Last updated: July 1, 2019

Classics Program at BGSU Studies in Latin at BGSU Studies in Ancient Greek at BGSU Department of World Languages and Cultures Bowling Green State University

Instructor:   James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
                      e-mail: jmpfund@bgsu.edu

Texts (with links):

The Kline translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses online (free) at the University of Virginia Ovid site. You can also download the entire text in various formats, or even order a printed book, via the translator's website.

Fairbanks, Arthur Mythology of Greece and Rome (Appleton, 1907)

On-Line Resources:

Here's a handout for the (so-called) 12 Olympians.

The Theoi Project is a copiously illustrated and scholarly guide to Greek mythology.

http://www.theoi.com

Tufts University's Perseus Project: Texts, Translations, and also Images from the classical world

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections

http://www.maicar.com/GML/

Grading:

Format:

a. Overview

This is an online course requiring a fair amount of reading and writing about classical myth. Rather than have a traditional test-and-paper format (which, if it ever works, probably would not work in an online format), I decided on a pattern of daily quizzes and writing assignments through Canvas, with a final writing project (as mandated by the BG Perspectives program). Since this course is supposed to be fulfill a "writing intensive" requirement in the BGP requirements, I'll be pretty Draconian about enforcing minimum word requirement for the response pieces and the final project.

The course is online, but not self-paced: there are daily reading assignments (see below for the schedule), daily response writing, and a daily quiz on the readings. It's designed as a Monday through Wednesday course.

The Friday before a given week, I'll post some discussion notes meant to go along with the readings. Every course day around noon, I'll post a quiz to Canvas, and a response assignment. Then it's each student's responsibility to wrestle with the course materials (readings, slideshows and notes), take the quiz, and submit the daily written response via Canvas.

You don't have to wait until a response assignment opens to write the respnse piece. It should be based on the course materials, most of which are available from before the official beginning of the course; the only exception are the Discussion notes, which will go live the week before their associated responses.

The quizzes and response assignments are open book and there's no time limit. But: twenty-four hours after I open the quiz and the response assignment, I'll close them. You won't be able to take Tuesday's quiz on Thursday or the quizzes from week 1 in week 2; likewise your opportunity to turn writing assigments into Canvas will be on a snooze-and-lose basis.

Why? Many reasons, really, but here's the most cogent one: people have a tendency to put off what they don't need to do now. But if all this coursework gets put off to the last week of classes, a lot won't ever get done and there will be many Fs in this section. We'll want to avoid that; hence the daily regimen.

Some people strongly prefer a self-paced course that they can fit in around their schedule. Be aware: this isn't like that.

b. Quizzes

The grading for the quizzes will be cut-and-dried: 20 pts. per quiz per day. They'll consist of objective questions (e.g. true/false, matching, etc) based on the readings and the slideshows. You'll get one attempt, with a thirty minute timeout.

c. Response Pieces

After you've read/watched/assimilated the course materials for a given day, you'll post a (200 word minumum) response to them via Canvas.

The grading for the daily response assignments will be S+ (20 pts, + 2 pts. extra credit), S (20 pts), S- (15 pts.), N+ (10 pts), N (0 pts). Mere complaining or plonking out words won't get points; neither will uninformed or erroneous statements. You can respond to discussion questions I've proposed in the daily post--or, you can ask and make an attempt to answer some question of your own about the course materials. In general: remember that the more you cite evidence from the course materials, the higher your score will be. Your writing will have to be on-topic, but it's surprising how much is on-topic for mythology.

Also worth noting: don't search for stuff on Google and tell me about it. These responses are supposed to be about the required materials. The more knowledge you show of them, the better your scores will be. The less you show me what you know about them, the worse your scores will be.

Having you post your writing assignments to Canvas (as opposed to a message board) might seem to remove the interactive portion of the course. Why can't you have conversations with other students in this course? Well: you can! The Canvas site is open; you should be able to confer with each other and/or me through that. The course just doesn't require you to engage in conversations if you don't want to--there are no group projects, etc.

