Intro to Sociology Professor Gets Real With Final Project

For Adjunct Professor of Sociology Robbin Miller, it’s essential that her students engage in meaningful and accessible assignments, which is why her Introduction to Sociology students were tasked with researching a social movement and its presence on social media, for their final assignment of the fall semester.

Students were asked to study a movement that they were personally interested in but from the lens of a sociologist. According to Miller, this assignment demonstrates to the students how the theories they’ve learned throughout the semester can be applied to real-world situations. The project required students to analyze available resources, the monetary costs and the outcomes, such as a change in policy or social behavior.

Miller noted that many of her students use social media as their main news source so it was important to include that aspect in the final project to stay relevant with their lives.

“While they want instant answers, they also want to know why they need to know something. They want to dismantle the old “-isms”, racism, genderism and others, to make things fairer. And they seem eager to speak up and make changes,” Miller said.

The movements that students chose included grassroots efforts such as Black Lives Matter and the Standing Rock fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as more formal systems such as the Center for Disease Control.

While students weren’t required to participate in the movements that they researched, Miller had the opportunity to use one of her own experiences as a teaching tool for the final project.

Last December, Miller participated in Project Menorah, which was developed to combat antisemitism and encouraged folks of any faith to display a menorah in their windows during Hanukkah. Using the #Project Menorah hashtag, Miller posted a video on her Instagram account and a clip from the video ended up being included on a Good Morning America segment about the movement.

“It was really unplanned, but I wanted to show my students that this is real stuff,” said Miller.