ES 3 - Introduction to Muslim-American Studies
Instructor: Zakia Isad
Email Instructor
zisad@chabotcollege.edu
Instructor phone: 510-723-6600
Course Description
An examination of the diversity of Muslim communities in the United States with
an emphasis on comparing and contrasting their histories, cultures and
experiences. Topics include: patterns of migration; religious beliefs and
practice; acculturation and assimilation; political involvement; education and
employment; 9/11 and its aftermath; relations with the broader Muslim world.
Check the college catalog
for CSU/UC transferability and to see if this course meets AA/AS degree
requirements.
This class begins August 17th and ends December 19th
Optional On-Campus Orientations
There are no required on-campus meetings for this class. You can attend an OPTIONAL, on-campus
Orientation to Online Learning that
provides Blackboard log in instructions and help, an overview of the Blackboard
course management system, and tips on netiquette, time management, and study
skills for the online student. Attend any one of these sessions:
-
Monday, August 17th, 5:30-6:30 p.m., in Room 1602
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Tuesday, August 18th, noon-1:00 p.m., in Room 1602
-
Wednesday, August 19th, 4:00-5:00 p.m., in Room 1618
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Thursday, August 20th, noon-1:00 p.m., in Room 1602
-
Saturday, August 22nd, 10:00-11:00 a.m., in Room 1602
-
Monday, August 24th, 5:30-6:30 p.m., in Room 1602
Learn more about these
orientations,
which are NOT course-specific.
How This Class Operates
This is not a self-paced class; there are due dates throughout the semester that
you are expected to meet, just like in a traditional, face-to-face class.
Hello and
welcome!!
Welcome to my online class, "Introduction to the Muslim Communities in the
United States." I am your instructor, Zakia Isad. Due to its popular
demand, I have designed this course to teach at Chabot College. One of the main
objectives of this course is to create a better understanding about Muslim communities
living in the United States. Americans have been introduced to Muslim/Islam
primarily through two unfortunate occurrences. The first one was the U.S.
Embassy takeover and hostage crisis of 1979 during Iran's Islamic revolution.
Americans' second introduction to Islam was in the wake of 9/11/01 terrorist
attack on the U.S. The reason for both of these events was primarily political
not religious- an important distinction that we often fail to make. A religion
whose very name means peace has been hijacked by a handful of people who are
trying to justify their un-Islamic acts of terrorism in the name of Islam.
Sadly, many people tend to judge peaceful followers of Islam by the violent
actions of just a very small minority. We in the United States need to learn
about Islam's basic principles and practices that surprisingly to many, are no
different than those of Judaism, Christianity, and other major faiths of
humanity. At the same time, we need to know how the Muslim world feels about the
United States foreign policies that impact Muslims lives. It will serve us well
to know more about Muslim Communities that make up roughly seven million people
right here in the United States. This course will address this important
academic need.
I hope you will find this class intellectually challenging, interactive, and
informative.
Course Description:
This course will primarily cover the following: Migration of Muslims to the
United States; their religious beliefs and practices; assimilation; education;
employment; their political contributions; the aftermath of 9/11; its impact on
American Muslims; U.S. Relations with the Muslim world and future prospects.
Requirements for Online Course and
Attendance:
1) An updated computer.
2) Internet access with email address
3) A back-up system.
All assignments are due by midnight on the specified due date. Discussion on
each assignment is a part of the passage of this class. Discussion Board is a
place where you exchange and interact with your instructor and other classmates.
This course is entirely online which means all course work (100%) will be
conducted online. Expectations for performance in fully online courses are the
same as for traditional courses; in fact fully online courses require a degree
of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills skills. Fully online
courses are not independent study courses. You will be expected to interact
online with your professor and other students to do assignments, to meet
deadlines, and sometimes, to work in virtual groups. The Blackboard web site
contains all the information you will need for this course. You will see
Learning Modules that will contain a folder for each week, instructor's notes, a
study guide/reading for that week, web site links that you may need, sometimes a
movie to watch and its review and tests/quizzes/survey questions for that week.
All assignments of the week need to be completed during the same week.
Discussion Board will be our main communications tool. Most of the weeks, I will
be posting discussion questions for you related to each week's work to answer
and will ask you to share your thoughts/ideas with all of us. I am expecting
that you would participate in discussions actively to earn your points.
It is highly likely that any questions you have may also be of interest to
others students. Therefore, for efficiency purposes, all course and work related
questions should be posted in the discussion groups for all classmates to see.
In most cases, your colleagues can add value to, comment on, or answer the
questions. I will also respond and comment within a day to questions in the
discussion groups. Personal questions can be directed to me via email address
that is: zisad@chabotcollege.edu
In case you need help:
If you face any technical problem with Blackboard, you can get help from the
Chabot College website at:
http://www.chabotcollege.edu/DistanceEd .If you are unable to find an answer
there, you may post a message to the Discussion Board under the topic,
"Technology Help". Either I or another student will respond.
Textbook Info: Textbooks: For this course, you would need two textbooks( small
and very reasonably priced). Some assignments will be on the current issues from
the websites regarding Muslims communities.
Textbook Information
For this
course, you will need one textbook (small and very reasonably priced). Some of
the assignments will be on current issues regarding Muslim communities and I
will provide you websites in my course syllabus.
The name of
the book is:
Muslims in the United States, The State of Research. By: Karen I. Leonard. It's
available at Chabot College bookstore. You may order it online for a very low
price. You must have the book by the end of first week to complete your 2nd week
assignment.
How Students are Graded
All
assignments are due by midnight
on the specified due date. Discussion on each assignment is a part of the
passage of this class. Discussion Board is a place where you exchange and
interact with your instructor and other classmates.
You will be able to track your progress and grades in this class. I will update
your grades on a weekly basis. Your quizzes will be graded automatically.
Grading Criteria for Assignments and
discussions:
Clear statements with logic, insight and examples: 100%
Clear statements with examples: 80%
Clear statements: 70%
Grading criteria for quizzes:
90% to 100%: A
80% to 89%: B
70% to 79%: C
60% to 69%: D
Instructor-Student Interaction:
You may contact me through emails anytime you wish. I will respond within 24
hours or sooner as I check my emails quite frequently.
Succeeding in an Online Course
Students who succeed in online courses tend to be independent, self-motivated
learners with good computer skills. If you are a procrastinator who relies
heavily on the instructor for motivation, or can't use a computer too well, you
should probably consider enrolling in a face-to-face course instead.
Or, you might consider enrolling in our
Introduction to Online Learning course
(GNST-4910), which
provides an overview of online learning and equips you to succeed in your first
online class.
Don't enroll in this class if you believe the myth that learning
online requires less effort than learning face-to-face.
This course
covers the same content and has similar activities as the face-to-face version
of the course; only the method of delivery changes.
Blackboard
This course will use the Blackboard course management system as its virtual
classroom. To learn how to log in to Blackboard, go to the
How to Begin an Online Course page. Once you
enroll, you will not be able to log in until the first day of class.
Students are expected to become familiar with the use and operation of
Blackboard functions and are encouraged to attend an orientation session
provided by the Distance Education program at Chabot College. In addition, the
professor provides a general unit on "How to Navigate in Blackboard" for
students to understand how to use the major features the professor employs.
