While Patrick Christie is trying to shake up the way undergraduates frame issues in the new course “Society and the Oceans,” the UW is trying to frame the large lecture class in new ways as well.
The class, the first in a series of what are being called “University Courses,” is the newest entry in the effort to improve courses that have the greatest impact on UW students: the large lecture classes, according to Christine Ingebritsen, acting dean of undergraduate education.
While some 100- and 200-level courses offer one, or sometimes two, links to courses students can take concurrently, “Society and the Oceans” offered three and could offer even more links in the future, Ingebritsen says. The university is trying to be more systematic in fostering close ties among the instructors, in this case coordinating with Christie, Matt McGarrity in Communications 220: Public Speaking and Emilie Jackinsky-Horell and Joan Graham in English 198: Interdisciplinary Writing/Social Science.
Christie says students in public speaking will get a chance to present talks to the whole class and learn from their classmates’ feedback on which arguments are most compelling. And he’s altered lectures in the main class by drawing on comments from essays done by students in the writing link. Parts of the third link, concerning infomatics, ended up being folded into the overall course with the development of sites on Puget Sound and coral reef management for Wikipedia, a publicly created online encyclopedia.
Another difference from other courses is that “Society and the Oceans” doesn’t have conventional sections, the entire 150-member class meets together every day. Several days a week are for lectures and speakers, while Tuesdays and Thursdays are for videos, quizzes, discussions and other interactive exercises, again involving the whole class.
Christie, an assistant professor with joint appointments in the School of Marine Affairs and Jackson School of International Studies, wants to encourage critical thinking about the social and policy dimensions of the ocean environment and management.
This week, for instance, the class begins studying the rapid decline of coral reefs of the Philippines and Indonesia and possible innovative solutions. The students will learn about coral reef ecology as well as how people depend on reefs for fisheries and tourism. Fish captured with sodium cyanide for food and for the aquarium trade, and marketed globally, will be considered along with climate change and other environmental factors affecting the reefs.
Focusing on the importance of biodiversity is but one way to frame the issue, Christie says. Steps to conserve such biodiversity, by for instance putting areas off limits to fishing, ignore other valid ways of framing the issue.
“It’s potentially a human rights issue and a food-security issue when up to half the protein intake for Filipinos — from fish — is no longer accessible,” he says. “Or it can be framed as a peace-and-order issue when tensions run high over scarce resources or a marine conservation project.”
Closer to home, the class examined such things as a proposed gravel mine on Maury Island in Puget Sound. In that section they heard from seven guest speakers in five days including a former Washington state governor, a King County council member, representatives of a mining company and environmentalists.
Although a 100-level course, the class of 150 ended up being about half freshmen and sophomores and half juniors and seniors, including some oceanography majors within a quarter of graduating.
That’s been a challenge, Christie says, but also good practice for the natural science majors to think like social scientists and for the younger students to hear views from upper classmates.
Being from the School of Marine Affairs, where classes more typically are upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses, Christie was encouraged by the school’s director, Tom Leschine, to compete for a chance to develop “Society and the Oceans” as the first University Course.
The provost’s office has provided $50,000 to build the course during a two-year period. The money and support from Ingebritsen and others in undergraduate education has gone for such things as training teaching assistants, summer work and special excursions. Christie has both received training through undergraduate education’s large-class collegium and is expected to offer training and insights about what he’s learned to UW colleagues during a seminar next summer.
In coming quarters, University Courses will be offered in technical communications, religion and conflict, and crime and film.
Developing a University Course requires an enormous commitment of time and energy, Christie offers as advice. The task is made less daunting with backing from Ingebritsen and others.
“It’s been worth it seeing students about to graduate realize they can learn something from a 100-level course,” he says. “And seeing freshmen decide to dedicate their next four years to understanding human relations to the ocean is inspirational.”