What department is the class in?
Psychology, but it is important to note that it is on the biological side of psychology.

Would you consider it a popular class?
No.

Professor Dean Purcell

Why are we offering this class?
It is one of the three or so classes in experimental psychology that every psych department must have to consider itself to be an up-to-date modern department. Graduate schools of experimental psychology look closely at the grades in Sensation & Perception because they know that it is a difficult course.

How hard would you say the class is?
It is one of the most difficult upper division courses in psychology. This is because it covers the physiology of the sensory systems, the psycho physics of the sensory systems as well as rather complicated theoretical perspectives on those sensory systems.

How do you personally teach the class?
Lecture and demonstrations.

How did Oakland come up with the idea to have this class?
It is one of the must-have experimental psychology courses.

How many times is the class offered?
Once per year.

How long has it been offered at Oakland?
At least 40 years.

Personally, how does it affect students?
Nausea to exultation.

What majors do you see taking this class?
Psychology and pre-med majors.

What do you hope students gain out of this course?
An advanced understanding of the five sensory modalities.

Do you think it helps students in the long run by taking this class?
This is a basic science course and it is not intended to help anyone do anything except understand how their senses allow them to navigate though their environment. However, if they go to graduate school it is excellent preparation for the rigors they will encounter there.

Thomas Butler

Senior Thomas Butler, a psychology major, took the Sensory & Perception class. Here’s what he said:

What do you think is the most important thing you got out of the class?
It’s actually quite difficult to narrow it down to one thing, because the class is extremely relevant.  If I did, however, have to choose one topic that has stuck with me, it would be that what we perceive is not always what is actually happening.  Our body has a tremendous ability to filter sensory input, so we aren’t always getting the full message that our environment is sending, and in fact, we sometimes get a message that is the complete opposite.  I think this has very obvious practical implications for life — we need to be careful about what information we act on — but personally, I feel that it can also be extrapolated into a philosophical meaning … we don’t always have the whole picture.  Both of these ideas can be very influential in the way one lives their life.

Why should students take this class?
I can’t narrow this down to one concrete reason either, but I would say students should take this class because of the numerous practical applications it provides.  We constantly use our senses to live the lives we live and often, we are not even conscious of the very complex processes that occur to make this happen.  Learning of these processes in and of themselves is fascinating, and alone, they would make the class worth a student’s time. But the class goes farther. Knowing of the senses and their properties can help in living one’s everyday life. Knowing things such as how long it takes one’s eyes to adjust to the dark can have very important everyday applications, while knowing that emotional and physical pain activate some of the same areas in the brain can have very important clinical applications.Tweet

How popular is the course?
It’s a fairly new course but has filled to cap with a waiting list each time.

Why does OU offer it?
It’s an arts exploration general education offering where we actually create songs. Lots of people who aren’t music majors enjoy the opportunity to think musically.

How do you teach it?
Fully online. We meet asynchronously. Different students will log in at different times during the week according to their schedule. Even though we are never all online together at the same moment, we are together in the same Lesson each week and we talk to our classmates in discussion forums constantly. You will find online learning is quite social even though we not sharing ideas in real time. I’m all about student centered learning.

Give an example:
MUS 225 is a course on creativity in songwriting technique by ear; not in performance. Course emphasis involves ways that text and melody interweave to create a song. However, students must be able to vocally represent (sing) the melodies & lyrics they create. Students are not required to have a confident or trained voice. The ability to play an instrument or read music is helpful, but not required.

Phyllis White

How hard is it?
Three assignments each week and a final project. No tests. Students record original audio clips in the free software Audacity or other audio editing software of their choice and upload them to a discussion forum we call the songwriter lounge for feedback. We also have a research based Q & A Forum on songwriting exemplars and techniques as well as creative process journal based on readings and reflection.
What do students gain from it?
By the end of this course, students will be able to identify and describe musical metadimensions and dimensions in the songs studied as exemplars, develop a basic understanding of how musicians work within and use metadimensions and dimensions of music to express, manipulate these dimensions in their own songs with a primary focus on the relationship of text to the musical dimensions, and create original songs or parts of songs that demonstrate their understanding of how songs are created. I think the thing that students are most surprised about is how personally transformational it is to express yourself in this way.
What’s the best lecture?
I don’t teach in a lecture style, so I don’t know! I think students seem to really enjoy the collaboration project.

