20000

An interdisciplinary approach to analyzing information presented in American contemporary culture via a variety of media, including television, cinema, theater, popular print, and the internet. Introduces critical perspectives of such academic disciplines as sociology, communications, psychology, philosopy, and others.

The first of two foundational liberal arts courses introduces the breadth areas of the liberal arts and examines the importance and meaning of a liberal arts education that integrates learning across the disciplines. The course engages students in adult learning methods and emphasizes skills of critical self reflection for learning, reading for comprehension and deeper understanding, effective class participation, and thinking and writing at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

The second of two foundational liberal arts courses examines Ottawa's liberal arts breadth areas in greater depth. Students acquire skills for learning in particular disciplines, including developing research questions and methods in the different breadth areas. Students learn to integrate and synthesize information as they read scholarly articles and develop a properly cited research paper. Prerequisite: LAS 20010 Seminar I:Exploring the Liberal Arts.