HIST 11203: History of Civilization II

Spring 2026
Syllabus (subject to change)

Faculty Name:*- Dr. Yi Ren Email:- yren@ualr.edu Office Hours:- Tuesdays 3:00 pm-4:00 pm	Course Time:*- T&R 1:40 pm – 2:55 pm (CST) Course Location:- Stabler Hall 407 Office Location:- Stabler 604I

Course Description:

This course introduces the main episodes and themes of modern history since 1500. Topics include global trade networks, technological advancements, industrialization, political and social revolutions, the rise of nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, the development of capitalism, communism, and socialism, as well as worldwide migration and struggles for freedom, equality, and human rights.

A distinctive feature of this course is its emphasis on non-Western perspectives and interactions between the West and non-Western world. By incorporating viewpoints from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, this course provides a more comprehensive and balanced global history. It illustrates how similar historical processes unfolded at different times and places worldwide, while also demonstrating how the same global forces and events manifested uniquely in various cultural contexts, often leading to diverse outcomes.

Course Objectives and Goals:

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of historical events and actors, including the development of social and economic changes, political changes such as the nation state, and technological changes, including industrialization, since 1500.

• Students will demonstrate understanding of the impact of historical events and actors on the human experience over time, including the present.

• Students will be able to demonstrate the causes and effects in the rise and fall of empires, revolutions, and social and economic changes in the 16th-20th centuries.

• Students will be able to discuss changes in science and technology since 1500 and understand how technological changes, including industrialization, the technology of war, and the development of mass media, impact civilization.

• Students will be able to communicate historical knowledge in written and oral forms.

• Students will use critical thinking and analytical skills to examine primary and secondary source documents.

• Students will connect and compare primary and secondary source documents from multiple perspectives.

• Students will learn to locate and distinguish between primary and secondary sources. Students will evaluate sources, including websites, to determine if they are appropriate, scholarly sources.

• Students will understand the principles of academic integrity, including how to cite sources.

• Students will investigate the role of diverse populations in shaping the history of civilization.

• Students will be able to discuss multiple perspectives on the past and the ethical implications of the uses of history in the public sphere.

Course Materials:

Robert W. Strayer and Eric W. Nelson, Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources, Third Edition, Bedford Books. (Textbook)

Just as important are the required weekly readings, which include short scholarly articles, book excerpts, and samples of primary sources. These are available on our course Blackboard site. The weekly assigned readings and documents provide background for the week’s lectures and a basis for online/in-person discussions.

Course Requirements and Assignments

This is a lecture-style course with some opportunities for students to discuss relevant topics in class and engage in some group work. The assignments for this course are based on readings and lecture materials and should not require independent research. Grades will be based on the following:

30%	Participation
	Regular, informed attendance and participation in class/blackboard discussions are essential. Attendance implies a student’s arrival at the start of class. Students who are consistently late and/or leaving before the end of class time are likely subject to a grade penalty. Students may miss no more than three classes without grade penalty. Beyond these three, each additional absence, whether excused or unexcused, will result in a ½ grade deduction (e.g., A to A- to B+, etc.). Students who are absent five times or more will be removed from the class.
40%	Creative quizzes
	In this semester, we will consolidate our understanding of world history through innovate quiz cycles. Here’s how we’ll work together: our class will be divided into groups of 9 (or 10) students, and we’ll conduct two quiz cycles throughout the semester. Half members of each group will create 12 multiple-choice questions, 2 ID questions, and 1 essay question using AI platform (You can also choose manual creation, but you need to explain why you opt out of AI in your reflection report). Allowed resources for making the quiz include course readings, PowerPoint slides, lectures, and reading notes. Questions should cover key concepts, demonstrate critical understanding of the course content, and reflect course learning objectives. On quiz day, groups will conduct a 40-minute closed-book quiz within their team. The quiz creators will grade their teammates’ quizzes. In the following week of the test, we’ll have a 30-minute reflection session. Quiz creators should discuss rationale behind question selection, explaining how their questions help understand course materials and identify potential knowledge gaps based on their team’s quiz performance. Quiz takers will evaluate the quiz’s effectiveness in reviewing content and discuss any challenges encountered. Each student writes a critical reflection of at least 600 words on the quiz cycle. Send the report to me along with the scanned quiz itself. Quiz creators will be assessed on their quiz quality, reflection depth, and analysis of learning objectives. Quiz takers will be evaluated on their quiz performance, reflection quality, and engagement in group discussion.
30%	Final: source analysis essay (Due on May 9, 23:59 pm)
	Using the APTAR method analyze one primary source material that we have used in class. We will discuss the APTAR method in detail during our first session. (A recorded lecture will be uploaded to blackboard)
Extra credits	- First-round quiz creators (+1 point): Students who serve as quiz creators in the first quiz cycle will receive +1 point added to their final course grade. - Perfect Attendance (+1 point): Students who attend all class session without any absences will receive +1 point added to their final course grade. - Course Evaluation (+1 point): Students who complete the official course evaluation at the end of the semester will receive +1 point added to their final course grade.

Students with Disabilities

Your success in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented) and need an accommodation, please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s) and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact me and/or the DRC. For more information, please visit the DRC website at www.ualr.edu/disability.