Who takes this class?
Anyone who likes to write songs or wants to try!

How often is it offered?
Every fall and winter.

How long have we offered it?
I created the course in the Winter Semester of 2010.

Sarah Frick

Senior Sarah Frick, an English major, took the Song and Songwriting class. Here’s what she had to say:

What do you think of the class?
Personally, I thought the class was great. Before I started the class, I thought that I was crazy for signing up. I can’t play an instrument, and other than goofing around in high school, I’d never written a song. However, I learned a lot in Professor White’s class, and I created songs that I never thought I could and will have forever. The environment was extremely positive, and for an online class, our community base was very strong. Professor White gave suggestions for revision on our songs, but she, also, really helped us believe that we could be great songwriters. I still talk to several students from the class, and we all agree that it’s one of the best classes we’ve taken at OU.

Why should a student take it?
Students should take this class because it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a great way to express themselves and without being judged. Also, even if it’s not an assignment, students can share anything they’re working on. When the semester was over, I really felt a sense of accomplishment.Tweet

Describe the class.
It’s different from a lot of other classes or other ways of teaching creativity and innovation. I thought it would be pretty cool to have a creativity class. Not a creative cognition class, not a psychology of creativity class, but a creativity class.

How popular is it?
We started off with the enrollment of 10 people, then up to 20. It’s actually now full every time we offer the class.

How do you teach it?

Cynthia Sifonis

There’s no textbook for it. Usually, creativity is taught in a business school, the school of education, or in psychology. Business school focuses on innovation, Psychologists focus on personality variables, and cognitive psychologists focus on cognitive variables. I started realizing that all of these things are part of creativity and you can’t have just one without the other, so it is a multidisciplinary course.

Give an example.
The first group project, there is a T-shirt site on the web called threadless Tees where people generate their own T-shirt and the design, and people rank it and vote on it online. You actually create the T-shirt and use the same process. How did being in a group affect your performance? Were you scared of being evaluated? All the things we are talking about in class I apply to the project.

How hard is it?
I treat it as a 300 level class so it is challenging. If you do study and you do the homework you can get a good grade in the class.

What do students gain from it?
They learn how to be more creative and learn tricks and techniques for developing ideas. A lot of them come in creative and learn about resistance that they are likely to face and how to expect it and work around it to persevere. They also learn a little bit about taking risks and tolerating ambiguity and they learn skills like some of the computer skills like second life.

What’s the best lecture?
One of the most popular lectures is the creativity in madness talking about mental disorders and the association of creativity with mental illness. Another one that is pretty popular is on creative rebellion talking about people who rebel against society or the current ways of doing things.

Who takes this class?
Entrepreneurship students, psychology students. I see a lot of bachelor of integrative studies students because they are picking up an entrepreneurship minor. I’m starting to see more people from writing and people with interest in poetry. I actually designed the course so it is open and accessible to any major.

How often is it offered?
It’s every semester.

How long have we offered it?
Since 2008. I’ve taught it four times in three years.

Caitlin Kleist, a senior majoring in psychology, took the Creativity and Innovation class. Here’s what she said:

What do you think of the class?

Caitlin Kleist

I absolutely loved the creativity class, and it was the best class I have ever taken at Oakland University. The course is taught in such a unique way and I learned a lot. The class was really interesting, for sometimes we would actually hold class in Second Life and we would also give presentations and do projects in Second Life. We also got to design a T-shirt and had the opportunity to actually get it made.

