With a rapid increase in students enrolling in online courses at UM, instructors are searching for ways to provide quality learning experiences. One of these innovations has drawn the attention of the National Science Foundation: “Integrating Census Exercise Modules Into a Section of Online Sociology 101.”
Through the American Sociological Association, the experiment in online instruction by Wes Hill, adjunct instructor of sociology, and Cliff Holley, senior research associate in UM’s Center for Population Studies, was funded by NSF to use Census Bureau data sets and maps in a series of critical thinking exercises for an online section of Introduction to Sociology.
“Our goal for these exercises is to promote critical thinking and quantitative literacy among our students,” said Hill.
In one exercise, for example, students compare and contrast data from selected cities on several demographic variables including family size, income and education. Students even download information from their own neighborhoods for comparison.
“The census provides several measures that illustrate the diversity of household arrangements evident across the United States,” said Hill.
David Swanson, chair and professor of sociology, said, “In today’s complex world, numeric sophistication is required. Those who are not able to find and assemble the data, do the quantitative analysis, and then report on it are not able to accurately gauge a particular course of action. A quantitatively literate citizen is an empowered citizen.”
The American Sociological Association and the National Science Foundation, Swanson said, “see the combination of online education and the use of census data as a unique model created by The University of Mississippi for improving quantitative reasoning among sociology students nationally.”