Our world is in the midst of rapid social and technological change. As a result, sociology courses must have practical benefits for students of all majors. To accomplish this, my teaching has three distinct characteristics:
- Active. The answers to our complex modern problems will not be found in a textbook or multiple choice test. As a result, when teaching in person, I utilize the "flipped classroom" format, in which students get started familiarizing themselves with content before class and come to class ready to participate in original analysis and planning. When teaching online, I design assignments that enable students to use social science research to inform solutions to current and anticipated problems.
- Future-oriented. The future is something that we shape with every choice we make--not something that "happens to us" as we experience it passively. In my courses, students identify a variety of alternative options for the future and evaluate how to achieve preferred options out of these.
- Logical. Mainstream media often shows angry, polarized debates on issues of concern. I encourage deliberation rather than debate, since debate implies a win-lose outcome. A future orientation encourages everyone to move beyond shallow talking points to identify deeper assumptions and motivations that underlie current events. I encourage a broad perspective and a far-future approach so that we can understand the consequences of our actions.
Both social and technological development are necessary to solve modern problems, so every academic discipline is implicated in our future. The best sociology course is thus one that engages students of all majors in building solutions.