ANTH/GLST 490A/B:
Global Studies Capstone Seminar
Textbook: There is no book for this course.
Instead, we’ll be using readings that are
posted in Bb “Course Readings” for your
use.
Goals & Outcomes: This course helps you as return
study abroad participants make the most of your
experience abroad. The aims of GLST 490 are to
help you:
Course Description: In this two-credit
capstone seminar you will learn from each
other as you talk about your individual
experiences and the projects that grow out
of them.
1. Achieve a successful re-entry adjustment; and
recognize and deal with the effects of “reverse
culture shock.”
2. Explore personal change and growth resulting from
experience abroad.
3. Share international interests and take full
advantage of international opportunities at BU.
4. Consider how your experience abroad can and
should contribute to your career planning and
continuing personal development.
5. Foster continuing contact with people at your
study abroad site, as well as “mentoring” of
students who are planning to go or have recently
arrived there.
6. Integrate the international knowledge,
intercultural skills, and personal growth achieved
during study abroad with previous and current
academic work by completing a significant
capstone project. (This item, your Professional
International-Interest Project, or CAPSTONE, will
be worth one half of your grade in the course.)
*Students enrolled in the 4-credit option
must arrange to meet the instructor for outof-class assignments.
In order for this course to count toward the
Global Studies Minor requirements, you
must take it for a letter grade and receive a
grade of C or better (i.e., no C-‘s, D’s, P’s, or
F’s).
Attendance, Preparation, and Participation (Engagement):
Please come to class prepared and ready to make informed contributions to class discussions and
activities. Being prepared means, at a minimum: 1) You have read the material assigned 2) You
completed all exercises 3) You are ready to discuss readings/exercises. When assignments require Bb
comments, you must post at least one full day (24 hours) before the class meeting when the item will
be discussed. Please note, instructors may require some other Bb participation that does not follow
this format. These instances will be identified and explained by your course instructor.
Postings to Blackboard discussions count toward your participation points. Any alterations to
Blackboard assignments as they appear in the Weekly Outline (below) will be made by means of an
announcement via email. The instructor will use email to inform you individually or collectively
regarding house-keeping issues, such as a missing assignment, a cancelled class, or an altered grade.
You should therefore check your email regularly (at least every other day) for messages related to the
class. Instructor will use only official University email addresses to communicate with you.
Please engage in civil and respectful dialogue, which means not only speaking clearly and politely but
also listening carefully and compassionately. Your instructor will not grade on a curve, so helping a
classmate make a better grade does not automatically reduce a student’s chances of getting a high
grade.
Attendance is required, and simply "showing up" for class will not earn full credit for that class
meeting. Class discussion, and your input, are part of regular class meetings and are important to
everyone’s success in class participation and in composing high-quality CAPSTONES. Students can
have no more than three unexcused absences to receive a passing grade in the course, and illness or
injury will be the only grounds for excusing absences other than those occasioned by religious
observances or duly approved participation in official university events. (Religious or university-activity
excuses require prior notice to your instructor.) Arriving to class more than 10 minutes late will be
counted the same as an absence.
Please silence phones and other external communication devices upon entering the classroom, and
please refrain from text messaging, emailing, web-surfing, or other external contact during class,
except as requested. Your instructor and your classmates want your undivided attention; please let us
know (as gently as possible) if we fail to deserve it.
A note on grades: Grades for participation will be posted weekly. It is your responsibility to check Bb
for your grades. If you have a question or a concern about your grade, you must discuss it with your
professor prior the next class meeting. Instructors will not alter any participation grades after that
time.
Final Grades
Your final letter grade will be determined by
Academic Honesty
1. Exercise-informed Class Participation,
Out-of-class Activities & Blackboard
Discussion (50%),
2. Final Capstone Project (40%)
You are responsible for the content and integrity of your
individual work as well as for the final product of any group
work to which you contribute. Plagiarism and academic
dishonesty are serious matters. Do not claim credit for work
that is not yours. See BU’s policy at
http://bulletin.binghamton.edu/integrity.htm
3. In-Class CAPSTONE Presentation (10%).
Grading Structure
98-100
A+ *
93-97
A
88-92
A83-87
B+
78-82
B
73-77
B68-72
C+
63-67
C
58-62
C43-57
D
0-42
F
Although you can change your grading option
to Pass/Fail for this course, remember that the
course will not count toward the Global Studies
Minor requirement unless you receive a letter
grade of C or better (no C-‘s, D’s, P’s, or F’s).
