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Students Saying Their Experiences in SOC
318 (Urban Sociology) Spring 2007 Student Code: 001 I
have taken quiet a few sociology courses at A & M Commerce, but this one
was one of the most interesting ones.
I feel this way because at first I was skeptical about how it would be
possible to make an entire class looking only at the sociological aspect of
cities and urban life. What made
it interesting is that the book makes it clear that sociology does actually
play a huge role in the planning, development and maintenance of cities. Sociology also contributes to the
culture that is formed along with the cities. In
order to be honest with myself, I must say that I could have applied myself
much more at the beginning of the semester. I spent about the same amount of time
outside of class as in class working on this course, which is not enough. I was actively engaged in the short
movies because of the architecture that most of them showed. These movies showed the differences in
how places look which gave me a feeling of what the city and people are like
in these different places. Although
I completed all assignments, I feel that if I worked a little harder I would
have received the grades that I wanted.
Although I felt I was using good techniques to prepare for exams and
quizzes, my grades show quiet the opposite. I am just now getting a grasp on your
teaching style and I feel that if I took the course again I would have many
more points. (The last quiz I
received a 10 out of 10) I think
learning new terminology is one of the best things this class offered. Since I will be attending graduate
school next semester I feel that all of the new terminology will be
invaluable. The
use of e-college is not new to me because I have been in your course
before. I think that the drop-box
is a great way to submit homework and wish all my classes went to that
format. Checking grades was easy
and it was easy to see how I compared to other students, which is a plus for
any competitive person. Sharing
the online reading material also was good because some people would much
rather just work with the computer. The only problem with e-college is
that some people do not have home internet access. Also, sometimes the MYLEO was shut
down, making it impossible to get assignments. This never happened to me personally,
but it has happened to others. I
have gained a lot from this class.
Mostly new knowledge and new terminology that will assist me in my
future courses at the graduate level.
I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to because I feel that I am an A
student. In my opinion, had I not
had personal issues at the beginning of class, I would have an A. I think the unique feature about this
course is your teaching style.
The students can tell that you actually care about if we learn the
material or not. Student Code: 002 My
overall experience in Soc 318, Urban Sociology was a very good one. The entire reason that I took the
course was because not only did it count as an advanced sociology course, but
it also pertained to what I am interested in, which is diversity,
stratification, and culture in As
far as my learning experience, I spent a lot of time absorbing the material
from the text and preparing for the assignments and exams. In class, I wrote down most of the
notes provided for in the slide show and participated in answering the mock
quiz questions within the slide show.
I took great efforts to locate the topics of discussion in the
textbook in order to gain a further understanding of the content, and I used
the text to answer the questions in class as well as to ask questions of my
own. I
enjoyed the short movies very much.
I don’t know a whole lot about foreign countries and different
cultures, so it was fascinating to watch the short movies that showed the
different architecture and lifestyles of places all over the world. These movies really caught my
interest, since they showed me something different from what I am used
to. I couldn’t honestly say which
one was my favorite since I enjoyed them all. The
other short movie that we watched, the one about the homeless youth of E-college
made this course a lot easier to manage and keep up with. It provided a great deal of
convenience because I could access the notes outside of class. Taking the quizzes online was also
helpful since I could get them done at any time during the day, helping me
keep my schedule flexible. I like
to keep up with my grades, so the grade book was very helpful to me since it
was always updated and it accurately showed me what my current grade was,
letting me keep tabs on my progress in the class. Submitting the assignments through the
drop box was also very convenient since I don’t have a printer. I didn’t have to worry about printing
up my papers because I just had to send the file into the drop box. From
this class, I acquired a more complex understanding of urbanism with its
characteristics and effects on its society. This is valuable to me since my major
is Sociology and I need to know these things. I feel that I accomplished a lot in
this class because I worked hard on taking notes, doing the assignments and
quizzes, and completing my project.
Overall, the class seemed successful in that I learned a lot and made
a good grade. I
appreciate that the E-college site was kept current and was very
informational and helpful. I was
always notified of due dates and given thorough explanations of the
assignments and the project. The
unique feature of this course in comparison to others is that it really took
on a worldwide sociological view and I was given a firsthand opportunity to
study different cultures for myself.
