Experimental College - ASUW - University of Washington

The ASUW Experimental College is a wonderful school offering hundreds of great classes in all kinds of subject areas, including drawing and painting, writing, acting, filmmaking, cooking, business classes and dozens of other subject areas. It has a history in the area that goes back to the late 1960s, and some of the educational experiments that were going on at that time. It really is an experimental program with a different attitude. It's been part of the Seattle community for decades, and provides a sense of connection and community for both old timers and newcomers to the area. If you look at the school today, and go back in time, you'll find some of Seattle's most notable people teaching there. The classes are high quality and most are taught by working professionals in their fields. Definitely check it out. It's an experiment that works. Peace! more

I never knew how a movie was made, but after taking the Making Movies class, I understand and I am no longer intimidated on making my first movie. I was going to go to film school, but decided to take this class instead. I'm glad I did! I am still going to go to film school (a 4-year school), but now I know exactly what to expect, and I have a huge understanding of the basics which will get me going in the right direction. more

After watching an episode of MTV's "Made" wherein a young girl without rhythm learns how to hip-hop dance, I felt inspired. So at the recommendation of a friend, I signed up for a hip-hop dance class at the UW Experimental College. While I didn't walk out with better rhythm, I did come out of there with a stronger appreciation for hip-hop dancing, greater comfort levels with dancing in general, and slightly more flexibility. All that aside, though, the class is pure fun. It was a joy to go to even though I felt inundated with everything else going on in my life. The major drawback is the classes don't necessarily have continuity. With only a few classes per session, there's not a lot of building on the previous class, and there really aren't any routines that are taught. What the course does provide is a nice sampling of hip-hop moves, an opportunity to move in a different way and a quick way to find out if this is for you. One note of warning: There are a lot of younger women taking this course (young enough for their moms to be dropping them off). There's no pointed ostracizing, just something to be aware of. I felt uncomfortable at first, but that quickly melted away when I could see that everyone was still pretty new to it and it didn't matter if I missed a step here or there. Check out the schedule and register online here: http://depts.washington.edu/asuwxpcl/ more

The Student Organization (Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW)) sponsors the Experimental (or X) College which runs several hundred classes per year ranging from yoga to foreign language to financial planning to just about anything you could think of. Classes can be single sessions or ongoing and are generally quite reasonably priced and offered multiple times throughout the year. This is a great opportunity to learn something completely new, meet people with similar interests, and support one of the region's great and long-running non-profit endeavors. more

Run through the University of Washington but not limited to UW students only, the Experimental college is a great place to take classes. Whether you're interested in martial arts, dance, languages, cooking or crocheting, if it's fringe the EC probably has a class for it. Ooh, and yoga and sign language and... Also, they sell really spiffy shirts for cheap with work by local artists. more