Random Arts Courses You Didn’t Know Existed
Winter 2021 in the Faculty of Arts at UAlberta
Updated January 4, 2021 with one additional course listing.
Looking to take a course that some might consider a little bit off the beaten path? Are you wanting to diversify your skills and knowledge? Are you looking for a new and different learning experience from what your used to? Are you still looking to make changes to your winter term schedule?
If yes, keep reading because you are in the right place. We grouped together some interesting and diverse courses that you might not have known existed. Topics range from the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence to public speaking.
- Please note that course content, delivery method and instructors are subject to change. Refer to the course syllabus for full and final details.
History 387 (Hist 387) — History of Indian Yoga and Meditation
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Dominik Wujastyk
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T/R from 11am –12:20pm MT
Pre-requisite: HIST 289 is an advantage, but not a prerequisite
Course Description: This course introduces you to the foundations of yoga philosophy and the forms of meditation that are described in the earliest Sanskrit and Pali literature on yoga and meditation. We will discuss questions such as: How old is yoga? What is it, really — a system of meditation, or physical postures, or both? Is it a kind of medicine? Was it once a form of controlled suicide? What is Yoga’s relationship to early Buddhism? What are the sources of Haṭha Yoga? What role did British gymnastics of the nineteenth-century play in the formation of modern yoga practice? How does the early history of yoga relate to modern forms of yoga such as that taught by Iyengar, Jois, Desikacharya, and Bikram Choudhury?
Other Themes Covered: Beliefs and values| Social concerns and issues| Current events and pop culture |Other: History of personal development
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation
Interdisciplinary Studies 301 (INT D 301) — Foundations of Leadership
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Dr. Cristina Stasia
Delivery Method: Entirely synchronous/real-time learning
Course Time: T from 5:30–8:30pm MT
Pre-requisite: Open to second-year students and above (minimum 24* credits completed)
Course Description: Foundations of Leadership covers the theory and practice of leadership through case studies, innovative assignments, and experiential activities. Develop your leadership skills, analyze your personal leadership challenges, and explore pressing issues while working with interdisciplinary students from across campus. Students that want to find their people, tackle social issues, and discover what it takes to lead should take Foundations of Leadership. *This course is offered in partnership with the Peter Lougheed Leadership College.
Other Themes Covered: Identity (could include, race, gender, sexuality, culture, age, etc.) | Conflict and adversity |Beliefs and values | Heroes and Leaders | Power and authority | Social concerns and issues | Other: personal and group leadership development
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES | Business | Education | Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation | Native Studies | Science | Computing Science
Modern Languages, and Cultural Studies (MLCS 299-B2 ) — Special Topics, MLCS: Close Reading in Translation
Number of Sections Offered: 2 unique sections (info below is for Section B2 only)
Professor/Instructor: Daniel Fried
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T/R from 12:30–1:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: none
Course Description: This course will teach students advanced close-reading skills, by asking students to spend a great deal of time poring over the details of very short assigned readings in various genres. After beginning with texts written in English, we will move in the second half of the semester to translated texts, and examine how working with translations changes the kind of questions one can ask. Students will have the chance to spend much more time reading carefully, rather than rushing through long assignments, and should expect to finish the class with a richer ability to gain more insight from the details of texts.
This is a methods class but, unlike most methods classes, it is not discipline-specific. As such, students from across the entire Faculty of Arts should find this an enjoyable and useful course.
Human Geography and Planning 100 (HGP 100) — Introduction to Human Geography and Planning
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Neal LaMontagne
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: M/W/F from 12–12:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: none
Course Description: The ideas and dynamics shaping the contemporary city. We will explore key concepts and challenges in how we organize and design our communities and our social, economic, and cultural interactions, as well as some of the tools and methods we use to understand, document, and act on the city.
Other Themes Covered: Time, cycles of life | Social concerns and issues | Social change | Industry, invention, progress |Power and authority | Nature and the environment | Equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Education | Science | Computing Science
Drama 247 (DR 247 (B2)) — Introduction to Oral Communication
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Michele Fleiger
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time
Course Time: T/R from 9:30–12:20pm MT
Pre-requisite: none
Course Description: Want to get better at public speaking? This is the course for you! Learn how to be a clear, concise and meaningful speaker, and an active listener — skills that are valuable in any field.
What will you do?
- vocal and physical warmups
- exercises aimed to reveal personal styles of expression
- lots of practice
- communication and connection
This course is delivered remotely and will focus on some of the barriers we face expressing ourselves in a video format, without forgetting about the application to IRL (in real life) communication.
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES | Business | Education | Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation | Native Studies | Science | Computing Science
Philosophy 384 (PHIL 384) — Topics in Practical Ethics: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Howard Nye
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: M/W/F from 2–2:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: none
Course Description: Artificial intelligence systems are revolutionizing our world. They are used to make important decisions in areas such as medicine, employment, and the criminal justice system, and they have profound impacts on our social relationships, privacy, employment and economic power relations, and political freedoms. In this course, we address some difficult ethical issues raised by AI systems: How can we tell if decisions made by AI systems are discriminatory? Who bears responsibility for the outcomes of AI systems? How can we govern the use of AI systems responsibly and prevent governments and corporations from using AI systems to wield undue power? Will AI systems become moral patients to whom we owe duties? Should we worry about the existential risks of creating extremely powerful AI systems that we cannot control?
Take this course if you are interested in the pressing ethical problems posed by the ways in which AI systems are radically changing our world!
Other Themes Covered: Technology | Social concerns and issues | Social change
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Education | Science | Computing Science
History of Art, Design, & Visual Culture 456/556 (HADVC 456/556) — Topics/Advanced Studies in the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture: The Content of the Form
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Natalie Loveless and Steven Harris
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: M from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: Consent of the instructors
Course Description: What is artistic form? How has it been debated historically and how is it talked about in contemporary art and criticism today? How elastic are its limits? And how does attention to form help us track debates on art’s function in both a modern and contemporary context? Taking its title from Hayden White’s book of the same name, this course will trace debates on form from the Russian avant-garde turn to abstraction (non-objective art) to the frameworks of dialogic and relational aesthetics that have, of late, animated contemporary art.
Other Themes Covered: Form | Social concerns and issues | Social change
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES | Education
Human Geography and Planning 210 (HGP 210) — Introductory Planning History and Practice
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Neal LaMontagne
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: M/W/F from 9–9:50am MT
Pre-requisite: none
Course Description: The evolution of cities and evolving ideas of how to plan and design for them. An introduction to city and community planning and how we collectively shape our cities.
Other Themes Covered: Cities and community | Social concerns and issues | Social change | Industry, invention, progress |Power and authority
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Business
German 316 (GERM 316) — Introduction to German Applied Linguistics
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time learning
Course Time: T/R from 9:30–10:50am MT
Pre-requisite: GERM 212 or consent of department
Course Description: This course will give you a broad overview of several key subfields within applied linguistics, including bilingualism, second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis. Through this, you will learn about the theoretical underpinnings of the field. At the end of this course, successful students will be able to:
•Explain the similarities and differences between these four subfields of applied linguistics.
•Read and critically analyze research articles in each of the subfields in both English and German.
•Using relevant scientific knowledge and vocabulary in both English and German, speak and write about topics such as contact between languages, language learning, the relationship between language and society, and language use.
•Apply their basic knowledge of each of the subfields to the more advanced study of applied linguistics and select among such advanced courses in the future based on their developing personal interests.
Other Themes Covered: Identity (race, gender, sexuality, culture, age, etc.) | Social concerns and issues
