Scholarly educators in this area research the design, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based curricular, pedagogical, and assessment frameworks and practices, often with the goal of making learning processes in sociology more effective and inclusive. Sociology classrooms are microcosms of society, making a “sociology as pedagogy” approach vital for interrogating and addressing teaching and learning dynamics (Halasz and Kaufman, 2008).
Faculty in this cluster occupy leadership positions in national and international pedagogy organizations, including teaching sections of the CSA, ASA, and ISA. Our diverse range of sociology pedagogy projects include the creation of open educational resources, the incorporation of pedagogical practices to enhance student wellbeing (including around climate anxiety), and the redesign of courses through blended and hybrid modalities.
The Pedagogy Cluster promotes collaboration on sociology pedagogy research and projects, holds space for departmental reflection on sociology teaching, and offers support for colleagues and graduate students honing their teaching practice.
Silvia Bartolic:
- Verette Lindenbaum, J., Bartolic, S. K., & Miller, R. S. (2023). Teaching relationship science: Continuity and change of the craft. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30 (3), 773-805. DOI: 10.1111/pere.12509
- Bartolic, S. K., Matzat, U., Tai, J., Burgess, J. l., Boud, D., Craig, H., Archibald, A., De Jaeger, A., Kaplan-Rakowski, R., Lutze-Mann, L., Polly, P., Roth, M., Heap, T., Agapito, J. & Guppy, N. (2022) Student vulnerabilities and confidence in learning in the context of the COVID-19 disruption. Studies in Higher Education, 47(12), 2460-2472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2022.2081679
- Bartolic, S. K., Boud, D., Agapito, J., Verpoorten, D., Williams, S., Lutze-Mann, L., Matzat, U., Moreno, M., Polly, P., Tai, J., Marsh, H. L., Lin, L., Burgess, J. L., Habtu, S., Rodrigo, M. M., Roth, M., Heap, T. & Guppy, N. (2021). A Multi-Institutional Assessment of Changes in Higher Education Teaching and Learning in the Face of COVID-19. Educational Review, 74(3), 517-533. DOI:10.1080/00131911.2021.1955830.
Kerry Greer:
- Lyon, K., Malette, N., Holroyd, H., Greer, K., & Bartolic, S. K. (2020). Reimagining ownership of formal, student-led peer mentoring: Student mentors speak back to the literature. The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching, 1(13), 13–18.
- Guppy, N., Greer, K., Malette, N.1and Frank, K. (2017), The Future Lives of Sociology Graduates. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 54: 237–252. doi:10.1111/cars.12147
- d’Entremont, Agnes, Kerry Greer and Katherine Lyon.12015. “Creating an (Un)inviting Environment through Texts and Images: Representations of Gender in Engineering Recruitment Materials,” in WWEST’s Gender Diversity in STEM: A briefing on women in science an engineeringedited by Rebekah Parker, Jennifer Pelletier, and Elizabeth Croft. Blurb: San Francisco, California.
Katherine Lyon:
- Tepperman, L., Curtis, J., Lyon, K., & Colavecchia, S. (2024). Social problems: A Canadian perspective (6th ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Lyon, K., Roberson, N., Lam, M., Riccardi, D., Lightfoot, J., & Lilliot, S. (2023). A sociological lens on linguistic diversity: Implications for writing inclusive multiple-choice assessments. Teaching Sociology. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1177/0092055X221134126
- Lyon, K., Holroyd, H., Malette, N., Greer, K., & Bartolic, S.K. (2022). Owning the conversation: Mentor and mentee perceptions of student-led peer mentoring. Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. 30(1), 65-83. DOI: 10.1080/13611267.2022.2030187
Oral Robinson:
- Robinson, O. & Wilson, A. (2024). The Suspend-Elucidate Technique (SET): A pedagogical tool to replace colonial rhetoric with inclusive re-narrativization. In Cappiali, T. and Jean-Pierre, J. (eds.,). Promoting Inclusion and Justice in University Teaching (p. 176-190). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Robinson, O. (2022). Black affirming pedagogy: Reflections on the premises, challenges and possibilities of mainstreaming antiracist black pedagogy in Canadian sociology. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 59(4), 451-469.
- Robinson, O., Wilson, A., & Lam, C. C. (2022). Confronting settler colonialism in higher education: Theoretical and pedagogical strategies for cultivating critical hope. In. Jean-Pierre, J., Watts, V., James, C.E., Albanese, P., Chen, X., and Graydon, M. (Eds.,), Reading Sociology: Unsettling a Settler Colonial Project & Re/writing Sociological Narratives, pp. 238-243. Oxford University Press.
