE COMPONENTS of the First Year Experience
Six Core Components of the
First Year Experience:
· Developing distinctive, effective styles of learning and teaching.
· Acquiring basic computer skills to produce polished written work, to access databases and libraries, and to conduct correspondence.
· Developing the best possible library-use skills to find information, develop ideas and discover new interests and perspectives.
· Cultivating a broad sense of career possibilities and real-life applications for ideas that originate in classroom and academic work.
· Refining a personal approach to time management and stress management in order to set goals, clarify values, establish priorities and deal with pressures, deadlines, surprises, demands and multiple roles.
· Establishing an effective plan for learning outside the classroom, so that the UNCA experience will be the beginning of a lifelong work in progress.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
·
Attendance of ALL class meetings (See
below)
·
Attendance and participation in all Required
Activities (See below)
·
Assignments completed by the due date (5:00pm on the date due)
·
Reflection for each class sent to
each instructor no later than 7 days following the class
·
Attendance of 3 First Year Experience Seminars
CLASS ATTENDANCE:
Each class session constitutes 3 hours of contact time. Attendance of
class is required. Classes meet once each week. The student’s course grade will be
reduced by one letter grade for each class period missed,
beyond one. For example, if a student
has a cumulative grade of “A” and misses two classes, the student will receive a
“B”. Absences may not be “made up”.
Excused absences must be documented.
TEXTBOOK , MATERIALS & EXPENSES:.
TEXTBOOKS: Brunk, Robert S. May
We All Remember Well: A Journal of the History & Culture of Western North Carolina. Vol. I, Asheville, NC:Robert
S. Brunk Auction Services, Inc., 1997 ($32.00)
and Making Sense of Library Research: A Guide for
Undergraduate Students ($10.00). Purchase
both books at the UNCA Bookstore. Biltmore Estate cost will be $10.00 for each student.
Pay $10.00 (cost of Biltmore) directly to
Ellie Marsh/Helen Wykle by third class meeting. Total
cost for text books and site admissions is $52.00 per student.
ACADEMIC HONESTY:
It is the responsibility of the student to be informed of the policies governing academic honesty at UNCA. Those policies are outlined on p. 40 of the UNCA College Catalog (1997-98).
It is expected that each student will understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. Plagarism (borrowing another author’s language and/or ideas without acknowledging the source) and cheating (providing or receiving assistance on quizzes or exams) is unacceptable behavior and will result in severe consequences, including failure of the class and/or dismissal from UNCA.
SPECIAL NEEDS STATEMENT:
If you require special assistance or accommodation because you have a diagnosed or undiagnosed learning need, you must advise the instructors of your learning needs sometime in the first two weeks of the class. We will try to accommodate your needs and, if possible, we will work with you and the University Special Needs Coordinator to provide a productive learning environment.
GRADING
Oral presentations related to site visits or library research 15%
2 Quizzes, Worksheets 40%
WITHDRAWALS/INCOMPLETES:
Tuesday, September 1, 1998 is the last day to withdraw from the class with a grade of “W”. See the UNCA College Catalog for the statement of regulations governing course withdrawal and incomplete grades.
READINGS on RESERVE :
A list of readings placed on reserve will be given to each student as the class progresses.
E-MAIL REFLECTIONS:
When asked to e-mail your
instructors, enter the e-mail addresses as follows:
emarsh@unca.edu or
hwykle@bulldog.unca.edu
Note that our two addresses
are different and are separated by a (,) and a space.
Each student will be expected
to use e-mail to communicate with the instructors of the class. You will be required to
send each instructor a reflection on each
of the classes met during the semester. These reflections will help us to better evaluate
the learning process and to keep us in touch with your needs in the class. You will
receive further instruction on the use of e-mail during the first class.
COURSE SCHEDULE
AUG 22 (Saturday) BULLDOG DAY (REQUIRED ACTIVITY)
Meet with class on the front steps of Ramsey
Library at 9:15 am
Service project at City Seeds in Asheville.
AUG 25 Meet with class in RL 101 (Ramsey Library) 2:00 - 4:30
Bulldog Day Discussion
Overview of Course/Discussion of syllabus/Worksheet Assignments
Personal inventory - Mapping and PI form
e-mail assignment (Attend one Computing on
Campus session on Sept. 3, 6:00pm or Sept.
17, 11:00 am)
Time-management exercise (WORKSHEET #1 - Time
Management)
Reflections to instructors [What you learned from the class, or not, and why?]
(Reflections will need to be e-mail only after Sept. 17. See above)
Career (Complete one Career session Sept. 17, Nov. 12, or Dec. 3) by Dec. 4 and reflect on the Career session you attended)
Lecture - Community: A Sense of Place
Read: Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well, “Introduction”.