Why should a student take it?
I recommend this class not only just to psychology majors and those in the entrepreneurship minor, but any student who is interested in design, technology, or even just wants to know more about creativity. Also, Dr. Sifonis is a wonderful teacher. She is understanding and genuinely cares about her students.Tweet

Describe it:
It is a class that examines the emergence of hip hop as a popular culture phenomenon post-civil rights and black-

Jim Perkinson

power movement, initially out of the south Bronx eventually becoming an idiom of articulation for young people across the country and now across the globe.  It is an examination of the history of the phenomenology, politics and sexuality of hip hop in relationship to particularly what is going on with cities from the 1970s on, where we’re moving into many places, a kind of post-industrial urban landscape where jobs are fleeing the city centers.  For me, it’s a way of getting into the question of race and the 500-year history of race beginning with Columbus and the way, very quickly, a very religious evaluation of folks other than Europeans, BY Europeans, got translated into a shorthand form of skin color and became what we now understand to become “race,” a complex phenomenon that is not biological but social.

How popular is it?
Seems to be fairly popular, it fills up.

Why does OU offer it?
Good question, I’m not sure I know the answer to it.  I would assume because some people recognize what I have been saying about it, that [hip hop] is not simply a trendy appearance, it has outlived almost everyone’s expectations. It has its own tour in the South Bronx, it has its own section in the Smithsonian … it’s here to stay.

How do you teach it?
I teach it by inviting students to bring in clips of their favorite artists and play those in the class and then analyze them; every student has to do that at some point in the course.  We initially look at what happened with hip hop in 35 years and then dip back in the concerns about race over the last 500 years and I supply that, in terms of reading material, videos, overview; I tend to teach in the form of somatic questioning, probing students.  I like a dialogic environment; I like to get a strong exchange going in the classroom if I can. I don’t claim to be a hip hop head, per say; I try to keep tabs on some of the developments.  I personally am a spoken word poet, so for me it’s not simply an academic; I’ve lived more than 25 years in inner-city Detroit. It’s where I learned my spoken word poetry and it’s out of that that my own interest arises for teaching the course.

Give an example.
Every student brings in a chosen clip and does some analysis of the lyrics, the sampling, the musical selections that are part of that clip, why they close it, personally what does it mean to them, why is it of interest to them or trouble to them, and unpacking as far as they can.  It’s about politics, it’s about race, about sexuality.  I also have them do group reports of some of the text that they read where they get out the basic arguments of the particular chapter supplemented with video.

How hard is it?
I don’t know, you’d have to ask the students, I’ve never taken it.

What do students gain from it?
They gain an appreciation for the complexities of hip hop, which not too many have, both in its history and in its art form, all the different art forms it’s incorporating. They gain some sense of the business background and how it plays in terms of corporate interest.  They also gain an appreciation for how it is not an isolated phenomenon, it is part of a long history of innovations on part of oppressed communities having to deal with being dominated, being violated, being impoverished forcibly, and yet surviving that and using their cultural creativity to push back on their own oppression.  Hip hop is simply the latest in a long line of cultural forms.  They create a space inside oppression, a way of making pleasure out of pain, a way of displacing violence and yielding beauty.  And for some of them they take advantage of the opportunity to get a little creative themselves.

What’s the best lecture?
That changes every time around.  The best lecture is the lecture that happens on the spot when students begin to get real with each around the questions of race and some of the cultural differences that are imbedded in racial identities begin to show up in the classroom in such a way that what we’re talking about is no longer theoretical, it is happening right there.  That, then, requires everybody to be on their toes to make sense of that. …  That doesn’t always happen, but it usually it does over the course of the class, and that is probably the deepest teaching moment.

Who takes this class?
Communication majors as well as people who are interested.

How often is it offered?
So far it has been about once a year.

How long have we offered it?
Three years.

The student view: OU alumnus Peter Piccirillo, 28, of Shelby Township took the Hip Hop, Race and the City class.  Here’s what he had to say:

What do you think of the class?
I personally loved the class.  The topics presented in the classroom would often be seen as controversial to many, which I saw as a good thing.  Talking about race in America has never been something many are comfortable with; we tend to avoid open and honest discussion and fall on scripted ideas about race from one side or the other.

Why should a student take it?
This class took people out of their comfort zones and had them ask themselves questions about their own perspective on things and then engage others, often of another race or background.  The class functioned as a very important sociological exercise that broadened students understanding of what is race and what is hip hop.

