Public Sociology Meets Agile Development

TAPS, OCTOBER 30, 2014 (ANISHA DATTA & DAVID THUSS)

THE PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY PART PRESENTED BY - DR. ANISHA DATTA (SOCIOLOGY @ KING’S)

Public Sociology The practice of sociological research, teaching and service that

attempts to engage a wide audience for a normative and productive end

Michael Burawoy “endeavors to bring sociology into dialogue with audiences beyond the academy, an open dialogue in which both sides deepen their understanding of public issues…In foregrounding its public engagement, sociology, thereby, rediscovers its originating and often repressed inspiration”

Long tradition in the history of Sociology

In recent times, made popular by Burawoy

Public Sociology in Pedagogy The Assignment – Create a Visual Sociology Piece & Post

it on the blog titled A SOCIOLOGY SPECTACLE http://asociologyspectacle.ca/

Involved – Capture with your camera/smart phone a sociological concept – Caption the picture to explain the concept

Time: 3 weeks – go around the city

Privacy Issues - Permission sought – photographing people and posting

47 posted out of 73 – issues such as – a same sex couple

Public Sociology in Pedagogy

An effort - A Sociology Assignment that can Engage first year students - ‘Active Learning’ Digital natives – to get them excited – can be creative and

original, showcase their learning outcomes

Another effort - The public sociology enterprise can be carried into the classroom and beyond – Students create content for Public Sociology

A hands on approach – Towards High Impact Pedagogical Practices How to observe the everyday social world with the

sociological lens – the visual image

How to think sociologically – the text of the caption

A SOCIOLOGY SPECTACLE – Some examples

Laura Hopkins

Craig Roseberry

Katherine Bigham

Shu Lin

http://asociologyspectacle.ca/

Pedagogical Values in Click – Connect – Caption  What do we look for? Comprehension, Application & Awareness

High Engagement – Fluent with Social Media, Involves the social space they inhabit, Students are in control

Click – Connect – Caption: The Teacher’s viewpoint The Image & its Caption – speak louder than a 1000 word essay

High effort & motivation – my work will exist in the cyber public sphere

The Creative Kick – Beyond those dry words

A Student’s Viewpoint

What was different about the assignment compared to assignments from other first year assignments?

“I was more engaged into the steps of this assignment. Whenever you are to write an essay all the steps and stages are the same. I liked the different aspect of this assignment where we could be more hands-on and show our assignment visually instead of a written summary.” Katherine Bigham (Sociology 1020-574, 2013-14)

A Student’s Viewpoint

Did you feel excited that your visual sociology assignment (i.e. your unique way of looking at the social world as a student of sociology) is now part of the digital public sphere?

“I did enjoy the visual part of the assignment as it was something unusual while completing an assignment. It was a nice way of presenting our new experience of our social world and gave all of the students an opportunity to view other people's pictures which I thought was fun!” Katherine Bigham

What did I learn?

What captures my student’s sociological attention – the content created

A high impact pedagogical practice – The nature of the assignment

The experience quotient – Refinement of pedagogy

Acknowledgement – Thank You!

David Thuss for emailing me to present a paper on A Sociology Spectacle

Katherine Bigham for sharing her responses

The TaPS team for organizing the event

David & Scott at IT for their tech. inputs

All students from Sociology 1020-574, 2013-14 at King’s for their enthusiastic support & sincere contributions