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Semi-OT: History of Rutgers University Online Class

Will you take the course?

  • I'm very interested

    Votes: 6 35.3%
  • Took it in the spring

    Votes: 5 29.4%
  • Already signed up!

    Votes: 1 5.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 5 29.4%

  • Total voters
    17
Jan 18, 2015
1,635
1,508
113
Rutgers
http://www.alumni.rutgers.edu/s/896/index.aspx?sid=896&gid=1&pgid=7007&content_id=9352

Hosted by Rutgers University–New Brunswick History Department, Rutgers University Alumni Association



history_ru_header.jpg

Then and Now: Why and How

What: A fully online course taught by Rutgers historians Paul Clemens, author of Rutgers since 1945 (Rutgers University Press, 2015), and Rudolph Bell. Matriculated students will earn 3 credits and alumni will have an enjoyable learning experience, without tests or homework assignments, built on participation with current students in today’s Rutgers during its 250 birthday.
When: Fall 2016 semester: September 6 to December 14.
Where: On the Internet.Access from the convenience of your home or office anywhere in the world. You need only a computer and access to a high-speed Internet provider.
Details: Each week opens with interviews, visual presentations, and selected readings on a major theme in the history of Rutgers University, from its beginnings in 1766 as a small college for prospective ministers to its current place as a premier research university. Topics include: 19thcentury students from Japan; Paul Robeson then and later; the old and new Rutgers tomatoes; WWII vets and the GI Bill; Selman Waksman’s contested Nobel Prize; firing alleged communist Moses Finley; early residence life at Livingston College; 1969 BOS takeover of Newark’s Conklin Hall; LEAP Academy in Camden; art, music, dance, and theater; exploring underwater volcanoes, forging Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences; and, of course, entry into the B1G Ten; plus many more. View the course syllabus.
Your role: Alumni will join students in viewing each week’s presentation, available 24/7 for your convenience, and then participate as “lived experience” experts bringing their unique perspective to the week’s theme. Participating alumni will be placed in small discussion groups with current students, thereby greatly enriching the overall learning experience. Rest assured, while the students will be graded for their discussion postings, alumni will receive only our appreciation. As with the weekly presentations, the discussions are conducted online 24/7.
At midterm, students will be required to engage in individual research projects and during this time we hope you will volunteer to engage by telephone, Skype, or email with individual students who may turn to you as experts for whatever research project they have chosen to undertake. Examples of individual projects might be: campus response to a major news event such as the Kennedy assassination or 9/11; coeducation at Rutgers College, student attitudes toward returning vets from Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan; effective abolition of the separate arts and sciences colleges in New Brunswick; building a new law school in Newark; football victory over Louisville; or the threat to separate the Camden Campus from Rutgers as political payoff for the medical school merger.
Questions: Email Professor Bell at rbell@rutgers.edu.

Hello folks! This past year I helped create an online course about the History of Rutgers. (Including on Rutgers Athletics which has exclusive interviews from Robert Mulcahy, President Barchi, Eddie Jordan, C. Vivian Stringer, Lee Schneider, Don Heilman, President McCormick and more!) The class was so successful this spring, that it is being offered to Alumni once more this fall. I hope you will take advantage and enjoy!

And yes! The athletics section will include a new interview with Pat Hobbs. Chris Ash and Steve Pikiell are in the works!
 
I took the course and it was really awesome. I would definitely recommend it although with no college credit given, it was something like $250, which some may find expensive. There were no graded assignments for alumni, it was purely for fun/education.

If anyone is taking it, I have the books that are just like new, will sell them to you for what I paid.
 
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I took the course and it was really awesome. I would definitely recommend it although with no college credit given, it was something like $250, which some may find expensive. There were no graded assignments for alumni, it was purely for fun/education.

If anyone is taking it, I have the books that are just like new, will sell them to you for what I paid.

What'd you think of the Athletics portion? No spoilers please, but I'm curious!
 
I took it as well. It was cool, but most of the subjects weren't necessarily grand history, but more of an exploration of the different subjects. Like one week was Rutgers-Newark, one Camden, one was Walksman and Pharmacy, etc. Only the first class (out of 14) was the subject "First 100 years". I wish they focussed more on that time and our great colonial history.

I would recommend getting the books but not necessarily taking the class - they are available through Rutgers publishing and so interesting .. taught me a lot about our early history, really neat facts and events involving RU when it was first getting started.

* That said I know you are a student and it was an easy 3-cr A, so
 
What are the book names?
From the "view the course syllabus" link above:

5. Readings: there are four books assigned for the course. These are best purchased as a package through Rutgers University Press, which has provided a very substantial discount on the combined purchase price to everyone taking the course. All of these books will be used in the course. Your discussion participation, your research paper, and your final examination should all reflect careful consideration of the material in these books. Purchase details will be available shortly.

Paul G. E. Clemens, Rutgers Since 1945: A History of the State University of New Jersey(New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 2015).


Richard L. McCormick, Raised at Rutgers: A President's Story (New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 2014).


Richard P. McCormick, The Black Student Protest Movement at Rutgers (New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 1990).


Nita Congress (Editor), Junot Diaz (Contributor), Tom Frusciano (Contributor), Barry Qualls (Contributor),Flo Hamrick (Contributor), Elizabeth Warren (Contributor), Marie Logue (Contributor), Rutgers: A 250th Anniversary Portrait(Third Millennium Publishing, 2015).
 
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Also, the free sample of Raised at Rutgers is pretty interesting. McCormick writes about his start as Rutgers President and dealing with Jim McGreevey to get that job.
 
I took it as well. It was cool, but most of the subjects weren't necessarily grand history, but more of an exploration of the different subjects. Like one week was Rutgers-Newark, one Camden, one was Walksman and Pharmacy, etc. Only the first class (out of 14) was the subject "First 100 years". I wish they focused more on that time and our great colonial history.

I would recommend getting the books but not necessarily taking the class - they are available through Rutgers publishing and so interesting .. taught me a lot about our early history, really neat facts and events involving RU when it was first getting started.

* That said I know you are a student and it was an easy 3-cr A, so

Heh, I'm not just a student. I helped create the course! I created the second hundred years and athletics portions of the course.
 
Students: pay the tuition, attend in person, do the work, get the credit. Alumni, fans, etc.: view the youtube lectures and read the texts, as desired.

The Alumni are a part of the course, if you've read the course description. It's an online course available across the country and worldwide. The course fee for alumni helps pay for the TAs that run the discussions.

Alumni are not required to actually do any work.
 
Students: pay the tuition, attend in person, do the work, get the credit. Alumni, fans, etc.: view the youtube lectures and read the texts, as desired.

This would also require an extra layer of legal security. Showing a person's interview in class compared to having it available on the web brings up questions of copyright and permission that are tricky to deal with.

It is entirely possible some of the lectures may eventually end up there, but I have legitimately no connection to whether or not they do. I'd love to see my creations on the web, but I find it unlikely.
 
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