Advanced General
Psychology /
Fall 2013
Professor
Christyn Dolbier, Ph.D.Associate Professor
Office: Rawl Annex 141
Phone: 252-328-2119
Email: / Office Hours
Email: I will try to respond
within 24 hours (M-F, 8am-5pm)
Office or telephone:
M 11:30-2, TH 3:30-6
or by appointment
Syllabus
This document is designed to provide you with a detailed description of what to expect in this course. It contains information about the daily workings of the course, including a schedule, policies, requirements, and expectations - for both me and you. It is very important that you take the time to familiarize yourself with this syllabus. Please be aware that during the semester, changes may be made to the schedule and policies. I will post these on the Announcements page of our Blackboard course.
Course Description
v As a capstone course for senior Psychology majors, this course serves as an integrating experience in which you will draw upon what you have learned in your previous classes to practice and demonstrate critical thinking and written communication skills you will need to succeed after graduation on the job or in graduate school.
v Catalog description: In-depth overview of psychology as a science organized around five main questions: How do humans (and, where relevant, animals) act, how do they know, how do they interact, how do they develop, and how do they differ from each other?
v Prerequisites: PSYC 2210: Research Methods in Psychology; and two psychology courses from learning and cognition, biological bases, or general course groups.
v Writing intensive (WI): As part of ECU’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program using Model 1: Courses Emphasizing Academic Writing, this course contributes to the twelve-hour WI requirement for ECU students. Additional information is available at the following website: http://www.ecu.edu/writing/wac/.
Course Objectives
v Successful completion of this course will enable you to accomplish the following:
§ Understand how knowledge in psychology is attained and applied.
§ Differentiate science from pseudoscience.
§ Understand major psychological perspectives, theories and concepts.
§ Critically reason about and evaluate research literature in psychology.
§ Appreciate multiple perspectives on controversial topics in the field.
§ Become a wiser consumer of psychological information that you are exposed to through the media.
§ Develop written communication skills to assist in the clear and persuasive presentation of your ideas.
Course Materials
v Required textbooks:
§ Stanovich, K. (2013). How to Think Straight About Psychology (10th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
§ Slife, B. (2011). Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Psychological Issues (17th ed.). McGraw-Hill. OR Slife, B. (2013). Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Psychological Issues (17th ed., expanded).
v Optional textbooks:
§ Scott, J. M., Koch, R., Scott, G. M., & Garrison, S. M. (2002). The Psychology Student Writer’s Manual (2nd ed.). Pearson.
§ American Psychological Association (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th edition). American Psychological Association.
v The textbooks can be obtained from Dowdy Student Bookstore (252-328-6731, 877-499-8398) in person or online (www.studentstores.ecu.edu/shop), another textbook dealer, or the textbook publishers.
Technology Requirements
v Dependable computer with reliable internet access.
v Ability to log on and navigate our Blackboard course.
v Ability to access and use your ECU email account.
v Access to and ability to use Microsoft Word software.
Course Format
v This course is taught entirely online using Blackboard (https://blackboard.ecu.edu/); all instructional materials are on Blackboard. All learning will be gained through reading, thinking, and writing. There will be opportunities for interaction with me and among you and your classmates.
§ To enter our course, go to the Blackboard gateway (https://blackboard.ecu.edu/ ). Click Login and enter your ECU userid and password. If you have any trouble logging in, contact the ECU IT Help Desk at 252-328-9866. After you log in, select Fall 2013 - PSYC 4000: Advanced General Psychology and you are in.
§ Use Announcements to check for updates and reminders; Faculty Information for my contact information and student hours; Course Info for course materials; Course Docs for taking quizzes and submitting your paper; Discussion Board to participate in online discussions; Email to send email to me and/or classmates; External Links to access useful websites; and My Grades to check your grades.
§ If you have any problems accessing or utilizing Blackboard, contact me as soon as possible.
v ECU offers helpful information about online learning at this website: http://www.ecu.edu/options/index.cfm. To determine whether online learning is a good fit for your learning habits, go to this website and review the Succeeding as an Online Student and Tips for Online Success sections: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/options/de-101.cfm. (PLEASE NOTE: If you have difficulty with self-discipline, being self-motivated, and meeting deadlines, this course is probably not for you.)
v You are expected to complete all required coursework independently. Any collaboration in the completion of coursework or completion of coursework by someone other than you is considered a violation of academic integrity and will be dealt with as such (see academic integrity policy on page 6).
Student Evaluation and Grading
You may earn up to 1000 points in this course. Your final grade will be determined by your performance on weekly quizzes, weekly discussion board postings and one paper.
Component Percent Points Total points Grade
Quizzes 30% 300 940-1000 A = 94-100%
Discussion board postings 45% 450 900-939 A- = 90-93%
Paper 25% 250 870-899 B+ = 87-89%
830-869 B = 83-86%
800-829 B- = 80-82%
770-799 C+ = 77-79%
730-769 C = 73-76%
700-729 C- = 70-72%
670-699 D+ = 67-69%
630-669 D = 63-66%
600-629 D- = 60-62%
0-599 F = 0-59%
v Earning your grades: I want you all to do well in this course. I will do whatever I can to help you learn and do well, but YOU ultimately determine what grade you earn in this course. Your grades in this class are earned by you, not given by me. Therefore, I want you to take personal responsibility for your learning.
v Grade cutoffs: The grade cutoffs above are absolute -- for example, a 699 is a D+, not a C-. When transforming total scores to letter grades, "close" does not count. Do not ask or expect me to “give you points” toward your final grade or request additional assignments to earn more points.
v Grade communication: To maintain confidentiality, grades cannot be reported by phone or email. Quiz, discussion board and paper grades are posted on Blackboard. Final grades are posted electronically at the end of the semester on Blackboard and OneStop.
v Incomplete not an option: Some materials and discussions for this course are available only during the time allotted. The course content is not accessible after the end of the course. For these reasons, a grade of “Incomplete” is not an option.
