A Week of Online Courses

March 22 – March 26, 2021

We are excited to invite all admitted, prospective students to join us for the 2021 Warren Wilson College Academic Showcase! This week of virtual classes is an opportunity for you to experience our unique, interactive approach to learning and gain a sense of how it feels to be in class at Warren Wilson.

Choose from course offerings (described below) available from every department on campus, which are running throughout every weekday from March 22 – 26.

How to Attend:

Check out the course listings and descriptions for more information on the available classes, and sign up using our registration form! We encourage you to sit in on any and all classes that pique your interest, but please sign-up for only those classes that you intend to attend.

Once your registration is complete, you’ll receive a confirmation email with meeting links to each of your courses, as well as any additional information needed for specific courses.

Privacy Agreement: By signing up to visit a virtual class at Warren Wilson College you agree that, 1) You will not share online course materials, including exams and other assessments, outside the class setting, and 2) You will uphold the privacy of other students enrolled in the course, not sharing personal information divulged by another student outside the virtual classroom, discussion, or forum setting.

Courses Offered

Monday (3/22)

8:30-9:50 – 80 min – Environmental Engineering (Environmental Studies)

This course provides an overview of both traditional and emerging engineering approaches to address environmental issues. Topics covered include solid and hazardous waste management; soil and groundwater remediation techniques including phytoremediation and mycoremediation; drinking water systems; sanitary and industrial wastewater treatment systems; and stormwater management.

8:30-9:50 – 80 min – Literature and Culture of the Victorian Era (English)

The purpose of this class is to introduce you to the writers, works, and major cultural issues of Great Britain during the Victorian era, demonstrating the diversity of British literary and cultural heritage and the effects of artistic and philosophical influences on these writers and their works. Although we will consider a wide range of topics and themes, we will find our attention drawn repeatedly to ideas of class, gender, sexuality, and colonialism.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – General Chemistry II (Chemistry)

Chemistry is the central science. This course will introduce you to the properties and chemistry of gases, intermolecular forces, states of matter, phase changes, kinetics, chemical equilibrium, the chemistry of weak acids and bases, buffers and electrochemistry. In this course, we will cover a wide range of interesting, unusual, practical and challenging concepts.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Ecology (Biology)

Ecology is the wonderfully complex and fascinating study of species’ relationships with each other and with their environments. Through field and classroom activities, you will explore ecological principles first-hand, learn to collect and analyze ecological data, and become better acquainted with the ecosystems around you.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Ceramics Studio (Art)

This studio course engages students in an in-depth study of specific concepts and processes in ceramics. It encourages the development and articulation of individual concepts in ceramic design, including techniques in glazing. Experience in glaze composition and firing theory is initiated in this course.

2:30-3:50 – 80 min – Precalculus (Mathematics)

This course is a continuation of the standard high school algebra sequence. It provides a background in some of the basic functions necessary to study MAT 2410 Calculus I and for applications in the sciences, environmental studies, and finance. Students investigate linear, quadratic, general polynomial, and rational functions.

Tuesday (3/23)

8:30-9:50 – 80 min – Resist. Reform. Revolt: History of Social Welfare (Social Work)

This course explores the history and development of the social work profession and social welfare systems in the US within a contemporary global context. Emphasis is placed on the historical roots of societal values and beliefs that have influenced the development of social welfare policies and programs. This course also includes an examination of contemporary social welfare policies and programs and an introduction to policy analysis.

8:30-11:20 – 170 min – Intro to Handbuilding (Art)

The focus of this studio course is on sculptural and vessel concepts using hand-building techniques, emphasizing the development of construction skills and an understanding of form, surface and firing possibilities.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Natural Environments & Health (Outdoor Leadership)

Why do so many of us instinctively feel better when we are outside, near plants, or even simply have a view of nature from a window? This class begins to answer this question by exploring current research and writing about human-natural environment interactions, with a specific focus on the impacts of the natural environment on human health and well-being.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min. – Black Radicalism (Peace and Justice Studies)

This course examines several primary themes in the Black Radical Tradition: Nationalism, Internationalism, Anti-Capitalism (including Socialism and Communism), Reparations, the U.S. Penal System, and Black Feminism (including recent movements uplifting gender and sexual identity).

