COURSE TEXTBOOK AND OTHER READINGS



GERONTOLOGY 380

Stoller, E., & Gibson, R. (Eds.) (2000). Worlds of Difference: Inequality in the Aging Experience, 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Olson, L. (Ed.) (2001). Age Through Ethnic Lenses: Caring for the Elderly in a Multicultural Society. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

The textbooks are available at the USC bookstore. Additional readings will be available as a PDF or HTML format each week.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students are expected to read the required readings before they start each week's lecture, to actively participate in on-line discussion, and to finish the assignments.

Critical and creative thinking is very important in this class.

Email assignments and CyberClass discussion are designed to help you apply what you have learned and develop your logical thinking on a certain topic. There is no right or wrong answer on this. Why you think so would be more important than what it is.

GRADING

Grading will be based on 4 email assignments, 4 CyberClass discussions, a mid-term exam a final exam and a final paper. The midterm exam will be conducted during the 8th week. Make-up exams will be scheduled on a case-by-case basis. Please make sure to contact the professor as early as possible with such need so your situation can be given sufficient consideration. The Final paper is due on April 19th. The final paper guidelines are at the bottom of this syllabus.

Email Assignments (25 points each) 100 points

CyberClass Discussions (25 pts each) 100 points

Mid-term Exam 100 points

Final Paper 100 points

Final Exam 100 points

Total 500 points

The 15 weeks of the course will be conducted asynchronously within one week blocks of time. For example, assignments and exams are given on Thursday at 12:00 noon and must be completed by the following week on Thursday at 11: 00 a.m. However, you may log-on to the site at any time you choose during the week.

The following matrix will be used to grade your discussion comments:

|Quantity |Quality |

|Criteria |Score |Criteria |Score |

|Extraordinary contributions |12.5 |Contributions were so well |12.5 |

|were made and showed | |prepared, and often backed by | |

|consistent engagement with | |references, that their impact | |

|the discussion over the life of the study. | |changed the nature of the | |

| | |discussion in a meaningful way. | |

|Average contributions were |11 |Contributions regularly focused on |11 |

|made with minimum | |implications of ideas and true self-examination. | |

|requirements met. | | | |

|Below average contributions |8 |Reponses by other group members |8 |

|were made on an inconsistent | |showed that contributions were of | |

|or untimely basis. | |little value. | |

|No contributions were made. |0 |Contributions showed little effort. |0 |

|Total points possible per discussion: 25 |

CLASS SCHEDULE

1. Aging & Gerontology

· Definition of aging and gerontology

· Aging stereotypes

· Population aging

· Development of gerontology as a mainstreaming area

Text Reading(s): Olson Chapter 1/Stoller pages 1-32.

Assignment: CyberClass #1

2. Aging & Diversity

· Definition of diversity in aging

· Elements of diversity

· Aging around the world

· Minorities in the US

Reading: Stoller Chapters 1-7

Assignment: Email Assignment #1

3. Religion and Later Life

· Different roles religion can play in the lives of older adults.

· Motivation and trends in personal, family, corporate, foundation, and community giving.

· Clergymen as confidants.

Text Reading(s): Olson Chapters 11-14

Assignment: CyberClass #2

4. The Influence of Education on Aging

· Values that education can provide to people of any age.

· Identify educational wants and needs of older learners

Text Reading(s) : Stoller Chapters 17-22

Assignment: Email Assignment #2

5. Economics and Multiple Jeopardy

· Patterns of health, widowhood, financial situations, caregiving burden for men and women

· Minority older women

· Patterns of multiple jeopardy among ethnic groups

· Applications of cumulative advantages and disadvantages, and leveling effect in elderly minorities

Text Reading(s) : Olson Chapters 6-10/Stoller Chapters 23-27

6. Mental Health and Aging

· Normal changes to psychological well-being

· Major mental disorders affecting older adults

· Common barriers to providing mental health services to older adults

· Cultural attitudes towards mental health services

Text Reading(s): Stoller Chapters 8-16

Assignment: CyberClass #3

7. Gender and Aging

· Differences in roles and expectations placed on men and women over the life span

· Differences in experiences that separates the current cohort of women from the Baby Boom generation of women

· Differences in experience from men and women in widowhood.

