Anthropology Learning Objectives:

Anthropology Learning Objectives:  

Learning Objectives are the skills and mindsets that learners take away; what learners KNOW, DO, and CARE ABOUT. The purpose of outlining these learning objectives is to develop a set of standards at each level of the ANTH curriculum of the skills, concepts and theories, as well as methods and techniques we think students should be taught and evaluated on to achieve a level of proficiency. This is a guide for the ANTH faculty and for our students and should be shared widely.

 100 Level: Learning Objectives

Become a University Student: knowing to show up for class; how to take notes from lecture and readings; how to read the textbook on their own; how to study in order not to fail; how to behave in a professional manner (when sending emails, not putting feet on chairs, walking out of classes, or being late for class, etc.); handing in work on time, etc.

Conceptually: 

  • Discover: basic building blocks of anthropology
  • Recognize: a sense of self-awareness (i.e., begin to acknowledge their position in relation to what they are learning)
  • Describe & identify: Key concepts across all fields of anthropology
  • Examine: key perspectives in anthropology (holism, cultural relativism, fieldwork,
  • comparison)
  • Explore: the work, ideas and contributions of biological, archaeological, and sociocultural and linguistic anthropologists to better understand what makes us human
  • Understand: how fascinating and all-embracing anthropology is!

Reading Skills:

  • Use secondary sources (textbook and beyond)
  • Gain sufficient level of reading comprehension (literacy)
  • Able to summarize key ideas

Writing Skills:

  • Construct thesis statement/ research questions
  • Able to identify and summarize key ideas
  • Use of proper syntax, grammar, and spelling
  • Identify potential biases in sources cited
  • If students are having difficulty should go to ASC (Academic Success Centre) for help
  • Properly use direct quotes and paraphrase citations
  • Understand what constitutes plagiarism (i.e., use secondary sources properly)
  • Understand the implications and problems of using AI 

Citations:

  • Properly use direct quotes and paraphrase citations
  • Understand what constitutes plagiarism (i.e., use secondary sources properly)
  • Understand the implications and problems of using AI 

Referencing Styles: 

  • Learn the reasoning behind referencing styles, become aware that different styles are used in anthropology and across other disciplines
  • Understand the difference between publication formats (e.g., books, scholarly articles, websites, newspapers, etc.) and the requirements of different references (e.g., edited volume vs. authored volume, etc.)
  • Gain proficiency and consistency in using the SAA style: Reference Cited and In-text referencing (pg. #)
  • APA (for biological anthropology) 

Library Skills:

  • Tour of the Library (Librarian)
  • Find variety and identify the type of secondary sources: e.g., Articles in Journals, Single Authored Books, Edited Volumes, Websites
  • Use different strategies for identifying quality sources in online databases
  • Review sources such as ILL

 

200 Level 

Conceptually: 

  • Reflect: on what it means to ‘think anthropologically’, and our shared commitment to
    decolonize research and teaching practices across the discipline.
  • Begin to apply: anthropological research theory & methods to answer questions or solve problems
  • Engage: in research topics that are of critical importance to people in different parts of contemporary worlds,
     including, but not limited to topics of: memory and place-based identity, the power of tangible and intangible heritage, economic and health inequalities, racial discrimination, state formation, indigenous and minority cultural rights, and much more
  • Experience: how one’s own beliefs, moral convictions, sense of identity and cultural frames are embedded in
     specific historical and sociocultural contexts
  • Introduced to concepts of ethics

Reading Skills:

  • Understand difference between primary and academic secondary sources
  • Use primary (e.g., appropriate websites, government/ nonprofit, university websites, scientific articles) and secondary sources (e.g., scientific articles)
  • Assess reliability and quality of sources
  • Identify authors as individuals and how they relate to other authors
  • Able to identify and summarize key ideas
  • Be able to compare and analyze readings 

Writing Skills:

  • Construct thesis statement/ research questions
  • Learn how to structure of an essay
  • Use of primary (as well as secondary) sources
  • Develop bibliographies with a variety of sources (not textbooks) (with a minimum of 5 scholarly peer reviewed journals, as well as edited volumes, single or multiple authored monographs, indigenous/ ethnographic films, community resources)
  • Identify potential biases in their own writing and sources cited (Illustrate next level of self-awareness II)

Library:

  • Access Inter-Library Loans
  • Use appropriate online journals
  • Assess reliability and quality of sources (fake news, media literacy)

Oral Participation, Presentations, and/or In-Class Group Work: 

  • Articulate their perspectives in class and/or group discussions
  • Summarize material
  • Prepare rudimentary comparative analysis
  • Learn others’ perspectives and be respectful

Numeracy/ Quantitative Methods: 

  • Students are recommended of the importance for gaining experience in quantitative methods and Statistics, such as STATS 240 Basics Statistics (which also counts as a Breadth course) or ECON 205 Statistics for Business and the Social Sciences.
  • Students are also recommended to develop a broader interdisciplinary toolkit (e.g., GIS course).

 

Upper Division Level

Conceptually: 

  • In-depth focus on theory, method and critical thinking
  • Experience: how one’s own beliefs, moral convictions, sense of identity and cultural
    frames are embedded in specific historical and sociocultural contexts
  • Evaluate and Challenge: structures of power and privilege within and beyond academia using theoretical and methodological tools
  • Appreciate and empathize with, and be supportive of difference in all of its manifestations (e.g., age, colour, class, diaspora, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, language, sex, sexual orientation, religion, etc.) when solving everyday anthropological problems

Thinking:

  • Develop: analytical, critical thinking and communication skills
  • Original - generate their own ideas and skills around research design
  • Recognize and make use of interdisciplinary approaches and concepts
  • Understand that any research or problem will be multilayered and touching upon a complex web of social, biological, historical, environmental, etc. factors (holism)

Reading Skills:

  • Understand implications of readings – reading between the lines for discipline and how could be applied to contemporary society
  • Grasp more challenging theoretical works
  • Identify theoretical frameworks in readings and reports
  • Primary data sources (e.g., archival, field reports, historical documents, news media as well as appropriate websites, government/nonprofit, university websites, etc.)
  • Comprehension of scientific literature (Scientific literacy)

Writing/Library:

  • Continue identifying own assumptions (self-awareness III)
  • Apply and link theory, method and critical thinking
  • Integrating Community knowledge
  • Integrating ethnographic materials, archival materials, lab research, and/or community work, material culture
  • Scientific/report writing specific to sub-field
  • Peer review and editing of written work
  • Bibliography (systematically structured) and comprehensively annotated and properly referenced and cited
  • Understanding of data/reference management (e.g., Paperpile, Zotero)
  • Writing other forms beyond standard essay: research/grant proposals, book/article review, popularization of scientific work, etc.
  • Knowledge dissemination and convincing articulation of argument
  • Prepare basic budget and timeline

Oral Presentation:

  • Leading discussions/seminar/peer review
  • Prepare and deliver a general audience “pitch”
  • Summary skills
  • Critique skills
  • Knowledge dissemination and convincing articulation of argument
  • Power point skills 

Group Work: 

  • Oral Skills
  • Analytical Skills
  • In class or outside of class work
  • Graded

Ethics: 

  • Learn how to critically apply Ethics through REB proposals; how to conform to ethical standards; professional ethical standards; understanding ethical consent

 

ACTION: Each time we develop a syllabus, we need to incorporate teaching and evaluating the skills, concepts and methods according to level as set out above.

ACTION: Add a regular item to Department meetings (last in the semester) to discuss teaching strategies (successes and woes) as either general discussion or rotate so that each faculty member has the opportunity to present some aspect of their teaching. 

ACTION: In end of 100 courses and in 200 level courses, instructors should reinforce the importance of learning numeracy/quantitative skills. Recommend that they take STATS 240 or ECON 205.  

ACTION: This document should be posted on the ANTH Teams page and reviewed on a regular 3-year basis (the same year as Scholarly Expectations are reviewed). 

ACTION: This document should also be posted on our ANTH webpage so that it is available to all Anthropology students.