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Philosophy and Art at Black Mountain College (Philosophy)

Black Mountain College is best known as the experimental, interdisciplinary liberal arts college school that attracted internationally-renowned (in many cases, exiled) artists, musicians, poets, and inventors to the rural mountains of Western North Carolina throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s. In this course, we will explore how philosophical ideas (from John Dewey to Kant to Confucius) relate to artistic practices (from John Cage to Buckminster Fuller to Robert Rauschenberg). Through this lens, students will gain a deep appreciation of philosophy’s important role in the complex dynamic between art, community, education, and politics.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Forms & Theories in Creative Nonfiction (Creative Writing)

Through this course, students are challenged to develop their practice and understanding of the craft of creative nonfiction, improve their critical skills in the reading of nonfiction by others, and gain increased depth and flexibility in their writing of prose. This course concentrates on conventions, techniques, terminology, concepts, critiques, and theories within contemporary creative nonfiction.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Sensation & Perception (Psychology)

This course will cover each of the sensory systems, focusing on how that system transforms energy from the external environment into a wide range of signals that can inform our thoughts and actions.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (Global Studies)

This course introduces students to geographic information systems through the concepts of free and open source (FOSS) software. Students in this course will learn to collect, create, analyze and display spatial data in a GIS using free and/or open source software tools and learn how this information can be used to address questions and problems in the environmental and social sciences.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Local Politics (History & Political Science)

The primary purpose of this course is to give students an understanding of how local governments operate and how their decisions influence everyday life. Topics include leadership structures, interest groups, elections, intergovernmental relationships, and urban functions and services as well as substantive areas of land use, housing, education, and city services.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min. – Contemporary Irish Fiction and Drama (English)

In this course we will explore Irish fiction and drama since around the time of the founding of the Irish Republic to the present day. The course will focus on historical context, including the tradition of storytelling as a political statement and the ways Irish culture has been shaped by postcolonialism, economic forces, and political/sectarian conflict.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Psychology and Climate Change (Psychology and ENS)

This course draws from social, political, clinical, counseling, cognitive, and community psychology to examine how people perceive, make decisions about, and respond to climate science and climate change. Issues of environmental justice, along with factors that affect individual and community actions to mitigate and respond to climate change are explored.

Wednesday (3/24)

8:30-9:50 – 80 min – Introduction to Sociology (Sociology)

This course provides an introduction to the basic principles and procedures of sociology. Topics range from the micro-level analysis of everyday life (why don’t we bump into each other when we cross the street?) to the macro-level analysis of inequality (will the poor always be with us?). Major topics include culture, socialization, deviance, and stratification both from local and global contexts.

9:00-9:50 – 50 min – Mammalogy (Biology)

This course will explore not just WHAT mammals are, but WHY they are. In other words, what ecological and evolutionary forces have led to the world’s fascinating array of mammalian wonders?

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Ethical Theory and Practical Issues (Philosophy)

This course begins with an introduction to classical ethical theories, and then students utilize those ethical frameworks to evaluate several current social ethical issues and argue for their positions.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Music Theory & Ear Training (Music)

This is the core theory course for music majors and music minors. It is designed to familiarize students with fundamental characteristics of music theory and ear training as applicable to popular music performance, including the vernacular music traditions of North America.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – General Biology (Biology)

This course introduces students to the fundamental properties of living things on our planet. Topics include the concepts of genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, plant and animal physiology, and evolution. A survey of the diversity of life is included. The process of scientific investigation is stressed throughout the course and practiced in weekly laboratory exercises.

