Do you know what your bank does with your money? What is the role of a bank in producing societal well-being?

This course looks into banks that operate differently, namely, “just banks" that use capital and finance as a tool to address social and ecological challenges.

This course is for anyone who wants to understand the unique role banks play as intermediaries in our economy and how they can leverage that position to produce positive social, environmental, and economic change.

This is a reading and writing class that helps students improve their basic skills as the foundation for the GED test, College, or Career readiness. Students will practice ways to better understand what they read and how to express their thoughts and ideas in writing. Students will learn strategies for reading closely in order to identify main themes and supporting evidence, and develop writing skills to be able to create organized text-based responses. Readings will be anywhere from one paragraph to several pages. Writing activities will include one to several logical and detailed paragraphs, working toward an essay format. Social studies and science content will be introduced. This is a good option for students who would like to take their time to build basic reading and writing skills in order to progress to the next level for GED or college preparation.

This course is an introduction to the use of accounting information by managers for decision making, performance evaluation and control. The course should be useful for those who intend to work as management consultants, for LFM (Leaders for Manufacturing) students, and in general, for those who will become senior managers.

This course is designed to provide the student with the range of communication issues a manager will face in the future.  Enduring issues on how to write and speak effectively and devise a successful communications strategy as well as how to make the best use of telecommunications technology will be explored.  Through readings, case studies and application, the student will study such areas as handling feedback, managing meetings, communicating change, communicating with diverse populations and external audiences.  Special focus on how to use communications to achieve organizational goals, how to adapt their communications to the specific needs of their audiences, and how to prepare for intercultural communications challenges. 

This course covers the current state of incarceration in the United States and proposals for reform. Class materials include a mix of firsthand/media accounts of incarceration and social science literature on the causes and effects of high incarceration rates. Topics include race and the criminal legal system, collateral consequences of incarceration, public opinion about incarceration, and the behavior of recently elected "reform" prosecutors.

Syllabus for Materials Science course that also uses:
Material Science FlexBook: https://flexbooks.ck12.org/user:bw9ycmlzdgvabglubmjlbnrvbi5lzhu./cbook/material-science/
NSF Materials Science and Technology module: http://matse1.matse.illinois.edu/metals/intro.html
NDT Resource Center: https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Materials/cc_mat_index.htm

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Identify property classifications of various materials to determine their applicability for use.
Apply knowledge of subatomic, atomic, molecular, crystal and grain structures to materials science.
Identify materials commonly used in the manufacturing environment and safety/health issues.
Understand heat treating of ferrous metals and determine hardness.
Read and understand Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

This seminar is a space for collaborative inquiry into the relationships between social movements and the media. We'll review these relationships through the lens of social movement theory, and function as a workshop to develop student projects. Seminar participants will work together to explore frameworks, methods, and tools for understanding networked social movements in the digital media ecology. We will engage with social movement studies as a body of theoretical and empirical work, and learn about key concepts including: resource mobilization; political process; framing; New Social Movements; collective identity; tactical media; protest cycles; movement structure; and more. We'll explore methods of social movement investigation, examine new data sources and tools for movement analysis, and grapple with recent innovations in social movement theory and research. Assignments include short blog posts, a book review, co-facilitation of a seminar discussion, and a final research project focused on social movement media practices in comparative perspective.

Course Description:
Introduces academic writing as a means of inquiry.
Employs critical reading, discussion and the writing process to explore ideas, develop cultural awareness and formulate positions.
Emphasizes development of a variety of strategies to present evidence in support of a thesis.

In this innovative project, Southwestern College students teamed up with one another and with faculty to create and publish openly-licensed content highlighting their understanding of academic material and providing models of syllabi, class assignment directions and class assignments for future students.

This work by Surian Figueroa, Paola De la Riva, Eduardo Lozano, Maximiliam Martinez-Agueros, Cindy Montano and Elisa Mora-Alaniz was part of an Open Education Practices Project sponsored by the Southwestern College Foundation and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This projected was funded by the Southwestern College Foundation.

Folder of openly licensed course documents including syllabus and assignment prompts.

Course description: Instruction and practice in professional workplace writing, with emphasis on genre, audience and collaboration.

Course Description: This course examines selected health issues and their physical and emotional effects on women. Examples of topics include: body image, eating disorders, reproductive life, violence, menopause, cancer, depression, heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s and the politics of women’s health.

Performance Based Learner Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
1. Identify key health issues as they relate to women.
2. Access community resources as they relate to women’s health issues.
3. Differentiate women’s chronic conditions from a treatment and prevention perspective.
4. Identity the components and influences of psychological health from a gender perspective.
5. Contrast current and historical treatment of women in the health care system.