SEPT 1
Meet with class in RL 136 (Ramsey Library)
2:00 - 4:30
Research Strategy and Reference Tools
WNCLN Online catalog
ABC Express
Reserves
(WORKSHEET #2 in-class, Library Catalog/finding articles in periodicals/Britannica Online)
Read: Chapter 3 in Making Sense of Library Research)
Lecture - Community: A Sense of Place
Read: Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well, "The Christie Cabin Site: Historical and
Archaeological Evidence of the Life and Times of a Cherokee Metis Household
(1835-1838)".
SEPT 15
Field Trip: PACK LIBRARY
Meet in RL 136 promptly at 2:00
(Ann Wright, Librarian, Pack Library)
Asheville – Buncombe County special collections
Asheville Citizen Times indexes
Thomas Wolfe collections
Vertical Files
(WORKSHEET #3 in-class, Pack Library)
(WORKSHEET #4 - Architectural Vocabulary/Paper #1 - Descriptive Paper)
SEPT 22
Field Trip: ZEBULON VANCE HOMEPLACE
Meet in RL 136 promptly at 2:00
Early settlement of Western North Carolina and agrarian lifestyle is explored.
Read: Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well, "The Waterpowered Mills of Reems Creek", pp. 82-96.
SEPT 29
Field-trip: The Built Environment -
ASHEVILLE AND ENVIRONS
Meet in RL 136 promptly at 2:00
Harry Weiss, Director of The Preservation Society, will give a broad introduction to the various distinct areas of Asheville and to specific architectural sites in the downtown area. Part of the tour will be by bus and the remainder will be a walking tour of downtown. Wear comfortable shoes. Emphasis will be on urban domestic dwellings and lifestyles.
OCT 6
Meet with class in RL 136 (Ramsey Library)
2:00 - 4:30
Ramsey Library Special Collections tour /Research using primary source materials
Read: Making Sense of Library Research, Chapters 2 and 8.
Manuscripts
City Directories
National Historic Trust records
Books
Photographic collections
Oral histories
(WORKSHEET #5 in class - Special Collections)
Description paper reports
OCT 8
ATTEND AND WRITE RESPONSE FOR:
"Encountering Drama", UNCA Laurel Forum, 7:00pm
OCT 20 FALL BREAK
BIOGRAPHY/GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS/BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Read: Making Sense of Library Research, Chapter 7.
Read: Brunk, R. May
We All Remember Well, "George Masa: The Best Mountaineer",
pp.249-275.
Assembling bibliographies
Writing the Research Paper – Considerations
(Worksheet #6/Paper #2 due)
(WORKSHEET #7 in-class - Government Information)
NOV 3 Field-trip: THOMAS WOLFE MEMORIAL
Meet in
RL 136 promptly at 2:00
Tour
of the visitor center and the graveyard burial site of the Asheville author.
(WORKSHEET #8 group exercise - Critical Thinking)
NOV 10
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
Meet with class in RL 136 (Ramsey Library) 2:00 - 4:30
Evaluating information.
Read: Making Sense of Library Research, Chapters 4 and 6.
Newspapers, Tabloids
Journals, Magazines
Internet
Evaluating bibliographies
Critical Analysis – Criticizing / Interpreting - Judging
In class group reports on worksheets (WORKSHEET #8 - group exercise - Critical Thinking)
(WORKSHEET #9 in-class/Evaluating Information)
Re-writing the Research Paper – Considerations
NOV 17
Field Trip: GROVE PARK INN
Meet in RL 136 promptly at 2:00
HOMESPUN CRAFT STUDIOS
Guest lecture on site at the Grove Park Inn and Homespun Shops by Bruce Johnson, author of Built For the Ages: A History of the Grove Park Inn and an authority on the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States.
Read: Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well, "Built Without an Architect: Architectural
Inspirations for the Grove Park Inn."by Bruce Johnson. Review the Brunk text articles for discussion on November 24.
NOV 24 LECTURE AND DISCUSSION - ROBERT BRUNK, editor of May We All Remember Well
Re-read: Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well, “Introduction”.
Meet with class in RL 101 (Ramsey Library) 2:00 - 4:30
Guest lecture by the editor of your text.
Brunk will discuss the process of assembling the various articles included in the text and
the current endeavor to publish the second volume in the series. He will also discuss the
heritage of Western North Carolina from a sociological and anthropological perspective and
provide students an opportunity to discuss questions that were raised while reading the
text and during the course and related site visits. (2:00-3:00 in the Whitman Room in the Library)
COURSE SUMMARY - Instructors
DEC 1
Field Trip: BILTMORE ESTATE
Meet in RL 136 promptly at 2:00
Tour of the Estate house and grounds.
Read: Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well, "The Work of Rafael Guastavino in Western North Carolina".
Reserve readings. See your instructors.
(WORKSHEET #10 - Biltmore)
DEC 8
CLASS REPORTS
Meet with class in RL 136 (Ramsey Library) 2:00 - 4:30
Reporting out of project papers (ORAL PRESENTATIONS ) by class members.
DEC 15 ALL ASSIGNMENTS DUE at 5:00pm
Individual consultations with instructors/library time 2:00-4:30pm