Sociology

John Towey

This project is a description of the principles, benefits, and challenges of universal design, and a description of the principles’ application to course design. The goal of the project is to encourage sociology instructors to design their courses in accordance with universal design guidelines. Universal Design is defined as the process of designing products, services, and environments in a way that makes them usable to as many people as possible without individual accommodation for functional limitations. Design that incorporates the principles of universal design tends to benefit everyone, but it can be difficult to take all functional limitations into account with a single, one-size-fits-all approach. However, despite its name, universal design for learning is a set of guidelines for designing courses with multiple options for student engagement, representation of material and assignments, and active participation and expression.

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Adam Travis

My capstone project consists of two artifacts intended to be used or adapted by future pedagogy fellows. The first document is a worksheet that I used to help me more effectively structure and frame reflective conversations during video consultations with new TFs. The second document is a semi-structured journal assignment for new TFs that could be adapted for use in pedagogy seminars. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage TFs to reflect on their own experiences as learners and to consider how these experiences shape (or might shape) their pedagogical aspirations and teaching practices.

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Derek Robey

Advising senior theses is common graduate students in the Department of Sociology that are in the dissertation phase. For my capstone project, I created an advising guide for graduate students who are preparing to advise an undergraduate senior thesis. This guide compiles university and department resources related to advising and mentoring. I also surveyed previous senior thesis advisers to get their suggestions for best practices and their tips for overcoming obstacles that are commonly faced during this process. This guide will help reduce the ambiguity and uncertainty experienced by first-time thesis advisers.

Joseph Wallerstein

This project showcases an effort to rethink the “hot moments” exercise new TFs do every year in the Department of Sociology’s teaching practicum. The examples in the curriculum, and the design of the exercise, were years old, and it became apparent some of the language was foot-in-mouth. I wrote new examples and altered the format of the exercise. My hope is that future PFs in the department will continue to audit and rework various elements of the teaching practicum's curriculum.

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