Zachary Goodell

SOCY 101 - Introductory Sociology

I teach large Introduction to Sociology courses as do a few of my colleagues. This course is aligned with the ethical reasoning learning goal. Upon reviewing the 5 learning objectives associated with ethical reasoning, and acknowledging that by the 10th week of this course, many first year students are not likely to be able demonstrate proficiency in all five skill areas, I selected three. As I sat down to design an assignment, I began to think of how I might be able to use this assignment for a second purpose - to help students see the value of a sociological perspective especially as it pertains to interviewing for their first job(s). With this in mind, I authored a scenario where the student, during a hypothetical interview, is asked to share how they would address an ethical dilemma that had recently arose at the organization. Students are expected to address each of the three objectives in a single paragraph. The dual purpose of the assignment allows us to fulfill both the assessment of the ConnectEd program, but also helps our colleagues make the value of a sociological perspective more explicit and empirical.

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