The scope and emphasis of this course go beyond a general understanding of civics to incorporate the core concepts of the American system of government, the workings of its myriad of actors and agencies, the key components of "politics" in the American system, and how American government shapes and influences the individual freedoms and rights of its citizens.

Introduces an independent and applied physical exercise program to promote physical activity and improve body composition. Promotes healthy behavior change patterns.

Course Topics Covered:
- Improve physical conditioning
- Behavior change techniques to improve overall fitness and health
- Body composition assessment
- Weight management
- Basic Nutrition
- How & why to maintain a physical activity log
- Fitness assessment/testing
- Cardiorespiratory fitness basics
- Monitoring intensity of exercise via heart rate & RPE & Talk Test
- Muscular fitness basics
- Flexibility and back health basics
- Maintaining lifelong fitness & wellness

Learning Outcomes
1. Improve physical conditioning through an individually planned exercise/lifelong fitness program
2. Implement behavior change techniques to improve overall fitness
3. Recognize and apply the value and benefits of physical fitness
4. Apply pre/post fitness assessments

This course explores the evolution of poverty and economic security in the United States, within a global context. It examines the impact of recent economic restructuring and globalization, and reviews the current debate about the fate of the middle class, sources of increasing inequality, and approaches to advancing economic opportunity and security. In this class, students will study the topic of poverty and economic security through the lens of the lived experience of Americans: individuals, families, and households; exploring the history, geography, and forces shaping the likelihood of being poor in America.

This course is an introduction to the problems of philosophy—in particular, to problems in ethics, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, and philosophy of logic, language, and science. It takes a systematic rather than historical approach. Readings come from classical and contemporary sources, but emphasis is on examination and evaluation of proposed solutions to the problems.

Course readings from openly licensed Saylor and Noba sources.

Psychology and human relations focuses on practical applications of psychology to relationships. Topics include models for understanding individual and social behavior, self and social perception, emotional self-regulation, physical and mental health, addictions, attraction, relationship formation and maintenance, leaders and followers, stress, work, leisure time, sexuality, commitment, and brief introduction to the clinical aspects of human behavior.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Understand themes of personal growth, self concept, and self estee.|Know the interrelationship between physical health and mental health.|Manage personal decision making, motivation, and emotion.|Identify one's own capabilities as leader or follower.|Intergrate sexuality, love, and commitment.|Understand personal stressor and manage one's response to stress.|Know the factors and outcomes for addictive behaviors and how to seek help.

Syllabus and reading list of openly licensed materials.

Course Description
Applies psychological principles to relationships in both personal and professional environments. Includes an overview of basic personality and social psychology concepts, as well as specific skill development in the areas of communication, listening, and conflict resolution.

Learning Outcomes
Apply an understanding of psychological and social influences on human behavior to objectively analyze one’s own interpersonal experiences and relationships.
Utilize intra- and interpersonal management skills to increase effectiveness in personal and professional relationships.
Use knowledge of culturally diverse practices to increase sensitivity and competence in a variety of social and cultural interactions.
Communicate, listen, and manage conflict more effectively in personal and professional relationships.

Folder of documents includes syllabus, readings, activities, worksheets, and videos.

COCC Catalog’s Course Description: “Emphasizes enhancing the relationship between speaker and audience through the content, organization and delivery of short oral presentations. Helps relieve student speech anxiety.”

Comm111 offers basic instruction in public speaking. The ability to speak successfully in public will benefit your professional, academic, and social life. Much like good writing, good public speaking requires preparation, organization and structure. This course will provide you with the tools for presenting your thoughts and ideas to others, orally, as you practice speaking to your peers. This course will also enable you to become a more discerning consumer of speeches – including political oratory.

Syllabus of open, free, and low-cost readings.

Course description:
Professional rehabilitation counselors who work with clients who are Deaf or have disabilities at various points in their lifespan will often also work with family members. Therefore, the purpose of this course is to provide graduate students with information that will provide an understanding of the nature and needs of individuals at all developmental levels, from birth to old age. Family systems and how families who have members who are Deaf or who have disabilities will be
explored. Topics for this course will include the following: (a) a general overview of the expanded family life cycle; (b) an explanation of six developmental stages; (c) an introduction of family counseling theories and clinical application; (d) a demonstration of how to use genograms to track family history through the family life cycle; and (e) an understanding of how diverse characteristics including gender, spirituality, age, ethnic or cultural background, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status impact the family throughout the lifespan.