Sociology faculty are accountable to multiple stakeholders to demonstrate that our academic programs are effective and that students are learning. Despite the ubiquity of mandated program review practices, which often include the assessment of student learning, research is lacking on the extent to which these efforts lead to improvements in…

The American Sociological Association identified 12 major recommendations for the undergraduate major, which include 11 learning goals articulated in the sociological literacy framework. In total, these recommendations identified upward of 70 different curricular elements that optimal sociology programs should consider satisfying. This article…

To what degree is explicit care/work policy taught in family courses in Canada's leading research-intensive universities? We analyze family courses in sociology departments and in political studies and women's/gender studies programs in Canada's 15 R1 universities to make a contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning. This national…

This article discusses some of the challenges departments face as they embark on curriculum development. The interpersonal dynamics of a department are often the first and most difficult obstacle to overcome but are often overlooked. The author suggests some strategies for how to address these issues as they arise.

This article details the principles and practices animating an "ethnographic" method of teaching social theory. As opposed to the traditional "survey" approach that aims to introduce students to the historical breadth of social thought, the primary objective of teaching ethnographically is to cultivate students as participant…

Teaching for the first time can be a challenging but rewarding experience. For first-time graduate student instructors, however, it also officially marks the transition from student to teacher--a process that can be both transformational and emotion-laden. In this article, we use content analysis of 86 first-time sociology graduate student…

This study examines the dynamics of the first-time teaching experience of graduate instructors, drawing on interview and focus group data from 35 sociology students in a doctoral program at a large university in the United States. Results indicate the majority of graduate instructors felt a great deal of anxiety due to challenges they faced when…

The authors provide an account of their department's minimalist and largely reluctant approach to mandatory assessment in the past decade. A decade earlier, the department had gone all out in an experimental assessment effort supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, an effort the department was neither willing nor…

This article describes a departmental initiative designed to integrate the teaching of graduate and undergraduate sociology through research methodology and the completion of actual research projects. The goal was to develop a multilevel team approach within which faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates would view their work as part of a…

Analyzes all U. S. sociology departments listed in the American Sociological Association Guide to Graduate Departments of Sociology from 1969 to 1985 with respect to the backgrounds of chairs as well as selected structural characteristics of their departments. Finds that chairs who are male and who hold the rank of full professor continue to be…

Discusses an assessment survey questionnaire administered to randomly selected sociology departments (n=150) regarding the level of development of their departmental statements of purpose, goals, and objectives among other questions. Reports that two thirds of the 70 respondents have a departmental statement of purpose, but less than half have…

Reviews reasons for teaching statistics to students in social science courses on the college level through a statistics department. Suggests, however, that universities can just as successfully offer statistics through discipline departments where instructors possess expertise in statistics and in disciplinary research. (Author/DB)

Describes a study which explored the use of teaching innovations for undergraduate sociology in 433 college sociology departments. Results showed that teaching innovations are not concentrated in innovative departments, but that different types of innovations are used to meet particular organizational needs and educational goals of a department.…

Reviews the learning outcomes assessment literature and suggests contextual factors responsible for increased interest in outcomes assessment. Reports on a study of several hundred sociologists regarding usage and impact of various outcomes assessment strategies. Examines implications of outcome assessments for power redistribution. (Author/KDR)

Presents arguments for offering introductory statistics courses to undergraduate sociology majors taught within departments of sociology rather than using statistics courses taught by other departments. (Author)