This document provides an overview of the online sociology course "Sociology of Work and Occupations" being offered in the fall 2016 semester. It outlines course details like the instructor, dates, required materials, and technical requirements. Students will be evaluated based on exams, a discussion participation, an informational interview paper, and potential extra credit for participating in an online community. The responsibilities of both the instructor and students are defined.

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SOC 3193
Sociology of Work and Occupations
Fall, 2016
Internet Course
Instructor: Michael Miller
Email: michael.miller@utsa.edu
Online Office Hours: arranged and handled via email
Course Start Date: August 23, 2016
Course End Date: December 12, 2016
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Required Learning Materials:
The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Work and Employment. Edited by Edgell, Gottfried, & Granter (2015).
http://sk.sagepub.com.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/reference/the-sage-handbook-of-sociology-work-and-employment
Note: This e-book is available for free online through the UTSA library. Directions for accessing will be provided by instructor.
Other text and visual materials will be available at no cost through posted URLs in the “Content” section of
Blackboard Learn.
The Course:
Description. SOC 3193 addresses the changing nature of employment, work, and occupations within the context of
economic reorganization and globalization by reference to major sociological theories, concepts, and empirical
findings, particularly as they relate to the U.S.
Objective. The course provides an opportunity for you to derive sociological understanding of the changing nature
of work and occupations, and their effects on human well-being. This will be sought through lecture videos, a
research and writing assignment, reading and media assignments, and small group discussions.
Degree Program Relevance. SOC 3193 satisfies 3 hours of upper-division electives.
Course Technical Requirements:
Online Format. The course is fully online: no classroom meetings for lectures or examinations will be held. For
each major course topic, you will need to view and study lecture videos that I have prepared. Each topic will also
require reading and study of a series of online chapters and articles, as well as viewing additional videos and/or
documentary films.
Blackboard Learn. The course will be delivered through Blackboard Learn (BBL) Blackboard. It is a vitally important
resource which will allow you to access the course content, quizzes, exams, and course grades. You will need a
computer (with speakers and headphones), access to the Internet, and a supported Web browser (preferably
Chrome). Our course also requires basic computer skills (to check yours, review this self-evaluation tutorial:

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http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/selfEval.asp). Various computer plug-ins will be necessary to
effectively use some of the content in BBL. Therefore, if not already on your Internet-enabled device, you will need
to download and install. Should you need technical assistance, call OIT Connect (210.458.5555) or contact them via
email OITConnect@utsa.edu.
Evaluation Bases:
Student Survey. During the first week, you will need to complete an online survey so that I might get to know a bit
about you to better meet your learning needs. The survey will also be the basis on which I will derive information
for selecting students for small groups. The survey is available on BBL, and submission to BBL by August 26 will add
1 point of extra-credit to your final grade.
Exams. Four exams will be administered via BBL over the semester. In terms of the first three exams, I will grant
you the option of dropping your lowest score. However, the final exam will be comprehensive (i.e., cover the
entire course), and your score on it will stand as a recorded grade. Each exam will consist of 50 multiple-choice
questions. Exams will collectively account for 70 percent of your final average. Although the exam window will be
open from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM on examination days, you will only have 1 hour and 15 minutes in which to take
the exam once started. Failure to take an exam will result in a grade of 0 for the exam. No make-ups for missed
exams will be given, except for exceptional reasons. Relevant documentation for missing an exam must be
submitted with any email request for a make-up.
Tentative dates for exams are:
Exam 1 September 30
Exam 2 October 28
Exam 3 December 7
Final December 12
Threaded Discussion Participation. In order to facilitate meaningful communication about important course
concepts and principles (and to reduce the impersonal nature of online learning), you will be required to
participate in a series of small group discussions. I will form these groups on the basis of information provided in
student surveys, with the primary objective to maximize student diversity per group. In all, there will be four (4)
threaded discussions over the semester. Your grade for this component will reflect the quantity and the quality of
your participation, and will comprise 10 percent of your final grade.
Informational Interview. You will develop and submit a paper overviewing an informational interview that you
conducted with an individual employed in a field consistent with your occupational goals. This assignment involves
interviewing someone who is currently working in a job, occupation, or field in which you have significant interest.
Specifically, this assignment should stimulate focus on issues of occupational choice. This should be useful if you
have yet to seriously consider what you will be doing after graduation. Also, this assignment will require that you
link your career interest with a particular individual working in that area. Interviewing that person should give you
a better understanding of the field, and the pros and cons of employment within it, and will also provide an initial
contact with whom you can begin building a job-search network. From this interview, you are to write up an
overview of your findings. In this overview, do not merely quote at length from your interview notes. Rather,
paraphrase, interpret, and synthesize relevant interview information into a coherent narrative. However, feel free
to employ limited quotes when they particularly well-state interviewee ideas. Listed below is an interview guide,
including specific questions or areas about which you should obtain information. You may also report any
additional information that you believe relevant.
Interview Guide:
1. Interviewee's full name, email address, and phone number.
2. Interviewee’s place of employment, job title, and description of job duties.
3. Obtain relevant biographical information about the interviewee (i.e., age, hometown, education/training
background, and previous employment).