All
in all, I really enjoyed the class and I learned a lot. Student Code: 003 My
experience in Urban Sociology has been a good one. On a daily basis I would take notes as
well as highlight key terms and concepts being discussed in class. My favorite part of the course is
Urban Development section. The
short movies were enjoyable although the narrator was quite unexciting. I read the text to prepare for quiz
and tests mainly to brush up and refresh my memory. I felt that the power-point and short
outline was more to the helpful.
I took great pride in preparing my assignments as well as exams. I by nature do not test well. I believe because I know I am being
timed and that for some reason has a negative effort on my performance. I have worked on this problem for many
years and I have not yet gotten over it.
No matter how well I prepare for a timed exam I almost always make an
average score. The opportunity to
use one page of collective material for exam day was very beneficial and I
appreciate the gesture. None the
less I did enjoy this course immensely and would recommend to anyone. Learning new terminology is always
helpful and was a highlight of the course. The Urban Growth Machine,
Historical preservation, Beautiful City, Urbanization, are all terms from
which I have used in my project and have come to understand fully. My
experience to writing my project was very informative. I retrieved most of most of my
information from reliable online sources such as In
conclusion, I have gained the experience of having Urban Sociology professed
by Accomplishment
is truly a joy that's worth experiencing over and over again. The joy of accomplishment
is in the doing. Thank you very
much for an exciting learning experience. Through you I have been able to
accomplish greater things while learning to be an objective yet proactive
student. Student Code: 004 Sociology
318 Urban Sociology has been an interesting course for me this semester. Some of the material covered in class
was a review from other courses that I have taken while the majority of
information learned in this course helped me to piece together information
that I already had and new information obtained in class to better understand
new and old concepts. The expectations and
course work in this course were acceptable and easy to understand. Dr. Sun made available all power point
presentations at the end of the week, which really helped fill in the gaps in
my notes. I take notes every day,
extensively, and sometimes lecture will move faster than my hand can write,
so having the power points available make it easy for me to fill in the
blanks. I am capable of filling
in my notes using the text book, but the power points make it possible for me
to hit on the issues of more importance.
Assignments that are given are to be submitted over the internet on
e-college, this is a wonderful thing.
This allows students to save paper and not worry about getting the
assignment in to class and handing it over to the professor. Until this course I had never used
e-college before, and learning to use it was easy and interesting. We also take quizzes using e-college,
which I also think is a wonderful idea because it allows students to sit at
home and take the quiz in an atmosphere that is less stressing. I am grateful that Dr. Sun gives us a
couple of days notice about the quizzes, this gives us time to again look
over our notes and better prepare ourselves for the quiz. I have
found using e-college is easy and a unique experience. I enjoy being able to type and submit
my assignments easy and convenient, the quizzes are easy if you study your
notes. The midterm examine taken
in Lab was also convenient, I had never taken a mid term on the computer
before and I found it interesting.