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How popular is this class?
We get approximately 10-20 students per cohort from around the country and around the world each year — it’s offered once a year

Why does OU offer it?
The OU School of Nursing offers the course as a part of the Animal Assisted Therapy certificate program to help people who want to use AAT to develop a full plan including curriculum and business plan/proposal.

Please describe the course briefly.
Basically the course focuses on how to select an animal (dogs are the featured animal) that will be best suited for (medical) therapy work along with how to best train any animal using positive reinforcement training — based on learning theory.

Please provide an example of what goes into teaching a course such as this (what makes it different from other courses?)
This course features a lot of interactive discussions since it is online, but is also a hands-on course, which means that students have to record themselves giving two different temperament assessments to animals they do not know (shelter dog/cat, etc.) and have to practice the learning theory by teaching a dog or cat to do two different commands and record and upload the video.

What do you think and hope students gain from this course?
While the course is fun — we get to train animals! — I am happy if my students come away with a basic understanding of animal temperament and learning/training. There is a lot of “stuff” out there on how to train, how animals learn, why animals do what they do — the field is still very much in its infancy.  Unfortunately, a lot of training “stuff” out there is not so good and animals can suffer from improper understanding.  So my goal is to give my students the confidence to use their best judgment to determine the right training and treatment for their particular animal.

What is, or has been the best lecture topic?
The discussion on different temperament testing methods is always interesting.  But the most popular is the final project where students select a “task” to train.  We review the tasks, discuss potential training roadblocks and then the students post a video of their animal performing the task.  They include a brief write up of how they did it, how they handled learning plateaus, etc.  That is by far the most fun.

How often is this class offered? Every year.

Carolyn Buono of Topeka, Kan., took the 10-month, online class Working with Animals. Here’s what she said:

The Animal Assisted Therapy Certificate Program that I was enrolled in for school year 2009-2010 was a 10-month, online program at Oakland University that was offered through the School of Nursing and administered by Amy Johnson.

We were not the only non-local students, as there was one from Colorado, one from Pennsylvania and one from North Carolina (who was a former OU student).

The class was overwhelming female with my husband Neil as the only male.  We had a large age distribution, from the very young — early 20s I believe, up through middle aged, and even into the senior citizen category.  There was, therefore, a wide variety to the background of the students enrolled.  This variety was reflected in our educational levels and our experience using animals in any kind of program to benefit others.  And, of course, our expectations of what we wanted out of the course varied a great deal.

Carolyn Buono and her dog, Maggie. COURTESY/CAROLYN BUONO

My husband and I had been Delta Society Pet Partners with our dogs for a number of years, and had visited patients in a local nursing home on a regular basis.  I was a certified crisis responder with our oldest dog as well, and I was participating in a reading program at the local library with several of my dogs.  During the course, I started visiting residents on the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Unit at the local Veterans Administration hospital with one of my dogs.  So we were already utilizing Animal Assisted Therapy, whereas some of the students just had a desire to do so when the course began.

My husband was one of several students who worked with clients already as part of their profession but wanted to start using their pet with their clients as well to aid in the therapy.  Some students wanted to use other animals, especially horses, to help others, although most were interested in putting their dogs into that environment.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, besides what I was already doing.  Taking the course with my husband was a joint venture, and I was mainly hoping it would be worth the expense of us both being in the program.

The course was made up of five modules, each approximately eight weeks in length.  They built on each other beautifully to give the student an excellent perspective and insight into the field.

All of the instructors for these different modules were experts in the subject matter they exposed us to, and helped us to absorb the material in wonderful ways.  They each had a love of animals, a belief in the value of the human-animal bond, and faith that the bond could be used to bring healing in a multitude of settings.

We had four instructors.  Amy Johnson taught Modules One and Five, Dr. Cynthia Sifonis from the psychology department was the instructor for Module Two, Marilyn Mouradjian of the School of Nursing ran Module Three and Cynthia Bentley of the Michigan Humane Society facilitated Module 4. They were all experts in their respective fields. I appreciated so much their dedication, their belief in our abilities and the confidence they instilled in us — as individuals and as a class.

