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Designing first-year sociology curricula and practice
Thomas, Theda Rechter, Sue Wallace, Joy Allen, Pamela Clark, Jennifer Cole, Bronwyn Burns, Lynette Sheridan Jones, Adrian Lawrence, Jill
Thomas, Theda
Rechter, Sue
Wallace, Joy
Allen, Pamela
Clark, Jennifer
Cole, Bronwyn
Burns, Lynette Sheridan
Jones, Adrian
Lawrence, Jill
Abstract
Many countries are now specifying standards for graduates in different disciplines, including sociology. In Australia, the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) has developed Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for sociology to provide the learning outcomes that students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in sociology should achieve. These TLOs have encouraged universities to think explicitly about their sociology curriculum in a holistic way. This paper reports on a project that investigated the skills and concepts sociology students need to learn in first year to meet the TLOs by the time they graduate. The project identified the needs of students as they transition from school or work into the study of sociology in first year through a study of literature of first-year pedagogy and a student survey. A workshop was held for sociology that involved 37 academics from 14 universities. The workshop was used to promote a rethink of teaching of sociology in the light of the new TLOs as well as to collect ideas from the participants. The student surveys, workshop ideas and relevant literature were analyzed and synthesized for each TLO to determine what skills and concepts first-year students needed to learn, identify what they might find difficult and propose strategies for teaching. The paper also provides practical ideas for engaging academics with thinking holistically about the sociology curriculum and for teaching and learning sociology in the first year of an undergraduate degree.
Keywords
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Asian Social Science
Book
Volume
13
Issue
4
Page Range
1-13
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
File Access
Open