Team-taught class brings community together

Baker Alshaalan said he isn’t sure what to expect from one of his classes — “Living a Sustainable Life.”

But the sophomore does have a lot of questions, from how to live a healthy lifestyle to how to stop pollution.

“I want to know what ruins society,” he said.

He said he’d spent a year in China and wondered why air in America was so clean compared to air there.

He said he also wants to know what exactly sustainability is.

“I don’t know what it means to live a sustainable life
personally,” he said.

Some of his concerns, questions and more are addressed in this unique political science class.

The class was developed for the College of Arts and Sciences’ themester called sustain•ability: Thriving on a Small Planet. There are hundreds of classes throughout IU this semester that tie in the idea of sustainability.

But instead of focusing on a single discipline, the class has guest lecturers each day who talk about a separate topic.

And Christine Barbour, class coordinator and senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, invites community members to sit in on class behind the regularly enrolled students.

“Education has room for a lot of different formats,” Barbour said.

Lecturers include Noble Prize-winning IU political science professor Elinor Ostrom on Sept. 16 and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on Nov. 4.

On Sept. 9, the class was taught by IU political science professor Russell Hanson. He spoke about “Why We Should Be Stewards.” He’ll teach again on Sept. 14 about “Making Hard Choices.”

The format for the class was based off of a different class Barbour created after Sept. 11, 2001. Barbour wanted a class that could allow talk about the complicated situation that led to the attacks, but knew no one person could teach it.

So she coordinated 13 different speakers and opened the class to the community.
“It was really a huge success,” she said.

She thought the format would be appropriate for another
complex topic — sustainability.

The class has already attracted some members of the community, even on the introduction days when Barbour went over the syllabus.

The class has about 100 students who are assigned seats in the front. They’re graded on attendance, projects and a service learning project.

Barbour said she’s looking forward to the rest of t
he semester.

“It’s a real exciting thing,” she said. “I, as a professor, get to learn from a lot of really
smart people.”