World History 1 (1101) from Prehistory to 1400 with Jack Norton

“True peace required the presence of justice, not just the absence of conflict.” ― N.K. Jemisin, The Killing Moon

“Learning is always rebellion . . . Every bit of new truth discovered is revolutionary to what was believed before.” Margaret Lee Rubneck

Welcome to World History

There are no prerequisites for this course, and you do not need any specialized knowledge. The class will be taught in English, with occasional cheesy jokes and mild vulgarities in Spanish.

Studying history has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. People today publish more lies about the past than evidence-based history. For your parents, finding historical information was the challenge. For you, sorting credible from non-credible information will be the defining feature of your historical work, and indeed your information life.

I want you to learn about the past, learn new skills about how to analyze and present about the past, and learn new ways of how to learn (called metacognition). The learning goals, or outcomes, fit in these three groups. The goals for this course are below. I may sometimes call these learning outcomes, or the stuff I want you to be able to do by the end of this course.

Learning Goals

You will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a broad understanding of World History from pre-History through the early modern era (thirteenth through seventeenth centuries CE).
  2. Make use of historical thinking.
  3. Analyze historical sources, distinguishing primary from secondary sources;
  4. Communicate effectively using historical evidence and methods.
  5. Analyze and understand the diversity of peoples within their distinctive historical contexts.
  6. Develop strategies for advancing your learning skills, such as effective reading, writing, acquiring new digital skills, and critically analyzing historical sources.
  7. Demonstrate an understanding of the ethics of acquiring, using, and presenting historical sources, as articulated by both professional organizations and historical subjects.
  8. Demonstrate effective digital history skills, including file management, GIS usage, podcast production, metadata usage, data literacy, and historical image analysis.

Required Resources