More than eighty sociologists from across the state gathered in Boone for the 1997 NC Sociological Association annual meeting. In addition to the usual number of academic and practicing sociologists, there were many students including groups from UNC Wilmington, Appalachian State University, and UNC Greensboro. They all came to discuss "The Sociological Web: Technology, Teaching and Tools for the 21st Century."
The meeting began with a reception in the Appalachian Cultural Center on Thursday evening, Feb. 20. About thirty individuals enjoyed wine, cheese and fruit hors d'oeuvres as they took a free-ranging tour of the museum's varied collection of Appalachian artifacts and culture. Among the notable and unusual items on display were two of Junior Johnson's NASCAR racers, original illustrations from Gail Haley's Mountain Jack Tales, the counter and post office cubby from a mountain general store, and an exhibit of self-portraits by area artists in various media (including one by Kyle Keeter, airbrush artist and son of former NCSA president Larry Keeter).
Friday, Feb. 21 was a day filled with sessions. Although some travelers complained of the foggy conditions and poor visibility, no one complained about the quality of the sessions and exchanges that took place once they had reached the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center. These sessions included various sessions on computer and web applications in sociology, tools of the trade, the politics of course coordination, and issues for both students and faculty. All sessions were well attended and sparked many questions and comments.
Catherine Harris of Wake Forest University gave the keynote address at the opening session, "Grassroots Sociology and the Future of the Discipline." Harris recalled Akers' 1992 SSS address and the issues of disciplinary fragmentation and competition to highlight the continuing problems confronting the discipline and state associations. After noting that state associations play a "crucial though unrecognized role," Harris reported the findings of a study of state associations she and NCSA president-elect Mike Wise have conducted.
Harris and Wise found the following characteristics of membership in state associations: 90% are white, 79% are male, median age is 50, 80% are at four-year schools, and 60% are at the associate professor level. Harris joked that while some of her colleagues described this as "white, male geezerhood," she was not entirely ready to accept the epithet as valid. Major organizational concerns of state organizations included attracting and maintaining membership (90%), recruiting officers (52%), and maintaining finances (42%). Among the teaching concerns mentioned were how to make teaching better (70%), teaching tools and resources (60%), and encroachment by applied disciplines (30%). Fewer than 10% of the state associations network with nonprofit organizations, health care systems, criminal justice organizations or business. Most current networking takes the form of newsletters (70%) and meetings (60%).
Harris cited a number of areas needing work. These include the need to do more networking, to clarify the image of the discipline with the public, to reach out to young scholars, and to recruit a more diverse membership. "We must recognize and celebrate what we do well," said Harris. "Who knows the territory better than we do?"
NCSA President Bob Moxley announced several new committees and called upon Paul Luebke, a representative to the NC House and a sociologists at UNCG, to discuss the role of the newly created Legislative Liaison Committee. "The legislature is overwhelmed by corporate lobbyists and underwhelmed by sociologists," said Luebke. What the legislature does affects sociology students through "devolution." North Carolina is one of the few state where every member of the legislature is connected via the internet. Luebke announced plans for a Legislative Day when students and sociologists from across the state could come to Raleigh, see the legislature and its committees at work, and make their interest and presence felt. Plans for this proposed activity are being coordinated by Cathy Zimmer at NCSU. Interested parties should contact her at their earliest convenience.
Representative Paul Luebke can be reached by e-mail.
At the awards luncheon, Seann Cowling was presented with the Himes Award for the best undergraduate paper. Cowling, a student at NCSU, researched "Television and Happiness." His advisor is Cathy Zimmer. Catherine Harris received the Contributions Award for her work with the NCSA as well as other state and regional organizations.
At the business meeting later in the day, the membership approved the proposed changes in the bylaws of the association and voted to raise dues for professional members to $11 and dues for student members to $3. Changes took affect following the meeting. Secretary-Treasurer Pat Wyatt reported that 83 sociologists registered for the Boone meeting_41 professionals and 42 students. Mary Beth Collins of the Membership Committee reported that the NCSA has 290 active members including 161 professionals (56%) and 129 student members (44%). Cathy Zimmer of the Legislative Liaison Committee reminded those present of the proposed Legislative Day and discussed other outstanding issues including qualifications for state jobs (which currently exclude sociologists) and the articulation agreement between the state's community colleges and universities.