I came away enlightened and inspired. I felt affirmed for what I have been doing. I developed a desire to do it even better. I became inspired to branch out and do something more. And last, but not least, I developed a pride in being part of the Oakland University community for a while. I think back on the total positive experience often as I glance up from my desk at the certificate from OU on my wall.Tweet

Describe it:
Mabee: It is about the “end of the world” as we know it. This question is addressed from the standpoint of scientific analysis AND religious studies. It looks at the popularity of the apocalyptic perspective current in today’s America

How popular is it?
Sevilla: The class filled up quickly and expanded to include another student who was keen to get in.

Michael Sevilla

Why does OU offer it?
Mabee: Professor Sevilla and I proposed the class to the Honor’s College council, and they approved it last year.
Sevilla: It is the Honors College course HC208, taught with different topics, but fulfills a science component. Thus, the course has emphasis on scientific and critical evaluations of possible apocalyptic events. In addition, the course is being team-taught with Professor Charles Mabee of religious studies, who brings the religious, sociological and humanistic aspects of the end-of-the-world beliefs.

How do you teach it?
Mabee: Guest lectures, four books: two from the standpoint of science, one from religious studies, and one addressing the question of the danger of annihilation through nuclear weapons, and a film.
Sevilla: For the first few lectures we have had professors in religious studies, chemistry, biology, physics and history give lectures on:

• The meaning of the apocalypse
• Global climate change
• Past extinctions: Is this just a biological process?
• Understanding apocalypses in the natural order from a physics view.
• Cultural history of apocalyptic thinking

Each lecture was followed by a class discussion. The rest of the semester is the four books that will be discussed in detail with student presentations and writings on each section.

How hard is it?
Mabee: Since the class includes a rather lengthy writing assignment/term paper, some students find it difficult.  But it is an Honors College class!
Sevilla: This is a serious class and students are meant to be challenged.

What do students gain from it?
Mabee: Hopefully, they gain a better and more critical understanding of modern religious scholarship and the way that science addresses the most crucial human issues of our time
Sevilla: A more complete understanding of their place in the universe and what we as a species can do to not go extinct.

What’s the best lecture?

Mabee: Thus far we have only discussed one book, Collapse by Jared Diamond.  The students have done well with it.  I think the best lectures were given by our guests, professors Gerard Joswiak, David Garfinkel and Sean Moran.
Sevilla: We have only just begun and the best part of the class is the student discussions.

Charles Mabee

Who takes this class?
Mabee: All HC students
Sevilla: This is an Honors College class and we have majors from across the university.

How often is it offered?
Mabee: This is a one-time-only class.
Sevilla: HC208 is offered yearly but our version is a one-time event.

The student view: OU junior Jesse Williams, a Writing and Rhetoric major, took The Future: Hype or Apocalypse class. Here’s what he had to say:

What do you think of the class?
I would say this has been my most interesting HC course to date. 

Why should a student take it?
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but HC courses vary every semester (I’m not aware of the same course being taught twice ever, actually), so 208 was something different last semester, and will be so again next semester. Therefore, I can’t really offer an opinion on taking HC208 (or any other HC course) during any given semester. For those of us in this course this semester, I believe we’re really being offered quite a treat. Perhaps the best advice I can offer, then, is that anyone not enrolled in the Honors College may want to look into it. It always offers interesting, unique, and challenging courses that cover the spectrum of gen. ed. requirements.Tweet

Oakland University has adapted to students’ needs, expanding intellectual horizons to offer nontraditional courses that stretch beyond core subjects and allow students to explore other areas of interest. OU News Bureau reporter Raymond Andre caught up with Professor Todd Shackelford to learn about a class called Evolutionary Psychology (PSY 315).

What is the course name?

Todd Shackelford

It was just formally approved, though for its first semester it was listed as PSY 200, the special courses notation on the books.  From the summer session on, it will be known as PSY 315:  Evolutionary Psychology.

