The Badass Sociologist Society for the Study of Social Problems Teaching Social Problems Division Newsletter In this issue: A Letter from the Division Chair The Blog as Community Research Jounral: Utilization of Student Blogs in a Qualitative Methods Class AHS Annual Meeting, Call for Submissions TSP Student Paper Competition Announcement 2015 SSSP Annual Meeting Call for Papers TSP Division Sponsored Sessions Toward a Video Pedagogy: A Teaching Typology with Learning Goals TSP Division Social Networks Pedagogy Section of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Call for Submissions TSP Member Advertisements A letter from the division chair Hephzibah v. Strmic-Pawl Hello! I am your new Chair of the Teaching Social Problems division, a position I accept with much enthusiasm and humility. Corey Dolgon has left some big shoes to fill, and I thank him many times over for all he has done for our division and his dedication to teaching, teachers, and social change. Under Corey’s leadership, among many other notable accomplishments, we now have a revised mission statement as well as a new name for our newsletter (The Badass Sociologist). With this revised vision and new name in hand, I am eager to work with all of you and hear your ideas on how to make our division even more effective and helpful. Some initial thoughts I have are instituting a book award, starting a syllabus mentoring program, and increasing our social media presence. We’ve already started working on one of those ideas with our new Twitter and Facebook page! We have many great entries in this fall newsletter. Janelle Pham writes about how to effectively use blogs in a qualitative methods class. Lester Andrist, Valerie Chapp, Paul Dean, and Michael Miller write about the creation of The Sociological Cinema and their recent article about video pedagogy in Teaching Sociology. Please also take a special look at our announcement for the Student Paper Competition as well as the 2015 SSSP annual meeting call for papers. There are also two calls for scholarship: 1) submissions for the Association for Humanist Sociology 2015 annual meeting in Portland; and 2) a call for submissions to the Pedagogy Section of the new journal, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. The newsletter closes with a lecture advertisement and several publication advertisements, all by our division members; please check them out! Always feel free to email me with your ideas, suggestions, and questions (hstrmicp@coastal.edu)! In solidarity, Hephzibah The Blog as Community Research Journal: Utilization of student blogs in a qualitative methods class Janelle Pham, UC Santa Barbara Engaging the millennial college student in an era where technology can both isolate and connect implores educators to walk a fine line in their use of technologies in the classroom. While well-planned lectures and class activities can facilitate interactive learning, the student must be challenged to consider how social forces impact their lives and the lives of others once they have left the classroom. Purposeful utilization of technologies in the classroom can enhance the student learning experience, increase comfort with and confidence in peer collaboration, and help students develop their analytical thinking. In what follows, I will discuss and reflect on the development and use of a student blogging project for a six week summer Qualitative Methods course, as well as consider the possibilities for its use across the curriculum. Utilization of Web 2.0 technologies (that is, those that involve active creation of content) in the classroom provides an element of continuity between class meetings and space for community dialogue and collaborative learning (Bennett et al 2012; Chang et al 2014). Studies of online collaborative learning have found a connection between engagement and advanced epistemic agency, whereby knowledge building is accomplished via discussion of personal ideas and integration of the ideas of others (Cacciamani et al 2012). Inherent in such an approach is the understanding that the teacher does not hold all of the answers. In its use in my classroom this summer, blogging facilitated practical application of and reflection on methodological concepts as students completed a mini research project. It was hoped that the exercise of blogging would be more impactful than simply thinking about these concepts in abstract terms (Greenhow et al 2009). I incorporated the blogging project in a six week qualitative methods course taught at UC Santa Barbara this summer, an introductory upper-level course taught in the department of Sociology, which emphasized ethnography and interviewing. Students were charged with completion of a mini-research project over the six week period, to include developing a research question, conducting a literature review, writing an informed consent and interview protocol, conducting one interview and completing four hours of field work. Students were able to choose their own research questions, provided they were sociological in nature and amenable to study using both in-depth interviewing and ethnography. During the first week of class students were introduced to the blogging project, which the instructor explained would act as an online research journal where they could reflect on the process of doing research. Blogs were created utilizing Edublogs, an online, education-focused blogging platform. The decision was made to use Edublogs due to its privacy settings, as students could only see each other’s blogs after they were enrolled in the course blog I created. Each week students were expected to post, at a minimum, two 150 word entries to their personal blogs and to provide feedback to at least two students via utilization of the comment feature on the site. Students could blog about whatever was relevant to them that week, so long as the post was related to qualitative methods and/or their personal research projects. The decision to utilize blogging as a Web 2.0 technology held students accountable for continued progress on their research projects and facilitated learning outcomes through the process of reflecting on their experience with conducting qualitative research. In addition, blogging facilitates co-construction of knowledge, and encourages students to be active, collaborative participants in the learning process, which Greenhow and colleagues have referred to as “social scholarship” (2009). While formal assessment of the effectiveness of the blogging project on student learning outcomes was not conducted (and not for lack of trying – the IRB had not approved the proposal for a survey study of the blogging project by the time the class began in August 2014), conversations both within the classroom and on the blogosphere suggested its usefulness as a teaching and learning tool. Spirited discussions about and suggestions for the formulation of research questions, addressing possible ethical conflicts, and analyzing data ensued. Students were given space to, for lack of a better term, process the process of doing qualitative social research and implore students for advice or input. Course evaluations revealed that students were not thrilled with the blogging project at first, but came to see its value as they began the process of developing research questions and collecting data. While this project was used in a qualitative methods class, blogging can prove useful for other sociology courses. Pearson’s incorporation of student blogs in Social Problems courses, for example, demonstrates blogging’s usefulness for creating knowledge collaboratively, and students acknowledged the usefulness of blogging for improving their writing skills and keeping them on track with course readings (2010). The blogging project I utilized was originally constructed for use in an Introduction to Sociology course, where students could hone their sociological imagination by using what they’ve learned in class to make the connection between the personal and the social via their reflections on current events or captured observations of the everyday. Adapting this idea for a qualitative methods course demonstrates the varied ways that blogs may be used to enhance the student learning experience, increase familiarity and comfort with peer collaboration, and help students develop their analytical thinking. REFERENCES Bennett, Sue, Andrea Bishop, Barney Dalgarno, Jenny Waycott and Gregor Kennedy. 2012. Implementingn Web 2.0 technologies in higher education: A collective case study. Computers & Education 59, 524-534. Chang, Chi-Cheng, Chaoyun Liang, Kuo-Hung Tseng, Ju-Shih Tseng. 2014. Using e-portfolios to elevate knowledge amassment among university students. Computers & Education 72, 187-195. Dede, Chris. 2008. Theoretical Perspectives Influencing the Use of Information Technology in Teaching and Learning. In International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. Joke Voogt and Gerald Knezek, eds. New York: Springer, pp. 43-62. Greenhow, Christine, Beth Robelia and Joan E. Hughes. 2009. Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship in a Digital Age: Web 2.0 and Classroom Research: What Path Should We Take Now? Educational Researcher 38 (4), 246-259. Pearson, A. Fiona. 