4:00-5:20 – 80 min – Skills for Communication & Partnering (Social Work)

This course assists students in developing skills necessary to establish and build helping relationships. Skills covered include both verbal and non-verbal communication. Active listening and empathetic communication are emphasized. This course creates a foundation for further course work in social work practice or other disciplines that use primarily verbal communication to enhance problem solving.

Thursday (3/25)

8:30-9:50 – 80 min – Political Parties and Interest Groups (History & Political Science)

This course focuses on the roots of organized political power in American government. Students explore the role and influence of interest groups and political parties in the electoral process and in government. Historical and theoretical perspectives are used to analyze topics such as money in politics, lobbying and corporate power, social movements, political coalitions, third parties, and political polarization.

10:00-11:00 – 60 min – Principles of Chemistry (Chemistry)

This course introduces most of the major areas of chemistry with emphasis on the chemical basis of earth systems and biological organisms. These emphases make chemistry understandable, applicable, and fun. This includes group and laboratory activities.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Human Resource Management (Business)

This course stresses how the human resource management function and its contemporary activities contribute to organizational effectiveness and the achievement of strategic organizational objectives. It is grounded in the assumption that traditional human resource management practices need to be reconsidered in light of the transformed employment relationship of the twenty-first century.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Educational Psychology (Education)

This course covers psychological principles and research findings as they apply to teaching and learning. Topics include examination of appropriate developmental practices, intelligence, cognition, motivation, cultural diversity, educational equity and inclusion, classroom community, and classroom management.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min. – Intro to Peace and Justice Studies (Peace and Justice Studies)

This course examines the nature of power and deconstructs the theoretical frameworks of three movements that confront power. It asks: How are political identities constructed and sustained during changes in state rule? How is resistance to power organized? How is the philosophy of nonviolence expressed and strategized? How is violent resistance explained?

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Math for Liberal Arts (Mathematics)

This course is a survey of mathematics that may focus on a historical, philosophical, computational, problem solving, and/or aesthetic point of view. The faculty member teaching this course chooses topics. Students study applications of linear and exponential functions.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Infant & Child Development (Psychology)

This course provides an introduction to physical, emotional, and cognitive development in children under 12.

1:00-2:20 – 80 min – Forms and Theories in Poetry (Creative Writing)

Through this course, students are challenged to develop their practice and understanding of the craft of poetry, improve their critical skills in the reading of poems by others, and gain increased depth and flexibility in their writing of verse. This course concentrates on conventions, techniques, terminology, concepts, critiques, and theories within contemporary poetry. Students write and revise poems in a variety of forms and engage in substantial critical reading of published works.

Friday (3/26)

8:30-9:30 – 60 min – Introduction to Psychology (Psychology)

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the field of psychology. Topics include the philosophical and scientific origins of psychology, research methods in psychology, biological and perceptual processes, learning, cognition and memory, emotion, personality, social psychology, psychological disorders, and psychotherapy.

10:00-11:20 – 80 min – Calculus I (Mathematics)

This course is an introduction to the mathematics of rates of change. Students explore limits, investigate the concept of the derivative, master differentiation techniques, apply the first and second derivatives to the graphing of functions, related rates problems, and maxima and minima problems, and glimpse an introduction to integration.

2:30-3:50 – 80 min. – The Novel of Complexity (English)

This course will consider what Thomas Rice has dubbed “the novel of complexity,” novels that feature particularly rich readings because of literary allusion, experimental structure, densely textured language, complicated interplay of metaphor and meaning, philosophical underpinnings, social implications/context, or other literary devices used in multiplicity.

2:30-3:50 – 80 min – Political Philosophy (Philosophy)

This course is about political philosophy. About half of it covers foundational issues, like What is justice? What is freedom? What are rights and how do we have them? Is democracy the best game in town, or what? […] The other half will be a more focused study of specific issues that arise in the context of political philosophy, such as racial and gender politics, immigration, multiculturalism, drug legalization, and so on.