You will have a variety of learning opportunities in this course which is designed to allow you to take the initiative for learning. Some of the experiences are: brief lectures, class discussions, student presentations, videos, collaborative learning activities, and on-line discussions.

My belief is that I can facilitate your learning, but what learning is accomplished is done by you. I also believe that you have a responsibility to your colleagues and me to assist us in our learning; the class is a real-life, "real world" exercise in communicating, learning about your self and society. There is no division between what you do in class and your life--it is about your life. I believe we all want a life that is as rich and interesting and sensible as possible; we depend on each other for that to happen individually. That means you have a responsibility to come to class regularly, having prepared to interact with colleagues by having read assigned readings and/or your own readings; by having thought about the readings and having framed a contribution to the discussion; i.e. come ready to present the gift of your thinking and insights to the class.

Finally, I believe that when you give yourself to deep learning, not the "covering of content," or "cramming," or "getting by" (coping devices learned for survival in a failed educational system), you have a great deal of fun! You learn what power you actually have in shaping your own life (and its realistic limits).