Academic Catalog

GLST 2: GLOBAL ISSUES

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2022
Units: 4
Hours: 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter)
Advisory: Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; not open to students with credit in SOSC 2.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade Only
Repeatability: Not Repeatable
Formerly: SOSC 2

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Identify major recurring and emerging global issues.
  • Identify possible solutions and obstacles to the resolution of global issues.

Description

This course offers an introduction to the origins, current dilemmas, and future trends of major issues confronting the global community such as energy and resource depletion, food and population, war and terrorism, nuclear arms, human rights, economic interdependence, and international inequality. The role of global institutions and global citizenship will be considered as they relate to global issues.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Identify major recurring and emerging global issues
  2. Examine and analyze one or more specific global problems of international or regional nature, and discuss approaches to its/their solution (from an international perspective)
  3. Analyze the interconnections between and among global issues
  4. Compare and evaluate the efficacy of national, regional, and international efforts to solve the problems associated with global issues

Course Content

  1. Introduction to global issues
    1. Identify current global issues and how to approach them
    2. Define and identify human rights
    3. Define concepts related to globalization, such as interdependence
    4. Interconnection between social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental issues
  2. Social
    1. Gender, race, sexuality, and class: inequalities, conflict, and resistance
    2. Food, water, and hunger
    3. Education: access and inequality
    4. Access to health care and medicine
  3. Cultural
    1. Cultural nationalism
    2. Cultural imperialism
    3. Multiculturalism
    4. Ethnic and religious conflicts
  4. Economic
    1. Uneven development at multiple scales and regions
    2. Global inequality
    3. Trade and investment
    4. Growth strategies
    5. Illegal trafficking
  5. Political/security
    1. International war and conflict
    2. Nationalism and security
    3. Terrorism
    4. Cyber security
  6. Environmental
    1. Global climate change
    2. Threats to biodiversity
    3. Transnational pollution
    4. Renewable and non-renewable resources
    5. Clean water: access and depletion
  7. Population and settlement
    1. Population distribution
    2. Population policies
    3. Migration and refugees
    4. Carrying capacity
    5. Urbanization
    6. Infrastructure
  8. Global institutions
    1. Actions and reactions from global community and key institutions
    2. Power and limitations of global actors
    3. International non-profit organizations' responsibility
    4. Individual responsibility
    5. Corporate responsibility
    6. Government responsibility

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught as an online section, students and faculty need ongoing and continuous internet and email access.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Quizzes
Examinations: written examinations will be required
Writing assignments and projects/presentations involving critical thinking and self-reflection that demonstrate analytical written and oral skills on global processes. Students will produce written essay material based on analysis, synthesis and interpretation of readings, lecture and research

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture presentations
Class discussion
Films
Individual and group presentations

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Seitz, John L., and Kristen Hite. Global Issues: An Introduction. 2021.

Sernau, Scott. Global Problems: The Search for Equity, Peace, and Sustainability. 2022.

Snarr, Michael T., and Neil D. Snarr (eds.). Introducing Global Issues. 2021.

Harf, James E., and Mark Owen Lombardi (eds.). Clashing Views on Global Issues. 2019.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

Assignments may include, but are not limited to:

  1. Textbook and supplemental reading assignments
  2. Written responses to reading materials
  3. Preparation for class presentation
  4. A research paper or project demonstrating critical thinking, for example:
    1. Follow particular global issues in magazines, journals and newspapers. Watch and report on particular films and television specials on various issues (e.g., CNN, Night Line, Front Line, network specials, PBS programs, The Best of the National Geographic, etc.)
    2. Attend and report on presentations and forums at Foothill College, neighboring colleges and universities, or other public sites
    3. Monitor one global issue for two weeks as reported by two different media sources, e.g., BBC and NBC, then compare and contrast coverage

Discipline(s)

Social Science OR Interdisciplinary Studies