Skagit teachers spread fame of South Whidbey Center
Published 9:00 am Saturday, August 24, 2002
The work of two local college instructors will likely be used as a model for other college courses across the country, following a recent international conference in Austin, Texas, where the pair made a presentation and one collected a prestigious award.
Wayne Ude and Bobbi Sandberg, instructors at the South Whidbey Center of Skagit Valley College, are pioneers in the teaching concept of Learning Communities, which blends two academic disciplines into one multi-dimensional course that incorporates both subjects.
They presented a summary of their work in Learning Communities at the International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence, where Ude was also awarded a Medal of Excellence for Teaching.
The conference was sponsored by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, part of the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas.
“Bobbi and I had a crowd of 30 or 40 and seemed to get a good response, judging by the fact that everyone stayed for the question-answer session, and most took multiple copies of our handouts,” Ude said. “It’s a big conference; there were 400 presentations, and a good 2,000 people attending. The presentation had to go through a proposal and acceptance system — not every proposal is accepted.”
The course that earned Ude and Sandberg the notice of local, as well as national educators, was called “Lord of the Web.” It was offered last fall at the South Whidbey Center at Ken’s Korner in Clinton.
“Lord of the Web” was worth 10 credits to students who took a literature course in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in tandem with an introduction to computer technology and computer concepts.
In the collaborative Learning Community, the class studied “Lord of the Rings” readings, videos and discussions to analyze the history, political events, social impacts and ethical issues surrounding computer technology and — on the flip side — explored the technology in Tolkien’s work and the ways his characters might use specific modern technologies.
Students also received hands-on experience with the Internet, email and word processing. Three group presentations were required, made using the techniques learned in the computers/Internet part of the course.
“It’s a process that lets the student look at everything differently,” Ude said. “Some of them loved Tolkien and hated computers. Others were interested in computers but not literature. By the end, both camps had gotten a new viewpoint.”
“It’s an exciting dynamic for both instructor and student,” Sandberg said.
The enthusiasm showed in instructor evaluations at the end of the course.
“The Tolkien evaluations were the best I’ve ever gotten,” Ude said. “They made the college notice us. It’s the first time anyone from South Whidbey has been given the Excellence in Teaching award, and apparently is also the first time a part-time faculty member has won it.”
Ude’s student evaluations have always been high: He’s been in the top 10 percent for his 25-plus years of teaching.
“But the event which brought my teaching to the college’s attention was the Tolkien/Computers course Bobbi and I taught, so I’m thinking about going after the award medal with my hacksaw and giving Bobbi the half I think her teaching in that course was responsible for.”
Skagit is considered a model for Learning Communities, Sandberg said. The class is unusual in that both teachers are in the same classroom at the same time.
“It’s complete immersion,” she said.
Other Learning Community offerings at Skagit have paired astronomy and art history; mass media and statistics. One called “Fuzzy Wuzzy Goes to the Beach” combined marine biology with poetry.
“The scientific-minded saw the symmetry of poetry,” Sandberg said. “They found that the disciplines of learning forms of poetry was not so different from the scientific process of discovery.”
For information about the SVC Learning Communities go online to www.svc.ctc.edu. NISOD has a Web site that focuses on the conference, www.nisod.org.