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4. Relevant prerequisites for entry into interviewee’s position (education, training, internships, job experience,
important contacts).
5. How was interviewee’s present job obtained? What suggestions can the interviewee give about how to go about
securing employment in this field?
6. What are the most significant advantages and disadvantages of job? If he or she "had it to do over again" would
it be in this line of work. Why or why not?
7. How much does job pay (or pay range), and what benefits are available (health insurance, retirement pension,
etc.)? What is the starting or entry-level pay? How much does pay usually increase with experience? Does job carry
other opportunities to earn income?
8. Does the interviewee intend to stay in job? What occupational goal does interviewee eventually want to attain?
9. Obtain the name of another individual whom you could contact for additional information or assistance about
the particular job of choice.
In grading this paper, I will focus on the thoughtfulness and the thoroughness of your narrative. An electronic copy
of the paper in Microsoft WORD (please NO Mac) is to be submitted to Blackboard by October 7. Late papers will
be discounted 10 points per each day late, including the weekend. The paper will account for 20 percent of your
final grade
Extra-Credit Participation in the Google+ Community. Work&Occupations/Fall2016 is the out-of-class center for
sharing media content relevant to our class that has recently appeared on the Internet. As a Google+ Community,
our site is a private destination available only to those enrolled in our class. You are strongly encouraged to
participate in this Community by contributing posts and comments.
To participate in this community, you will need to do the following:
1. Generate a Gmail account (to create account, go to https://accounts.google.com/SignUp). If you already
have one, please create another for class purposes. The address for your account should be
lastname.firstname3193@gmail.com. (Example: my name is Michael Miller, therefore my Gmail address
will be miller.michael3193@gmail.com.)
2. To request an invitation to join our Google+ Community, Work&Occupations/ Fall2016, please email
your request from your new Gmail account to me at miller.michael3193@gmail.com under the following
subject title: SOC 3193 - REQUEST TO JOIN
3. I will then reply to your email by sending you an invitation to join.
4. Respond to my email by joining.
Once registered, you will then have the opportunity to participate in our Community, and also be able to enhance
your grade through extra-credit points by virtue of following this process:
1. Post an entry about a class-relevant piece of Internet media content (news story, documentary film,
video clip, image, slideshow, information graphic, interactive, etc.) relevant to course topics to our
Google+ Virtual Community, Work&Occupations/ Fall2016 (posts should include the URL for the media, a
brief summary (3-4 sentences) describing the media content, an explanation of how it is relevant to a
particular course concept, and a hashtag appropriate to chapter classification).
2. If you are interested in revising for extra-credit, then contact me via e-mail
(miller.michael3193@gmail.com) about your post, and ask me to provide relevant feedback about it to
you.
3. Revise the write-up by taking my comments and suggestions into consideration.
4. Submit your revised post to me (miller.michael3193@gmail.com) for re-posting as an "Extra-Credit
Awardee" in our Google+ Community.
5. Assuming that you have met my recommendations re revision, I will then re-post your piece as an
"Extra-Credit Awardee" in our Google+ Community. Each post that is accepted for re-posting as an
awardee will add 1 point to your final average score for the course (you may receive up to 5 extra-credit
points over the semester).
I will encourage students who submit a particularly good re-post to our Google+ Community to submit it as well to
a website with significant public visibility, such as The Sociological Cinema (TSC). The following are a few extra-credit
awardee posts from recent classes published in TSC:
http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/the-race-and-class-politics-of-gentrification
http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/news-censorship-and-the-koch-brothers