Thanks largely to the efforts of George Conklin and other members of the Publications and Media Committee, the NCSA now has a web page. The page includes a variety of information about the association, articles from SOCIATION, pictures from the Boone meeting, and links to other pages of interest to sociologists. Check it out! Its URL is http://www.ncsociology.org/.
The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Fayetteville State University is pleased to announce the 1997 Summer Seminar in Demography. The seminar is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and will be held June 22-27, 1997.
This is an Undergraduate Faculty Development Program intended to improve the capabilities of faculty from undergraduate colleges and universities. The major objective of the Institute is to encourage faculty participants from various disciplines, especially social and behavioral sciences, to incorporate demographic methods and data into undergraduate courses. Eligible applicants are full-time faculty members from undergraduate colleges and universities who are interested in developing and teaching undergraduate courses in demography and/or incorporating demographic data and material into their existing courses.
Participants will be exposed to new developments in the field of social demography through intensive seminars and discussions with leading social demographers from the University of North Carolina, University of Michigan and University of Delaware. New teaching technology and hands-on instructional activities using demographic data will be a significant part of the Institute. The participants will collaborate in compiling new instructional materials for undergraduate social demography courses and develop a network for communicating new ideas.
The National Science Foundation has provided support for participation in this Institute at Fayetteville State University. There will be no registration fee. In addition, participants will receive partial support toward the cost of accommodation and meals.
To apply, send a resume and a short letter of interest indicating how participation in the Summer Institute in Demography will affect your undergraduate teaching and research at your institution. Please include a short letter of support from a college or university administrator.
The deadline for all applications is April 21, 1997 (or when the workshop is full). All application material should be sent to Dr. Akbar Aghajanian, Project Director, Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC 28301. Dr. Aghajanian may be reached by telephone at 910-486-1071 or by FAX at 910-486-1378/486-6024. Send e-mail to: Aghajani@chi1.uncfsu.edu
The session on "Retooling the Discipline" gave the opportunity to
see demonstrations of what some of our people are doing in the classes
regarding the internet. Scott Boeringer of Appalachian State University
has a course titled "The Sociology of Cyberspace." This course provides
an introduction to several aspects of the internet such as computer
accounts, the world wide web, gopher telnet, Usenet, FTP, Hytelnet,
e-mail and IRC.
These topics are interwoven within a sociological context (i.e., the introduction to social interaction) so that students can understand sociological concepts. Boeringer also addressed specific issues dealing with the 'Electropolis.' He has a large data bank of electronic addresses and is working on an on-line secure grade server. This must be an interesting as well as popular class!
Rick Dixon of UNC Wilmington is also doing some interesting things in his research and population classes. He has placed everything related to his courses on the internet. This includes assignments, questionnaires, handouts, class 'rules,' and demographic sites. His research classes = are working on a data base of all agencies in the Wilmington area. He works with and speaks to organizations such as the United Way. Their electronic data base includes problem areas, services, and support.
Two of Dixon's students, Chris Simmons and Allyson Wriede, are working on web sites, logos, and contact information for these organizations. They have compiled and manage a large community data base. They shared with us their experiences and future plans with the project. Dixon's class projects have tremendous student involvement. His classes also offer excellent opportunity for learning about the internet and maintaining data bases.
Tom Plaut of Mars Hill University offers a hands on approach in the teaching of research methods and related statistics. He has collected a data base of 90 variables on about 400 counties in the Appalachian subregion. He uses a MicroCase statistical package for analyses. Students can view spatial patterns on variables such as unemployment, poverty, and percentage of persons in the labor force, as well as other variables. They can also examine univariate, bivariate, and trivariate analyses, create charts, plot graphs, and construct tables. Students have the excellent opportunity for interactive learning.
Plaut has also written a workbook, available through Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, titled People, Politics, and Economic Life. This guide incorporates the latest technology and geographic data bases.
We were overwhelmed by the interesting presentations from all panelists on technology and the teaching environment. All speakers provided us with the necessary tools and ideas for possible courses and workshops with students on our respective campuses.