2010. Real Problems, Virtual Solutions: Engaging Students Online. Teaching Sociology 38 (3), 207-214. AHS Annual Meeting, call for participation The Association for Humanist Sociology announces its Call for Participation for their 2015 annual meetings to be held in Portland, OR, Oct. 21-25, 2015. The conference theme is "Locavore Sociology: Challenging Globalization, Celebrating the Local." Please submit abstracts of papers or session ideas, related to the conference theme or more broadly to the AHS mission of social justice, activism, and equality, to the Program Chair, Anthony Ladd, Loyola University New Orleans, at aladd@loyno.edu, or to President Kathleen J. Fitzgerald, University of New Orleans, fitzy88so@gmail.com by the May 31, 2015. hear ye, hear ye: tsp student paper competition The Teaching Social Problems Division announces its 2015 Outstanding Paper Competition. Papers may be on any aspect of teaching about social problems, but does not have to derive from teaching a social problems course. Topics for papers can include innovative teaching methods, “best practices” in the classroom, service-learning courses, using technology, using media, assessment of learning, and other areas. The winner will receive a cash award of $100, a certificate of recognition, a one year membership to SSSP, and the 2015 conference registration. The winner also receives an opportunity to present this paper at the 2015 SSSP meeting. To be eligible, a paper must meet the following criteria: (1) the applicant must be a graduate student at the time of the 2015 SSSP annual meeting (or graduated in 2015); (2) the paper must not be co-authored with a faculty member or a colleague who is not a student; (3) the paper must have been completed between January 2012 and January 2014; (4) The paper may not have been submitted or accepted for publication (papers that have been presented at a professional meeting or that have been submitted for presentation at a professional meeting are eligible); (5) The paper must be 30 pages or less, including notes, references, and tables; (6) Please note that any paper submitted for consideration for the Paper Award must also be submitted to be presented at the 2015 meeting of the SSSP. Double submission to other SSSP award competitions will disqualify the submission. Self nominations are welcome and highly encouraged. Please submit the paper electronically as a Word-compatible file, along with a letter of nomination, to the Outstanding Paper Competition committee chair: Dr. Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl, Department of Sociology, Coastal Carolina University, PO Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528; hstrmicp@coastal.edu (email submissions preferred). The winner will be announced prior to the 2015 SSSP Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. Deadline: January 31st See the calls for all the divisions at: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/296/ SSSP Website Updates several webpages have updates and additions, check it out! 2015 SSSP Annual Meeting Call for SSSP Submissions Current Job Opportunities SSSP Awards SSP Scholarships SSSP Student Paper Competitions & Outstanding Scholarship Awards Affiliated Fellowships & Scholarships Affiliated Calls for Submissions & Conferences student paper competition! current graduate student single authored or co-authored with a student written between 2012-2014 not submitted or accepted for publication 30 pages or less submitted to 2015 SSSP annual conference sssp 2015 annual meeting call for papers removing the mask, lifting the veil: race, class, and gender in the 21st century august 21-23, 2015; chicago, IL Call for Papers: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/611/ Hotel Reservation Information: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/612/Hotel_Reservation_Information/ Renew Your Membership: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/255/fuseaction/ssspmember.portal/userid/-1 teaching social problems sponsored sessions Teaching Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Co-sponsored with Race and Ethnic Minorities Critical Dialogue Organizer: Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl @ hstrmicp@coastal.edu Teaching Sexualities Co-sponsored with Educational Problems; Sexual Behavior, Politics, & Communities Paper Session Organizer: Mindy Stombler @ stombler@gsu.edu Innovative Methods for Teaching about Wealth Inequality Co-sponsored with Poverty, Class & Inequality Paper Session Organizers: Lynn Green @ lynngreen@cheyney.edu and William Cabin @ williamcabin@yahoo.com Disabilities as a Social Problem: Thinking, Research, and Teaching Co-sponsor with Disabilities Paper Session Organizer: Brian Grossman @ brianrgrossman@gmail.com Teaching with Technology Co-sponsor with Environment & Technology Critical Dialogue Organizer: Daina Harvey @ dharvey@holycross.edu Teaching Quantitative Literacy: Charts, Tables, and Graphs Critical Dialogue Organizers: Lynn Green @ lynngreen@cheyney.edu and Daina Harvey @ dharvey@holycross.edu Lifting the Veil: Experiental Learning Thematic Invited Paper Session Organizers: Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl @ hstrmicp@coastal.edu and Corey Dolgon @ cdolgon@stonehill.edu Education Labor Strikes: Implications for Underrepresented Faculty, Staff, and Students Co-sponsored with: Educational Problems; Labor Studies Invited Paper Session Organizer: Cory Dolgon @ cdolgon@stonehill.edu. Member