Inclement Weather Policy

This course adheres to the university-approved inclement weather policy (215.1). In the event of a campus closure or delayed start due to inclement weather, we will follow these “Virtual Protocol” guidelines to ensure continuity of instruction. I will also send notifications through emails.

Academic Integrity:

This course fully supports and adheres to all university policies and procedures regarding academic integrity (cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, etc.). The work you submit in this class is expected to be your own.  If you submit work that has been copied without attribution from any published or unpublished source including the Internet, or that has been prepared by someone other than you, or that in any way identifies somebody else’s work as your own (e.g., translation without proper attribution), you will face possible disciplinary action.  

The unauthorized use of AI composition software is a violation of academic integrity. This means that unless an assignment explicitly directs you to use AI composition software, you may not use such tools in order to generate text that is subsequently submitted in your own name.

Course Etiquette:

Our collective success depends on shared engagement, individual preparation, and mutual respect. You should not make phone calls or conduct work unrelated to classwork during our synchronous sessions.

Contact Information:

Email is the best way to contact me, but I’m also available to talk in my office during office hours or on Zoom by appointment. Please note that I will reply to emails during regular business hours and will *NOT- check emails during the evenings or weekends. My email address is yren@ualr.edu.

Grading Scale:

A (90-100)	B (80-89)	C (70-79)	D (60-69)	F (0-59)

Course Schedule (subject to change)

Part I. Foundations of the Modern World: Intellectual, Political, Social, and Economic Transformations (15th century-Late 19th century)

Week 1 Introduction

Logistics and Logic of the Course
Methodology of this course
How to Interpret Primary Source (APART method)
Peter N. Stearns, “Manners in World History,” World History Connected 19, vol.2 (June/July 2022). [pdf]

Week 2.

Early-Modern World and Early Explorations
Ottoman Expansion
European Exploration and Expansion
Early-modern East Asia and Its World Order
Readings: Textbook, 499-529, 689-693

Week 3.

Thought Revolutions
Review and In-Discussion: Early Expansions
Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Religious Warfare in Europe
The Scientific Revolution
The Enlightenment
Readings: Textbook, 643-656, 664-677
Immanuel Kant, “What Is Enlightenment,” 1784

East-West Interactions
Review and In-class Discussion: Thought Revolutions
Interactions between East and West
Primary Source Practice: Analysis of Map
Readings: Textbook, 634-640, 657-664

Week 4.

Atlantic Revolutions I
Review and In-Class Discussion: Analysis of Map and Global Exchanges
Why Atlantic Revolutions?
The English Civil War
The North American War of Independence
Readings: Textbook 697-708

Atlantic Revolutions II
The French Revolution
Primary Source Practice: Analysis of different sources
Readings: Textbook 709-719

Week 5.

Atlantic Revolutions III
The Haitian Revolution
Revolutions in Spanish and Portuguese America
Abolition of the Slave Trade

Week 6.

Industrial Revolution
New Technologies, Industrial Capitalism
Working and Living
Readings:
Textbook: 737-772
Essay by Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal,” 1729

Persistence and Changes in Eurasia Empires, I
Review and Discussion on Industrial Revolution
Reforms in the Ottoman Empire
Resistance and Change in East Asia
Readings:
Textbook 833-861

Week 7

Resistance and Change in Eurasia Empires, II
Self-Strengthening Movement in China
Meiji Restoration in Japan
Primary Source Practice: Two Letters
Early Phase of Japan’s Imperial Expansion
Ideologies in Conflict in Europe
Textbook: 787-823, 863-871 (with primary sources)

Week 8

Nationalistic Movements in Post-1815 Europe
Review and Discussion: Nationalism
Quiz 1 (contents from Week 1-Week 7)

The Height of Colonization, 1880s-1914 (Online)
Scramble for Africa
Primary Source Practice: Understand the Scramble for Africa from Visual Materials (textbook 825-829)

Week 9

Carving Up the Chinese Melon
The Colonizing activities in Southeast Asia
The imperialistic Expansion of the United States
Movie Day: They Shall not Grow Old
Finish readings for Secondary Source Practice

Week 10 Spring Break

Week 11

Secondary Source Practice (Finished the readings home)
Early 20th century Revolutions (with a focus on Mexico and China)
The Origins of WWI
Textbook:863-869, 881-997

Week 12

WWI Great Depression The Path towards WWII WWII Primary Source Practice: Excerpts of Mein Kampf and Hannah Arendt “We Refugees” Textbook 906-927

Week 13.

WWII in Asia and Pacific
How did WWII reshape the East Asia
Cold War and Decolonization

Primary Source Practice:
U.S. View of Cold War Origins—Kennan, The Long Telegram [pdf]
Soviet View of Cold War Origins—Novikov, Telegram [pdf]
Textbook 906-954

Week 14.

Hot Wars in the Cold War
Three Worlds
Quiz 2 (contents from week 8 to week 13)

Week 15. (last day of class on April 30)
Terrorism/Challenges of globalization in the present, economic nationalism, and internationalism
Textbook: 993-1010
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-next-ten-years-of-the_b_4761714
Reflection on Quiz 2 and course wrap-up

Reflection paper on Quiz 2 due on May 5
Final paper due on May 9