Quizzes
To encourage your preparedness for discussion board forums and the paper by having read the assigned readings, there are 14 online quizzes (one per week), worth approximately 23 points each. I will drop your lowest quiz and combine your best 13 quiz grades, for a total of 300 possible points (30% of your final grade). Each quiz corresponds to the assigned readings for that week and is multiple-choice. You will take the quizzes on Blackboard under Course Docs in the Quizzes folder; they are open-book and do not have a time limit.
v Quiz deadlines: Quizzes must be completed by the due dates listed in the class schedule at the end of this syllabus. There are no make-up quizzes. No exceptions. If you do not complete a quiz by its deadline, you will have earned a grade of “0”.
v Dropping lowest quiz: Your best 13 out of 14 quizzes will be used in determining your final grade, which enables you to miss one should special circumstances arise. If you miss one quiz for any reason, this will count as the quiz you drop. You do not have to inform me about missing one quiz or provide any reason for doing so.
v Challenging missed questions: If you feel you have provided a correct answer to a quiz question but it was scored as incorrect, you may challenge the score. To do so, you must provide specific evidence from the textbook that supports why your answer is the best answer. Submit your challenge on the Quiz Question Challenge Form within two weekdays of the particular quiz deadline. This form is available on Blackboard under Course Info.
v Problems: Computers may lock up and interruptions can occur while taking a quiz, which result in incomplete submissions and locking further access to the quiz. If this happens you must email me to unlock your access. Last minute situations may arise that prevent you from completing a quiz. For these reasons, it is wise to anticipate potential problems and not wait until the last minute to take the quizzes.
Discussion Board Postings
There are 14 discussion board forums (one per week) to participate in, worth approximately 35 points each. I will drop your lowest discussion forum assignment and combine your best 13 discussion forum grades, for a total of 450 possible points (45% of your final grade). The forums will be related to the topics for that week and will require reflection on the week’s assigned readings. The information from discussion forum postings will help you master course concepts. In most instances, you will be required to post multiple times during the week on a particular forum – one to three times being your original message(s), twice in response to other students’ original messages, and sometimes a revision of your original message. Reading all of the postings on the forums will show you the diversity of responses and help you more fully understand the content of each week’s topics. Without this collaborative reading you will not gain full value from this course.
v My responses to your posts: I will check the forums regularly, the same as I check email. I will hold off on my own responses to your posts because if I post too much, students participate less. However, if a discussion seems to be getting off track, I will guide it back. And if questions regarding the content arise, I will offer clarifications and explanations. I will post a summary of each forum upon its conclusion.
v Deadlines: Discussion board postings must be completed by the due dates listed in the class schedule at the end of this syllabus. It is important to remember that late postings are not useful as we likely have moved on to a new topic. Therefore, late postings will receive zero points.
v Dropping lowest discussion forum: Your best 13 out of 14 discussion forum assignments will be used in determining your final grade, which enables you to miss one should special circumstances arise. If you miss one forum for any reason, this will count as the forum you drop. You do not have to inform me about missing one forum or provide any reason for doing so.
v Hints for success in posting:
§ General guidelines: To earn credit, a posting must add substance to the discussion. This means you should add new information, elaborate on the concept, ask a thoughtful question, or otherwise show you are applying critical thinking skills to the topic. A posting (original, response, or revision) must be at least a paragraph (i.e., minimum of three or four sentences) in length. Use standard written English in composing your discussion postings (i.e., your posts should be written in full sentences and not in the form of text messages). You should communicate with each other in your posts, not me.
§ Compose off-line: It is not necessary for you to stay online as you compose your discussion posts. Review the post assignment and then work off-line to compose your response in your own word processing program and save the document on your hard drive. Be sure to use the spell check and grammar check functions available through your word processor, and to proof read your document. Then go back online and copy/paste your response into your discussion posting.
§ Discussion Board editing features: When you click to add a new Thread or to Reply to a post, a window opens for you to type a Subject and Message. Look in the Message block in the upper left hand corner for a small arrow. Clicking on the arrow will drop down a tool bar with editing features that allow you to copy, cut, paste, and spell check within the forum.
§ Responding to my posts: Your responses to my posts should demonstrate your understanding of the concepts and your critical thinking about the information or the issues described in the assigned readings or postings. A response that suggests that you have not read the related material may not earn any credit. The goal is for you to consider the information thoughtfully and not simply to summarize what you have read or to give an “off-the-top-of-your-head” opinion.
§ Responding to your classmates’ posts: When responding to a classmate’s post you want to do more than just give him/her a “virtual high five” – more than just telling him/her, “I agree” or “great job”. You need to include why you agree or why you thought he/she did a great job. Or, you may disagree – which is perfectly all right. Just be polite and say why you disagree. Some of the best posts include requests for clarification or more information about something mentioned in the original post. You may want to comment on the similarities or differences between the ideas presented by your classmates and your own ideas, or you may wish to offer a generalization that occurs to you based on the messages posted by classmates.
Paper
There is one paper to complete, worth 250 points for a combined total of 25% of your final grade. The paper will be graded with an eye towards content, grammar/spelling, and APA style. It is a good idea to clear all paper topics with me.
v Paper topic: Does psychology matter: Of all the areas where psychology MIGHT matter, which do you think are the most important? Why? Do we have good evidence that psychology DOES matter in those areas, or are we engaging in wishful thinking?