Module 1: The Future of Work
August 18 - August 31, 2025
Module Overview
This module forges an analytical toolkit to critically assess the AI revolution. We will use the sociological imagination to understand how private anxieties about the future of work are a reflection of a massive public issue: a structural transformation of our economy.
Content Focus:
Chapter 1 (Sociology: Study of Social Problems) & Chapter 12 (Work and the Workplace)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Resource Analysis
Apply & Analyze
Video Production Plan
Create
Video Overview
Evaluate
Peer/Self Assessment
Week 1: Foundations & Planning (Aug 18 - 24)
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with the core module materials and analyze a resource related to your career field.
2. Get To Know You
Record and submit your introductory video for course attendance.
3. Production Plan
Synthesize your sources and create a detailed plan for your main video.
Week 2: Creation & Reflection (Aug 25 - 31)
1. Video Overview
Produce and submit your main 3-5 minute video analysis based on your production plan.
2. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide structured feedback to a classmate and complete your self-assessment in the workbook.
Module 2: The Systemic Engine
September 1 - September 14, 2025
Module Overview
This module dissects the interconnected system of our economy, our politics, and the places we live. It will demonstrate that place matters, and that the disruptions of AI will not be felt equally, but will be filtered through the existing geographic and social structures of our cities.
Content Focus:
Chapter 2 (Economic Inequality), Chapter 11 (Economy & Politics), & Chapter 15 (Urban Life)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Resource Analysis
Apply & Analyze
Video Production Plan
Create
Video Overview
Evaluate
Peer/Self Assessment
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and submit your analysis of a relevant resource.
2. Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.
Module 3: The AI Adaptation Crisis
September 15 - September 28, 2025
Module Overview
This module diagnoses the "Adaptation Crisis" in American education. We will analyze the systemic friction between a dynamic, AI-driven technological environment and a slow-moving, bureaucratic social institution, and examine how this creates a persistent "skills gap."
Content Focus:
Chapter 5 (Education) & Chapter 10 (Mass Media)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Resource Analysis
Apply & Analyze
Video Production Plan
Create
Video Overview
Evaluate
Peer/Self Assessment
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and submit your analysis of a relevant resource.
2. Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.
Module 4: The Private Sphere
September 29 - October 12, 2025
Module Overview
This module explores how the AI revolution follows us home, reshaping our most intimate relationships. We will analyze how transformations in work create new challenges and opportunities for the family and for gender inequality.
Content Focus:
Chapter 6 (Family Life) & Chapter 7 (Gender Stratification)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Assignment 4.1
Apply & Analyze
Assignment 4.2
Create
Assignment 4.3
Evaluate
Assignment 4.4
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and find a resource connecting the topic to your interests.
2. Video Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact analyzing the social problem.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.
Module 4: The Private Sphere
September 29 - October 12, 2025
Module Overview
This module explores how the AI revolution follows us home, reshaping our most intimate relationships. We will analyze how transformations in work create new challenges and opportunities for the family and for gender inequality.
Content Focus:
Chapter 6 (Family Life) & Chapter 7 (Gender Stratification)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Assignment 4.1
Apply & Analyze
Assignment 4.2
Create
Assignment 4.3
Evaluate
Assignment 4.4
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and find a resource connecting the topic to your interests.
2. Video Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact analyzing the social problem.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.
Module 5: The Human Cost
October 13 - October 26, 2025
Module Overview
This module confronts the escalating crisis in physical and mental health. We will analyze this not as a collection of individual illnesses, but as a public issue connected to the structure of our society, with a primary focus on the role of social media.
Content Focus:
Chapter 8 (Physical and Mental Health)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Assignment 5.1
Apply & Analyze
Assignment 5.2
Create
Assignment 5.3
Evaluate
Assignment 5.4
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and find a resource connecting the topic to your interests.
2. Video Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact analyzing the social problem.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.
Module 6: Systemic Control
October 27 - November 9, 2025
Module Overview
This module confronts the institution of social control: the criminal justice system. We will analyze how the social constructions of crime and race have historically converged and how AI tools threaten to automate and amplify this injustice.
Content Focus:
Chapter 4 (Race and Ethnicity) & Chapter 9 (Crime and Criminal Justice)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Assignment 6.1
Apply & Analyze
Assignment 6.2
Create
Assignment 6.3
Evaluate
Assignment 6.4
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and find a resource connecting the topic to your interests.
2. Video Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact analyzing the social problem.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.
Module 7: Global Order
November 10 - November 23, 2025
Module Overview
In our capstone module, we scale our analysis to the entire globe, confronting global inequality and the threats of war and terrorism. We will analyze how AI is redrawing the map of global power, wealth, and conflict.
Content Focus:
Chapter 16 (Population, Urbanization, and Environment) & Chapter 13 (War and Terrorism)
Cognitive Scaffolding
Remember & Understand
Assignment 7.1
Apply & Analyze
Assignment 7.2
Create
Assignment 7.3
Evaluate
Assignment 7.4
1. Resource Analysis
Engage with core materials and find a resource connecting the topic to your interests.
2. Video Production Plan
Synthesize sources and create your detailed video production plan.
3. Video Overview
Produce and submit your final video artifact analyzing the social problem.
4. Peer & Self-Assessment
Provide peer feedback and complete your self-assessment.