What sort of course is this?
It is an overview of a particular perspective, the subdivision of evolutionary science, which recognizes that our ancestors solved problems through psychological as well as biological mechanisms and that a large number of our ancestors’ offspring passed on these traits. It starts with appreciating that our minds are built on the same evolutionary principles as our bodies. It’s a science that’s dependent on many other disciplines, really: anthropology, sociology, biology.

How popular is it?
It’s my first year teaching it here, but I taught the course for thirteen years at Florida Atlantic University.  There it was packed — 50 to 60 students each session.  It would fill up in a few days.  Here, I think it’s fine, but it’s still new.  People are interested in their past, they appreciate learning about factual evidence.

Why does OU offer this course?
It was never put forward before I came to the school.  This is an institution of higher learning.  I think the university is interested in teaching evidence-based reality. This is a course that’s been offered across the world for about thirty years. It was something that was missing from the catalog.

How hard is the course?
I begin by introducing students to evolution by natural selection.  I’d say about the first third of the class is spent teaching them the reality — the facts — about natural selection.  They probably have some half-true idea of what it is, or are basically ignorant to the facts, and that’s a shame.  We basically have to start over.  Some find it very challenging.

How do you teach the course?
It’s very much discussion based.  Students are very involved in leading discussions on the material.  I typically do not have them read a textbook.  What I have them do is read around three scholarly, but very accessible, overviews of evolution.

In the current course we just finished reading Richard Dawkins’ “The Greatest Show on Earth:  The Evidence for Evolution.”  So we’re all up to speed on evolution, about what it is and what it is not — we know it’s a fact.  Next we’ll move to a book called “Breaking the Spell:  Religion as a Natural Phenomenon” by Daniel Dennett, which asks, “How is that our minds developed the notion of religion?”

What do students gain from the course?
They learn about how their minds operate. They learn about the crucial role evolution played in forming, not just their bodies, but their minds. I think in many cases, it’s something that many people haven’t been exposed to.  If anything, it’s a chance for students to learn about the single unifying theory in all of evolutionary science.

What is your favorite part of the course?
I thoroughly enjoy it from start to finish.  What I really enjoy is seeing students learn about evolution, to really learn about it, and not just as what their pastor told them.  I appreciate it because it’s the only unifying scientific theory.  I didn’t learn about evolution until I was in college, and found it incredibly exciting and interesting. I think it’s a shame to see people go through life without knowing the fact of evolution.

Who takes this class?
You have to have taken PSY 250, Research Design.  I suspect it will be a lot of psychology students.  I’d be delighted to see all sorts of students take part.

How often is it offered, and when can students take it next?
Right now, it will be offered in this coming summer and fall sessions. Hopefully it will be offered every semester.

Junior Jaimie Wall, a psychology major, took Evolutionary Psychology. Here’s what  she said:

What do you think of the class?

Jaimie Wall

I think the class is fantastic Certainly one of my favorites at OU yet. It is a great overview of evolution and how evolution by natural selection has given us the brains we have today. The other students in the class, myself included, always seem to be in awe of the way that looking at psychology with an evolutionary perspective answers so many questions that seem unanswerable otherwise.

Why should other students take this class?
I think students should take this class because I would say a majority of students haven’t had a really great introduction into evolution. Because of this, few have ever even heard of evolutionary psychology. I hadn’t prior to the class. Evolution is such an integral part of the development and our understanding of the world. It is vital that we understand how it shaped, and continues to shape us and everything else in the world that we inhabit.Tweet

Describe it:
Well, it’s anthropology of religion of sorts, so you learn about magic, you learn about witchcraft, and you learn about religion but in different cultures and why it is so important to people all over the world.

How popular is it?
It is getting more popular. Used to be 10-20 students. (It’s) 28 students now.

Why does OU offer it?