I like that you automatically know how many you missed and you can
leave the exam being able to calculate your points for the course. Every
student in this course is required to do a city project, find a city and
research its demographics, wealth distribution, economy, urbanism and special
distribution. This information is
to be documented and then put together into a power point presentation and
delivered to the class. Doing
this project allowed me to see some of these things and to understand that
when it comes to Urbanism its not just the place that is urban it is the
people who make up that place that make it urban. This
course has taught me interesting information pertaining to sociology, being a
criminal justice major I believe that knowing and understanding these
sociological perspectives will better enable me to do my job once I am in the
field. People come from all walks
of life and all diversities too, knowing or having some insight to the
differences people have helps me to better understand the hardships they face
and possibly why they do the things they do. I enjoyed
your course Dr. Sun, it was interesting and insightful, I
look forward to taking stats with you in the future. Student Code: 005 My
experience in Sociology 318 has been insightful and broadening. This class has helped me acquire more
knowledge about other cultures, rather than my own, and gave me an open mind
when engaging with people from different classes, ethnicities, and various
backgrounds. In this class, I worked very hard in learning the material and
trying to actually empathize with the various cultures we went over. For
example, I watched the video about “Downtowners,” I was impacted to change my
views on homeless people in general and not become skeptical to helping them
by giving them money or fringe up when I walk or drive past them. This is among many eye openers that
have changed my life for the better. I believe that I spent twelve to
fifteen hours a week reading the textbook outside of class and making sure
that I went over the information thoroughly. Throughout the course, I have
made an effort to take detailed notes that will help me when I read the
textbook outside of class. I can
say that for every hour I was in class is an hour I spent taking notes. I’ll
admit that it was hard for me to watch short movies outside of class being
that I work a lot and most of my time is spent reading the textbook. My
experience with writing overall, I believe that I devoted ten to twelve hours
each week searching online documents and databases. I believe that I spent a total of five
to seven hours in the library searching for books and other sources for my
research. While writing the paper
itself I believe I spent two to five hours physically typing up or writing
the paper. E-College
was very easy to access and used during the course period. I accessed e-college for this course
on a daily basis and spent about five to seven hours using e-college. The quizzes were easy to take online
and I devoted five hours each quiz preparing for the quiz itself and finished
the quiz within the time allotted by the database. Once I week I checked e-college for
grades, which turns out to be around an estimation of ten to twenty minutes a
week devoted to accessing grades. Submitting assignments in the DropBox took
all of five minutes but I did it on all the assignments that were required to
be submitted. I did not use the
tool on sharing online reading materials and other chat information with the
other students within the class. From
this class I gained an opened mind, respect for all cultures and people, and
a sense of identity. I have a
more opened mind being that, the information we learned in this class was not
only meant to teach but inspire and let students become more aware of the
world around them and what who they are living with. I believe that this class should be
mandatory for all majors because it focuses on aspects that are happening in
our society and our world.
Secondly, I have gained more respect for other cultures be that urban
cultures or homeless cultures because I’ve become more aware of what they
have to go through on a daily basis and it inspires me to be stronger with my
goals and desires and humbles me toward others when I am feeling full of
myself with various things in life. I have also gained a sense of identity,
meaning I know what I need to do in life and who I am. I now know what my culture and family
had to go through to get me to where I am and I observed through this class
other cultures going through similar obstacles. It strengthens me in my life and
religion and allows me to become the best that I can. Compared to other
courses this course has been more inspirational and easy and fun to learn
because it is about people, something that I am dealing with everyday. I believe that this course is very
insightful and teaches students how to empathize and help others no matter
what they themselves are going through. Student Code: 006 My
experience in Soc 318, from the beginning of this class I thought this class
was going to be so boring. But the first day I get in this soc 318 it’s was
great, there were lot of people that I already know in this class. I sent
about 3 to 4 hours trying to study and working hard just so I can do better.
I bring my book to class every day and I take note every other day. I always
make notes card whenever I’m taking your test just to get ready for your test
even thought you let us to bring a one sheet of any thing we want. I also
read my book the day before class and after day. This also helps me to get
prepare for my online quizzes, by reading and taking note about what you go
over in class. My
experience of writing my project about From
this class I accomplished; how to check e-college and many more. This class
touches me what is microlevel, macrolevel, and thing that I never know. And
also in this class if you don’t some thing about your assessment you can all
e-mail the teacher and he always going to response
back at you. So that why I want everyone to take this class Soc 318 because
it’s a great class and you a lot about urban culture, and how people in urban
