Perspectives Courses

Be the Change

Real-World Task

The course is designed to help students learn how we engage the bystander intervention both on and off campus.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Using the QEP real-world problem-solving skills model, students will explore the history, theory, and practice of bystander intervention.
2. Implementing the University of Arizona’s CATS “StepUp!” bystander intervention program to set the foundation for the course activities.
3. Researching what causes individuals to refrain from intervening and applying that research to current practices and experiences that students are exposed to.
4. Creating scenario strategies to enhance the StepUp! Curriculum and presenting to designated groups on campus.

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Happiness in Life with Mr. Rogers

Real-World Task

The course is designed to identify tools that you can use to increase your happiness and create more empathy toward others in society.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Examining the manner in which family processes, romantic relationships, peers and community factors influence emotional and physical health.
2. Implementing self-reflection and the use of psychological techniques that were used by Mr. Rogers with children that may become embedded in our daily pursuit of happiness and well-being.

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Cosmopolitan Discourse

Real-World Task

The course will help student examine the key elements of cosmopolitan discourse.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Designing an action plan as it applies to personal, civic, and academic life.
2. Engaging in canopy discussions through cosmopolitan dispositions.
3. Establishing discussion norms to guide moderation of an online cosmopolitan canopy discussion around an essential question about an important topic of one’s choice.
4. Debriefing from one’s experience in engaging in cosmopolitan canopy discussions online as a moderator and participant by creating a brief audio podcast recording.

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Let’s “sTalk” About It

Real-World Task

How can we foster a safe and secure campus by limiting our exposure to stalking?

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Exploring the context, identify behaviors, research the prevalence, and identify resources of stalking.
2. Using the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center's Know It, Name It, Stop It stalking prevention program to create an awareness and prevention education campaign that will foster a more safe and secure campus. Students will utilize their learned knowledge to discover, design, and deliver to enhance student involvement.

This I Believe

Real-World Task

Using the book This I Believe: Their Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, this course will help students explore their values, beliefs and own personal philosophies while reading and learning from essays from many experienced leaders and remarkable people. This course will also help students learn to and become comfortable and confident in sharing and articulating what they “believe” and appreciating others’ experiences, values, and beliefs.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Writing essays and speeches exploring beliefs and philosophies.
2. Keeping a journal in which promotes will be explored about one’s beliefs.
3. Evaluating personality types using various types of tools and assessments to determine personality, leadership, communication, and learning styles.

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Guiding Principles for the Adult Learner’s Path

Real-World Task

This course will help students practice critical reflection and transformative learning processes as they learn to solve problems instrumentally while participating in communicative learning experiences.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Practicing adult learner processes through becoming aware and critical of assumptions.
2. Receiving practice in recognizing frames of reference in learning.
3. Using creativity and logic to define and solve problems.
4. Considering research using multiple frames; and using discourse in the learning process.

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Leading Better conversations on Health, Fitness, and Media

Real-World Task

This class is designed to address the following question:

How can we support more realistic and productive expectations about health and fitness and practice more sustainable approaches to working toward them?

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Learning how to identify reliable information about health and fitness and differentiate it from pseudo information and advertising.
2. Learning how to evaluate and address personal misconceptions, unscientific beliefs, or harmful associations about fitness, body image, and health.
3. Learning how we can understand and communicate the complex interactions of health, fitness, mental well-being, community support, access to health care, and so on.

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Social Media Savvy: Think Before You Like

Real-World Task

The course will examine popular social media through a critical lens so that they are no longer being passive participants in their digital media experience.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Dissecting preferred media using cultural semiotics, current events, personal bias, and regional experience.
2. Participating and interacting with CSU’s online presence and examining one’s place in this community and beyond.
3. Learning to use Galileo to locate credible, academic articles to verify information online.

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Connecting Career Development and the College Path

Real-World Task

The course will help students explore the vial, yet often overlooked connection between students’ plan of study and personal career development. This course will expose students to the importance of skills development to address the increasing skills gap identified by today’s employers by helping students develop self-awareness of essential hard and soft skills for both academic and career success.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Developing of personal strengths and weaknesses to address career exploration skill gaps by engaging in comprehensive personal assessment.
2. Developing a personal brand statement and learn how to deliver an elevator pitch to market themselves to potential hiring managers.
3. Outlining a personal resume.
4. Building a living online resume via Linkedin and Handshake.
5. Conducting informational interview(s) with campus and/or community contacts within field(s) of interest.
6. Learning critical interviewing skills through mock interviewing.
7. Engaging in a comprehensive career research project exploring field(s) of interest and develop a four-year personal and professional development plan to guide them through their academic career and beyond.

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What Makes Culture Unique

Real-World Task

This course is designed to give information and analysis on basic questions concerning the French culture.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Engaging in active learning to learn about customs, geography, food, music and art of the francophone world.
2. Reflecting on other cultures and the on the importance of culture in general.

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Live Music in the Digital Age

Real-World Task

The course will help students explore how a music festival could be designed to increase the awareness of Columbus’s contribution to American music.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Exploring musicians and musically significant places critical to understand the history of music in Columbus.
2. Critically listening to recordings, close reading of primary sources and consultation of archival materials.
3. Evaluating sources to determine credibility.

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Discover Your Future

Real-World Task

The course will help students examine the challenges and obstacles that show up during college to identify strategies to create plans to thrive academically, socially, and personally.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Conducting research on the value and cost of higher education.
2. Identifying strategies, values and interests that inform their decision-making processes in order to. situate the research in a personal context to define what "success in college" means for each student.
3. Designing possible pathways and milestones of their college experiences
4. Identifying obstacles that may arise as one pursues the paths toward success and designing multiple ways to respond to the challenges.
5. Identifying and researching areas of interests in prototyping career interests.

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That’s Fake News!

Real-World Task

The course will help students examine credible information.

The principal activities for this class include:

1. Demonstrating the research process and coming up with a conclusion on whether one decides real world examples of media are true or false.
2. Learning basic research skills and methods that can help to solve real-world problems, on a personal and academic level.
3. Questioning the information consumed, analyzing it critically, and explaining how one concluded that the source of information they are looking at and why or why not it is viewed as a credible source.