Sociology of Aging

SOC 336

Fall 2006

Instructor Contact Information:

Eleanor Krassen Covan, Ph.D.

UNC Wilmington

601 South College Rd.

Wilmington, NC 28403-5625

Office Location: UNC Wilmington, Friday Hall 106

Office Phone: 910 962-3435 Office FAX: 910 962-7906

Office Hours: by appointment; students should contact the instructor by the email function of WebCT. If you need to schedule a face-to-face meeting make sure that your email message includes a phone number and a time when you will be at that number so that I can contact you to schedule a meeting that is mutually convenient.

In the event of a personal emergency, you may contact the instructor at home, before 8:00 p.m. in the evening by telephone at 910 383 0540.

Course Description, Objectives and Activities:

This is an on-line course, facilitated by WebCT. The course will combine service-learning experiences with lecture and discussion on theories of and social responses to the aging process. The implications of changing demographic characteristics of the aging population in the United States will be considered.

Academic Objectives:

(1) Understand the impact of history with regard to the social response to aging

(2) Explore social theories and dimensions of age, aging, and the aged

(3) Understand the impact of population aging

(4) Understand the impact of diversity within an aging population

(5) Separate myths from facts regarding health, income, housing, and lifestyles of the aged

(6) Investigate the impact of social institutions on older adults

(7) Apply sociological research skills with elderly adult participants

Learning Activities:

(1) Participate in a UNCW gerontology service-learning research project investigating disaster preparedness among the elderly in New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick and Columbus Counties in response to community needs

(2) View films, documentaries, and websites that address course objectives

(3) Read lectures

(4) Demonstrate understanding of academic objectives through participation in on-line discussions

(5) Write reflections that explore the relationship among learning activities

(6) Interview service providers and older adults

ON-LINE COURSE ACCESS: All of the material in this course will be offered through WebCT, accessible according to the UNC Wilmington calendar for fall, 2006 [August 23^rd – December 15^th, 2006].

Course Texts:

Jill Quadagno, Aging and the Life Course, 3^rd Edition. McGraw-Hill, 2005. ISBN# 0-07-2875361-4

Barbara Myerhoff, Number Our Days, Meridian (Penguin), 1994. ISBN# 0-452-01122-1

(The instructor may choose to assign articles to supplement the texts. If this happens, the articles will be distributed via WebCT or accessible through the library on-line reserve system.)

Attendance and Participation Policy:

The instructor assumes that each student will accept responsibility for attendance with regard to service-learning interview assignments and for participation in on-line discussions. Each student will begin the class with 100 participation/attendance points, but will lose points if and when you fail to meet your responsibilities. Your instructor, fellow classmates, professionals in the community and older adults are counting on you to adhere to a schedule. Five points will be lost for each late on-line discussion post; ten will be lost if the posting is more than one week late. You will also lose participation points if your service-learning assignments are not completed on or before the posted due dates. Part of your grade will be dependent on keeping up with reading assignments and discussions in which you will be reflecting on course activities. You are expected to participate in discussions on assigned readings & experiential service learning experiences. You may volunteer topics of discussion in addition to responding to those questions posed by the instructor or by a graduate student discussion leader. Students are to wear ID tags that identify them as Sociology/Gerontology students when they conduct service-learning interviews. Contact buergerp@uncw.edu for information about how to obtain your ID tag.

Policy for Turning in Work: All of your written assignments will be posted by the instructor on the course calendar & under course content in the WebCT shell for this course. You are to prepare all of your written assignments using MS Word, including exams. When complete, you will submit these assignments to the instructor using the email attachment function of WebCT. All such assignments are due by 2:00 p.m. on the date noted in WebCT. In some instances you will also be required to post written assignments in the appropriate discussion forum for your fellow students.

