Social Problems - Sociology 2211 - Welcome Tour

suz.prescott@gmail.com

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Welcome to the Spring term 2008 Social Problems course. This welcome tour will help get you off to a great start.

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Using Videos in Sociology & Other Fields (3:13)

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Ah, videos. Many faculty think they want them but like any component, it pays to plan ahead when it comes to their use. In Sociology there aren't many I would want to make myself while there are many videos with good production values that are already available. When it comes to training, videos are an effective way of demonstrating 'how-to' skills.

I found blip.tv a couple of years ago and started using to host videos. Here's a link to a video I made with Camtasia for training purposes.

http://blip.tv/file/457398/ Add Weblinks (2 mins.)

And here's a link to a video I made with a camera (and a 'video toaster' connected to an Amiga 2500.)

http://blip.tv/file/1439/ Execution Barbie (about 1 min)It takes time to load.

With the appearance of video hosting sites there is more video content out there than I ever could have imagined - and a range of topics that almost defies imagination.

True Story: a friend of mine has had sinus problems for months. Finally she got a 'netty pot' to aid her in... well, draining her sinuses. But she couldn't figure out how to use it. I said, search YouTube; maybe they have a video demonstration. The following week she told me that sure enough, she found a video that showed her successfully how to use it and she felt very refreshed. Inspiring? ;-)

Collaborative Learning & Faculty

While many of us agree that collaborative learning is powerful, there are still many of us who find it difficult to locate and use collaborative learning exercises in our own courses. Faculty may not have experienced many examples of collaborative learning and their colleagues may not have many collaborative learning experiences to share. How can faculty who want to include collaborative learning be assisted in their quest for good course content that includes elements of collaboration or at least group work?

Here's a good example Michele Watson found which shows of how podcasting was used in a collaborative learning framework to enhance learning among young students in New Zealand.

We experienced some of the same benefits when the local public access TV station in Albuquerque sponsored a contest for the Albuquerque public schools in which students prepared speeches on the importance of free speech in a democracy and then delivered their speeches on TV. Many of the benefits mentioned in the New Zealand example were experienced by students (and their families.)