Assignments

There are basically three types of assignments: reading, viewing, and feedback.

Reading: Reading in a university course is of course a given. We will read material at a regular pace dealing with the various religions we are covering. There is a textbook for the course which we will read straight through, cover to cover in well-paced increments. However, you may want to read ahead so as to be prepared for the sophisticated concepts you may encounter. We will also be reading each other's HyperNews postings and various outside resources (internet articles and the like).

Viewing: Part of your responsibilities for this course will be to watch videos, easily obtainable at your local video store.

Feedback: You will be given several opportunities to reflect on, comment upon, and analyze the reading and viewing material in this course. Not the least of these forums will be provided by the use of a computer either at home or in a lab. Thus, part of your course preparation will be to take the time to become computer-ready. I will try to help you get there. However, you are ultimately responsible to compose and send email, post messages via Hyper-News, and perhaps even attend virtual class meetings online. The ultimate form of feedback will be a research paper you will write on some aspect of world religions.

So Here Is How It Looks:

The 1st week you will have checked in by posting in hypernews discussions and will have began reading the first two chapters of Many Peoples, Many Faiths(8th edition) by Ellwood and McGraw. See Course Syllabus.

Week Two

Read through Ch 3 Many Peoples, Many Faiths (8th edition). Respond to the new HyperNewsforum.

Week Three

HinduismMany Peoples, Many Faiths (8th edition). Respond to the new HyperNews forums.

Weeks Four

Buddhism. Now that you know the drill, read the next two chapters in the book. (You might as well take Hinduism and Buddhism together, since they stem from the same source.) Use the supplemental website to aid your comprehension and do the cinematic assignments described in the HyperNews forums.

Week Five

Continuing with our basic drill, read the next chapter in the book which covers Chinese religions. Use the supplemental website to aid your comprehension and do the cinematic assignments described in the HyperNews forum. You will be happy to know that when you launch from our course page to the supplemental website it now gives you a choice between editions. Choose the eighth edition because of its enhanced supplementation. You will want to drill yourself exceedingly well on the quiz material since the mid-term (at the beginning of the seventh week) will be largely based on that material.

Week 6

Prepare to take the Mid-Term in WebCT(See the HyperNews Forums) I have now opened up the Mid-Term. It is the Quiz called "RS150 Mid-Term Exam." You can ignore the "Methods and Madness" exam unless you need more challenges. It won't count against you. However, you must take the RS150 mid-term. I would like you to take it sometime in the next two weeks. It covers the material in book up and through Chinese Religions. You can prepare for it by taking all the chapter quizzes, matching, etc., located on the Supplemental Website.

Week 7, 8, 9

Mid-Term (including online makeup) Move on to the new chapters in Many Peoples, Many Faiths dealing with Zorastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity.