Course: L216 The Price of Prosperity

Author: Metzler, Eric
School: Indiana University - Bloomington
Department/Program: Liberal Arts and Management Program
Sub Area/Speciality: Interdisciplinary critique of contemporary American society
Year: 2003

Portfolio Objective/Abstract:

This course portfolio is a living document that attempts to capture the intellectual work of creating and teaching L216, a seminar for sophomores in the Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP). Most of the writing here is descriptive of L216 in its latest rendition (spring 03); yet at times I have found it necessary to explain to the reader how the course has developed from its first version (spring 01) and to speculate how the course might continue to be improved the next time I teach it (spring 04). Formal classroom research in spring 2002, which is discussed at length below, led to profound insights and substantial changes to the course. Yet even after these changes were made in spring 2003, I found I needed to make more changes for the subsequent version of the course. Hence, there is a certain tension in this portfolio between describing what I have taught and what I hope to teach in the future. I have been unable to reconcile the tension in this document, but I suppose it is precisely such tension that marks the kind of reflective teaching I strive to practice. In this document, I hope to describe the main learning goals of L216, explain the key teaching methods employed to address those goals, discuss how course assignments and projects moved students toward the goals, and show evidence of student and instructor learning through the analysis of classroom research conducted during the spring 2002 semester, the second time I taught the course.

Type of Portfolio: Inquiry
Evidence of Student Learning in the Portfolio: Combination of Methods

Size of Class: 11 to 29
Type of Student: Major Only
Level of Course: second-year
Type of Course: Major/discipline

Teaching Environment:
  • Classroom
 Student Activities:
  • Writing
  • Reading
  • Classroom Discussion
  • In-Class Group Exercises
  • Out-of-Class Group Exercises
 Assessment Approaches:
  • Homework
  • Papers
  • Group Project
  • Group Presentations

CLICK HERE to explore this course portfolio