Course Requirements: Students will earn points based on how well they meet the following requirements. The total number of points that can be earned is 1000, distributed in the following manner:

Requirements Points

1. On-line attendance, discussion postings and service-learning participation 100

2. Mid-term Exam 200

3. Number Our Days Analytical Memo 100

4. Life History Video Interview /Analytical paper 150

5. Emergency Preparedness Plan/Research Report 150

6. Five Reflections on learning activities (20 pints each) 100

7. Final Exam 200 1000

Grading

The instructor will grade written assignments by responding to each student confidentially using WebCT email attachments. Your exams, analytical memo, life history analytic paper and reflections will thus be returned to you by email attachment with comments and a grade assignment. The instructor will post your grades in the WebCT grade book. Students can see their own grades on WebCT as soon as they are posted. It is the intent of the instructor to stimulate discussion and thus discussion postings will be graded primarily in terms of participation. If the instructor discovers an instance of “inaccuracy” among the postings, a student will be contacted privately rather than in public discussion and the student can then him/herself correct the inaccuracy for the group. At the semester’s close, grades will be assigned based on total points earned in the following manner:

Grading Chart

Points	Percentage	Grade
940 - 1000	94 - 100 %	A
910 - 939	91- 93.9	A-
880 - 909	88 – 90.9	B+
840 - 879	84 - 87.9	B
810 - 839	81 – 83.9	B-
780 - 809	78 - 80.9	C+
730 - 779	73 - 77.9	C
690 - 729	69 – 72.9	D+
650 - 689	65 – 68.9	D
<650	<65	F

Please note that grades for all work will be assigned in compliance with the university honor code as described in the 2006 - 2007 UNCW catalogue.

Mid-term Exam:

There will be an on-line examination consisting of two or three essay questions. Practice for your exam will come from responding to on-line discussion questions as we review course readings. Two weeks before your exam is due, by 2:00 p.m. on October 4th, you will receive the specific questions to be answered for this exam. In responding to the exam questions, you may not exceed 1500 words. Your exam will be due on October 18^th.

Analytical Memo: An analytical memo is a short, relatively informal paper, written on a topic chosen by the student that is related to a particular learning objective. You will note that Number our Days is a book chosen to supplement material ordinarily found in a textbook. This book is an ethnography, which is a non-fictive description of a community of elderly persons. In your analysis, you might consider, for example, whether or not Myerhoff’s ethnography is a description of the author’s “service-learning project” or you may compare and contrast Quadagno and Myerhoff’s views on health care or religion in old age. In either case you will write a short paper of about 750 words in which you will reflect and analyze something that sparked your interest. Myerhoff also produced a documentary, which is available on video in the UNCW library. If you arrange to view the video, make sure that you demonstrate that you have read the assigned text when you write your memo. This memo is due on October 11^th. You should begin reading the Myerhoff text early in the semester.

Life History Interview and Analysis: Life History Interview and Analysis: Before beginning this assignment all students must earn an NIH Certificate. To do so the following is necessary:

Each student must go to the website of the National Institutes of Health Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams found at: http://cme.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/learning/humanparticipant-protections.asp. Then you must complete the on-line tutorial on the protection of human subjects. You will earn a certificate once you have completed the tutorial. Print out two copies of your certificate. You will need to keep one copy and turn one copy in to me as the first of three products required in this assignment. This tutorial must be completed in order to satisfy the IRB requirements at UNCW. If you have earned a certificate as part of another course or research assignment, you can just submit a copy of your certificate. All of you should make sure that you write down the password you use when you take the tutorial in case you need to print another certificate in the future. I recommend that you keep your copy in a safe place! You must earn your certificate and send a copy of it to your instructor by September 11^th.

Your interview assignment relates to academic objectives 2, 4, 5, & 7. Students will receive a list of information topics for open-ended video life history interviews. The topics are meant to be “avenues of inquiry” rather than a list of specific questions. The list of topics can be found at: http://people.uncw.edu/covane/soc_336/interview_project/Senior%20Interview%20Categories.htm .

Each student will interview one person 60 years of age or older and will record the information requested in the avenues of inquiry. In reality, you are being asked to have an extended conversation with an older adult, sharing your respective life histories rather than conducting a one-sided interview. In the past, many students have found it rewarding to interview an aging family member. In addition to preparing a biographical story, students will be preparing a video life history of the persons interviewed and will present the video tapes to their interviewees as gifts. The persons interviewed will decide what they would like to record on their tapes. We hope that the elders will find telling their stories to be therapeutic. Dr. Covan has begun cataloguing life history interviews in Randall Library. If your interviewee grants consent, his or her interview may be catalogued in the library. All interviewees must provide written consent to be interviewed and videotaped and each much indicate consent or lack thereof with regard to whether the Randall Library may catalogue your interview. The instructor will post copies of informed consent documents on WebCT. An informed consent document must be signed by your interviewee and submitted to the instructor. Consent forms can be delivered through campus mail or snail-mail.

