|
|
A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association
Comments from the Editor
Volume 28, Number 1
January 2000THE CUSTOM OF COMMENTARY from incoming editors provides the opportunity for reflection and planning. The tradition of Teaching Sociology is to provide excellent descriptive and analytic articles on a range of dimensions of teaching in and around the discipline. Conscientious work from past editors has established high quality representation of work across the discipline, across methodologies and across theoretical perspectives. My goal as editor is as simple as continuing that fine tradition, and as complex as helping to shape and enhance the intersections between our teaching scholarship and our growth as a discipline. My Deputy Editor, Dr. Laurie Scheuble, and I will encourage senior and junior scholar/teachers to build sociology’s pedagogical and research foundations. We will reflect teaching efforts in all educational settings, and in developing contexts such as diversity, distance education and teaching assessment.
One of the great strengths of this journal is its established constituency in American Sociological Association traditions. TS builds on the important work of the ASA in developing teaching workshops at annual meetings, the publications and activities of the Teaching Resources Center, grant programs such as Minority Opportunities through School Transformation (MOST I, II and III), and the national initiative on Preparing Future Faculty. The Sociology Undergraduate sections of the ASA national and regional societies engage us in sharp conversation around the table. Our steady accumulation of these materials supports day-to-day classroom teaching and administration of programs and provides us a rich, thick foundation from which to enhance the scholarship of teaching.
Our disciplinary emphasis on diversity in research and theory has placed us at the “cutting edge” of efforts to bring new educational perspectives into higher education. This has been a benefit to our reflexive process between research, theory and teaching. Our abilities as teachers and the insights of sociological research and theory to general or liberal arts education goals have also created heavy enrollments in our large lecture classes. Pressures to improve pedagogy in the face of increasing teaching and assessment demands demonstrate the need for TS as a platform to examine changes in our profession. Expanding technologies in education complement many of our parallel innovations in research designs (telephone interviewing, e-mail and web site strategies, distance collaboration formats, and multimedia technologies). We are developing a body of knowledge that allows us to critique and move our use of technology and pedagogy forward to meet student learning and pedagogical goals.
Most of our journal traditions will continue, including the ability to focus on special issues or collections of articles to provide intellectual and practical leadership to our discipline and to the academy in general. Several issues are planned and we encourage individuals with interests to contact us for further information on these and other topics: 1) We will bring a focus to teaching issues and pedagogy at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges (TCCs). Scholars from our MOST networks and contacts throughout the country will develop this scholarship for all sociologists to learn more about diverse student populations and college climates, classroom strengths and initiatives, as well as expanding the current discussions of diverse curricula and pedagogical strategies. 2) Assessment of teaching has led many sociologists to take a leadership position on their campus, given our methodological expertise in program evaluation A special issue of TS will provide a forum for debate about the methods, investments, goals and outcomes of assessment on college campuses today. Our disciplinary analysis of occupations and professions also provides opportunities for us to question not only teaching praxis, but those dimensions of the professoriate which link to teaching. 3) Teaching ethics were a focal part of discussions in the 1997 revision of the ASA Code of Ethics. Pedagogical approaches to teaching sociology students about ethical issues at the graduate and undergraduate levels in research, teaching and community service activities are invited. We also seek to publish the research scholarship and theory being produced in sociology on the teaching of ethics per se. 4) Graduate student education now incorporates substantial experience and (sometimes) training in undergraduate pedagogy. TS scholarship on graduate education can enhance the quality and scope of our training of graduate students as future educators. Preparing Future Faculty and other professional development programs can broaden the pipeline of future teachers of sociology who will contribute their research and theoretical skills to the development of scholarship on teaching.
As editor, I will celebrate teaching as our most effective outreach to diverse communities; I will honor teaching as a craft that needs further nurturing and greater reward in all higher education arenas; I will value the reflexive teaching conversations with students and colleagues which help us to grow in “good practices.” Because of the capable stewardship of the past editors, my contributions will most likely be in seeking out and encouraging additional work by sociologists and to expand the diversity of candidates for the Teaching Sociology editorial board.
