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St. Cloud State University
Academic Affairs Use Only:
General Education Goal Area 8 Designation
Global Perspectives
Response Date: ______________________
Effective Date: ______________________
1. Prepared by: Paul Greider
Proposal Number: _________________
Phone: 4180 Email: plgreider
Requesting Unit: Sociology/Anthropology
Department, Course Number, Title: Sociology/Antthropology: SOC 111: Social Problems
New Course Existing Course
Will this course be flagged as a diversity course?
Already Designated as Diversity
No
Diversity Proposal Accompanying This Form
Will this course also satisfy another General Education Goal Area?
If “Yes” specify which goal area.
No Yes
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Course bulletin description, including credits and semesters to be offered:
Nature, origins, and types of social problems in contemporary society. Societal efforts to eliminate or alleviate these problems 3 credits F,S.
8. Indicate the clientele for whom this course is designed. Is the course for general education only, or does it fulfill general education and other program needs for this or another department? Obtain signatures from any affected departments.
Genearal Education and one option for required introductory class for majors and minors in Sociology
Indicate any changes that must be made in offerings or resources in your department or other departments by offering this course. none
10. For new courses or courses not yet approved for General Education, indicate any other SCSU departments or units offering instruction that relates to the content of the proposed course.
N/A
11. Courses designated as General Education are included in the assessment plan for the Goal Area(s) for which they are approved. Courses for which assessment is not included in the annual GE assessment report for two years will be removed from the General Education Program.
The Requesting Unit understands and recognizes the above conditions.
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12. Provide a concise explanation of how the following goal is a “significant focus” of the proposed course.
Goal Area 8: Global Perspectives
Develop a comparative perspective and understanding of one’s place in a global context.
Describes the problems associated with globalization and looks at global issues in relation to political and the social system which has become an international class system. The problems have to do with the wealth of nations and how they impact the macro, meso, and micro of their respective populations.
13. In order for a course to be designated as fulfilling Goal Area 8, it must address at least 4 of the 5 student learning outcomes (SLOs) below. Check the SLOs below that are focused on in the proposed general education course.
1. Explain how they are connected and related to people elsewhere in the world.
2. Describe similarities and differences among global places and populations.
3. Analyze how political, economic or cultural elements influence relations among the world’s states, peoples, or societies.
4. Analyze specific international issues and propose and evaluate responses.
5. Articulate a vision of their individual roles and responsibilities in a common global future.
14. Discuss how each Student Learning Outcome checked above is achieved in this course. (Note: Although descriptions of typical assignments or types of assignments may be part of this discussion, it is not appropriate to submit copies of actual assignments.)
SSLO 1 - Describe or use the methods and data by which historians, social scientists, or behavioral scientists investigate human conditions. This class is introduced by explaining why social problems are an issue of interest for social scientists, but in particular to sociologists. Students are taught about the sociological imagination and its use in uncovering social problems. Students are also taught about some of the research methods used to produce knowledge and challenge taken for granted assumptions and myths about social problems.
SLO 2 - Analyze human behavior, cultures, and social institutions and processes from the perspectives of history or the social and behavioral sciences. Social problems based on systems of power are explored within various social institutions, such as media, the economy, the law, the state, family, education, etc. Using a sociological perspectives, students learn about social structures that are embedded in those social institutions.
SLO 3 - Develop explanations for and explore solutions to historical or contemporary social problems.
This class explores particular contemporary topics that are either controversial or often marginal in newspaper and magazines. This class then addresses the way sociologists and other social scientists attempt to respond to those issues and invite students to respond as well. Specific issues that can be used to foster learning can be: troubled institutions, problems of inequality, conformity and deviance, and problems of a changing world, world poverty and literacy, etc.
SLO 4 - Reflect upon themselves in relation to family, communities, society, culture, and/or their histories.
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Students learn about the social problems that exist within families, work places, schools, media programs and press, religious organizations, social justice organization, etc. The goal of this class is to render visible various taken for granted social problem patterns that are present in their everyday life as well as in their way of seeing the world.
SLO 5 - Apply and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories about human societies and behaviors.
An important component of this class is to address the way various social theories have explained and challenged us to see our society in social problem terms. Students learn to view some of the advantages and limitations of those theories, as well as learn to make use of those theories on both national and global aspects of their social environment.
15. List or attach the Course Outline (adequately described and including percentage of time to be allocated to each topic). Curriculum Committees may request additional information. Topics larger than 20% need to be broken down further. Indicate in your course outline where the Student Learning Outcomes checked above are being met. see attached
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