Each student will prepare a sociological biography describing the person interviewed. The student will discuss how “normative” or how unique is his or her interviewee by referring to theories, statistics and descriptions presented in the Quadagno textbook, lectures, websites and other course materials. Each student will also comment on the ease or difficulty of obtaining the interview and will summarize what was learned from this assignment. Proper citations (references) and footnotes are required, when citing theoretical material from your text or lectures. Note that the UNCW Writing Center will offer help on student writing assignments. Your life history interview and analytic paper will be due for grading in November, but you are encouraged to begin the interview project as soon as is conveniently possible. You may begin as soon as you have completed the NIH tutorial on the protection of human subjects and after you have obtained a signature on the informed consent document.

Interviews should be conducted in person. Telephone interviews are not acceptable. Electronic interviews are permissible, but they are not advised.

After the interviews have been completed the sociological biographies will be posted on the WebCT class discussion forum for other students to read. You will then be instructed students to analyze the student sample population of biographies, comparing the student sample with national and regional norms discussed in your textbook text. If time permits, the instructor will add lecture material to the WebCT shell on data analysis of life history interview data to which students may refer when preparing their final exams in this course.

Emergency Preparedness Plans and Research Report:

This assignment relates to academic objectives 1, 4, 6 and 7. Last spring some members of the gerontology faculty and graduate research assistants at UNCW engaged in a study to investigate disaster preparedness among the elderly in New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick, and Columbus Counties. We are still collaborating with a team of researchers at the Medical College of Georgia who are engaged in a similar study in their state. Students in this class will help as service-learning research assistants as we pre-test a tool to assist elders in creating personal disaster plans. The instructor and students will eventually present the results of student inquiries at a meeting with emergency management professionals. Students may begin working on two products for which they will be responsible as soon as they earn their NIH certificate described above. The two products are an Elderly Individual/Family Member Personal Emergency Plan and a brief research report.

Directions for Preparing Elderly Individual/Family Member Personal Emergency Plan /Research Report

On WebCT, the instructor will post a document on which you will record an emergency plan for individuals or families that contain elderly persons. You will be practicing your sociological skills as an interviewer and assisting sociology and gerontology faculty as they are pre-testing a data gathering instrument. You will also gain practice in writing a brief research report.

The instructor will also post an informed consent letter which elders and or family members must sign and which you must submit to the instructor.

This assignment will require that each student have at least two contacts with an elderly household head. During those contacts you will assist that person in recording a personal emergency management plan. You may work with either the same individual whose life history you will be recording in the assignment explained above or another elderly individual in completing the individual personal emergency plan assignment.

In the scope of this project you will be explaining the importance of emergency management plans. You will be both interviewing the elder about what he or she does now in an emergency and helping that person to record an effective plan in the event of future emergencies. For this assignment, if the elder resides with others, you may interview all the persons who reside in the same home in order that they can collaborate on their emergency plan.

If an elder is unable to complete the plan with your assistance, you are asked to locate a family member to complete an emergency plan in behalf of the older adult. You are to attempt with the help of the elder or family member, to complete as many of the items as possible that appear on the emergency planning document. In that case, you will need the informed consent of the family member and the assent of the elder. In all cases, your product is the plan you and your respondent(s) compose together.

Your second product will include a brief research report, approximately 1000 words, summarizing the viewpoint of your interviewee concerning the creation of his or her plan.

If you review any literature in your research report (including material posted on the internet), proper citations (references) and footnotes are required. In the last section of your research report, you should include a discussion of the ease or difficulty of completing this assignment. Some of what you write will be shared by professionals who are responsible for emergency management as they consider the needs of elderly persons such as the one you will have interviewed. This assignment is due for grading in late October, but you should begin working on it as soon as possible. You must obtain informed consent for this assignment by mid-September.

These are the steps you should take to complete this assignment:

--Earn your NIH certificate.

--Contact elder and or family members to obtain informed consent.