Turnitin is enabled for this assignment. That's going to create problems at some point but (at the risk of being a drag) I still won't accept an assignment except through Canvas, so that Turnitin can scan it. So let's solve the problems as they arrive.

Remember that Information Technology Services is there to help, too.

https://www.bgsu.edu/its/contact.html

d. Final Project

There are some pretty specific requirements for this, so I've put them on their own assignment page.

e. Et Cetera!

1. Expectations for Behavior: Abide by Wheaton's Law. For details, see the BGSU Codes of Conduct.

2. A note on technology, specifically Canvas and OneDrive. You may not enjoy the interfaces much. All I can say about this is, I'm not crazy about them either. But they're the tools we have to communicate with each other, so let's try to make it work. If you have a technical glitch (with the writing assignments, the quizzes, the texts, or whatever) email me as soon as possible and we'll try to resolve it. And: remember the ITS page (above).

3. A note on grades: I grade on a 60/70/80/90 system (where 90% or better gets you an A, etc) because... well... why not? But you need more than just 60% of the course points to pass the course. You have to turn in the final project. That's because it's hard-wired into the BGP requirements for this course. I mentioned that above. I'll mention it below. Repetitio est mater studiorum.

The Fine Print:

No makeups given without prior arrangement with the instructor.

No incompletes issued except for pressing reasons and by prior arrangement with the instructor.

"'Mouse' is a syllable. A syllable, however, does not eat cheese. Therefore a mouse does not eat cheese."--Seneca

The instructor reserves the right to recognize significant improvement (or decline) in student performance when awarding the final grade

The maximum amount of extra credit which may count towards the final grade = 5% of the total course points.

The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor; changes will be announced by email and posted online. 

No one can pass the course without turning in the final project.
 

SCHEDULE All the slideshows have been posted and linked through OneDrive. (You'll have to sign into your BGSU account to view them.) I'll post the lecture notes for the week to the Discussions section. The response assignments and the quizzes will go live at noon on every class day and close 24 hrs later. The final project is due on Wednesday of Week 6.
Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
I July 8-10	Slideshow 1.1: Myth and Attributes	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I Fairbanks Ch. I, II Slideshow 1.2: The Succession Myth	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book II Fairbanks Ch. III, IV Slideshow 1.3: Miscellany! (Phaethon etc.)
II July 15-17	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book III Handout: Olympian Gods & Attributes Fairbanks Ch. V, VI Slideshow 2.1: Olympus--The Original Series	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book IV Fairbanks Ch. VII, VIII Slideshow 2.2: Olympus--The Next Generation	International Instructor-Catches-Up-with-Grading Day!
III July 22-24	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book V Handout: The Raglan Scale Fairbanks Ch. X.I, X.2: Argos, Corinth Slideshow 3.1: Perseus, Bellerophon, & the Underworld	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book VI Fairbanks Ch. X.IV: Thebes Slideshow 3.2: Thebans--Cadmus, Oedipus, etc.	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book VII Fairbanks Ch. XI.I: Heracles Slideshow 3.3: Hercuslides
IV July 29-31	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book VIII Fairbanks Ch. X.V, X.VI, XI.2: Crete, Attica, Theseus Slideshow 4.1: Athens & Theseus	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book IX Fairbanks Ch. X.VII, XII: Aetolia, Argonautica Slideshow 4.2:  Argo-a-go-go	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book X Fairbanks Ch. X.III: Arcadia, Laconia & Messene Slideshow 4.3: Troy--Backstories
V August 5-7	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XI Fairbanks Ch. XIII Slideshow 5.1: Troy--the Iliad	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XII Slideshow 5.2: Troy--Endgame	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XIII Slideshow 5.3: Troy--The Returns
VI August 12-14,	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XIV Fairbanks Ch. IX Slideshow 6.1: The Road to Romulus	Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XV Slideshow 6.2: A Message from Our Sponsor	Χαῖρε! / Vale!