Social Science Space

What can we as university professors and administrators, asks Stephanie Jirard, do to decisnormatize and decolonize our institutions?

University life comes with its share of challenges. One of these is writing longer assignments that require higher information, communication […]

Public sociologist Rodney Coates, a professor of critical race and ethnic studies and of global and intercultural studies at Miami University of Ohio, and author the SAGE Publishing text The Matrix of Race, will present a free webinar on “A 12-Step Program for Decolonizing the University” on July 30. While the webinar filled up with a few hours of being announced, a recording will appear here on Social Science Space. In the meantime, here is the 12-step program Coates first presented on social media this spring.

Yes, there has been a mad rush to get classes online. If you’ve found yourself having to study your university course online, here are some ways to ensure you’re ready for your virtual experience.

Michael Quinn Patton, a giant in the field of evaluation, has been getting queries from colleagues young and old, novice evaluators and long-time practitioners, asking how he’s making sense of the global health emergency and what I think the implications may be for evaluation. Her’s his take on where we are and what it means.

Hundreds of thousands of teachers are busy working to move their face-to-face lessons online. Designing online courses takes significant time and effort.
Right now, however, we need a simpler formula. Here are 14 quick tips to make online teaching better, from an expert in online learning.

The default format for most academic conferences is a plenary followed by panel presentations. If we can’t revolutionize conference design, we can at least consider Duncan Green’s seven tips for improvement (electric shocks optional).

Sorry, but academic publications in themselves are less likely to merit impact, though; if researchers want to reach beyond the ivy tower of academia, there are certain steps they can take. Why not consider a campaign? Toby Green discusses the imperative to ensure that researchers are seeking and finding proper audiences if they intend to cause impact. Researchers who do so will be more visible, and they’re more likely to win grants.

Writing satisfaction is strongly linked to publishing productivity and, potentially, career success. Chris Smith reports on research investigating the tools and systems academics from all career stages use to keep writing and publishing. Age, experience, and having a sense of certainty about what sort of writing system suits you and your life are all important to productivity and overall satisfaction.

Journalism professor Vince Filak opted to be a nice guy and answer a quick survey from a university he’d once attended. ‘I’m not sure how much help I was to the people who put the survey out,’ he says, ‘but given the various problems I had with this survey, I’m hoping I can help you all learn how to avoid what went wrong for them.’

How can the impact of an academic article be measured? It seems that everyone wants to find an answer to this question – from the researcher and author teams that create research articles, to the editors and peer reviewers who curate them, to the societies and publishers who ensure that the articles are released to the world.

Drawing on their new SAGE book for students and academics “How to be a Happy Academic,” Alex Clark and Bailey Sousa share strategies for successful student-supervisor meetings.