lives. I learn about some of the greatest sociology like, W.I. Thomas and
many more. I never assumed that civilization started in Student Code: 007 My
experience of learning in my
sociology 318 class was somewhat a different and
unique experience. When it came to note taking, I tried every day to take
good notes. I concentrated on main topics and main points of the notes. I
actually didn’t do much studying at the beginning but I was able to change
those bad habits mainly due to the fact that I started struggling with the
class and quickly realized I had to take it more serious. The short movies
were pretty interesting. I actually like learning about other cities because
I love to travel and visit other cities and countries. Some of the videos
were very descriptive and full of detail and I enjoyed that part of the
class. I am a sociology major and although I new some of the terminology, I
also learned a great deal of new terminology. To be honest, I will probably
need to review and possibly re-read the book so it stays fresh on my mind. My
experience of the writing project was good. I picked a city that I have lived
in for thirteen years, and believe it or not, I learned some new things about
it that I had not known since I moved there. Most of my material for this
project, I was able to find on-line. I used different websites that had loads
of information and they were very helpful. I did not really use books from
the library but I was able to use my text book which was very helpful with
this project. As far as the quality of my project, it was not very good the
first time around. I included a whole lot of pointless information as well as
pictures and I am currently working on it to make it better. My
experience with E-college was a new experience. This was my first class that
used the internet at all in my time at A&M- Commerce. At first I had some
trouble submitting assignments in the drop box but I quickly learned how to
use it. It was just a matter of being introduced to it because I had never
used it before. As far as accessing E-college, it was simple enough. Overall
in this class, I learned some very interesting things about urbanism and
cities. I learned about different sociologist and their different theories
and ideas. I liked the fact that for the test, we are allowed to use one
compact sheet to help us. The professor did a good job of keeping us informed
through the e-mail and besides for the couple of times my e-mail did not
work, I was pleased with the class e-mail and response. I think the most
interesting fact of the class was that we used the internet –e-college- as
part of the class. As I mentioned before, I had not used it before and had
not been a part of a course like this in my time in commerce. Student Code: 008 My
experience of learning: On
average, I probably spent about 5 hours per week on Urban Sociology. I learned that taking notes in class
in addition to reading the book were a great way to better understand the
information being taught. I
thought the short movies were very beneficial because it introduced new point
of views and I think that is important to understanding more about cultural
diversity. Reading the textbook
out side of class definitely helps.
By reading the information myself, I am able to organize the
information in a way that is useful to my ways of thinking and that makes the
material easier to understand.
The assignments in this class were challenging but helpful. There was enough work to keep me busy
but not so much that I had trouble keeping up and that is a good thing. There were many new words, terms, and
phrases that I have learned and retained from this class. Now, I am able to recognize these in
situations outside of school and am able to add my educated input. My
experience of the writing project:
This assignment was challenging because I have never done one like it
before. I did not even know that
you could find that much information on any city you chose to research. It was also hard to write it from a
sociological perspective. I got
caught up in the history but not because who it was made up of. The thing that was the most time
consuming about the project was transferring the information I found into the
sociological perspectives. My
experience on usage of E-college:
The E-college system is very beneficial. I have had two previous classes that
required the use of E-college and once I got used to how it works, I enjoyed
my experience with it. I enjoy
taking the online quizzes because I am able to see my score and the quizzes
also help me study for my exams.
I love being able to see my overall grade and how the distribution of
points breaks down. It is very
easy to keep myself motivated when I can check my progress. Submitting assignments online is a
nice change because it cuts down on paper usage and makes it easier to keep
myself organized. I know it is
time consuming and costly for a professor to continuously run off copies of
reading material for the students and think that E-college solves that
issue. I enjoy having access to
all of the information I need by just having access to the internet. I
have gained several things throughout this semester. I have learned how to better organize
my time and energy so I can be a productive student. The open book with one compact cheat
sheet is a great bonus. You still
have to put in the study time but having the information available eases the
tensions that can accompany test taking.
Plus, sometimes there is information that you just can not seem to
understand and it is very beneficial to be able to reinforce your answers
with facts rather than guessing.
Dr. Sun, you respond faster to emails than anyone I know and I
appreciate that greatly. Your
emails are not only quick but they also answer any questions I may have
had. I also appreciate your
dedication to keeping us informed of any changes in the class schedule and
reminders about assignments and presentations. I would say that a unique feature
about this class is the distribution of points and E-college. Both of these things help keep me
motivated through the semester.
It is much easier to know exactly where you are in a class, even if it
is bad, than to know nothing at all.
