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JCCC
Distance Learning Syllabus and Course Manual
Social Problems (SOC 125), Spring Semester, 2007

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Introductory Notes

  1. This syllabus and course manual are only for my SOC 125 (Social Problems) distance learning class.

  2. In case you arrived here by mistake, and you are one of my on-campus students, go to my MarkFoster.ORGanon™ Site. (I won't tell anyone <grin>.)

  3. Due to the constantly changing nature of the web, I cannot be responsible for the content of external websites hotlinked from the pages I administer. Please email me (from Blackboard CE) with any problems or broken links you may find.

  4. If you are in my distance learning course, please read it thoroughly.

  5. The syllabus is beta (preliminary) until the beginning of the semester.

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Office Location and Hours

Office: GEB 151D

Office Hours: MWF 9:55-10:55; TTh 12:55-1:55

You are most welcome, though not required, to meet with me in my office or to chat with me over the phone.

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Phone, EMail, and Fax

Office Phone: (913) 469-8500, x 3376 (voice mail available)

EMail: Use only the Blackboard CE email system for this course. I generally check email a few times each week, with the exception of weekends, college holidays, and when I am out of town. Please do not write me any other way (including with MyJCCC). If you have difficulties reaching me by email, phone me in my office (913-469-8500, ext. 3376).

Fax (office): (913) 469-2589 (contact me before faxing)

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Professor and Text Websites (optional)

The MarkFoster.ORGanon™ - Dr. Foster's Johnson County Community College Site:

Hit that mouse button below:

  1. http://markfoster.org (primary site)
  2. http://markfoster.net/mfo (European mirror site)
  3. http://markfoster.nom.za/mfo (African mirror site)
  4. http://staff.jccc.edu/mfoster/home.html (JCCC mirror site)

This site has been tested, using a PC (and with a Palm Treo), on virtually all major (and many minor) web browsers. These are the ones I recommend. (Please note that Blackboard CE requires a more limited selection of browsers.)

All of the computers in the JCCC computer labs have an up-to-date browser installed. You may use these computers free of charge by showing the staff member your student ID card.

Text Website:

Social Problems (Robert Heiner)

Reader Website:

Race, Class and Gender (Margaret L. Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins)

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Course Information

Professor: Dr. Mark A. Foster, Professor of Sociology

Semester Hours: 3

Course Name: Social Problems

Course Prefix and Number: SOC 125

Course Type: Transfer

JCCC Student Code of Conduct: See here.

Required Text: Social Problems: An Introduction to Critical Constructionism, second edition, by Robert Heiner.

Required Reader: Race, Class and Gender, sixth edition, by Margaret L. Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins.

Course Description: This overview of social life will cover group structure and processes, social interaction, social institutions, theories, research methods, and other areas. Formal assessment will take place through essays, discussions, and a term project.

Course Objectives:

  • Learning how to think critically about social problems

  • Developing a sociological imagination

  • Studying social problems, especially race, class, and gender, by focusing on isues of power and oppression

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Discussions and Tests

Class Discussions: We will usually complete, consecutively, a discussion of one section per week. These sections are listed below. Any changes will be announced on the Blackboard CE board. It is unlikely that we will complete all of these sections.

Group discussions will be conducted on the Blackboard CE message board for this class. You should be able to log in with your Campus Pipeline user name and password. Everyone will be expected to contribute. A student's response, or combined responses, for each week should be no less than 400 words.

A discussion question will be posted to the Blackboard CE message board for each of the chapters in Social Problems: A Critical Constructionist Perspective and for the articles in the Race, Class, and Gender anthology.

  • Section 1: Heiner, Chapter 1

  • Section 2: Heiner, Chapter 2

  • Section 3: Heiner, Chapter 3

  • Section 4: Heiner, Chapter 4

  • Section 5: Heiner, Chapter 5 and Conclusions

  • Section 6, Andersen and Collins: Article 1

  • Section 7: Andersen and Collins, Article 2

  • Section 8: Andersen and Collins, Article 3

  • Section 9: Andersen and Collins, Article 4

  • Section 10: Andersen and Collins, Article 5

  • Section 11: Andersen and Collins, Article 6

  • Section 12: Andersen and Collins, Article 17

  • Section 13: Andersen and Collins, Article 20

  • Section 14: Andersen and Collins, Article 32

  • Section 15: Andersen and Collins, Article 42

  • Section 16: Andersen and Collins, Article 53

  • Section 17: Andersen and Collins, Article 64

  • Section 18: Andersen and Collins, Articles 65

As long as you participate on the discussion board the vast majority of the time, you will receive 100 points. There will be no partial credit.

