VCU Sociology

"How the Internet is Shaping Social Change, and Social Change is Shaping the Internet"

M.I.T. computer scientist Alex Pentland explains There's a reason every government and corporation wants to hoard as much data on as many people as possible. Gather enough data, says Alex "Sandy" Pentland, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Human Dynamics Laboratory, and you can achieve a "God's-eye view of humanity". Students practice theory construction and analysis by teasing out the social theory at work in our contemporary version of a "data driven" society. With some guidance we tease out theories of action, self, and social cohesion. We contrast that with some examples of a more conflict theory data driven society.

It seems silly but that's why this animated explanation of the division of labor works. We return to the video later in the course when we talk about how the assumptions about "family" are never challenged in this version of social organization.

A great humorist is often a good sociologist. Chris Rock puts a funny spin on class, race and wealth in his analysis of who lives in his neighborhood. Some foul language but students can generally handle it.

What Difference Can ePortfolio Make? A Field Report from the Connect to Learning Project

University of Maryland University College replaces textbooks with embedded no-cost digital resources, saving students hundreds of dollars a session.

I've been sharing this one on the Twitters and Facebook.

I like this one, David.

Came across this. It is an example of the kind of digital sociology projects I can imagine our M.Sc. students doing. With some additional critical analysis and writing to demonstrate they get the theory, this could be a good applied project.