--Engage your interviewee in a conversation with regard to disaster planning. Ask a simple question such as, “Do you have a personal disaster plan in the event of a natural disaster or other household emergency?” If the respondent states that they have such a plan, ask him or her to tell you about it. Take notes, recording what you are told. Keep in mind that the research team is trying to learn what people actually do when natural emergencies arise.

--After your respondent tells you either that he or she has no plan or explains his or her plan, read your respondent the following:

In a major natural or bioterrorism emergency, response systems will be overwhelmed (e.g., police & fire departments, hospitals, utility companies, etc.). Officials tell us we are likely to be on our own for the first 72 hours. The following outline for an emergency plan will help you and your family to be prepared, to be safe, and to meet your needs.

--Proceed to use the template posted under course content in WebCT (Weeks 4-6) as you assist your respondent in completing an emergency plan. You will surely encounter items about which your respondent is unsure.

Other information regarding this assignment: If your interviewee grants permission, you may make a video recording of your effort to complete the emergency plan.

Final Exam: The final exam for this course will be a take-home exam. It will be due on the last official day of class, December 6th, at 2:00 pm. The exam will consist of the student’s descriptive analyses of two data sets, the student sample of interviews regarding disaster preparedness and the student sample of life history interviews. The instructor will provide students with data and codebooks for these analyses two weeks before the exam is scheduled. The exam will ask students to comment on other issues addressed in this course.

Policy on Learning Accommodations: The instructor recognizes that all students do not learn in the same manner and that accommodations may help both the student and the instructor to measure student progress. In conjunction with the Student Development Center, I will try to accommodate you.

Policy on Incompletes, and Late and/or Missing Assignments: All assignments, tests, and due dates are indicated with advance notice on WebCT. It is assumed that as adults, students will be responsible and turn assignments in on or before the due date. Written assignments turned in after the due date may be accepted at the discretion of the instructor, but such assignments turned in after the due date will receive a grade reduction and a loss of participation points. If you must be absent on university business when an assignment is due, please plan to post that assignment before you leave. Incompletes for the semester’s work will be given only under the most stringent qualifications and for obvious and compelling reasons. Apparent failure to keep up with course work prior to the request for an incomplete will almost certainly lead to the request being refused. Please contact the instructor right away if you are having difficulty with assignments as perhaps I can be helpful.

