Soc 100     Introduction to Sociology     Fall 2011
Instructor
: Dr. Gonzalo Santos  T.A.: Ms. Anna Herder
email  Dr. Santos: santos_class@csub.edu
                         Ms. Herder: anna_herder@hotmail.com

Classroom: BDC-153B

Class Time: MW: 12:20 pm - 2:25 pm

Offices: DDH-AA205 (GS); DDH-AA204 (AH)
Office Hours
: 11:00am - 12:20 pm MWF or by appointment

Phones: 654-2191 (GS); 654-2718 (MH)

 
nice star

CSU Faculty Currently in Collective Bargaining – Possible Impact on Classes

The Faculty Union is in the midst of contract negotiations, and there is a possibility of a work interruption. Updates on this situation will be provided throughout the course.


Textbook: Jon Witt, 2011. "SOC 2011" (2nd. edition). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-352829-8.


Course content: This course is designed to introduce the field of Sociology to lower division college students. Students learn why and how the systematic study of our contemporary, highly complex social world is important (in fact, urgently needed), possible, and rewarding. General areas of interest are culture; socialization; social interaction; networks, groups, and organizations; deviance, crime, and social control; social stratification; globalization, inequality, and development; race and ethnicity; sexuality and gender; family, collective action and social movements. Specific social institutions student may choose to explore include religion, education, politics, work, health and aging. All these areas and topics will be approached at three levels: global/national (mega), institutional/ethnic (meso), and community/family/individual (micro).


Classroom activities: The class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays for two-hour sessions. Attendance is mandatory. We will cover in ten weeks fifteen chapters from the textbook. Typically, Dr. Santos (or Ms. Herder) will lecture, using a PowerPoint presentation, followed by class discussions & perhaps some exercises. Occasionally, a video may be shown.


Blackboard Resources: The class has a Blackboard account set up, to which students will be added into before the first day of class (Sept. 12). In it, students will find the following resources & links:


Chapter tests: The course does not have a midterm exam nor a final exam. Instead, students shall take a multiple-choice test for each of the assigned chapters of the textbook, eighteen tests on fifteen chapters in all. Each chapter test is due on the Sunday before midnight of the week in which it is assigned. Students that score too low on any given chapter test may re-take the test a second time, as long as it is taken before that particular chapter's deadline. In that case, the final score will be the average of the two scores.

See the testing schedule below.

The tests shall be taken through BlackBoard, the campus computer testing service, accessible in the internet (see detailed instructions below). Students are free to test at anytime during the week in which a chapter is assigned, from Monday to Sunday midnight. In fact, students may take chapter tests ahead of the week it is assigned, but NOT fall behind. The tests are one hour long and consist of 20 randomly chosen, multiple-choice/truth-false questions.

Instructions on Taking Chapter Tests at CSUB's BlackBoard:

To gain access: go to the CSUB BlackBoard site: click and bookmark the following URL address:


http://www.csub.edu/els/bb9/

If you are doing it from an off campus computer, make sure your browser is properly configured (click on Blackboard support links and read how you can ensure your browser is properly configured).

You will need to know your UserID and passwordYour UserID is the NetID that you got to access MyCSUB. Your initial password is the last five digits of your CSUB ID Number. Once logged on to Blackboard, you will be asked to change it immediately (if you have used Blackboard before you'll need to enter your old password). Choose an easy to remember, easy to type new password. We also suggest that you set up your login hint immediately - and write all these codes somewhere where you will not loose them, nor expose them to theft by others.

If you need help: If you don't know your UserID, or if you've changed your password and have forgotten it, contact the Help Desk in the library at (661) 654-2307, or simply go to the Library, Lower Level Room 1, during office hours. 

Be prepared!  The maximum duration for each chapter test is 60 minutesAfter each chapter deadline passes, access to each chapter test will be closed and no late testing will be possible. So make sure you have prepared well, chosen a day, time & place well, and have ample time and tranquility (with no distractions) to begin testing; take time to read carefully each question before you answer it - do not rush! (a common mistake). You may take the test with the open book, but exclusively on your own, please. Never plan to take a test in two or more sittings; plan always to take each test in a single session (the computer usually freezes incomplete tests).

Save your answers every time. If you change your mind on a specific answer, don't forget to save it again! And don't forget to send your quiz/test to grade when you are done (lots of students forget this last step and their scores are not computed!).

Security precaution: If you are using a public computer always quit both the Blackboard site and the browser (Firefox, Safari, or Explorer, etc.) after you are done with testing  -- otherwise, someone may access your own Blackboard account and "try out" some tests! This is because your access codes stay active until you quit the browser. And remember, never share your testing access codes with anyone! A student of Dr. Santos was already suspended from the University for having stolen somebody else's tests.

Cheating Warning: Students are hereby formally forewarned that anybody caught cheating on the tests will automatically fail the course. Blackboard has a monitoring capability that automatically "flags" for instructors a variety of potential cheating cases and situations  -- including comparing student answers, times of testing, etc..

 

Other Credit: There are several ways students may obtain extra points:


1) Attendance: All students will receive 10 points for class attendance & participation, minus the number of times they were absent. Those students that accumulate perfect attendance (zero un-excused absences) during the quarter will receive 5 extra points.


2) Extra Campus Activities: Occasionally, students will be encouraged to attend certain events on campus and write a one-page report on it, for extra credit.


Grading: The average of the eighteen chapter test scores will count for up to 90 points. Other credit will be added, and un-excused absences subtracted, and the final grade will be assigned according to the following table:

94-100 = A

87-89 = B+

77-79 = C+

65-69 = D

90-93 = A-

84-86 = B

74-76 = C

< 65 = F

 

80-83 = B-

70-73 = C-

 


Schedule of Reading/Testing Assignments for "SOC 2011"


Monday Wednesday
Sept. 12 Sept. 14
INTRODUCTION TO CLASS Ch. 1: The Sociological Imagination
Sept. 19
Sept. 21
Ch. 2: Sociological Research
Ch. 3: Culture
Sept. 26 Sept. 28
Ch. 4: Socialization Ch. 5: Social Structure & Interaction
Oct. 3
Oct. 5
Ch. 6: Deviance Ch. 7: Families
Oct. 10 Oct. 12
Ch. 8: Education
Ch. 8: Religion
Oct. 17 Oct. 19
Ch. 9: Government
Ch. 9: Economy
Oct. 24 Oct. 26
Ch. 10: Social Class
Ch. 11: Global Inequality
Oct. 31
Nov. 2
Ch. 12: Gender & Sexuality
Ch. 13: Race and Ethnicity
Nov. 7
Nov. 9
Ch. 14: Health & Medicine
Ch. 14: Environment
Nov. 14 Nov. 16
Ch. 15: Social Change
Ch. 15: Social Movements