ClassInfo

Unofficial Course Description: Have families changed over time? Who divorces? What does race, social class, and gender have to do with families? How do people decide who to be with? Is marriage on the decline? Do children make parents happier? Is hooking up bad? Is it possible to balance work and family? What is a family anyway? These are all questions we will be grappling with this semester.

You might think that this course will only be relevant to your personal life. But, you would be wrong. Do you plan to own your own business or be a manager or leader in a company? We will discuss how your employees' family life may affect their work. Do you want to be a teacher? We will discuss how parental behavior before school can influence child behavior at school. Do you want to be a doctor, pharmacist, or work in the medical field? We will discuss how family relationships impact health.

Of course this class will also be relevant to your personal life. I once heard the president of a Big Ten university say that the single biggest way universities fail our students is by not talking about work-family balance. Engage with this course, and you might be surprised what you learn, and when you use it.

See the syllabus linked below.

Active learning has several definitions, including "anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2), and "anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon to do other than simply watching, listening and taking notes" (Felder & Brent, 2009, p. 2). Research has shown that active learning is more effective than traditional lectures for many topics. In particular, family development lends itself well to active learning - it is much more effective to apply concepts than to just read a chapter about them. We will do active learning activities every session of this course.

In fact, this course is a Flipped Classroom. A Flipped Classroom relies on students preparing to participate in class activities before the class period. That is, you must read the chapter and read or watch any additional materials before the class period. You will complete a prediction quiz to get you ready to cement the material in your memory, and a module quiz to confirm that you read the chapter and completed the additional materials. Next, you will come to class prepared, ready to complete the active learning activities of the day. Finally, after the class period is over, you will be given opportunities to check your understanding and extend your learning through assignments and module reflections. Exams will challenge you to practice retrieval and use the science of cognition to encourage you to move from novice to competent or even expert in family sociology.

If you are looking for a course that you can just sit back, relax, and passively receive information, then this course is not for you. If you are looking for a course that will be challenging, rewarding, and transformational, welcome to 3501.