Integrating the Sloan Work and Family Research Network in Classes
Featured Guest Blogger December 23rd, 2008
Stephen Sweet, Ph.D. is the Teaching Resources Specialist at the Sloan Work and Family Research Network, and an assistant professor of sociology at Ithaca College. Please note that the views of our guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network.
One of the goals for work-family scholars is to shape students’ understandings of the complex linkages between home lives, employment opportunities and demands, and their wider connections with communities outside of the home or workplace.  Some of us teach in institutions that have older students, with many students already understanding the challenges of managing a family and a career. But others (myself included) teach in institutions that are primarily populated by traditional-aged college students. These students likely witnessed their parents’ strategies of bridging work and family, but most have yet to understand what it is like to have a full-time job, or a child, let alone traverse the terrain of schedule conflicts, dual career moves, aging parents, or manage the work of others who are experiencing strains in their work or family lives.
At the Sloan Work and Family Research Network, we have been working hard to develop resources to facilitate the teaching of work and family. To do this, we have organized two curriculum task forces to develop new teaching modules, as well as published a variety of multi-disciplinary teaching activities and course syllabi that can serve as models for teachers. In addition, our resources—including Topics Pages, the Work and Family Encyclopedia, Work and Family Glossary, Topics Pages, and our newsletter, the Network News—have been written with student audiences in mind.   This slide show below (presented at the 2008 National Council on Family Relations Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas) offers an overview of the ways that the Network can be used to teach classes and develop courses that focus on work-family concerns.
If you currently teach a work and family course and would like to publish your syllabus or teaching activities, please contact Stephen Sweet at ssweet@ithaca.edu.