I appreciate how you keep with the original number of assignments and
follow what your syllabus says. Student Code: 009 Throughout
Urban sociology I’ve utilized many different aspects of studying. Different methods have are available
for that use. I found some of
those methods more effective than others, but I have tried to use them all to
the best of my ability, to the rate at which I feel it will help me to learn
in this class. Reading
the chapters is essential to understand urban sociology. All of the important facts, figures
and history of urban sociology in the book all help me to learn. During class at the beginning of the
year I use to take notes. Very
early on we were told that they power points were placed on-line in e-college
for us to use. This to me turned
out to be better than taking notes.
Then after class I could go through and review whatever I feel I have
missed. The way this class uses
e-college is different then any other class I’ve had before. Previously e-college was used by one
of my professors because he never wanted to bring a handout to class. In this class e-college is a form to
help the students learn. Also during class the
question that are use in the power point format are very helpful. Highlighting in the book is a good way
to have one focus on the key elements of the chapters. While review quizzes I usually just go
through reread the highlighted parts and I’m read to take the quizzes. On all my quizzes I have scored an 8
through 10. While preparing for
test I go through reading the chapters making a lot of notes on all the
information I feel is relevant.
Once I’ve read every chapter and finished making my notes I
consolidate those notes onto a one-page, front and back, sheet of paper that
I am able to bring to the test. These
notes are placed in chapter order to make it easier to find the correct
information during the one-hour given to test. Different
sources used in the class make the class more excited then other
classes. The short films use
helps the class time to flow. I
like the way we get to actually see the other cities of the world and don’t
just have to read about them.
Also the video that covered the homeless children gave insight to the
problem in a way that reading a book cannot. Through the interviews with these
children I was able to feel the emotions involved in being homeless and what
they go through. The
online tools and class website helped me to find information for my class
project. The project itself is a
great idea to help one learn about one city. After I picked The
ability to check grades online is a good way to keep the student informed on
how well they need to try in order to accomplish the grade they want to
receive. The email notifications
have been amazing, as any student may have an assignment slip their mind. While this isn’t a sign of a great
student it does happen and these notifications have helped me to insure that
I get every assignment turned in on time. I don’t know of any other professor
nice enough to help remind students to turn in their assignment, thank you. The
drop box is great because it lets me work from home and turn in my assignment
from my own computer. This is
covenant for those students like me how like to work through the night when
the library may be closed. The
drop box has also helped me to save money on printing. While money isn’t the biggest working
when concerning a class it is the little things like that which help. Depending
on which week it is depends on how much time I put into this class. If a major paper or project is due in
another class then during that week I spend less time student in urban
sociology. During a quiz week I
usually spend two hours review materials. During a test week I will spend
upwards of 10 hours preparing.
These methods and resources used in this class have been helpful to me
in this class. I am currently
happy with the grade I have received.
I hope to at least keep my grade where it is at, but I aim to raise it
a little bit higher. Student Code: 010 As someone who has spent the
majority of my life living in a rural setting, I looked forward to studying
the urban way of life. At the
beginning of the semester I set forth only a few goals for myself in regard
to this class. In addition to
wanting to make a good grade (preferably an A) and learning the basics of the
subject to continue building the knowledge I need to be a Sociologist, I also
wanted to learn what characteristics make urban life appealing and how to
evaluate these characteristics.
This was a particularly important aspect of what I wanted to learn in
this class because as part of a young, recently married couple, of which both
of us are going to be graduating and looking for jobs soon, we want to be
able to make educated choices when looking for a place to live. I feel that I have been successful in
meeting these goals as a student in this class. I
greatly enjoyed the use of the e-college system in class. I found it most useful because I was
able to focus more on what was being said in class because I did not have to
copy what was in the presentation.
I think this is the best way to get the most out of class time. I also liked that there were short
versions of the presentations provided because it gives an idea over what is
going to be used ahead of time. I
also like the convenience it provided because we could complete quizzes and
submit papers at whatever time was best for us. That was great because I am a night
person and I feel I often perform better at night. I also loved the anytime access to my
grades that it provided. I always
know where I stand and what I need to do to obtain the grade I want. It also provided quick and easy access
to email the professor and other classmates if needed. It was great because misspelling the
emails was never an issue because it was preprogrammed. Additionally, e-college was very easy
to use which also made it great. |