Syllabus

   s14

Instructor:  Professor Sue Ward
Contact Information:
Office: Behavioral/Social Sciences Division : Davies Hall/office Rm.303
Phone: 916-484-8160 /Home office 530-477-5291 ( for panic emergencies only please)                                    
FAX:  916-484-8519 
Email: wards@arc.losrios.edu
D2L Instant Messenger

Office Hours: On campus #303 
 Wed: 9-12:00 and by appointment
On Line: Tuesday 2-3 pm/and various other times

Please read through this page, surf around the course site, make sure you have read the Orientation Link. When you are done proceed to the Assignments Link  for your assignments.  

TEXT: 

In case you missed it in the Orientation here are the two required text. Older editions, while cheaper, won't work

Moody, Harry. Aging, Concepts And Controversies .Find the latest edition. Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press, Ca.

Cox, Harold, ANNUAL EDITIONS : Aging  /Edition- You will need the new edition of this one too. 

Check with the ARC book store (http://books.arc.losrios.edu/Home.aspx )  for current ISBN number and publication dates.

INTRODUCTION:

Gerontologist Ken Dychtwald calls it the "Age Wave" or the "Graying of America". What he is referring to is the aging of America's population.

In the last one hundred years the older population of America has increased from just 4% of the population (or 1 million persons) to over 13 % today (or more than 32 million persons). The age wave is expected to climb to nearly 20% by the year 2030 when the baby boom generation begins to retire. To get a feel for this demographic revolution  check this site  http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_65plus.html

 

In this course we will look at many of the transformations and changes that societal aging, of this magnitude, will have on public and private sectors.  We will examine the differences between individual aging and societal aging. As you will learn, the aging of our population is both a success and a challenge for which some say that we are not prepared.  Some say America needs a wake-up call.  Check out this site and see what you think? http://www.asaging.org/am/cia/dychtwald.html. Use your back button to return to the course.

Although millions of older people continue to live in or near poverty and continue to be afflicted with debilitating chronic illnesses, this profile does not fit most older adults. It is a stereotype.  

There is a large number of elderly who are not poor, nor are they significantly limited in their normal activities. These elderly want to maintain their autonomy and contribute to their families and their communities.  This course will examine  social policies regarding these active, aging, members of our society and how stereotypes affect both our perceptions, the economy, and our public policies.

You will see that as a society we have a multitude of programs in place to deal with individual aging (i.e. home delivered meals, friendly visitors, case management and limited home care) but, as the author of your text Harry  Moody notes,  ". . . we are just beginning to wrestle with the controversies generated by population aging". 

For example: If the majority of older adults remain healthy and able bodied until the last year of life, what should  their role in society be? Should society continue to retire people at age 65 and keep them locked out of the work force? Can society continue to afford to support mass numbers of older adults? Could these older adults contribute to society? Why would we want them to?

In this course, we will examine population aging from many perspectives.  For example we will look at: 

• the connection between societal attitudes and the treatment of it's older members

• the effect of these attitudes on public policy

• the financing of major institution such as Medicare and Social Security

• the future outlook for the growing numbers of older adults

• individual differences along the adult life course?

• how these issues shape the aging process?

• how these issues will affect you and your family members?

GOALS:

Each student will have an opportunity to examine and post your findings regarding the basic issues behind many of these major debates.  You will see how the media has influenced your opinions in these debates. You may even come to believe that institutions such as Social Security might not really be going broke.

You examine some of the issues regarding euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (should you really have an advanced directive?) and tackle the surface of other important issues such as; should we rationing health care, do people have a right-to-die, what criteria is or should be used to establish equality in tax dollar spending for younger and older people, and what criteria is or could be used to establish support for our most vulnerable and ethnically diverse old-old population?  You will also be given a opportunity to actually calculate your own financial retirement needs. 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES AND OBJECTIVES

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

1. explain three reasons for the demographic shift in America.
   
2. describe at least two implications and challenges of increased longevity in the United States.
   

3.  explain one social and political concern regarding each of the following: health care rationing,  long-term care policy, retirement income, family support and/or obligations,  self decision making (including whether older people should have the choice to end their lives), and entitlement programs such as Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare. 

4. explain what is meant by "the life course perspective" of aging. 

5. conduct web research and organize data into a meaningful postings. 

6. utilize the online learning environment to access course materials, interact with the instructor and other students, participate in (15) discussion boards and provide feedback to colleagues .

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CLASS STRUCTURE:

Each week, you are expected to:

1. Read the assigned reading in the text and lecture materials located at the Assignment Link. 

2. After gaining a grasp of the week's concepts, complete the Web Discussion Topic assigned and post your findings to the discussion area. 

