Sage Sociology Exchange New Ideas

Question:

I’ve been struggling with coming up with new ideas for my teaching. Do you have any advice on places or ways I could find new inspiration?

Answer:

Provided by Sage Authors and Editors:
Gregory T. Kordsmeier, Indiana University Southeast and
Stephanie Medley-Rath, Indiana University Kokomo

If you’ve been having trouble thinking of ideas for your teaching—or need inspiration to improve your existing ideas—here are four potential sources. And to learn more, you can visit our free module "Where Do Good Teaching Ideas Come From?" within The Teaching Sociology Playbook.

1. Meeting the Course Learning Objectives: The first place that good ideas for teaching often come from is by looking at the learning objectives you have set for the course. It is logical to ensure that your activities and assessments reflect the goals you have set for the course. One time to do this is when you set up the course itself. You may see a hole in your syllabus where you have not introduced, planned practice, or established an assessment of a learning objective. You may also find that when you assess your students, they are not achieving the course learning objectives. 
2. Talking Over a Teaching Challenge With Colleagues: Sometimes the idea of how to teach something comes from trying to solve a teaching problem collaboratively. You could visit the Teaching With a Sociological Lens Facebook group or visit the American Sociological Association’s Section on Teaching and Learning in Sociology. 
3. TRAILS! Teaching Sociology! Social Media!: Sociology has a long history of supporting the sharing of good teaching ideas. Teaching Sociology and TRAILS are two great resources. Unfortunately, both are behind a paywall, which means you must be a member of the American Sociological Association (ASA) or pay for access to these resources. Your institution’s library should have access to Teaching Sociology. You can also contact the author of a resource for a copy. Most authors are happy to share their resources if you do not otherwise have access. Further, social media can be a place to find new ideas from leaders in teaching. 
4. Inspiring Media: An idea may come as a result of consuming a piece of media that sparks a connection to something you teach, and you want to expose your students to that media. Media, from television show clips to documentaries, from newspaper op-eds to webcomics, can spark a connection and be used to illustrate points, spur discussions, or build assignments. There is also a wealth of resources inspired by media in both TRAILS and Teaching Sociology.

>> To learn more, you can visit our free module Where Do Good Teaching Ideas Come From? which includes other sources of inspiration, and an in-depth reflection on our process of identifying and refining these ideas.