How Grading Works:
Attendance, Out-of-Class Preparation, and In-Class and Blackboard Participation:
In the Course Information section of Blackboard you will find a grade sheet that your instructor will use
to record your class performance ( 50% of your final grade). The other 50% of your grade is based on
your CAPSTONE—40 points—and you in-class CAPSTONE Presentation—10 points. (See more details
below.) In brief, you will receive up to 10 points for your performance in each of the course meetings.
Of these 10 points, one will be awarded for attendance, up to three for preparation, and up to six for
participation (engagement). Attached to the grade sheet is a delineation of the criteria used in assigning
these points. The percentage of the total points that you receive will determine the percentage of the
50 possible points you will receive for attendance, preparation, and engagement.
“In-Class Capstone Presentation” and “Final Capstone:
Grading rubrics for the “In-Class Presentation” and also for the “Final Capstone” are available to you in
the “Syllabus and Grading” link in Bb.
CAPSTONE PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Description: Through reflection and in
consultation with your instructor, you will identify
and complete a capstone project focusing on an
area of interest. The possible seeds of your project
were scattered in your work for ANTH/GLST 394.
Your “CAPSTONE” should integrate your
experiences abroad, your undergraduate
coursework, and your professional and/or
academic goals. The idea is that your CAPSTONE
grows out of your previous course work, study
abroad experience, and respective academic
majors.
CAPSTONES should reflect the following:
By reflecting on your responses to exercises in the
prerequisites for GLST 490, you may find recurring
themes or topics that intersect directly with your
previous and current courses. You might discover
incongruities, contradictions, and complex
questions that merit closer attention. These can be
clues to an effective and interesting “CAPSTONE.”

Your personal growth and the development of
intercultural sensitivities and global
awareness;

The ways you enhanced your language skills
and/or intercultural communicative
competencies, and knowledge gained about
peoples, ethnic groups, nations, academic
areas of interest, regions of the world, and
global or international topics;

How your understandings of the complexities
of global and international political, economic,
social, and cultural issues, as well as your
perceptions of your own identity (as a
member of an ethnic group or citizen of your
own country and even as a budding “global
citizen”) have been affected, perhaps even
transformed.
As a “CAPSTONE,” the chosen topic and treatment
of it require you to think about your study abroad

experience within a cumulative analytic framework
that includes your total academic experience.
Some of you may find it possible to combine your
CAPSTONE with work in your major to constitute or
provide a starting point for a final senior project or
honors thesis; check with your major adviser.
First and foremost your CAPSTONE must answer a
question, a question that you pick apart, analyze,
explore, and in the end answer to some significant
degree by means of research and careful
reasoning. Your CAPSTONE should therefore
contain a question early on and in the end it should
restate your question and provide an answer,
however partial or tentative. The middle portion
of your Capstone should provide a full accounting
of the origin of your question, the evidence and
reasoning that you brought to bear on it, and—
along the way—further questions that flow from
your work.
Most importantly, your CAPSTONE must
contain the results of significant research,
critical thinking, and the evidence for and
against an interesting question of your
devising that bears upon your long-term
personal, professional, and international
interests.
See best examples of Capstones in Course
Documents on Bb.
MEETING DAY
Meeting 1:
Focus of the Meeting
The Syllabus,
Expectations:
Problemetizing and
Assessing “Culture
Shock”
How to Prepare
Before Class: (documents posted on Bb)
1. Please print out and bring the syllabus to
class.
2. Read a) “TheMoral Ambiguity of Study
Abroad” & b) “The Lies Students Tell Abroad”
We will review a final capstone project, and
explore meanings of “culture shock” and
“reverse culture shock.”
Meeting 2:
Sample Capstones.
Mapping/
Brainstorming Ideas
Before class:
1. Print out and bring to class “Mapping Your
Capstone” document from Bb
2. Review the sample Capstone Power Point
Presentations on Bb.
Meeting 3:
“Universal Human
Rights” as Focusing
Principles for Global
Studies
Before class:
Communication: How
Does Your Language
Shape the Way You
Think
Before class:
Visual/ symbolic
representation of a
country, culture,
nation
Before class:
Meeting 4:
Meeting 5:
1.
Read the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights that you will find in the
Bb Course Documents and submit a
uniquely titled thread at least 24 hours
before class regarding the two (or
more) Articles that resonated most
strongly with your experience abroad,
describing how they did so.
We will review and discuss your
comments/questions as a group in the
next session.
Read “Ethnic Theories of Airplane Crashes” from
Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers (in Bb
“documents”). Post at least three discussion
questions on Bb 24 hours before class.
