A Quarterly Publication of The American Sociological Association Comments from the Editor Volume 26, Number 1- January 1998 Volume 26, Number 2 - April 1998 Volume 26, Number 3 - July 1998 Volume 26, Number 4 - October 1998 Volume 26, Number 1 January 1998 WE HAVE NOW been on the job for over a year, and this issue marks the beginning of our second volume of issues. The job continues to be both overwhelming and fun. I would like to thank my staff, Kate Flannery, Mary Radford, Pauline Pavlakos, Laura Pedrick, Karen Edwards at the ASA, Jane Carey (President of Boyd Publishing), Mary Senter (my deputy editor), the authors, and especially the reviewers, including members of the editorial board, for all their assistance this year in this endeavor. I appreciate feedback—both positive and negative—on the editorial process and ideas on improving it, so please send in your comments. I would also like to thank the members of my department and the Le Moyne College committee on Faculty Research and Development who have provided both formal and informal support to me. I would like to thank members of the editorial board for their work and give a special thank you to those board members whose terms expired December 31, 1997. They are: Roger C. Barnes, Incarnate Word College, Lisa J. Bond-Maupin, New Mexico State University, Brent T. Bruton, Iowa State University, Craig Eckert, Eastern Illinois University, Lin Huff-Corzine, Kansas State University, Kichi Iwamoto, Santa Clara University, Willie Melton, Michigan Technological University, Krista S. Moore, Mount Mary College, Chris Prendergast, Illinois Wesleyan University, Martin D. Schwartz, Ohio University, William Smith, Georgia Southern University, and Donna M. Trent, Eckerd College. I would like to welcome the new board members whose terms begin January 1, 1998. They are: Kate Berheide, Skidmore College, Scott Desmond, University of Washington, Anne Eisenberg, University of Iowa, Elaine Hall, Kent State University, Anna Karpathakis, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Suzanne Maurer, Monmouth University, Jodi O’Brien, Seattle University, Bernice Pescosolido, Indiana University, Jim Rothenberg, Ithaca College, Kim Schopmeyer, Henry Ford Community College, Susan Takata, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and Morrison Wong, Texas Christian University. In the October 1997 issue, we included a list of all the individuals who reviewed papers for Teaching Sociology from August 11, 1996 through September 9, 1997. Please let us know if we missed anyone. This issue contains a variety of articles and notes beginning with Kathleen McKinney’s presentation at the August 1997 annual meeting in Toronto. She is the 1996 recipient of the ASA Undergraduate Education Section’s Hans O. Mauksch Award. We always welcome high quality manuscripts, and I would be happy to talk with individuals who have ideas that need cultivation to become papers. --Jeffrey Chin Volume 26, Number 2 April 1998 THIS ISSUE IS devoted to a discussion of radical pedagogy and radical curriculum. Although this was not a special issue by design, we found that we had a nice package consisting of Stephen Sweet’s paper entitled “Practicing Radical Pedagogy: Balancing Ideals with Institutional Constraints,” a number of responses to that paper, and Sweet’s final comment. Rather than add a few additional papers that were not on the topic, I decided to include only these related papers along with the usual book, video, and software reviews. I have issued a number of “Calls for Papers” since becoming editor, hoping that they might become special issues. Here is a summary of the special issue plans. At this time, we anticipate the October 1998 issue will be devoted to experiential and community education. The special issue editors are Linda Scheible and Susan Stall. It will be a sizable and stimulating issue. Unfortunately, the “Calls for Papers” on teaching the introductory course, on the AAC/ASA report on liberal learning, and on teaching sociology in ethnic studies programs did not produce enough submissions to produce special issues. Submissions of papers on technology and “Great Ideas for Teaching Sociology” continue to arrive, but not in time to produce a special issue. Given the lead time needed for special issues, I do not anticipate trying to assemble any more special issues during my term as editor. One of my goals for 1998 is to increase subscriptions to Teaching Sociology. It is hard for me to imagine why more teaching sociologists do not subscribe to and read a journal that assists us in our everyday work lives. Assuming that it might simply be a problem of communicating information, I wrote to chairs of sociology departments of every two- and four-year school in New York inviting them to join the ASA and (or) subscribe to the journal. With 49 states to go, I obviously need your help. If you know individuals who might enjoy reading the journal, encourage them to subscribe. If they want more information, they can visit the journal’s web site. It is: www.lemoyne.edu/ts/tsmain.html If your institution’s library does not already receive the journal, encourage them to subscribe. Finally, if you have ideas on how I can inform the sociology community about this journal, please let me know. Individuals with questions about subscriptions should contact the ASA. Questions regarding content or editorial practices should be directed to me. In her capacity as the editor of the canceled special issue on teaching sociology in ethnic studies programs, Mary Romero solicited a number of reviews. The reviews of the films “Black Skins, White Masks” and “On Our Own Terms” appear in this issue. Erratum: There is an error in the review of “Soul Survivors” and “Facing Racism” written by Klymyshyn in the last issue of Teaching Sociology (January 1998). On page 92, first column, line two, the word “gay” should not have been included. We regret the error. --Jeffrey Chin Volume 26, Number 3 July 1998 This issue contains several thought-provoking papers: two articles that study the use of guest speakers and computer technology, teaching notes on a variety of teaching techniques, one conversation, and a number of reviews. We would like to remind you that the October issue will be a special issue devoted to papers on experiential education and community learning. The special issue co-editors are Linda Scheible and Susan Stall. It will be a terrific issue! The Teaching Sociology home page has received a significant face lift. This work was done by Pauline Pavlakos, the person who does such a wonderful job typesetting the journal. In addition to the cosmetic changes, we now include an abstract for every article and note that gets published in the journal, even though we only print abstracts for articles in the journal. This way, you can go to the table of contents to find out what each issue of the journal contains and read a brief description of that paper. We are also including a link to the e-mail address for each author of articles and notes, whenever it is available. We will go back to the beginning of my term, January 1996, and do this for as many papers as possible. The address for our home page is http://www.lemoyne.edu/ts/tsmain.html