Better Decisions? Better Outcomes?

Vashon College is offering two courses, Ethical Decision Making and Competent Communication & Learning Styles, which could change your life.

Ethical Decision Making (4 sessions beginning Wednesday, June 6) will take the participant on a historical journey while introducing a model that allows the user to actively create more personal wins in his or her life. S/he will gain an understanding of how individuals, couples, families, communities, and entire nations find themselves in trouble or, conversely, living in harmony. This exciting and interactive course teaches the student how to explore his or her personal ideas about ethical behavior, how we make decisions, personal responsibility and how we take unnecessary risks in our personal and professional lives; often with no idea how we found ourselves in difficult, even dangerous (emotionally or physically) situations.

The text for this course is The Reader, a #1 National Bestseller, New York Times Notable Book and LA Times Book of the Year. In cooperation with our community, the book will be offered as special reading by the Vashon Bookshop. And the Vashon Theatre will host a free showing of the movie so participants and their families and friends can see what will, undoubtedly be a primary topic of conversation as those in the class discover just how much people are willing to do to keep secrets and hide personal shame – in whatever form that takes.

Competent Communication and Learning Styles (4 sessions beginning on Thursday, June 7th) will open doors to powerful personal discovery for the participant in terms of how s/he learns. For many, the course will open windows for them that they never knew existed, exposing them to new ideas about how they learn. At the same time, they will find themselves throwing away personal judgments regarding how they take information in and process it. This wonderful self-exploration and awareness leads the participant next into a new way of looking at those s/he shares life with in the home and at work.

Our learning styles affect how we communicate, work, see the world, teach, interact with one another, love, build, lead...all of it. From personal discovery to learning why and how we are different, the student will, in the end, understand exactly why we need each other.

The Vashon Island School District has approved these courses for clock hours for its teachers. Other professionals should check with their associations to find out if they may qualify for clock hours.

The instructor for both courses is Donna McDermott, MPPA. She is a sociologist who has designed curriculum for over 100 courses, trained hundreds of instructors and led courses and seminars for departmental leadership teams, entire organizations from clerical to top leadership staff, fiscal professionals, teachers, and troubled young adults.

Ethical Decision Making and Competent Communication are two of many courses that she has taught dozens of times. Ms. McDermott consistently receives outstanding reviews. She is past president of the Southern Counties Training Association in California, and is a "gifted, dynamic" teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration.

Go to www.vashoncollege.org to register.