3. Complete the current week's open book, open note quiz.

4. Respond to your colleague's postings. You must post either your responses or assignment on at least two different days for credit. 

I can not impress on you enough the large portion of points in this course that are assigned to completing each week's quizzes and postings -- so remember to post and respond twice each week.

Start a new thread to post your web assignment and use the "reply" button to response to another student's postings.  Please find in the electronic handout section "How Discussion Boards Are Graded".  You must post on at least two different days and there is no partial credit available for less than 2 responses.

 CLASS FORMAT:

This class incorporates student discussions, electronic handouts , lecture notes, text readings, short quizzes, cyber field trips, interactive internet learning,  one FINAL Researched Social Policy Topic  presentation, and optional extra credit videos .  Some video's are available online while others are at the Learning Resource center (LRC) on campus.

Material in the lecture will increase your knowledge on a particular topic and will not reiterate information directly from the text.  You will  need to be familiar with both the lecture and the text readings in order to take the weekly quizzes, complete the web assignments and compose a coherent FINAL presentation.

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 THE PRODUCTS YOU WILL BE ASKED TO PRODUCE : (each will be described below)

1. Fifteen (15) web assignments posted to the discussion area along with 2 weekly replies.

2. Eleven (11) open book, open note quizzes

3. FINAL posting -- which is a researched Presentation of a Social Policy Topic  that will be presented to your class mates during the final week posting. For this final week you will also need to response to classmates topics with the same rules-- two different days of the week.
   

Please note: School policy notes that you must inform you of the following.

Please check the hand out on Plagiarism   or contact me if you are unsure what  is acceptable.  All research will be scanned for plagiarisms.  Any student found to have plagiarized any portion of their work from any source will be dropped from further participation in the course and will receive a grade of F . This includes your colleagues web postings and research.

Also please note it is possible to be expelled from the campus for this practice. This is a very serious offense in this college.

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DUE DATES:-

Due dates are all listed at the Assignments Link .  Please note: for your convience  the class site will remain open during school holidays.

WEB ASSIGNMENTS:

After reading the week's lecture notes and text readings, find the Web Discussion Topic at the Assignment Link.  Each week's discussion will center around these findings, ideas, and opinions.  You will be required to post class theory and cite the body of your work. Please remember these are academic discussion boards and not BLOGS.

While it is perfectly fine to ask questions or to post interesting items, etc, these will not take the place of the required assignment and are not eligible for grading. Your postings and replies must show class theory. Don't miss the handout on how your posts are graded. Refer to the Orientation page for more discussion regarding postings.

CYBER TRIPS:  

We will be taking two cyber field trips during our class session.  Although you will enjoy a bit of a reading break during these weeks these assignments take the place of lecture materials and are expected to be more comprehensive than your usual posts.

Doing the research asked for, relating it to your class materials, and citing it earns an average grade.  If you want an above average or great grade think critically about the materials, relate it to something in the news or life, or post intelligent questions about the materials. An average grade is 7 out of 10 points. That is 70%. If you want an A or B do the extra work.

1.       The first trip you will learn the particulars of arranging your own discounted funeral (or if that creeps you out you can arrange a mock one of a fictions person)
   

2.       We will also be making a trip to the web site of an organization that lobbies and advocates for older adults. We will follow their legislative process in developing policies regarding aging issues.

QUIZZES: AND EXAMS.

There will be NO  mid-term or final exams in this course.  Instead, there are  short, weekly chapter quizzes due before the next class session. Be sure to check the quiz link for them.  The quiz link is located at the top left of this page. The link will be hot at the beginning of each class week. If for some reason they do now show up there is a technical problem. So in that case email me and let me know. Remember please to put Gero300 or Soc 334 in the subject line of your email so I find it quickly.

PRESENTATION OF YOUR FINAL SOCIAL POLICY TOPIC --FINAL POST

Each of you will present a social issue for your peers for finals week (week 16's Web Discussion Topic). It should represent your best work, show knowledge of class materials and be condensed to just 5 paragraphs. Here are the instructions  How to Organize and Write Your  Research Social Topic Posting

          Your topic must be written in such a way as to address a social problem dealing for older adults and explain why this is an issue (the so what of the posting)  with your suggested solution. To receive full credit you must also cite  your presentation . After you read the instructions  posted for you let me know if you need additional help.

Please Note: Topics that are off limits are elder drivers, and elder abuse. Sorry, too many BLOGS out there on these topics with inaccurate or incomplete information.

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