As the first course in the University Core sequence, and the first course in Fairleigh Dickinson University's distance learning sequence, The Global Challenge (Core A) will help prepare you for thinking globally. Not only will this course demonstrate the global dimensions of several crucial contemporary issues, including the problem of global conflict, the global environment, and health and population concerns, it also will underline the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding these issues. Scientific questions have political, social, economic, and ethical dimensions. Similarly, economic matters are inextricably linked with their cultural, psychological,  political, technological, geopolitical, and moral aspects.  The concerns of The Global Challenge demonstrate the relational thinking you will be called upon to exercise in other academic contexts, and throughout the rest of your personal and professional lives. In other words, this course is as much about how to study and think about global problems and relationships as it is it a course about specific global issues. 

There is only one book to purchase for this course: Arthur Miller's Adaptation of an Enemy of the People (New York: Viking Press, 1987).  This text may be purchased at the University Bookstore.

All other readings are available on-line on the Global Challenge web site. You can think of this site as a kind of electronic textbook. You can log on to the site by pointing your web browser to http://webcampus.fdu.edu.  You will be taken to a portal page which will list all of your web-based courses, as well as important university announcements and information.  All you have to do is click on "The Global Challenge" to access your section. You will need your unique username and password each time you log in. Remember, do not share your username or password with anyone!

Unlike most classes, the Global Challenge will usually "meet" on-line in the Blackboard learning environment, rather than in the classroom. However, several face-to-face meetings of the Global Challenge also have been scheduled during Week One, Week Two, Week Six, and Week Fifteen.  Additional face-to-face sessions may be scheduled by your instructor.  The times and locations for these meetings will be announced by your instructor on the first day of class and posted in Blackboard.  Attendance is mandatory, so please make a note of these meetings on your calendar.  For more information on how to participate in on-line discussions, see the Global Challenge Course Handbook

Unit One: Welcome to the World

During these two weeks, we will begin to explore the possibilities of the Internet as a resource for global citizens, consider what makes an issue global (rather than local, national, or international), and investigate AIDS to demonstrate the interdisciplinary complexities of global issues

Week One: Introduction and Orientation
Week Two: The AIDS Crisis in Global Perspective 

NOTE: All sections of the Global Challenge will meet face-to-face during Weeks One and Two. 
 

Unit Two: Science and the Global Challenge

Most global issues, including those relating to health and the environment, have scientific dimensions. Indeed, many global problems are the consequence of new technologies that have been made possible by scientific advances. During the next two weeks, we will consider the strengths and limitations of the scientific method for solving contemporary global problems. 

Week Three: Global Issues and the Scientific Method, Pt. 1
Week Four: Global Issues and the Scientific Method, Pt. 2
 

Unit Three: Moral Reasoning and the Global Challenge

Thinking globally requires that we learn to think morally, or ethically, about our own actions and about the actions, policies, and institutions of the communities to which we belong. During this unit, you'll learn how to think morally about complex global issues.

Week Five: What is Moral Reasoning?
Week Six: Using Moral Reasoning

NOTE: All sections of the Global Challenge will meet face-to-face once during Week Six.  Your instructor will tell you what day.
 

Unit Four: Global Economic Issues

This unit examines economic aspects of globalization.  In the first week of this unit we will study what the International Monetary Fund has to say about the dangers and prospects for a world undergoing globalization.  In the second week we’ll study criticisms of the way the IMF has managed its job.

Week Seven: Global Economics, Pt. 1
Week Eight: Global Economics, Pt. 2
 

Unit Five: Global Environmental Issues

During the first week of this unit you will be presented with an overview of global environmental problems and begin to use the Internet to explore one problem in detail.  In the second week of this unit, we will consider some of the ethical and cultural aspects of our environmental challenges. 

Week Nine: Global Environmental Issues, Pt. 1
Week Ten: Global Environmental Issues, Pt. 2 
 

Unit Six: Global Conflict in the 21st Century

As the world moved from the late 20th century to the beginning of the 21st, several fundamental changes took place in the threats and reality of armed conflict that dominated the world's attention.  Weeks 11and 12 of The Global Challenge are devoted to study of armed conflicts now confronting societies and peoples around the world.

Week Eleven: Global Conflict Causes, Tactics, and Effects
Week Twelve: Analysis of Global Conflict Issues
 

Unit Seven: Global Population and Health Issues

During this unit, you’ll learn to think about the world’s population and its implications for the health and welfare of all communities. In this final unit, you will need once more to consider your role within the global challenge.

Week Thirteen: The World’s Population
Week Fourteen: Population and Health
 

Conclusion

During this session, you’ll meet with your instructor and fellow students for the last time. You’ll be asked to provide feedback about your experience in the Global Challenge. Attendance is mandatory.

Week Fifteen: Conclusion and Debriefing

NOTE: This session meets face-to-face during the final examination period, although no final exam will be given. 
 

Each assignment in the Global Challenge, including class participation, will be awarded a specific number of points.  A maximum of 210 points are available.  At the end of the semester, all of a student’s points will be tabulated and a final grade for the course will be assigned according to this formula:

     190+ points = A
180-189 points = A-
170-179 points = B+
160-169 points = B
150-159 points = B-
140-149 points = C+
130-139 points = C
120-129 points = C-
110-119 points = D
    0-109 points = F