Publication: Toward a Video Pedagogy: A Teaching Typology with Learning Goals Lester Andrist, Valerie Chapp, Paul Dean, and Michael V. Miller In September 2010, The Sociological Cinema teaching website (www.thesociologicalcinema.com) was launched by Lester Andrist, Valerie Chepp, and Paul Dean. Since that time, we have cataloged over 500 videos for teaching and learning sociology on the site, and we have written numerous blog posts about teaching with video and other multimedia. Over the past four years, we have marveled at the explosion of course-relevant videos now available on the Internet and the ways that technology has enabled the production and sharing of videos previously unavailable to instructors. Along the way, we have continuously reflected about how video can be useful in an educational context. As a part of this work, in collaboration with our colleague Michael V. Miller, we recently published an article in Teaching Sociology that outlines a pedagogy to facilitate effective teaching with video. In that article, we describe special features of streaming media that have enabled their use in the classroom. Within this pedagogical context, we introduce a typology comprised of six overlapping categories (conjuncture, testimony, infographic, pop fiction, propaganda, and detournement). We define properties of each video type and the strengths of each type in meeting specific learning goals common to sociology instruction. In terms of next steps for this project, three of us (Valerie Chepp, Lester Andrist, and Michael Miller) are working in collaboration with the Office of Information Technology at the University of Texas at San Antonio to develop an online learning module based on the video pedagogy outlined in the paper. Citation: Andrist, Lester, Valerie Chepp, Paul Dean, and Michael V. Miller. 2014. "Toward a Video Pedagogy: A Teaching Typology with Learning Goals." Teaching Sociology, 42(3): 196-206. Check out TSP on our new social networks! Twitter @ssspteaching SSSP Teaching Social Problems Division www.facebook.com/SSSPTSP Thank you to Robyn White for being our Social Network Editor! Calendar January 31st SSSP Annual Meeting Paper Submission Deadline January 31st TSP Student Paper Competition Submission Deadline March 23rd TSP Spring Division Newsletter Submissions Due Sociology of Race and Ethnicity The official journal of ASA’s Section for Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, is now open for submission. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity publishes four issues a year with a specific section of each issue devoted to empirical and/or theoretical articles focused on pedagogical issues pertaining to race and ethnicity. Only original articles will be accepted for publication. Submissions should follow the ASA Style Guide in terms of formatting and citations and should not exceed 2500-3000 words in length, including references and notes. We are interested in advancing the teaching of race, from introductory undergraduate courses to advanced graduate courses. All submissions should be clearly informed by the current literature, and (if applicable) provide evidence of teaching effectiveness. Submissions might address: Theoretically-informed reflections on topics to be included in race and ethnicity courses Teaching from a particular standpoint or to a particular demographic: region, class size, type of university/college, and/or race/class/gender of students or instructor Integration of race and ethnicity into sociology foundation courses such as Introduction to Sociology or Social Problems Information focused on advanced race courses such as those on the sociology of African and African American, Asian and Asian American, or Latin@ and Latin@ American communities Analysis of online resources, databases, and/or media useful for teaching a particular module Class exercises Service learning and community-based projects The journal’s co-editors, associate editors, and editorial board members are committed to creating a high quality outlet for the most important work in the sociology of race and ethnicity through timely and constructive peer reviews, careful and engaging editorial decision-making, as well as drawing from all epistemological, theoretical, and methodological perspectives and approaches. Our submission portal can be found at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sre. Submissions to the Race and Ethnicity Pedagogy Section should be identified as such in the submission process. Additionally, we invite and encourage anyone interested in becoming part of our reviewer database to register for an account through this website, please indicate areas of interest and expertise. For more information on the Race and Ethnicity Pedagogy section, please contact Hephzibah Strmic-Pawl at hstrmicp@coastal.edu Editors: David L. Brunsma (Virginia Tech) and David G. Embrick (Loyola University