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FUTR 5334: WORLD FUTURES

9 FEBRUARY 2003 / NOTE: THIS COURSE DESIGN IS UNDERGOING REVISION;
this description, on which the revised course will be based, is provided for your information
while adjustments are made to readings and assignments.
Check back on 1 March 2003.

Summer Residential Intensive Session 2003
Monday - Thursday, 1:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Dr. Wendy L. Schultz

Course Description | Assignments: Personal Essay | Future Generations | Scanning | Foresight Framework Report


Our problems are increasingly global; our communities increasingly culturally diverse; our countries increasingly fragmented by ethnicity; our organizations increasingly transnational. Thinking globally and acting locally aren't enough anymore: we must think and act globally and locally simultaneously. The extent to which any person on the planet today can achieve quality of life depends more and more on the actions of all of us: everyone's happiness depends upon our understanding of the interplay of global and local systems, and how change works at all levels.

This course will look at issues of change AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT in all of the STEEP (social, technological, economic, environmental, and political) categories from the perspective of global systems: global geopolitics, global environmental change, the world economy, the technologies with which we are transforming our planet, and how societies are adapting or maladapting to change. The purpose of this course is to introduce students from different program areas and disciplines to current facts, trends, and schools of thought about future world conditions, and their implications for professional life in settings such as business, education, or government.

Assignments:

  • Class participation -- 10% of final grade;
  • Future-oriented personal essay (3 + 2 pages) -- 20% of final grade;
  • Future Generations exercise survey -- 10% of final grade;
  • Scanning journal -- 20% of final grade; and
  • Foresight framework report in your "cognate domain" [area of substantive interest]. You may choose to focus on an issue, such as international trade, or education, or health, OR to focus on a geographic region or country (10 pages) -- 40% of final grade.

Formats for each assignment/class activity: specific, detailed descriptions of the format and content required for each assignment will be available as handouts when assigned.

Grading: see grading policy specified below. Any written work may be revised and resubmitted for a grade revision, on the student's initiative, prior to the end of term.

Abilities/Outcomes:

  • Identifying critical issues of change with global implications;
  • Understanding the interaction of social, technological, environmental, economic, and political systems at the global level, and how local and global levels interact;
  • Recognizing the impact of general systems theory on the framing of problems and solutions in the international arena (systems theory and the global problematique);
  • Cataloging potential strategies for positive global change at the individual, community, national, and international levels;
  • Communicating the preceding clearly to others via discussion, presentation, and writing;
    Using the Internet and WorldWide Web for research.


Required Texts

Hertsgaard, Mark. Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. ISBN 0-7679-0059-6
Friedman, Thomas. The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization. New York: Doubleday, 2000. ISBN 0-385-49934-5
Glenn, Jerome C., and Theodore J. Gorgon. 2002 State of the Future. Washington, D.C.: American Council for the United Nations University, 2002. ISBN 0-9657362-9-6
Gunderson, Lance H., and C.S. Holling, eds. Panarchy, Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002. ISBN 1-55963-857-5
Zolli, Andrew (editor). TechTV's Catalog of Tomorrow. Que Publishers. ISBN: 0789728109


Recommended and Classic Texts

Benjamin, Don't Be Afraid Gringo
Barney, Global 2000 Report to the President, Vol. 1
Caracas Report on Alternative Development Indicators, Redefining Wealth and Progress
Gore, Earth in the Balance
Harman, Global Mind Change and An Incomplete Guide to the Future
Henderson, Paradigms in Progress and The Politics of the Solar Age
Kennedy, Preparing for the Twenty-First Century
Mander, In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of Indian Nations
Russell, The Global Brain Awakens

South Commission, The Challenge to the South
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future

Worldwatch Institute, State of the World Report 2001


Course Policies

  • Academic Honesty Policy: Please refer to the UHCL catalog for the Academic Honesty Policy. Plagiarism, that is, using research without citations, or using a created production without crediting the source, will result in a grade penalty or failure of the course.
  • Disabilities: If you have a disability and need a special accommodation, consult first with the Coordinator of Health Disabilities Services, Bayou 1402, telephone 283-2627, and then discuss the accommodation with me.
  • Absences: Class attendance is necessary to complete the course successfully. You should make every effort to attend class. Should you have a problem with attendance, please call or see me during office hours. Attending during all workshop practice sessions is critical.
  • Incompletes: A grade of "I" is given only in cases of documented emergency or special circumstances late in the semester, provided that the student has been making satisfactory progress. An Incomplete Grade Contract must be completed.
  • Withdrawals: Refer to class schedule for dates to withdraw without evaluation from a course.
  • Grades: An "A" denotes exceptional mastery in understanding, applying, discussing, and writing about the material presented, with work exceeding assigned specifications; a "B" indicates solid professional competence in understanding, applying, discussing, and writing about the material presented, with work performed to assigned specifications; a "C" indicates minimum competence in understanding, applying, discussing, and writing about the material presented; a "D" indicates serious deficiencies in course competencies. "F" indicates total failure to absorb any of the material presented, accompanied by lack of effort to make up deficiencies.

NOTE: Students may consult with the professor on any assignment for the purpose of improving it and resubmitting it for a potential improvement in grade.


> Resources > Course Syllabi > Intro | Classics | Systems | Methods | Facilitation | Governance | Images | World | Leadership

15 February 2003. Email IF.
Copyright © 2003, Wendy L. Schultz
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