OA_20200617_0910_ATLAS: China in the World, A Common Core Course to Build a Global Community_Li_v1

ATLAS: China in the World, A Common Core Course to Build a Global Community

Session Description:
China in the World is the first of the three interdisciplinary common core courses for all freshmen at Duke Kunshan University (DKU). It integrates the seven animating principles that lie at the heart of DKU's cross-cultural, liberal arts curriculum. China in the World aims to teach all DKU freshmen about the modern history of China's place in the world through three modules on science, trade and war. Approximately 160 students take the course at a time, and are taught by a team of professors. In the course, students collaboratively lead class, analyze primary sources, and imagine possible futures. They gain confidence in academic writing and speaking while building capacity in critical reasoning, historical analysis, speculative imagination and empathetic intelligence.

The course used Sakai’s Lessons tool to streamline student workflow and distribute readings, Forums for pre-class debates and integration with Turnitin for writing feedback. After the spread of nCov-19, the team used the integration with Zoom and VoiceThread to take the course online, connecting students spread all over the world.