Henri Gooren

Because religion you find in all cultures, and magic and witchcraft you find in almost all cultures. It is not a course in practical magic; it is not Hogwarts or Harry Potter. But it looks at why everywhere in the world people are doing rituals, incantations and magical spells. Even in our culture, there are people who have personal rituals. It’s not magic, it’s magical thinking. You are nervous and dealing with stress and if you go through certain fixed rituals you can control your situation a bit better: driving the same way to school, having your favorite pen, parking in the same spot.

How do you teach it?
I use a text that covers religion, witchcraft, magic and the theoretical side. There are class discussions … and some nice videos on religion and witchcraft are shown.

Give an example:
There are class discussions like why are children in parts of Africa branded as witches. We talk about religion: why is it so important to people and why do people change their religion. Some people are atheists or wiccans and they share their beliefs

How hard is it?
It is not easy. For people that want to learn about Harry Potter and stuff, not easy. There are some tough texts to read and some theories. Most students that take it are very interested in it and can manage. They like discussions and videos, they like looking at things that are useful to them. The class average may be a 3.3 or a 3.5 GPA.

What do students gain from it?
I think of magic or witchcraft as similar to religion except that it is more practical. People need results; they need to do something to get working to get healthy or they need to hurt their neighbor or they need to do something through magical means. And it is anthropology, so you try to understand why it is so important all over the world. Religion you have in all culture, and most cultures have some sort of idea about magic and witchcraft, so the course is about trying to understand why it is so important to people.

What’s the best lecture?
That is hard to say, I like a lot of it. The old 19^th century anthropology — why are people religious, where did it come from? Or later anthropology —why is religion so important? It gives people a purpose in life and it soothes people in the face of death and disease. We look at it at an anthropological point of view.

Who takes this class?
Most students get to know me through an introduction course I teach, Anthropology 102: Culture and Human Nature. I get some people who take that class who like my teaching; I do a lot of religion in that class. I have students from that class who come to this class to study more about religion. I also do a course on religious conversion and globalization.

How often is it offered?
It is being repeated fall semester.

How long have we offered it?
I have offered it since 2007 when I arrived here. Professor James Dow offered it before me for about 15 years, but he did it a bit differently.

Senior Lauren Ferraro, a political science major at OU, took the class. Here’s what she had to say:

What do you think of the class?
It is all interesting — he is an interesting professor the way he teaches it, but I feel that it was misleading based on the title of the class. It should be historical thinkers or something. The way our book is, we are going back to anthropologists in the past and talking about how they viewed religion and what made religion.

Why should a student take it?
It gives you a good fundamental basis for the subject matter (and) will be needed if you are going further in an anthropology major. You get good insight from classmates on different religious views and certain aspects of religion and how they feel about it all.Tweet

Describe it:
It is a course that is really about changing behaviors, so the course covers a number of different theories and models related to behavior change.  We use and apply them in class, so they are actually working with someone as part of the semester to help with behavior change.

How popular is it?
It’s pretty popular.  We offer it every semester, and actually this semester there are two sections of it.

Why does OU offer it?
[The class is offered] for students that are wanting to learn how to work with people and getting them to change behavior, or just learning more about that whole process.  It’s part of exercise science; people in the health science need that because they have people that come to them that want to change, they want to start exercising or quit smoking or whatever the case may be.

Terry Dibble

How do you teach it?
I usually teach a combination of lecture and group.  Typically what I’ll do is lecture for maybe an hour and the rest is spent on group work related to the lecture, or I have them reading assignments and they’ll have discussions relating to those assignments.  The course covers a number of different theories and models related to behavior change; we use and apply them in class, so they are actually working with someone as part of the semester to help with a certain behavior change.  The person they’re working with isn’t necessarily in the class. It could be a friend or family member; we’ll have a discussion about how they’re doing with that.

Give an example:
One of the things we just finished talking about is called “trans-theoretical model,” and there are different aspects to it.  What I had them do after the lecture was sit down and work on case studies and figure out where these people are; it’s called the “stages of change.” The idea is to figure out where that person is in their readiness to change.

How hard is it?
(Laughs)  It’s not particularly hard; there is a lot of reading involved.  I have them doing an assignment every week; it is a two-credit course.  The hard part would be for people that are not good at writing.