1.
Think of a symbol or an image that you
think represents the country where you
studied. It can be a photo of a place
(e.g. Statue of Liberty in America), a
souvenir, or perhaps a national symbol
(flag, etc). Bring it to class!
Be ready to tell the class the history of
your “souvenir” and to give any
necessary cultural background. What do
you think makes it representative of the
place? What does ‘authentic’ mean to
you? Do you think your choice of this
representation is influenced by any
political, cultural, religious, etc.
reasons?
2.
Meeting 6:
Tourist Vs. Traveler.
Read and be prepared to discuss
Danielle Lasusa’s article, “Eiffel Tower
Key Chains and Other Pieces of Reality:
The Philosophy of Souvenirs.” (located in
Bb “documents.”)
Before class:
Read Matt Heimburger’s “No More Innocents
Abroad” (available under the course
documents.)
24 hours before class, post at least 2 questions
that came out of your reading of the article.
Meeting 7:
Global Perspectives on
Research
Before class: Identify at least three sources that
are central to your Capstone project. Post on
Bb links to your sources and at least a 50 word
annotation for each source that describes its
importance to your project. Bring a copy of this
document to class.
Meeting 8:
Theory Week
Readings TBA
Meeting 9:
Project Workshop
Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of 25 slides on at least one of the topics that you
will address in your PIP.
You will each have a total of 6 minutes of class
time: 3-4 minutes to present and talk about
your slides, followed by 2-3 minutes to answer
questions and receive comments from your
classmates. You will take notes (main points,
questions/comments) on all presentations and
post these after the class as replies to the
presenter’s PIP thread in Blackboard.
Meeting 10:
Project Workshop
Continued
Meeting 11:
Revising Your Resume
– Hints from the
Experts
Before Class:
1.
READ: CDC Document on Global
Competencies. Find an example of a
resume. (Kristyn Mohr)
2.
Bring a draft of your revised resume to
class for reference during discussion!
We will talk about Global Competency and how
to incorporate yours into the record of your
academic and non-academic accomplishments.
Meeting 12:
Capstone Clinic
Meeting 13:
Presentations on
Capstone PIPs,
Installment 1 of 2 (half
of the class)
Meeting 14:
Presentations on
Capstone PIPs,
Installment 2 of 2 (half
of the class)
Meeting 15:
Capstones due this
week. No final exam.
Details TBA
Grade Worksheet for GLST490 Participation Grade
Student’s Name
B-Number
Last
Semester
Week
Evaluation
First
Section
Points
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 1
____
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 2
____
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 3
____
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
W1
W2
W3
W4
Engagement (0-6)
Total week 4
____
____
M.I.
Instructor
Details/ Comments
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 5
____
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 6
____
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 7
____
Attendance (0-1)
____
Preparation (0-3)
____
Engagement (0-6)
____
Total week 8
____
W5
W6
W7
W8
Additional Comments:
Consult the following criteria when assigning students a grade for their work:
Preparation Excellent (3)
Good (2)
Student prepared
Student prepared
assignment in full and assignment in full and
has good working
has good working
knowledge of the
knowledge of the
details and also
details.
comes prepared with
questions about the
assignment, and/or
contributes related
materials.
Engagement Excellent (5-6)
Good (3-4)
Student contributes Student participates
readily to class
in discussion but
conversation and is a often comments are
good listener; brings tangential
text to class and uses contributions;
it to reference data; student only uses the
makes thoughtful
LxC language when
contributions that
prompted, but gives
demonstrate
input about
synthesis and
meaningful cultural
incorporation of
aspects. Student is
others’ ideas;
able to make some
participates actively connections between
in group work; makes LxC and the main
strong connections
course.
between LxC
assignments and
larger course themes;
makes the extra
effort to use the LxC
language, and/or
highlights cultural
aspects in the
material.
Attendance Present (1)
Poor (1)
Student barely got
through the
assignment.
Unacceptable (0)
Student is not
prepared at all.
Poor (1-2)
Student only
participates in
discussion when
prompted and
comments are short
without analysis or
explanation.
Student does not
engage the LxC
language or the
cultural content of
materials. Student
takes little part in
group work and
relies heavily on
others; unable to
make more than the
simplest
connections
between the LxC
materials and the
main course.
Unacceptable (0)
Student does not
actively participate in
discussion; never
engages the linguistic
and cultural elements
of materials.
Students’ behavior is
disruptive to other
students, or to the
instructor.
Absent (0)