Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Courses/Sociology of the Family fall 2010

Course description

This course will introduce students to sociological concepts and contemporary issues within the field of Sociology of the Family: defining the family structure, media representations, gender, race, class, sexuality, disability, domestic violence, immigration, and globalization. We will explore these issues through academic reading, classroom discussions, student presentations, research, and the Internet.

Students will learn how to analyze articles, lead classroom discussions, conduct research through discerning quality information sources, write short essays, and utilize web 2.0 tools for online classroom discussions and sharing information. The web 2.0 tools that will be utilized in this course include a course wiki, twitter, and blog. We will be editing Wikipedia (Sociology of the Family page). Not only will students learn about the area of family sociology, but they will also gain skills regarding critical thinking, research, presentations, leading discussions, public writing, and web 2.0 tools. Students already have an excellent foundational understanding of Internet tools; but this class will teach students to find high quality information source, contribute respectfully to public discussion, and create a professional online presence that can benefit their future. By editing Wikipedia and adding educational content to our course websites, we will be contributing to public knowledge and “cleaning up” the commons of educational space.

Assignment overview

We will be contributing to Wikipedia on various pages that deal with social issues of the family. We will apply our course reading material and research to this public arena.

Assignment

Overview the Wikipedia page family sociology. Consider the ways in which you can incorporate our course topics within this page; or else, how you can change the page to add these new topics. Read over the “discussion” page, where all contributors discuss the changes they made and their reasoning. You will make a minimum of ten changes to the Wikipedia page: minor edits such as grammar/writing corrections, or you can add new information, always citing a print source (journal article or book). You need to rationalize your contributions on the discussion page. You can also edit other relevant Wikipedia pages such as other sociology pages, authors, issues, timelines, etc. You will turn in a log of your Wikipedia contributions that include the date and changes made for a minimum of ten changes/contributions.

Students

• Mo Flynn
• AisiaDShackelford
• J17seis
• Cm24smit
• JPegsSoc23
• Sm07kloc
• Pikamandax
• Renee Richman