Toward Publicly Responsive Sociology Curricula

Abstract

Introductory sociology casts a wide net with regard to its audience and plays an important role in capturing the public eye as well as helping students to make more informed choices in their lives and communities. I ask six questions that help us as sociologists to think about how introductory sociology can better serve our discipline, our students, and their communities. These questions ask us to consider who our students are, how the course fits with university mission and program goals, what we want students to learn in this course and how we can build consensus about that common core, the extent to which there is alignment between learning objectives and our disciplinary standards in sociology, how assessment can be used to improve course design and curriculum in general, and the role that introductory sociology plays in recruitment and retention of students to the university and to the major. Posing such questions will promote further discussion and consensus building among sociology colleagues with the aim of improving curriculum and student learning.

Designing First-year Sociology Curricula and Practice

“…The Australian TLOs are consistent with these, as are results in the broader and more recent literature (Fujieda, 2009;Greenwood, 2013;Zipp, 2012). Important themes in the literature also include the need for active engagement with contemporary issues and with research practice as part of the process of learning key sociological theories, evaluating evidence, and undertaking critical reflection (Berheide, 2005;Greenwood, 2012;McKinney et al, 2004;Schwalbe, 2007).…”

“…Curriculum development in sociology needs to be a social process where lecturers work collaboratively to plan the discipline offerings from first year through to graduation so that they meet the needs of our students and our communities (Greenwood, 2013;McKinney, 2007). We believe that students will benefit if lecturers, teaching into first year, focus on developing student skills and capabilities with a view to them cumulatively attaining a full range of skills and concepts agreed across the discipline as desirable and valuable for sociologists.…”

“…The introductory sociology subject is often used as a service course to other programs or as an elective (Greenwood, 2013). In their first year, students are introduced to the discipline of sociology and what sociologists do, but sociology is a diverse discipline and there is little consensus on what should be taught (Greenwood, 2013;Marshall, 2009). The traditional way of instructing students in an introductory sociology subject is to cover a wide range of topics using passive learning methods (Fujieda, 2009).…”

Challenges in the Teaching of Sociology in Higher Education. Contributions to a Discussion

“…In what regards the guidelines on how to teach Sociology in higher education, the real situation regarding the social [9], the institutional and the legitimacy framework of this teaching of Sociology plays a major role [21,23,[36][37][38].…”

“…Specifically on Sociology as training, it is critical to define, in a clear and unambiguous way, what is expected to be promoted with the teaching of Sociology in each specific institutional context, in what can be a difficult consensus [37]. In Egreja's [39] research, faculty and programme directors highlight, as core competences that they would like students to develop: critical and reflexive capacity; the break with common sense; the acquisition of a perspective of the areas of study as social phenomena; the development of writing and reading, group work, and oral presentation skills; and, less frequently, the development of inter-relational competences.…”