By SUSAN KENNEDY
The Department of Independent Study received two distinguished honor awards this month from the University Continuing Education Association.
The association sponsors an annual competition for independent study courses, which the department enters every year.
This year, the department was awarded a Distinguished Course Award for English 115 — College Reading and Writing, and a Distinguished Catalog Award for the catalog they produced.
Gary Hatch, professor of English, wrote the course for English 115 and Scott Howell, assistant director for independent study, was the instructional designer.
“It is a fine course,” Howell said. “It’s very engaging.”
The course is centered around Louis L’Amour’s “Education of a Wandering Man” and focuses on reading and writing.
Howell said the course flows well and is unique because of its modeling. It encourages independent study students to feel as if they are a part of the university. To do so, independent study students are given papers by past students to use as models and are encouraged to enter the English 115 literature competition, just as in-school students are.
The course was reviewed by five designers and was chosen as the one course BYU would enter in the competition.
Although independent study courses have received meritorious awards –equivalent to honorable mentions — before, this is the first time in about 10 years a course has earned a distinguished award.
Likewise, BYU’s catalogs have received honorable mentions in the past, but never a distinguished award, until now.
Roy Schmidt, marketing specialist for the department of independent study, was responsible for overseeing catalog production and distribution. He has served in the capacity for five years.
Schmidt said he was very pleased with the award, especially since those who worked on the catalog made a “special effort” this year. They combined outstanding graphics with larger type and emphasized their web site. This, along with other strategies, produced the award-winning catalog, Schmidt said.
“Everyone worked very hard on this project,” he said.
The awards will be presented at the associations 82nd annual conference in Louisville, Ky., April 11-14. Von Phillips, high school administrator for independent study, will be in attendance and will accept the awards April 13.
