Welcome to Survey of Social Problems!

Welcome to Survey of Social Problems!

I know that many of you are feeling anxious, overwhelmed, etc. right now and probably have a lot of questions and a lot to do.

I have quite a bit of material to go over. My goal for our seminars is to work through as much of our power point as possible, answering your questions and discussing various points and concerns. Know that our power points will be in Doc Sharing immediately following our Seminar for your review and/or for you to complete any areas that we did not cover in Seminar.

Did you read the syllabus and announcements?Have you reviewed the projects (Unit 3, Unit 6 and Final

Project)? If you haven’t, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. The

material that we will be discussing in our seminars will be very beneficial to you in regards to putting your projects together. Understanding what is expected in the projects will also help you connect everything together in this course. These projects are worth a lot of points and can make or break your grade.

Have you reviewed the grading rubrics? There is a grading rubric for the discussion board, seminars and the projects, all found in your Syllabus. Be sure to note things like total replies to your peers, expectations for participation during seminars, and even the little things like total word count.

Have you checked out the writing center? If not, please be sure to do so. This is a very valuable resource!! Please keep in mind that I understand it takes a while to master APA formatting, however I expect that in ALL of your work I see APA attempted. The majority of your work should be cited and referenced. Unless it is 100% your idea, thought and/or criticism then don’t forget to cite and reference your work!

Kaplan’s week begins on Wednesday and ends Tuesday at midnight.

ALL assignments must be turned in by Tuesday at midnight. I completely understand that “life” happens, so if an emergency comes up and you need more time to finish an assignment or can’t attend seminar, please let me know as soon as possible via email [email protected]) and we will work it out. You will see that I am very flexible and I have no problem working with students as long as you are doing your part.

Kaplan does a GREAT job of clearly spelling out for you what you need to do in each unit. If you read ALL of the material in each unit and follow the instructions you should do just fine in this class.

Have you been able to look at the classroom yet? If not, please do so as soon as you can. If you have questions, please ask so that we can make sure that you get off to a good start.

You may have noticed that we have an etext rather than a hard-copy. You will find each individual chapter as a singe document in our Doc Sharing.

Flex SeminarsThe seminars for this class will be taught using the

“Open Seminar” tool. This means you can attend one of two seminars – whichever fits best into your schedule:

HN 200-01 Beverly Adams, Wednesday 9-10 p.m. ETHN200-04 Juliet Bradley, Thursdays 2-3p.m. ETHN 200-05 Madelyn Harvey, Monday 7-8p.m. ETYou will be invited to all three and you are welcome

to attend all 3, but – but you only need to attend one..

If you can’t attend any live seminar – you must complete Seminar Option 2 by midnight on Tuesdays

We have a lot of material to cover in each seminar and a short amount of time to do it. Please save personal questions (make up work, grades, etc.) for email or phone.

I usually show up for seminar about 20 minutes before it starts (about 6:40 pm) so we can use that time to chat about questions, concerns, etc. Or, we might visit after seminar.

If you come to seminar late, please just log in and follow along with us. You will need to go back later and review what you missed in the seminar transcripts.

Seminar transcripts are usually available about 24 hours after the actual seminar.

Review grading rubrics to ensure you earn max points.

Seminar Option 1 Grading Rubric

Frequent and thoughtful interaction on concepts being discussed by students and instructor. 0-2

Posts are on topic and contribute to the quality of the seminar. 0-2

Student arrives on time and stays the entire seminar. 0-1

TOTAL: 5

Seminar Option 2 Grading Rubric

Response is on topic answering each question correctly and fully making informed reference to the unit material. 0-4

Response is clear and meets 200 – 250 word length requirement. 0-1

TOTAL: 5

THE DISCUSSION QUESTION POSTS ARE DUE BY TUESDAY AT MIDNIGHT. (If you have an emergency and do not think you’ll be able to post, please contact me ASAP. However, please note you have a FULL week to complete the DQ. You can post as early as Wednesday when the new unit begins.)

The point of the these activities are to foster discussion about the material we are covering in the current unit.

There is at least 1 question in each unit. Please make sure you look under the Topics heading to make sure you answer all of the questions. There are a few times where there will be 2 DQs. It is a good habit to always look for two just in case.

Please always keep in mind that these are graded. Be sure to answer the questions completely and be sure to use spelling and grammar check.

Discussion questions continued…Please make sure you “check in” to the discussion board

throughout the week. It is important not to wait until the last minute to post. If everyone does this there will be nothing to discuss! Also, as I said earlier, life happens. Something may come up that keeps you from posting before the deadline.

Late Discussion Board responses will be penalized a deduction of 10 points per unit with a maximum allowance of 3 units. After the end of the third unit past the original due date, late discussion posts will not be accepted. Late responses should be directed in the Discussion Board site to me, your Instructor, since your peers will likely not return to the Board to read your response.

Make every effort to reply early within the week!

Discussion Questions Grading Rubric

Makes one primary post for each discussion thread (there may be more than one thread) answering each of the questions correctly, and fully with substance meeting length requirements (100 word minimum for each primary post). 0-20

Makes two or more thoughtful responses to other students on each thread contributing to the quality of the discussion and meets length requirements (50-100 words for each peer response). 0 – 10

Primary responses make at least 1 reference to the unit material, text, or other academic source. 0 – 5

Responses are clearly written and are original ideas rather than a recap of what others contribute. 0-10

TOTAL: 45 

Grades: Typically, I am able to grade assignments within a few days of when they are submitted. However, it may take up to 5 days so please be patient. If after 5 days from the day you submitted the assignment you still don’t have a grade please feel free to email me about it.

Grade comments: Before you email me to ask why you earned a certain grade please make sure you read the COMMENTS section of the grade book as I will post an explanation there. If after reading my explanation you still have questions, please feel free to email me.

If you have ANY technical issues, before you do this

PLEASE contact tech support and make sure youget a ticket number. 866.348.1196 (Toll Free)

[email protected]

Please remember that I am not the expert in technology, so please go to technical support if you have technical questions. They are extremely efficient and helpful!

CHAPTER 1 THE STUDY OF

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

What is a Social Problem?

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009

A social problem exists: when an influential group defines a social condition as threatening its values

when a condition affects a large number of people

and when the condition can be remedied by collective action

Theoretical Approaches on Social Problems

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009

A theoretical perspective provides some fundamental assumptions about the nature and operation of society. Macrosociological perspectives focus

on large groups, social institutions and society as a whole.

Microsociological perspectives focus on the intimate level of everyday interactions between people.

The Functionalist Perspective

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009

Society is a system that is made up of a number of interrelated elements, each performing a function that contributes to the operation of the whole.

The Conflict Perspective

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009

Society consists of different groups who struggle with one another to attain the scarce societal resources that are considered valuable, be they money, power, prestige, or the authority to impose one’s values on society.

The Interactionist Perspective

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009

Interactionism focuses on everyday social interaction among individuals rather than on large scale societal structures.The definition of the situation refers to people’s perceptions and interpretations of what is important in a situation and what actions are appropriate.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009

Unit One Seminar Discussion

How do you define Social Problem?

How is each of us affected by social problems? Personally Professionally Politically Financially

What in your mind contributes to the social problem? This is a loaded question! This is also an emotionally laden question. During this

course it is my hope that you each will gain a deeper understanding of this issue so that you may be able to react with education as your foundation versus just personal feelings.

How To Contact Madelyn

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (937) 428-7998

"Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire."

- W B Yeats