Text Reading(s): Stoller Chapters 28-32

Assignment: Email Assignment #3

8. Midterm Exam

9. Sexuality and Aging

· Common beliefs about aging and Sexuality

· Resources that help and assist seniors in dealing with questions of sexuality

· Cultural attitudes towards mental health services

Text Reading(s): Olson Chapters 19-20

10. Generational Relations, Aging Cohorts and the Changing Family

· Caregiving

· Intergenerational relations

· Impact of changing demographics on family structure

Text Reading(s): Stoller Chapters 32-35

11.Language and Aging

· Impact of non-English speaking on the social, financial, and health status of older adults

· Implications of non-English speaking older adults on the provision of services

· Cultural sensitivity and competence in relating to older minority persons

· Strategies to help an older adult with a different backgrounds

Text Reading(s): Olson Chapters 15-18

Assignment: CyberClass #4

12. Asian Pacific Islander American Elders

· Overview of race/ethnic differences

· Differences in family, employment, economic status, health and living arrangements of API older persons

Text Reading(s): Olson Chapters 2-5

13. Community and Government Resources for Older Adults

· Problems in government policy and community services for minority older adults.

· Effects of current governmental and private sector policies on older adults

· Roles of organizations in advocacy for older adult issues.

· Organizations of older adults on the government of this country

Text Reading(s): Olson Chapter 21

Assignment: Email Assignment #4

14. Future & Aging in the Future

· Demographic projections for aging in the 21st century

· Future directions for research and policy in aging

· Patterns of diversity in the future

Text Reading(s): Stoller Chapters 36-44

15. Final Exam

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FINAL PAPER GUIDELINES (100 points)

The final paper should be between 8 to 12 pages, typed, and double-spaced. Citations and references are to be used (APA format). The purpose of the paper is to:

A. Allow you to examine an ethnic or national group of interest to you.

B. Describe the situation of older persons in that group.

C. Compare persons from different groups.

In making the selection of a national minority or ethnic group, you need to determine the availability of information and the feasibility of doing the research by the due date.

Your paper should address (at the minimum) the following areas:

Section I: Descriptive

A. Describe the group you have chosen.

B. Identify the historical events that affected the elderly of the group.

C. Describe the group's current social, economic, and political status.

D. Describe the cultural characteristics of this group as they are generally perceived.

Section II: Oral Interview

This section will require an interview with an elderly member (60+) of the group you have selected. It is preferable to interview more than one (if possible). In the interview you are to obtain information on the following areas. If the interview does not allow information for the following areas, simply state that. You can use email or telephone to complete the interview.

A. Key events in their life. Their experience with discrimination or bias.

B. Their family composition and solidarity. Relations with other members of the group. Thoughts about changing family lifestyles. Involvement (if any) in protests or social demonstrations.

C. The extent to which they identify with the culture of the group. Whether they feel it is being maintained or lost. Thoughts about culture being a major feature for their offspring.

Section III: Analytical

A. Describe the extent to which the older person(s) you interviewed reflected the status of the group in general.

B. Describe the changes/trends you expect are occurring in the ethnic group and discuss these implications for the next generation of older persons.

C. Discuss the implications of these changes for delivering services to elderly members of this group and upcoming generation.

D. Discuss the implications for political advocacy, coalition building, and political participation of the elderly members of this group.

Grading

Grading will be based on the following criteria:

A. The comprehensiveness of response to the three major sections.

B. Reliance on lectures, reading, library research.

C. Accuracy of statements and information.

D. Imaginativeness of analysis.

 

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