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http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/prestige-in-pink
http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/critiques-of-labels
Grading Scale
Your final average should be interpreted on the following basis:
A = > 89 B = 80 – 89 C = 70 – 79 D = 60 – 69 F = < 60
Course Responsibilities
Your Responsibilities. The course requires your active involvement. At the minimum, you are expected to be
intellectually and socially engaged in the class, and meet all course requirements on a timely basis. You are
responsible for adhering to all rules concerning conduct, including those relevant to scholastic dishonesty (see The
Student Code of Conduct). You are also expected to reflect the Roadrunner Creed in your behavior.
1. Take responsibility for your own learning.
2. Become familiar with class technology. Ensure that your computer works within the BBL system.
3. Log in to our BBL course at least once a day, and check for announcements and updates.
4. Complete all assignments and examinations by due dates.
5. Participate in all required threaded discussions. Online learning is not self-paced nor solitary; you will
need to communicate regularly with group members and me through relevant channels.
6. Be fully aware of the amount of time you will need to devote to the course. Manage time wisely.
Although the exact amount of attention necessary to devote to course preparation and assignments will
vary from student to student, anticipate investing about as much time that you would in a regular
semester face-to-face course. To assess your time-management skills, review this guide:
http://www.studygs.net/timman.htm
7. Maintain strong study skills. Review these resources developed by the Tomás Rivera Center:
http://utsa.edu/trcss/soar.html#study
8. Maintain standards of courtesy and respect that prevail in the regular classroom. In addition, adhere
to Internet norms; see netiquette rules enumerated on this page
http://www.learnthenet.com/learn-about/netiquette/. Also be aware that BBL software automatically
stores course access records, exam scores, email postings, and discussion-thread postings.
9. Should you have any questions concerning course matters consult with me as soon as possible.
Certainly communicate with me about any concerns or problems that may affect your academic status or
class involvement (e.g., an absence from course participation or family emergency).
10. Support services, including registration assistance and adaptive equipment, are available to those with
documented disabilities through the Office of Disability Services.
To facilitate your success, be sure to adhere to the following requirements:
1. In communicating with me via e-mail, always list your course number and full name on the Subject
line of email (e.g., SOC 3193 John Doe) so that I know you are enrolled in the course.
2. Do not fall behind in terms of where you should be according to the syllabus.
3. Do not wait until just before exams and assignments are due to try submitting them.
4. While you may be given a grace period to allow for technical problems, you must report such problems
immediately to me and to OIT Connect.
Copyright and Fair Use. Copying, displaying, and distributing copyrighted works may infringe the owner's
copyright. The University of Texas System's policy statement on Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials can help you
determine whether your use of a copyrighted work may be an infringement
(http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html). Any use of computer or duplication facilities by students, faculty, or
staff for infringing use of copyrighted works is subject to appropriate disciplinary action as well as those civil
remedies and criminal penalties provided by federal law. Copyright law applies to the Internet, which contains a
mixture of copyrighted and non-copyrighted materials. An item does not have to display a statement of copyright

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to be copyrighted. It is assumed that an item is copyrighted until otherwise determined. For more information, see
the University of Texas System Office of General Counsel web site
(http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/). A printed copy is also available at the Reference, Circulation and
Multimedia Center service desks in the Library. For local guidance, please contact the UTSA Library at
210.458.7506 and check information provided at http://libguides.utsa.edu/copyright.
Syllabus and Course Changes. I reserve the right to revise the syllabus over the semester as deemed necessary. It
is your responsibility to check BBL for updates or corrections. Any changes/corrections relevant to course
materials, exam or assignment dates, or other updates will be posted in the "announcements" section in BBL.