What do students gain from it?
I think [students] gain a good working knowledge of how to help people make change, even for themselves.  A lot of people get a lot of personal value out of it, because we all have things we want to change, right?

What’s the best lecture?
I like to think all of them are the best.  I think the “stages of change” lecture is probably the best only because it’s kind of the basis for a lot of other things we do in the course.

Who takes this class?
People in health sciences, nursing, exercise science, physical therapy, and people in the wellness program.

How often is it offered?
Every semester. It’s offered in the summer too, as an online course.

How long have we offered it?
I have taught it for six years.  [It has been offered] at least eight, I think.

Natalie Abrhiem, 21, of Sterling Heights took the lifestyle choices class. Here’s what she had to say:

What do you think of the class?
This class really puts into perspective our health and wellness and the right ways to approach a quality way of life. Professor Dibble presents the material very well and explains a positive coaching style towards for those who are interested in working towards a healthy approach to health and wellness in their lives.  This class also explores different theories, models and interventions for health related situations. It was very useful and well worth taking as a course at Oakland University.

Why should a student take it?
A student should take this class because the material presented provides skills for those interested in entering health care professions and teaches them how to help implement a healthy lifestyle for others. This course also focuses on the psychological aspect of health as well as the dimensions of wellness, which is necessary for all health care professionals or those interested in the field of efficient health and wellness.Tweet

What department is the class in?
It’s under the wellness and health promotion and injury prevention.

Would you consider it a popular class?
Oh, yeah. It’s always filled.

Why are we offering this class?
It’s offered as a writing intensive course. But it’s part of the curriculum for the wellness students because it’s part of wellness — having that understanding and attitude about laughter and how it impacts our health.

Terry Dibble

How hard would you say the class is?
Hard? Well there’s a lot of writing. (Laughs.)  It depends.  I mean there are one to two writing assignments a week. There are a lot of group activities. So people that are uncomfortable with those sorts of situations, it would probably be a hard class for them to take.

How do you personally teach the class?
I do maybe an hour and a half to two hours of lecture a week, and the rest of it is group activities. We usually watch a lot of videos. YouTube is our best friend. (Laughs.) There’s other video information out there related to human therapy.  I don’t lecture a lot. They learn a lot from the reading assignments, and they have to respond to those reading assignments, and then a lot of group discussions about those reading assignments and about humor itself.

How did Oakland come up with the idea to have this class?
I’m not sure. I know the gentleman who used to teach it —who is no longer here — came up with the idea just because he felt it was an important part of wellness.

How many times is the class offered?
Two sections in the fall and one section in the winter.

How long has it been offered at Oakland?
Either four or five years.

Personally, how does it affect students?
A lot of it helps them in terms of their attitude, not only about school but about how they approach things. We talk a lot about using humor in stressful situations and different things. It’s helped a lot of students in that regard in reducing their stress related to school.

What majors do you see taking this class?
There is no one particular group. It’s kind of all over the board …  but if I had to say, probably the health sciences.

What do you hope students gain out of this course?
I guess the main thing is if they gain an appreciation for what humor can do, and how beneficial it is, not only in their own life, but in working with other people in their jobs and school.

Do you think it helps students in the long run by taking this class?
Definitely, if they stick with it. I’ve had students that had taken the class three years ago and they have told me it’s really helped them.

Junior Breann Dotstry, a journalism student at Oakland University, took the laughter class. Here’s what she had to say:

Breann Dotstry

What do you think is the most important thing you got out of the class?
Sometimes I can be really uptight. Even when things are funny, if I’m angry it just doesn’t really help. We did different exercises in the class that helped me to be like, okay this guy looks for humor in stuff I should not be so angry all the time. So, that was helpful.

Why should students take this class? I
It gives you an alternative to dealing with your feelings. When I get angry I really don’t like to talk. I just kind of shut down. My mom and my boyfriend hate when I get like that. The class teaches you how laughing keeps you healthy. Staying in a positive mood keeps you healthier. Professor Dibble tells jokes at the beginning of every class and they make you laugh.Tweet