** Note the following important web address for the UNCW Gerontology Program homepage:

http://www.uncw.edu/gero

Sociology of Aging Sociology 336275 Schedule of Meetings Eleanor Krassen Covan, PhD Fall, 2006
Date	Topics/ Agenda/Location	Objectives	Assignment
WEEKS 1-3 August 23^rd –Sept. 11^th	Understanding Sociology of Age	1,2,3,4,5,6,7
August 23rd	Review Syllabus and service-learning expectations.	1,2,3,4,5,6,7	Purchase texts; Read Lecture 1.1 on WebCT. Complete discussion forum posting.
August 30^th	Review facts and cultural myths; Review vocabulary and concepts Review importance of research ethnics	1,2,3,4,5,6	Read Quadagno, Ch. 1; Read Myerhoff introduction; Complete upgraded Sokolovsky on-line quiz described as a discussion assignment.
September 5^th - 11^th	Demographic Trends	2,3,4	Read Quadagno, Ch. 4; Read Lecture 2 on WebCT; Complete NIH certificate and email copy via WebCT email to instructor by September 5^th. Complete discussion postings by September 6^th and 11^th .
Weeks 4-6 Sept. 12^th – Sept. 27^th	Sociological Theory and Aging Service-learning assignments (life history and disaster preparedness plans)	1,2,5,6	Complete Reading assignments: Quadagno, Ch. 2, 3, 5 Read “The Impact of Hurricane Floyd…” posted on WebCT.. Read Service-learning assignments under course content in WebCT.
September 13^th	Review service-learning assignments described on WebCT. (Life History and Emergency Preparedness Plan)	5,6	Identify and obtain informed consent of interviewee for life history project. Identify and obtain informed consent of person with whom you will work on Emergency Preparedness plan. Send instructor an email message indicating that you have obtained such consent.
September 18^th	Review theory lectures, draft reflection and & participate in WebCT discussion on theories of aging in relation to disaster planning Draft Reflection I	5,6	Post draft of reflection on discussion forum
September 20^th	Read and comment on classmates’ reflections	1,2,5,7	In three separate postings, comment in discussion forum on reflections of classmates
September 27^th	Complete final draft of reflection I. Review research re impact of Hurricane Floyd on older adults	4,5,	Reread Covan chapter “The Impact of Hurricane Floyd…” posted on WebCT; Read Quadagno, Ch. 17 plus all chapter excerpts on diversity. Reflection 1 due; students to consider academic objective 2 or 5 in relation to Disaster Preparedness
September 27^th	COMPLETE INTERVIEW ANALYSIS AND REFLECTION I	1,2,,5,7	Interview Analysis re Disaster Preparedness and REFLECTION I due for grading today
Weeks 7-8 September 28^th – October 11^th	Culture and Community Service-learning Review assignments on webCT for weeks 7-8; Note reflection due date on diversity	4	Read Myerhoff’s text, Number Our Days; Read WebCT lectures on Thai elderly Read webCT lecture on Insults to the Body Civil about elder abuse among plains Indians
September 28^th –October 3^rd.	Age Norms/ Intimacy and Sexuality Students view film addressing sexuality among the aged content.	4	Read WebCT age norms and sexuality lecture. Complete discussion assignment due October 3^rd.
October 4^th	Mid-term exam questions posted		Check webCT for mid-term exam questions
October 6	Diversity Reflection		Reflection 2 due on Objective 4 by 2:00 p.m.
October 7-10 ^th Fall Break	Suggested activity: View documentary- Number Our Days, available at UNCW library if you need help with your memo. You should also make a time line for completing interview and emergency plan assignments.	1,2,3,4,7	Work on Mid-term exam; consider working on life history interview assignment; emergency management plan; consider viewing - Number Our Days, available at UNCW library
October 11th	Understand the importance of cultural diversity	4	Memo on Myerhoff text due today;

Date	Topics/ Agenda	Objectives	Assignment
Weeks 9-15 October 12 –December 6th	Social Institutions Family, Health, Religion, Education, Politics	4
October 12-13	Review WebCT lecture on family and living arrangements; review on-line lectures on Thai elderly and insults to the body civil; participate in discussion on Family Patterns	5	Read Quadagno, Ch. 9 Post discussion on family patterns by 2:00 p.m. on October 13^th.
October 16-25 THIS IS A BUSY 10 DAYS WITH LOTS OF DUE DATES	Work on mid-term exam and welfare state assignments. Complete life history interview and analytical paper. Read Lectures and discussion on the Welfare State, Poverty & Inequality	3,4,5,6	Read Quadagno, Ch. 11 & 16; Read webCt lectures on welfare state and Poverty and Inequality. MID-TERM EXAM due on October 18^th; Life History Interview and analytic paper due October 23^rd. Reflection 3 on welfare state due October 25^th
October 30-November 3^rd.	Read discussion assignment in course content on poverty	3,4,5,6	Read Quadagno, Ch. 17 Complete discussion forum posting on the poverty and inequality by November 1^st and comment on posts of 3 classmates by November 3rd
November 4-20	Read Lectures & discussion assignment on Health and Aging	3,4,6	Read Quadagno, Ch. 13 Discussion on aging and health due November 10^th November 15^th, Emergency plan assignment due Reflection 4 re Objective 4 on impact of disasters on health due November 20^th
November 15^th	Religion, & spirituality; Review questions and data for final exam on WebCT		Last day to submit Emergency Preparedness Plans and Research Report: November 15^th
November 16^th	Lecture on work and retirement		Read Quadagno, Ch. 12. Read lectures under course content on work and retirement
November 17th	Coding and analysis of life history interviews; review impact of social institutions		Complete your codebook for life history interview and post on discussion forum. Complete Life History Discussion Assignment
November 20^th			Reflection 4 on Impact of disasters on health due
November 27^th			Reflection 5 on service-learning research due
November 30-December 6th	Death, dying and bereavement; course evaluation		Read Quadagno, Ch. 14 Work on final exam
December 6th	Last day of class; Optional face-to-face meeting in celebration of completion of service-learning research	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Final Exam due: Submit to instructor via WebCT email by 2:00 p.m.