INTD 1010
Course Description
What’s the difference between fact and belief? How do we know what sources of information to trust, what perspectives to adopt, and what sides of an argument to support? Are there cognitive biases that affect perception, understanding, and opinion? What does it mean to read, write, and think critically? How is academic research conducted? These questions and more are the heart of INTD 1010.
This course examines the processes and practices that people use to analyze information, acquire knowledge, and solve problems. It is therefore an inquiry into the foundations upon which questions are asked and answers are given. Unlike traditional courses that deliver content about a single topic, this course draws on a number of different (and sometimes conflicting) perspectives to highlight the various dimensions of a particular subject.
To provide a central theme and practical application for the research techniques explored this year, the focus of our investigations will be on violence and its relation to human nature. In class and in group assignments, students will put various inquiry methods into practice and investigate the social, economic, psychological, and ethical dimensions of violent behaviour. Specifically, students will investigation the social and evolutionary significance of violence.
Course Objectives
In INTD 1010, students learn to be active agents, both individually and collaboratively, in the pursuit, production, and distribution of knowledge. This will materialize specifically through the development of important foundational skills such as critical reading, analytical writing, effective researching, and collaborative problem solving. Students will learn to see a given topic from a variety of different perspectives and reveal taken for granted assumptions.
The fundamental goal of this course is to promote critical thinking and problem-based learning. This will help students develop research skills applicable to most disciplines and also provide a basis for lifelong learning beyond the university setting.
So, why am I here?
There are a number of reasons why you should be glad to be here, at medium.com. For a complete run-down, see this post. To summarize though, this Medium publication site will serve three key purposes for our course. Each follows from the one before.
- To familiarize students with reading/writing in a setting that’s different from the social media they’re used to as well as the formal academic setting that they’re getting introduced to
- To serve as a host for the two reflection papers you’ll be writing this term. That means your papers will be publicly available and open for comment. And while that may sound unnerving, maybe even a little frightening, it’s actually a wonderful, wonderful thing
- To encourage students to see knowledge creation as a fundamentally interactive process
Fine. So, why are you here?
In a course that examines the processes and practices of knowledge creation, knowing that knowledge is created is important — but only half the battle. Possessing the tools needed to identify perspective, question legitimacy, and understand the presence of bias within knowledge is the crucial other half. And that’s the journey the INTD 1010 represents.
-Ryan
For a full overview of this course and its syllabus, log in to lakeheadu.ca.