In the session on 'The Politics of Course Coordination,' the panelists discussed the current reengineering of the curriculum in the fifty-eight colleges of the NC Community College System and its implications for four-year institutions. Jan Reinerth outlined the legislation passed by the NC Legislature which resulted in a Common Course Library with more than 4,000 course titles and descriptions for every program in the system.
Jacque Freeman gave a brief description of the articulation agreement between NCCCS and the UNC system. The agreement enables students who have graduated with an Associate in Arts to transfer their General Education courses, which will give them junior standing.
David Freeman discussed the process of the conversion at Caldwell Community College. He also discussed the general education core (44 semester hours credit). The general education core includes study in the areas of humanities and fine arts, social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, and English composition. Within the core, colleges must include opportunities for the achievement of competence in reading, writing, oral communication, fundamental mathematical skills, and the basic use of computers.
All agreed that the effects of the changes in NCCCS will improve the quality of instruction with common course descriptions at every institution. Further, the changes will improve articulation between community colleges and four-year institutions.
Presider George Conklin and Chien Ju Huang, both of NC Central University provided a technological tour de force of Computer and Web Applications in Sociology during the first sessions of the NCSA meeting in Boone.
Using live internet connections, Conklin showcased the new NCSA home page (www.ncsociology.org) and its links to various points of interests for sociologists and students. Conklin also demonstrated how he and his colleagues have incorporated computer labs (CFAS labs) and critical thinking skills as parts of their instructional delivery.
Huang showed how to download and incorporate applications available through the world wide web into classroom instruction and demonstrations. She used Project Geosim as an example to show how easily assumptions about birth and death rates could be graphically shown in population pyramids and growth projections over fifty years. While some may still be struggling to focus the transparencies on the overhead, Huang has acquired a technical fluency with web applications which allow students and instructors to change their parameters and assumptions on the spot.
Huang demonstrated how her own home page provides many useful links to access research and databases as well as search engines and news links. She graciously provided handouts listing the URLs of many sites. (Since the meeting, she has allowed the NCSA to list a link to her home page from the organization's home page.)
Randy Thomson described his experiences with distance learning, an emerging technology including everything from correspondence courses to video and cable services. He noted that although formats differ with respect to cost and interaction with students, the available research seems to indicate that all are equally effective. Among the benefits frequently mentioned in conjunction with distance learning are cost, affordability, accessibility, interaction, speed of delivery, and flexibility. Tompson cautioned that not all students learn best with technology.
Cathy Zimmer took a different perspective on technology and distance learning. She noted that these new technologies may seek to become as 'faculty-free' as possible. This means huge student loads. She questioned the measures currently used in research on the outcomes of distance learning, noting that currently distance learners are self-selected. Most outcome measures have been grade-based. 'Teaching is not about efficiency,' said Zimmer; 'It's about learning by the students.' She also noted that faculty-less courses on the web cost more because of coordination and design costs.
Sociologists often look at ordinary things in sometimes extraordinary ways. The session 'Tools of the Trade' explored critical thinking as a method of teaching and as a desired outcome of sociological inquiry.
Professor Harriette Buchanan at Appalachian State University spoke about efforts at her university to improve the intellectual skills of freshman students and to move their thinking along Bloom's Taxonomy from knowledge and comprehension to application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. A professor's questions can influence the levels of students' thoughts. While some professors ask for recall of knowledge, others ask students to look for patterns and to judge the quality of material.
Caldwell Community College psychologist David Pipes believes that critical thinking strategies enable students to know how to approach problems, generate potential solutions and then evaluate those solutions. Too often, he says, educators 'cover' the material rather than giving students the skills to 'discover' knowledge.
Sociologist Metaleen Thomas uses critical thinking strategies to teach freshman and sophomore-level courses at Caldwell Community College.
Students in introductory classes begin by developing their questions about social phenomenon and learning to research them using sociological research techniques. This active learning enlivens the class and stimulates students to enroll in additional sociology courses.
Webmaster's note: We are working like the animal below on this web site. Most of the information has been kept in text form so all styles of browsers will work. If you find errors in the text above, or links which do not work, please send an e-mail message. If you have an announcement you would like to post, please contact me about putting it on the first page. Thanks. ghc
View Past Issues of Sociation.