We are also initiating a new section of the journal that reviews web sites relevant to the teaching of sociology. If you are interested in contributing to this section, please send a letter of interest along with a current copy of your vita to the office of the deputy editor, Mary Senter (Department of Sociology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859). We will use the model for the reviews section of this journal: we select the sites and assign them to reviewers. Except in rare and compelling instances, we will not accept unsolicited reviews. If you have suggestions for sites, please send us the address. Finally, we will post information on upcoming issues in a new section of the web page. We now have a modest backlog (still less than one issue), so we have a fairly good idea about the contents of the October issue. We might as well share that information with you, the readers. I hope to see you in San Francisco at the annual meeting. -- Jeffrey Chin Volume 26, Number 4 October 1998 This special issue was first conceived at the Editorial Board meeting of Teaching Sociology at the ASA conference in August l996. In a discussion of possible special issues, we each expressed interest in experiential education in sociology stemming from our own work with students. New to both the Editorial Board and each other, our “high flying” idea began to take shape at about 35,000 feet when we happened to sit near each other on the plane home from New York. That initial intense discussion nearly two years ago led to a call for papers, the receipt of some fine manuscripts, and over a thousand e-mail messages, letters, and phone calls. With all that correspondence, one of our greatest joys in producing this issue was our collaboration with our colleagues. We were privileged to work with dedicated reviewers and the ever-helpful Teaching Sociology editor, Jeff Chin, and his staff. We have organized this special issue into two sections: service learning and internships. Although each of these forms of experiential education has some distinctive traits, you will find much thematic overlap among the articles and notes. Internships involve students in off-campus experiences under the supervision of university representatives and advisors at the sites, and they may include on-campus learning experiences led by faculty members. Typically, internships place emphasis on helping students explore career options or preparing students to work in their chosen professions. Internships have a long history in sociology, and most sociology programs in the United States offer them. As with internships, service learning involves supervision in the community and faculty-structured learning activities, and they may help students explore career options. However, service learning places the emphasis on the partnership and reciprocity between those serving and those being served. Its goal is to promote community change through meeting specific needs identified by community partners. Service learning grew out of the radical goals of the l960s. While the passage of the National and Community Service Act in 1990 and President Clinton’s AmeriCorps program ignited renewed enthusiasm for service learning, it was the Southern Regional Education Board that, in l967, launched the first major service-learning endeavor on college campuses. Both service learning and internships aim to promote student learning and development through integrating the academic study of sociology with community-based learning. How to do this effectively is the key theme that unifies this issue. Other major themes include: The multiple models for involving students in community-based experiential education, ranging from a single out-of-class assignment for a traditional course to a semester-long internship or service- learning experience to a series of internships or service-learning experiences. The importance of having students develop their sociological imaginations—their awareness of the structural nature of social problems and the potential for social change. The potential for systematic participant observation to facilitate student analysis and reflection. The potential for, and importance of, students assuming responsibility for developing and pursuing their own learning goals. The potential for personal growth in the areas of practical and interpersonal skills, greater awareness and appreciation for diversity, critical-thinking skills, civic responsibility, and career awareness. The importance of carefully integrating students’ community-based experiences with course-related learning through carefully planned reflection exercises, which generally include writing and discussion. The need to integrate service learning and internships into carefully coordinated curricula. The need for effective preparatory work in structuring the learning experiences and for weighing the time commitment for professors against the learning outcomes for students. The importance of having reasonable expectations. While all the authors report that their strategies were generally successful, not all findings were positive. Moreover, different types of community-based experiences appear to lead to different outcomes for students. Clearly, there is a need for more evaluation research, particularly regarding service learning. Longitudinal research on student-learning outcomes and evaluation research on community-based sites are especially needed. Some questions include: Who should administer service learning and internship experiences? Should service-learning be required or optional? How might a sequence of service learning courses, or some combination of service-learning and internship courses, maximize the potential for students’ achievement of civic and academic outcomes? Opportunity abounds for innovation in experiential education. The authors offer exciting suggestions for strengthening existing internship and service-learning programs and developing new programs that build on each school’s unique experiences and relationships within its community. It is up to us to take up their challenge. -- Linda F. Lockett Scheible --Susan Stall ERRATUM In “Random Acts of Kindness: A Teaching Tool for Positive Deviance” by Angela Lewellyn Jones, Leslie Wilkins is referred to as “she”. Leslie Wilkins is a man. Thanks to David Greenberg who pointed this out. The Editor of Teaching Sociology is Helen A. Moore. For articles, notes, and conversations, send manuscripts to: Helen A. Moore, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324. Phone: 402-472-6081, Fax: 402-472-6070. For book, video, and software reviews, send manuscripts to: Laurie Scheuble, Department of Sociology, Doane College, 1014 Boswell Drive, Crete, NE 68333. Phone: 402-826-8220, Fax: 402-826-8278. For questions about manuscript processing, contact Bennie Shobe, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324. Phone: 402-472-6038. The Webmaster is Pauline H. Pavlaks. Observations on form and egregious spelling may be directed to Ms. Pavlakos. The Teaching Sociology Web Page is located at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Le Moyne College, the Jesuit College of Central New York. Page last updated: April 2, 2001