Courses with the SCED designation are offered with the approval of the Wittenberg faculty through the School of Community Education. They appear in the Evening and Weekend schedule exclusively. Although designed primarily for adult/non-traditional students in the Organizational Leadership and Health Care Leadership programs, most of them are also open to traditional students who meet stated prerequisites. Where appropriate, the Dean allocates a fixed number of places for traditional students in these and other SCE-sponsored courses, and registration for these places is through the regular procedure. In cases where the Dean's allocation has been filled, traditional students need his signature on a Course Change (ADD) form in order to register. Adult students enroll through the normal SCE process.
SCED 200L Liberal Studies Colloquium: American Democracy-Problems and Prospects. Dr. Rob Baker, Professor of Political Science The foundation of the adult degree program and an intellectual orientation to Wittenberg for adults. The Colloquium (Latin for "speaking together") introduces students to a mature level of critical thinking, research processes, and both written and oral expression. We'll pursue this development through the study of the topic: American Democracy-Problems and Prospects.
While the rest of the world looks to America as the model of democracy, we ourselves experience a growing sense of unease about our system and disconnection from its founding ideas and aspirations. Some thinkers even conclude that the pressures and challenges confronting us in recent times threaten the vitality or even the continuation of the system. To gain a clearer understanding of this situation, we will study some essentials of democratic theory. We will use this base to examine key challenges that have presented themselves in our time-shifts in the separation of powers, radical individualism, decreasing citizen participation, and trivialized election campaigns. We will use the criteria of democratic theory to assess these challenges with the goal of arriving at an intelligent understanding of our evolving system and perhaps some ideas for improving it.
SCED 300 Issues: Managing in a Diverse Workplace. Dr. Forrest Wortham, Director of Multicultural Student Programs Once upon a time in America, the typical office organization consisted of white male managers-typified by the IBM "uniform" of white shirt and dark tie-white female secretaries, and perhaps some black housekeeping staff. Major changes have taken place in the last three decades-demographic, cultural, and political. The workplace changes coming in their wake involve gender, ethnicity, age, cultural expectations, and socio-economic level. We will study the history of this development, the legal and regulatory elements guiding it, and some of the social and economic impacts on individuals, organizations, and social groups. We will also consider the managerial implications, including challenges to be addressed and illustrations of successful efforts among business organizations. Students will consider their own individual perspectives and a realistic corporate perspective, and will work these into an optimum diversity plan for an organization of their own choosing. This course uses the new @witt/@home format, combining limited classroom meetings and web-supported interactive activities. Students will be notified of any advance assignment after the semester has officially begun. (This two-credit course begins November 3.)
SCED 300 Issues: Team Leadership. Staff An in-depth look at internal team processes and procedures as well as the interaction of various work groups within contemporary organizations. Goals are: to understand the benefits and problems of teamwork and a team-based structure, to practice team leadership and participation skills, and to explore current management thinking about the role and dynamics of team structure within the larger organizational structure. Students will engage in a variety of activities that include small group exercises, case studies, learning games, and reading analyses. (This two-credit course meets through October 27.)
SCED 320 The Legal Environment of Health Care Practice. Staff A requirement in the Health Care Leadership program, this course is a critical examination of the laws and regulations governing health care delivery in the United States. Topics include the foundations, development, and application of tort law, licensing and accreditation, liability of providers and institutions, regulatory control, and bioethics. Students are to develop not only an understanding of "legal content" but of the philosophical and policy-level principles that give rise to the body of laws and regulations; they are to demonstrate their understanding by making properly grounded and legally defensible applications to particular cases throughout the course.
SCED 390 Topic: Readings in Leadership. Dr. Elma Lee Moore, Director of Adult Leadership Programs We will read full texts and excerpts from a "selected Top Ten" authors on leadership and management. Included are Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, Peter Drucker, T. Edwards Deming, and Tom Peters. We will examine principal theories of leadership, particularly those relating to business organizations, and the effects of historical, political, and economic context in shaping them. The goal is to develop a historically grounded and nuanced understanding of the ways organizations take shape and change and the ways in which leaders operate within them. Accordingly, a major student project of the course will be the application of a mature set of insights to one's own work organization or to some other organization of the student's choice. This course uses the new @witt/@home format, combining limited classroom meetings and web-supported interactive activities.
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