In addition to these resources of the discipline and the journal, I rely on the Department of Sociology at UNL which has a breadth and depth of intellectual and practical resources to support Teaching Sociology editorial efforts. We have a long history as a research department that values and rewards high quality teaching. Many colleagues have been recognized individually for their teaching, and in 1996 we were awarded the University of Nebraska System-Wide Distinguished Department Teaching Award for our sustained history of teaching investment. Over the past decade, we hosted National Science Foundation summer research experiences for undergraduates for five summers, and served as a host site for MOST II, with an ongoing commitment to MOST III. We are also one of four UNL departments supported by a Pew Charitable Trust Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) grant.
Dr. Laurie Scheuble, TS Deputy Editor, is on the faculty at one of our PFF Partner Institutions, Doane College. She will have primary responsibility for book, film and software reviews. Her commitment brings important teaching and subject expertise to the journal and an excellent opportunity for multiple editorial perspectives and collaboration between our campuses. We look forward to the next few years as an opportunity to grow with the journal in our roles as scholar/teachers.
--Helen Moore
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Volume 28, Number 2
April 2000THIS SPRING ISSUE of Teaching Sociology represents the continued efforts of our authors and reviewers to generate discussion and move the discipline of sociology forward in pedagogical theory and research. In July of 2000, the American Sociological Association and the ASA Section on Undergraduate Education will sponsor a Workshop on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Sociology. The workshop format will include both plenary sessions and specialized working group sessions among some 30 persons who have already applied for this opportunity. Participants will reflect the diversity of scholar teachers in all dimensions.
The goal is to produce a concrete research agenda and action plan in six topical areas:
- integrating styles of learning and teaching,
- assessment of faculty,
- curriculum and student assessment,
- partnerships between the community and the academy,
- technology and its uses in teaching and learning, and
- the institutional context of teaching and learning.
These themes represent much of the agenda of Teaching Sociology over the past three decades. We anticipate that the orienting memos and papers from these workshops will provide research agendas and action items into the next decade of our scholarship of teaching and learning.
The conference planning group includes: Maxine Atkinson (North Carolina State University), Tom Gerschick (Illinois State University), Carla Howery (American Sociological Association), Marlynn May (Texas A&M University), Helen Moore (University of Nebraska—Lincoln), and Greg Weiss (Roanoke College).
ERRATA from Volume 28, 1:
Elements of ASA style to clarify references on pages 22-23:Albrecht, Gary L. 1992. The Disability Business: Rehabilitation in America. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. _____. 1997. "Disability is Area Rich with Sociological Opportunity." Footnotes 25(9):6.
Schlesinger, Lynn and Diane E. Taub. 1998a. "Incorporating Disability Studies in Sociology Courses." Footnotes 26(5):5. Referenced on page 13 (column 2, line 9).
_____. Eds. 1998b. Syllabi and Instructional Materials for Teaching Sociology of Disabilities. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association Teaching Resources Center. Referenced on pages 13 (column 2, line 15), 14, and 21.
Wright, Richard A. 1995. "Women as ‘Victims’ and as ‘Resisters’: Depictions of the Oppression of Women in Criminology Textbooks." Teaching Sociology 23:111-21.Misidentification of reviewer on page 24:
The reviewer for the Margaret Crowdes article listed as Thomas Sullivan was Thomas Schmid.
--Helen A. Moore
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Volume 28, Number 3
July 2000IN JANUARY OF 1986, the American Sociological Association began its sponsorship of the journal Teaching Sociology, and the new editorship of Ted Wagenaar, with a special symposium issue on Teaching and the Academic Profession. Hans Mauksch, the founder of the Teaching Services Program of ASA, organized a three-day conference held at the Wingspread Conference facility in Racine, Wisconsin. The collection of formal papers, discussions and commentary coming from that conference and represented in that journal issue provided us then and now with sound recommendations for improving sociological scholarship and pedagogical practice, as well as reconsidering the linkages between the two within the discipline.
