HUM 190 D
Constructing History:
Simulation and Simulacra
Required text
Assignments
Unless indicated otherwise,
the varied assignments that are marked with the symbol Ó should all be about four typed pages in
length. They should, of course, be insightful, well-written, and interesting. As
noted below, when calculating your overall grade I will take the best five
assignments that you submit into account.
Every other assignment is mandatory.
Requirements and Evaluation
Make it a point accumulation thing for the
essays rather than a set number.
Ì Class participation 30%
Ó Essays
for weeks one and two (5 x 5%) 25%
ß Elements
of game portfolio (6 x 5%) 30%
ä Peer
assessment 15%
Class
Participation
By class participation, I mean class participation. This is a hands-on,
discussion-oriented class.
Competition in the classroom can be irksome,
but it also provides many people with motivation. Course elements that are
marked with the symbol Ì indicate opportunities to supplement your class
participation grade by achieving victory.
Attendance is an important subset of class participation because
you need to be in class in order to
participate. Furthermore, each day is quite different from the next, so if you
miss a day it is difficult to fill in the blank from the context of the
surrounding days. Consequently, each time you miss class I drop your participation
grade by 10%.
Grading
When
grading the assignments you complete, I will apply the following interlocking
criteria:
1.
Focus – do you address the topic at hand?
2.
Accuracy – do you have historical evidence to support your position?
3.
Clarity – do your ideas make sense?
4.
Coherence – does your prose make sense?
5.
Originality – is there a “wow factor” at play here?
I
define grades in these terms:
A:
Excellent -- insightful, coherent, and original.
B:
Good -- covers the material effectively.
C:
Fair -- adequate, but flawed by errors, irrelevance, or limited scope.
D:
Poor -- more errors, incoherence, and lack of understanding.
F:
Fail -- no evidence of understanding.
F If you feel that I have inaccurately graded one of
your assignments, please put your argument in writing, attach the assignment in
question, and deliver it to me at your earliest convenience. I will then
re-grade the entire assignment, no
questions asked.
The Future
I have never taught a
worthwhile on campus May Term course. I shall always rank “American Utopias”
and “Filming the Second World War” among my all time worst classes. Still, I
remain undecided on the future of May Term. Certainly the trips are great (I
have taken three), and yes, the internships are good opportunities. This is all
very nice, but I still need to teach an on-campus every other year or so.
Consequently, this is the make-or-break year. If this is a good class, I will
defend the continuation of the tradition of May Term. However, if it resembles
its predecessors in terms of vacuity and lack of motivation and engagement, I
will try to destroy May Term.
History as Construction
Watch: “Memento”
Register
at: hsx.com; join “sharecropper” league
Answer: questions on pp. 65, 71, 74, and 80; write
at least one page for each Ó1
Read:
Answer: questions on pp. 99, 102, 106, 118, and
129; write about one page for each Ó2
Read:
Answer: questions on pp. 132, 135, 138, 142, and 145;
write about one page for each Ó3
Read:
Submit: Historical satire (a la The Onion)
Ó4
or Hoax pitch Ó5
Read:
Our Dumb Century
(excerpts); Pigeon Drop
Constructing Representations
May 8 (all day long) :: Roadtrip
:: Charles City Military History Days
Submit: Critique of CCMHD Ó6 or answer the question on
Read:
§
Games vs.
Simulations
§
Games as abstractions:
chess
§
Quasi-Historical
simulation games: Diplomacy
Submit: improving Risk Ó8 or Diplomacy debriefing[1]
Ó9
Key concepts:
§
Use of props
§
Role-playing lite
§
Fog of war
§
Control
Submit: historical after-action report of Civil War tabletop battle Ó10
Handout:
Key concepts:
§
Maximizing
interaction
§
Increasing
abstraction
§
Eliminating “the
board”
Submit: after-action critique of SIMSOC Ó11
Schedule:
§
Explanation of
game mechanics
§
Sample game-play
§
Discussion of
possible revisions
§
Play-test of
revised version
Simulation Design and
Development
Submit: initial game proposal portfolio ß1
§
Statement
of objectives and parameters (3pp.)
§
Organizational
chart
§
Justification
for deletions from the chart
Schedule:
§
Everybody makes
their pitches ß2
§
Contender
selection (by weighted popular vote)
§
Team formation
o
Historical
research
o
Rules[2]
o
Materials
development
§
Special guest,
> Monday, May 10:
Develop game materials
Beta
play-test of selected games
Submit: written peer feedback ß3
Submit: portfolio ß4
§
Scenario
§
User’s
manual
§
Materials
description
Then: Beta+1
playtest Ì5
Submit: Graphics in .jpg format and text in .doc format for web
publication ß5
and overall
course peer assessment [3]
ä1
Schedule:
§
Hsx.com standing Ì6
§
Final Tournament Ì7
[1] Ostensible teaching goals: European geography, multi-polar diplomacy, and the outbreak of WWI. MT teaching goals: experienced gamers, B&W, handout paucity, rules ignorance, and apathy.
[2] http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nikolas.lloyd/wargames/ruledesign.html
[3] Evaluate selected peers on the following criteria: 1) class participation 2) teamwork 3) off-campus activities 4) constructive criticism 5) innovative thinking.