Articulation of Goals and Means in Sociology Courses: What We Can Learn from Syllabi

Abstract

This paper examines the articulation of goals and means of sociological instruction in course syllabi. Three questions guide this inquiry. First, do sociology instructors articulate common learning goals? Second, what pedagogical means do instructors commonly employ to meet these goals? Third, to what extent have sociology instructors incorporated the recommendations presented in Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major (Eberts et al. 1990) and in its updated version (McKinney et al. 2004)? To answer these questions, we analyzed syllabi from 418 courses published by the American Sociological Association's Teaching Resource Center. We found that aside from coursespecific goals, most syllabi shared only a few general, abstract goals in common. The pedagogical methods or requirements of students tended to be fairly traditional (readings, writing, and exams). Requirements that required more active types of learning were less common. While these goals and means do seem to reflect what sociologists consider to be important, they do not correspond closely to the American Sociological Association's Taskforce on the Undergraduate Major's recommendations for the sociology major.