In July, 2000, some 42 sociologists from across the nation, from community colleges and research universities, will gather with similar enthusiasm to re-examine our progress on these issues, and to identify the new challenges that are ahead for the scholarship of teaching and learning in sociology. As Bill D’Antonio, the outgoing editor of the journal noted in that Foreword (Teaching Sociology, 1986, 14), these workshop bring together scholars “who have thought long and hard and, most significantly, sociologically about teaching in American higher education.” Several scholars from that original 1986 symposium will join us at James Madison University for our workshop. Our thanks are extended to Carla Howery, Marlynn May, Maxine Atkinson, Greg Weiss and Tom Gerschik who generated the resources and ideas to bring this opportunity to the discipline again at the beginning of our new century.
Additionally, I want to encourage all sociologists who attend the ASA 2000 Conference in Washington, D.C. to participate in those opportunities brought together by our colleagues to consider the art and scholarship of teaching across a wide range of topics. I especially want to encourage session organizers and presenters to bring their best work forward as manuscripts to enhance the scholarly development of this journal. To the current members of our Editorial Board, I invite you to join us at our annual Board meeting on Sunday, August 13, 2000 to share in creating the possibilities of this coming year. It will be an opportunity to extend our thanks for all of your assistance in moving us forward in these first months of our editorship.
Finally, a random sample of our readership will be contacted in the next few months for your thoughts on the current and future directions of the journal. Laurie Scheuble, Deputy Editor, and I want to know your thoughts about the day-to-day experiences of Teaching Sociology reviewers, authors and readers. We encourage you to provide us with your insights and challenges for our future editorial work.
--Helen A. Moore
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Volume 28, Number 4
October 2000LATE SUMMER BROUGHT several important events for Teaching Sociology and the editorial staff. First, a team of some forty sociologists met at James Madison University in July to hammer out a series of working papers on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Many thanks go to Carla Howery, who wrote the grant that assisted our work, and who led us on a zany (tacky!) fund raising auction for the Teaching Enhancement Fund of the ASA. Six teams of sociologists from all over the United States presented their ideas in formal sessions, gathered commentary, and continue their writing into this winter. We look forward to the results of these efforts to define, research and synthesize the direction of the discipline.
The annual American Sociological Association meetings resulted in excellent panels, roundtables and scholarly paper presentations, as well as an opportunity to “shop” the ASA marketplace of teaching materials and socialize at the “Just Desserts” evening reception. Your journal editorial board met to review our past efforts and discuss goals for this next volume year. Many thanks to all of those board members who continue to provide such important and substantial support to our editorial activities. We look forward to seeing all of our readers and contributors at next year’s meeting in Anaheim, California.
Both Laurie Scheuble and I put in a plug for those TS readers who have been randomly selected to fill out our mailed Subscriber Survey. Please return these as soon as possible, and if you have misplaced your copy, contact us for a replacement. We thank those who have taken the time to contribute their ideas thus far.
Finally, this October issue includes the names of all reviewers who contributed to the efforts of the journal this past year. It is a long and distinguished list of scholars in the discipline who teach at community colleges, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive and research universities. At this close of my first year of editorship of the journal, I count all of these colleagues as the most important resource we have in developing the scholarship of teaching and learning in sociology. Their commentary is detailed, insightful and devoted to developing manuscripts that will benefit all of us. I know that our TS readers join me in applauding this invisible but invaluable work.
--Helen A. Moore
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The Editor of Teaching Sociology is Helen A. Moore.
For articles, notes, and conversations, send manuscripts to: Helen A. Moore, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324. Phone: 402-472-6081, Fax: 402-472-6070.
For book, video, and software reviews, send manuscripts to: Laurie Scheuble, Department of Sociology, Doane College, 1014 Boswell Drive, Crete, NE 68333. Phone: 402-826-8220, Fax: 402-826-8278.
For questions about manuscript processing, contact Bennie Shobe, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324. Phone: 402-472-6038.
The Webmaster is Pauline H. Pavlakos. Observations on form and egregious spelling may be directed to Ms. Pavlakos.
The Teaching Sociology Web Page is located at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Le Moyne College, the Jesuit College of Central New York.
Page last updated: April 2, 2001
