Bruce MacLennan,
Ph.D.
Phone: 974-5067
Office: 110A Ayres
Hours: TBA or
make
an appointment
Email: maclennan@cs.utk.edu
Linda Bensel-Meyers, Ph.D.
Phone: 974-5401
Office: 310 McClung Tower
Hours: TBA or
make
an appointment
Email:
lbenselm@utk.edu
This page: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/Classes/GreatConv/
The Great Conversation is a six-semester sequence of courses devoted
to the study of the Western Canon and based on the assumption that the
Western worldview makes assumptions and poses issues that can be historically
traced. The first semester covers writers from Homer to Plato; the
second, from Aristotle to Augustine; the third, from Apuleius to Erasmus;
the fourth, from Montaigne to Emerson; the fifth, from Blake to Nietzsche;
and the sixth, from Mill to Freud. The sequence is team taught by
an interdisciplinary group of faculty: Bruce MacLennan, Associate Professor
of Computer Science
and Linda Bensel-Meyers, Associate Professor of English. Unlike many
team taught courses, all faculty are present for each session, providing
the students a multi-faceted analysis of the material being covered in
each session. Because the sequence is taught over a three-year span,
not all students will take the courses in the same sequence. Some
students may begin with the "moderns" and then continue with the classics.
Some students with a focused interest may take but a single semester of
the sequence.
Typically, each class begins with a lighthearted verbal quiz, asking
students to identify individuals or issues dealt with in the day's reading.
This is usually followed by some orienting remarks by one of the faculty
leading into a discussion of the reading. The class ends with the
identification of some issues posed by the reading to which students are
expected to post email responses, initiating an emulation of the Great
Conversation.
Students are expected to hone their ability to follow another's argument
in the class discussions and in the email exchanges. They are also
assigned several one-page papers each semester that are closely edited
for clarity and consistency by the faculty on the standards set by Strunk
and White. The students also write a 2500 word term paper, the topic of
which is either chosen from a list or proposed by the student and approved
by the faculty.
Midway through the semester the students are involved in a "practice
forum." This is basically an oral examination lasting about fifteen
minutes. The forum begins with a student stating briefly his or her
topic and thesis. He or she then responds to questions posed by the
faculty and by fellow students. At least two questions are based
on the student's term paper topic and at least two from a list of questions
(made available in advance) dealing with issues raised by the course.
The same pattern is followed in the "final forum" that ends the course.
No grade is assigned for the practice forum. Fifty per cent of the grade
is based on the term paper, 25% on the final forum performance and 25%
on the quality of participation during the course of the semester.
Related Links
Return to MacLennan's home page
Send mail to Bruce MacLennan / MacLennan@cs.utk.edu
Last updated:
Mon May 19 15:06:26 EDT 2003
