Welcome
Donald J. Winiecki, Ed.D., Ph.D., Professor
Boise State University
College of Engineering
Department of Instructional & Performance Technology
1910 University Drive / IPT-ET328
Boise, ID 83725-2070
+01 (208) 426-1899 (voice)
+01 (208) 426-1970 (fax)
Courses currently taught by Dr. Winiecki:
IPT532/SOC502 (3 credit hours): Ethnographic Research in Organizations/Qualitative Social Research Methods: Ethnography is an approach to learning about the social and cultural life of communities, organizations, institutions and other settings that discovers how the activities of people in those settings contribute to the creation of society and culture. Students receive a foundation in philosophical perspectives and methods supporting ethnographic research, learn when to conduct ethnographic research, and explore strategies for presenting and critiquing ethnographic research. They will also be provided with an opportunity to implement ethnographic research in organizational settings.
IPT529/SOC497 (4 credit hours): Needs Assessment/Assessing & Planning Organizational Change: Through analysis of existing social science theory of organizations and organizational members’ behavior, field & discipline specific readings, independent fieldwork, guided practice and other methods, students learn to use systematic methods to assess organizational needs, identify problems and causes, produce reports that help decision makers target critical problems and suggest feasible solutions.
IPT595 (1 credit hour): Professional Ethics: Ethics constitute a formal and informal set of expectations and conduct based on moral norms for a given community. Professional ethics apply specifically to the conduct of an individual representing a particular profession, both in one’s personal actions and efforts to promote the norms comprising professional ethics. Students will survey major theories and models of professional ethics and ethical issues as they apply to the practice of Instructional & Performance Technology professionals. Each student will create a personal code of ethics based on course content.
SOC497: Sociology of Science, Technology and Engineering: Science is one process by which human knowledge is created. Technology is the encoding of human knowledge into tools and processes. Engineering is a discipline that employs and contributes to science and technology to prototype processes and products for use. All three affect society and its members. In this course, students will review and analyze scientific, technological and engineering concepts, processes and products from a sociological perspective to understand how they affect society and its members.
Current activities
I am pursuing a project to investigate alternative means to communicate the findings of my own research and that of selected social science fields. This includes changes in the way I teach, involvement in service organizations such as the Committee on Practice, Applied and Clinical Sociology through the Pacific Sociological Association and through visual presentation media, including artistic norms and forms. This is in part prompted by the view that people who are not professional social scientists are among those best positioned to make and/or lead social change, and that publication of research in conventional social science journals almost categorically misses this group. Thus, with an interest in influencing (but not being the leader of) social change in various facets of society by communicating with people who are not professional social scientists, this project aims to inspect and learn how to communicate research through alternative means.