Essay Tests: There will be three essay tests, each consisting of only one question, over the course of the semester. The schedule is given later in the syllabus. Questions will be assigned via Blackboard CE. Your response to each of the tests must be at least 400 words. They may include web-based research. The essay questions will be based on material previously covered in the course.

You will email your essay to me (using the Blackboard CE email system) before midnight on the day after the question was emailed through Blackboard CE. (PLEASE DO NOT respond to the essay question ON THE Blackboard CE BOARD.) Then, usually within a week to a week and a half, your grade will be emailed back to you.

DO NOT ATTACH YOUR ESSAY TO AN EMAIL MESSAGE (i.e., in Microsoft Word or in Corel WordPerfect format). Your essay should itself be the text of a regular email message.

I do not give makeup tests for people who did not know the date or time of the exam.

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Term Project

You will write a term paper (1500-word minimum) on some aspect of sociology. If you are looking for ideas, check through the table of contents to the textbook. Essentially, your page will be an online research paper.

As with the essay tests, your term paper will be the text of a regular Blackboard CE email message. ATTACHMENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

The HTML creator is included in every email message you send. Here are the instructions. It includes information on creating links to web sources. The process is very simple from the Blackboard CE interface, but you need to read the instructions.

You must, in addition, use the style sheet on this page for both parenthetical citations (in the paper) and the REFERENCES section (at the end of the paper):

American Sociological Association Referencing Style

Include at least five sources in your research (the more, within reason, the better), and, following the instructions on the Referencing Style page, create hot links to all of them. Creating a hot link means that clicking on it will take you directly to that page.

You can use whatever search engines you like in locating sources for your Blackboard CE paper. However, here are a couple of suggestions:

When creating your paper in Blackboard CE, you can temporarily save it in your drafts folder on Blackboard CE. That way you can go back to it until you are ready to send it to me.

Do not create your paper in Word, Word Perfect, or some other word processing program. If so, when you paste it into Blackboard CE, your formatting will probably be off, and your web links may not work.

If you wish to create your paper off-line, my suggestion would be to use Notepad or a similar plain text editor. After you paste it into Blackboard CE, you will need to adjust the formatting and create the links to your web sources. (Should you plan to be working on your paper for some time, without saving it to your drafts folder, this is actually a good idea. Blackboard CE times out after a while, and you will lose your work.)

Finally, make sure that you check your paper (including the links) before sending it me. If you are not sure, first mail it to yourself within Blackboard CE.

Please feel free to phone me or to come by my office (during my office hours or by appointment). I will be as helpful as I can.

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Grading

General: First, I put you on your honor that you will do your own work. Second, don't be like the chap on the right. If you have any questions, ask me <smile>.

Tests: Essay tests must be emailed to me by the date assigned.

I will be looking at the comprehensiveness, clarity, accuracy, and thoroughness of your research and thinking (in addition to the factors I mentioned earlier).

Grades on essay tests will be calculated using a 100-point scale:

A = 90 - 100

B = 80 - 89

C = 70 - 79

D = 60 - 69

F = Below 60

Term Project: I will use the same criteria for evaluating term projects as for tests (again, in addition to those I mentioned earlier).

Term projects will be calculated using a 200-point scale:

A = 180 - 200

B = 160 - 179

C = 140 - 159

D = 120 - 139

F = Below 120

Final Grade: At the end of the semester, I will compute your grade using the following formula:

test 1 grade + test 2 grade + test 3 grade + term project grade + 100 discussion points (where applicable) = final grade

Here is the final grading scale:

A = 540 - 600

B = 480 - 539

C = 420 - 479

D = 360 - 419

F = Below 360

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Important Dates and Times

Test Questions sent out using Blackboard CE email: March 8, April 12 , and May 7. (Any changes will be announced through Blackboard CE email.) Responses must be emailed back to me using the Blackboard CE email system before midnight on the following day. ATTACHMENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED.

Term Project Due Date: You need to email me your completed term project by April 6. ATTACHMENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED.

Last Day to Drop with a W: April 16.

Final Grade: It will be emailed to you along with your grade on the last test.

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Copyright © 2003- Mark A. Foster. All rights reserved.