Using the Curriculum Mapping Toolkit for Sociology to Improve Your Undergraduate Program

Author(s):
Susan Ferguson
Professor of Sociology
Grinnell College

This interactive workshop session will demonstrate one strategy that propels change within undergraduate STEM departments. This effective strategy is the Curriculum Mapping Tool for Sociology (CMTS), which can be used to evaluate undergraduate program strengths and weaknesses. Participants will be asked to consider the recent ASA’s recommendations for the undergraduate major in sociology as presented in the publication The Sociology Major in the Changing Landscape of Higher Education (Pike et al. 2017) and the Sociological Literacy Framework (Ferguson and Carbonaro 2016). The Curriculum Mapping Tool in Sociology was designed to measure these recommendations, and the CMTS and its application will be demonstrated. The CMTS provides visual displays of program conformance to the ASA recommendations, including concerns such as the extent that programs integrate progressive learning structures. Participants also will be guided to understand the process of recruiting, engaging, and sustaining the involvement of colleagues in program review and revision as presented in the Learning System Paradigm (Jankowski and Marshall 2017). Preliminary findings of curriculum mapping efforts from a representative sample of sociology programs will be presented. Participants will leave with understanding how curriculum mapping can be potentially adopted by their own departments and with access to additional resources.