FACULTY EXPECTATIONS IN SOCIOLOGY
1. The general philosophy of above-named discipline regarding Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning essays may be summarized as follows:
A. The student should be able to demonstrate an understanding of sociology as a disciplined approach to the study of social life--that is, as a social science. Actual experience in society and even effective performance in various social roles (whether of a practical sort, such as a parent, or of a more “professional” nature, for example as a caseworker) are not in themselves any basis for college credit. Students must demonstrate that they can think carefully, analytically, and objectively about how social processes operate. In addition, having ideas about what should be done to “fix” things that may be wrong with society may provide useful hypotheses for sociological research, but are not in themselves evidence of careful sociological thinking.
B. Careful thinking about society must also be sociological in the sense that it bears some recognizable relationship to standard sociological concepts and concerns. This will mean that the student will have read and understand some sociology. Students will be required to submit direct evidence of such reading and comprehension, both through providing an annotated bibliography and through appropriate citations to sociological writing in the portfolio essays.
C. Students will be discouraged from seeking any sociology credit if the basis for the requested credit is experience alone as opposed to systematic sociological reflection on that experience.
2. Describe the nature of any dialogue expected between faculty in above-name discipline and students preparing portfolio essays in the discipline.
Since it is likely that students will encounter practical difficulties with the above requirements, sociology faculty expect that students will get in touch with us directly at the very earliest stage of portfolio preparation. Dr. Rosemary Powers will be the initial contact, and can be reached at rpowers@eou.edu, or by phone at (541) 962.3819. Our preferred method of communication is by e-mail, as this provides us with an ongoing record of our conversations and agreements. It is a good idea to make appointments for phone conversations, as professors will want to prepare ahead of time for effective conversations with students.
Before submitting any portfolio proposal, students should peruse the EOU college catalog for courses that seem to describe their area of proposed APEL writing, and may request course syllabi to help them in assessing the potential for receiving credit.
Students should submit very rough draft work initially so that exact expectations can be communicated before they expend extensive effort on the portfolio essay. This initial draft should include a beginning list of bibliographic sources--including books and journal articles.
3. Describe the nature of any specific requirements the above-name discipline will have regarding contents of the portfolio materials i.e., documentation, essay, bibliography where applicable, etc.
Portfolios will vary in depth and breadth of content based on the level of credit requested and the specific contract worked out with the professor. In general, lower division courses will require a briefer annotated bibliography and expect less familiarity with sociological concepts and concerns. Upper division courses will require an extensive annotated bibliography, and the essays will be expected to meet the same standards for engagement with core sociological ideas that we require in our on-campus upper division courses.
As a general standard, students should organize the content of their essays in such a way that they devote approximately 30% to description and 70% to analysis. This means that for every three pages of descriptive material (presentation of the student's experience) there would be 7 pages of discussion using sociological ideas.
Documentation should be presented in the style approved by the American Psychological Association. This includes both in-text citations and reference pages. Students should request a style guide from the professor. The annotated bibliography should provide evidence that the student has actually read the source described. Brief quotations from the text can help the professor to see the student's engagement with the author's ideas.
4. Describe issues regarding the general turnaround time for review of portfolio materials in the above-names discipline.
At the earliest stage of planning, the turnaround time should be within a few days (unless the contact is made during a university break). Earliest written work should be short, rough draft portions of portfolio essays. The professor will assess the appropriateness of the student's initial efforts and the adequacy of the bibliographic list and will return these with comments within two weeks. Later, longer draft versions of the portfolio may take up to one month for written comments to be returned. Professors will need to check bibliographic materials, and this can be quite time consuming. Our goal is to return these materials as soon as we possibly can. Students may e-mail us within two weeks to check on the status of our assessment.
5. Provide any additional information that will help portfolio students in developing materials for faculty review in the above-named discipline.
A very useful starting point for considering a portfolio assessment in sociology would be to begin a library search for sociological writing on the topic of your area of experience. With the proliferation of material available on the Internet, students can discover a rich array of articles, syllabi, student reflections, and on-line discussions. If a student would like suggestions of ways to access this material, we will be happy to provide some ideas.
In their first communication with us, students should make a convincing argument regarding the value of undertaking a sociological analysis of their particular experience. Reflecting on the philosophy in # 1 above, they should be able to tell us why this experience is “sociology” rather than some other discipline such as psychology, criminology, literature, history, business, or education. We do not expect this understanding of sociology to be well developed. Rather, we expect that students will have conducted some initial research on the concepts and concerns of sociology and that as a result of this initial research can convince us that they could effectively conduct a “sociological” analysis of their life and work.
Rosemary F. Powers, Ph.D .
Faculty Submitting Information