ASA Section on Teaching and Learning
ISA Sociological Teaching journal
Developing resource: ISA Global Teaching Repository
UBC Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
CTLT Instructional Skills Workshops for Graduate Students
CTLT Instructional Skills Workshops for Faculty
CTLT Certificate Program in Advanced Teaching and Learning for graduate students
Select Sociology Pedagogy Projects
TLEF with Catherine Corrigall-Brown, Silvia Bartolic, Katherine Lyon, Oral Robinson, Yue Qian
This project redesigns a pilot set of Sociology and Family Studies courses into hybrid and fully online courses to offer students structured flexibility in their learning, increase accessibility of course content, improve sustainability by decreasing commutes to campus and by opening access to courses for individuals with non-traditional schedules.
The aim is to engage with pedagogical theories and evidence as well as what we have learned from teaching during the pandemic to redesign courses that will engage and challenge students in a modality that best suits their learning needs. In doing so, the project will enhance Sociology and Family Studies instructor and TA capacities to implement and support hybrid and online course pedagogies and strategies grounded in SoTL research.
The success of the redesigned courses will be evaluated and used as examples for other instructors interested in developing additional courses in flexible forms. Pilot courses include FMST 314, SOCI 102, SOCI 200, SOCI 290 and SOCI 320.
Equity Enhancement Fund with Katherine Lyon, Jennifer Lightfoot, Daniel Riccardi
Research shows that the linguistic structure of multiple choice questions (MCQs) exacerbates performance gaps between students who use English as a first language (EFL) and students who use English as an additional language (EAL) (Abedi & Gandara, 2006)—a growing UBC demographic.
This project advances inclusive teaching and learning at UBC by expanding faculty and graduate student awareness of linguistic justice in practices for assessing student learning (Piller, 2016, p. 98). The project enhances the capacity of a cohort of faculty and graduate students (Inclusive Assessment Fellows) to conceptualize linguistic diversity as an axis of inequality shaping post-secondary education. The IAF cohort will engage with SoTL literature on linguistic justice and receive training in an evidence- based inclusive assessment intervention for multiple choice exams.
Once trained, faculty and GTAs will be paired to collaboratively revise faculty MCQ assessments based on evidence-based principles of MCQ linguistic accessibility (Lyon et al., 2023; Riccardi et al., 2020).
TLEF with Silvia Bartolic, Kathy Greaves, Oral Robinson, and Anna Dawczyk
This project connects students with faculty and practitioner ‘experts’ in fields related to relationship science to develop a series of open video resources that highlight key theoretical developments, empirical findings and their application in everyday relational situations as well as to provide advice to students interested in this area of study.
To date, we have interviewed approximately 22 experts and have created over 50 open access videos for use by other instructors and practitioners in the field. A project website is under construction to make these resources more widely available to UBC (students and faculty) and beyond. These resources are the first step in creating open course modules as well as an open course by actively linking students to the academic/professional behind the information they are learning.
SSHRC Insight Grant with Jean Michel Montsion and Elic Chan
This research examines the racialization processes affecting Asian international students across Canadian universities. This cross-campus study seeks to understand and improve student support and integration by shedding light on the experiences of international students as migrants to specific communities. The research addresses the following research questions: (1) What are the academic and non-academic racialization experiences and processes that affect and are shaped by Asian international students (i.e. Chinese, Indian, Korean)? (2) How does racialization work in similar and/or different ways across groups of Asian international students? (3) How is racialization shaping the student migration experiences to Canadian universities and post-graduation pathways in similar and/or different ways across the country? (4) How has the COVID-19 pandemic played in shaping or changing the racialization of Asian international students in general? The project is being funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant. For more information, please see: https://ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/rais/.
Education Renewal Grant with Siobhan McPhee, Katherine Lyon, Neil Armitage, and Tamara Baldwin
The value of experiential education at UBC is clearly articulated within the current strategic plan’s focus on transformative learning. However, the implementation of effective experiential education strategies beginning in the first year is one that demands further attention to realize the potential value.
This project addresses barriers faculty face when implementing experiential education (EE) pedagogy within large first year classes. Preliminary project findings were presented at the 2023 CTLT Spring Institute and can also be found in the report and website, which features infographics and other resources designed by the team. Among other things, findings highlight 1) that faculty believe strongly in first year EE but face challenges in implementing effective and manageable assessments of student learning, 2) faculty are working to discern and scaffold EE learning outcomes and implementation strategies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year courses and 3) faculty require additional resources to continue practicing EE pedagogy, in the form of an instructor social network as well as additional institutional acknowledgment and support.
These findings build on the Grain and Gerhard (2020) report on Experiential Education at UBC and have the potential to support UBC in meeting the vision of Strategy 11: Education Renewal.