learning
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I teach a seminar called Media, Culture and Society where we focus on issues of interactive digital media, or “new media.” In a discussion about Dhiraj Murthy’s article on new media and ethnographic research methods, my students raised concerns about how they, as young people, are expected to know how to use digital media tools…
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Today in my Social Movements class Kevin Simowtiz of Virginia Organizing shared his experiences as a student organizer of the Living Wage Campaign. He also facilitated a useful discussion with the class on the obstacles and resources for student led movements. Here are the highlights of their conversation: What are the obstacles to student* involvement…
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The University of Virginia has developed a growing community of scholars involved in academic community engagement, which is elsewhere sometimes known as community based research or service learning. At an end of the semester reflective luncheon this afternoon, over twenty faculty gathered to discuss their previous experiences and their plans for the upcoming year. The…
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A colleague of mine commented today on facebook that it is better to give than receive, and this is particularly true during exams. But I often find myself nervous to see how my students perform. Did my intentions for their learning get realized? This semester I taught a new course on Community Arts that had…
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Today in my Social Problems class I let students choose a topic for me to discuss. They chose drug abuse. Since drug abuse is not really an area I study, I was at a loss for a good hook that could get me interested in the topic. I found that hook when I caught the…
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Limitless opportunity creates incapacitating uncertainty. The academic job market has bottomed out due to the Great Recession, but it has been faltering for years as universities, like other industries, turn toward part-time contract workers. Recent PhDs, primed for a lifetime of learning and knowledge production within the institution of academia, have diminishing opportunities to put…
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There has recently been a lively discussion on the CITASA (Communication and Information Technology section of the American Sociological Association) listserv about using blogs for teaching college-level sociology. The discussion contained a lot of practical advice as well as pedagogical insight. I started a summary of the conversation and asked those who had been a…
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I hesitated when first asked to teach the workshop on diversity in the classroom. Diversity can often be a code for tokenism, or treated as a resource to be exploited by those in the majority. Aiming to avoid these approaches, I decided to focus on individualized learning, I lead new and seasoned teaching assistants through…
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Two-Dimensional Sociology If Comcast was working, which it never is, I would have created this entry on my birthday (09.13.07). I turned 29, which makes me “in my late 20s,” that ambiguous age where you are still young enough to avoid total responsibility and old enough to feel confident, or where you are awaiting some…
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This past summer, I taught a course in the Sociology of Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). In this class we discussed issues of urban space, development and consumption from the perspective of cultural sociology. After reading Richard Florida’s Rise of the Creative Class and Sharon Zukin’s chapter on North Adams in the Cultures of…
jacob alden sargent 