Chicago) Pedagogy Editor: Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl (Coastal Carolina University) Book Review Editor: Steve Garner (Open) Associate Editors: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (Duke), Michael Emerson (Rice), Tanya Golash-Boza (UC Merced), Matthew Hughey (UConn), and Amanda Lewis (Emory) Kathleen Odell Korgen, William Paterson University and Jonathan White, Bentley University Connect the Classroom to the Community with The Engaged Sociologist! A low-cost ($37.00) primary or supplementary text for courses in Introductory Sociology such as Principles of Sociology, Social Problems, Applied Sociology, and many more. Request a review copy at http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book243408 The new, 5th edition, includes: Coverage of recent real-world events, such as the recession, global climate change, and environmental racism, brings concepts to life and captures student interest. A global perspective, with integrated international examples in each chapter, helps students see how closely they are connected to the global community, as well as to their local and national communities.  A focus on getting involved entices students to become more active, effective citizens by providing specific actions that students can implement immediately, such as throwing a fundraiser, participating in "actions" via the Web, or organizing a forum on campus.  Exercises and projects, including more civic engagement exercises, allow students to connect their sociological knowledge to their campus and the larger community.  Each chapter contains hands-on data collection exercises (in the form of surveys, interviews, and observations), discussion questions, and library-based research activities.  “Suggestions for Specific Actions” and “Sociologist in Action” features showcase powerful examples of how sociology students and professional sociologists use sociology to improve society. A Singing Lecture by Corey Dolgon Folksinger and Sociologist Corey Dolgon, a Ph.D in American Culture and Sociology Professor has been performing “singing lectures” for over a decade. Focusing on the role that folksongs play in the U.S. labor movement, Corey’s words and music bring both history and theory to life. He is a long-time labor activist and community organizer and has used folk songs to build solidarity on the line and engage students in the classroom. This singing lecture covers labor history from a multicultural perspective and examines the function of folk songs in workers’ lives, labor, and organizing. The lecture can be tailored for specific needs and time periods, but generally runs about an hour to an hour and a half depending on questions and format. The lecture is about 25 minutes of actual speaking and about 35 minutes of song. Corey is very adept at gaining audience participation and provides an object lesson in how the collective acts of singing can enhance the feelings of solidarity and create new possibilities for collective identities. Here’s what students, faculty and labor folk had to say about Corey’s performances: “I learned about the importance and power of strikes and labor unions. I never knew there were songs about them. [The lecture] made the period come alive for me.” --student, Stonehill College “Corey’s work weaves together a coherent and accessible narrative about labor struggles with a tour de force of labor songs that move an audience with workers’ own articulate descriptions of their conditions and inspiring visions of movements to improve those conditions.” --Chris Dale, Professor of Sociology, New England College “Corey's music added tremendous spirit to our National Labor Assembly. Hearing and singing labor songs gave our nurses a sense of community with others in the union movement and helped build energy at our meetings. I encourage other unions to add Corey's talents and expertise to their agendas.” --Cheryl Johnson, President, United American Nurses, AFL-CIO Corey Dolgon’s “singing lecture” is a hit. Those who attended his presentation for the University of Louisville Labor-Management Center from union retirees to active union member to academics and management were entertained and enlightened. A good time and good learning. --John Ralston, Asst. Director, University of Louisville Labor-Management Center Corey’s wonderful voice, abundant energy, and great knowledge about folksongs, the labor movement, and other social movements were entertaining, very informative, and inspiring.  He made a major impact on WPUNJ, performing in front of almost 300 students and faculty.   --Kathleen Odell Korgen, Professor of Sociology, William Patterson University Please contact Corey for scheduling a lecture or receiving a sample CD at 617-298-0388 or at cdolgon@stonehill.edu He is happy to combine his lecture with other engagements and will also help arrange other performances in the area to defray expenses.