PSYC 101 General Psychology Online Course Syllabus Late Start section # 1923 Fall 2012 Instructor: Judith Phillips, Ph.D. Email: judithphillips@miracosta.edu Voice Mail: 760-757-2121 ext. 6292 Online Office Hours: TBA and by appointment Course Web Site: https://blackboard.miracosta.edu/ (log in using your SURF username and password) Prerequisites & Course Description: There is no prerequisite for this course. Three (3) units. Examines the basic concepts in psychology. Topics include the biological basis of behavior, neuroanatomy, research and statistics, human development, sensation and perception, consciousness, learning and memory, motivation and emotion, stress, health and personality, language, thought and intelligence. Successful students will 1). Recognize, compare, and contrast the subfields in psychology, discuss major historical events in psychology, and distinguish between psychological science and pseudoscience 2). Differentiate among behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanism, cognitive psychology, and evolutionary psychology; relate these theories to both historical and contemporary issues 3). Apply the scientific method. Analyze various research methods, determine the purpose of the research, critically evaluate the quality of research, and identify independent and dependent variables in an experimental design 4). Evaluate historical and contemporary ethical issues pertaining to psychological research with human and animal subjects 5). Use basic statistics to calculate and analyze data 6). Diagram the major parts of the nervous system, brain, and neurons; explain the action potential and synaptic transmission 7). Delineate the basic process of transduction and discuss the how the five human senses process the physical world 8). Review the human sleep/wake cycle, evaluate theories of dreams, and discuss the effects of various psychoactive drugs 9). Explain and discriminate among the biological mechanisms involved in hunger, thirst, and sex, and compare/contrast theories of emotion 10). Distinguish among classical, operant, and observational learning 11). Explain, analyze, and contrast terms and concepts within each topic area, and identify contemporary cultural and gender issues when pertinent to terms and concepts 12). Use databases (e.g., the library and Internet) to research psychological topics and use the basic elements of APA style writing to summarize research 13). Contrast diversity within human behavior, including cultural, ethnic, sexual, and intellectual differences; relate social psychological topics (e.g., attribution and social influence) to social and cultural issues 14). Describe, compare, and contrast theories of memory and apply these theories to explain how memory can be improved 15). Discuss the stages of language learning, identify and critically evaluate gender and cultural differences in language use, and explain the role of language in problem-solving and decision-making 16). Recognize, analyze, and differentiate among the stages of development; discuss, compare, and contrast theories of development; critically evaluate cultural and gender differences in development.
With the following as Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Given examples of experimental and/or correlational research, students will be able to identify flaws in research designs, evaluate research conclusions, and identify independent and dependent variables. 2. Identify important characteristics of scientific-based research, and distinguish between pseudoscience and scientific-based psychological research. 3. Given examples drawn from everyday situations, evaluate the biological, social, and cultural effects on behavior. Important Course Dates: September 4: Course starts September 13: Last day to add this class with instructor permission; Last day to drop the class and receive a refund; Financial aid add/drop deadline; Last day to drop fall fullsemester classes with no grade placed on permanent record October 3: Last day to file petition for pass/no pass option November 16: Last day to drop the class with option of W on transcript December 11-14: Final exam week Important Note: Both of the General Psychology exams will be taken at the MiraCosta Academic Proctoring Centers located on both campuses. Students will be given a 4 day window in which to take an exam. Information about scheduling these exams will be made available in early September. Scantron forms will be needed for the examinations (see announcement as exam approaches). Required Text Huffman, K. (2010). Psychology in Action 9 th ed, either soft cover or hard cover of this text is fine. **** There are texts put on academic reserve library-use only in the Oceanside campus and San Elijo libraries. This text is also available online as an etext. Go to http://www.coursesmart.com/ and put in Psychology in Action (9 th ed) as the title. Renting the text is also a possibility. Course Requirements Course Participation: You are expected to complete all activities associated with this class: reading of text chapters and any online lecture notes, quizzes, exams, assignments, and discussion boards. As we will be covering a lot of material so I will provide you with a Study Guide which will list what I feel are the most important topics for that chapter. Be sure to use these to study by. Your quizzes and exams will only cover these topics. This is NOT a self-paced course. There will be a schedule for these activities and I encourage you to print it out so that you won't miss any of the required components. Late assignments, late discussion board posts and replies and will not be accepted. Quizzes will not be available after the scheduled deadline. The deadline for online activities is 11pm on Fridays. See the Schedule/ Late assignments, late quizzes & late Discussion Board postings are NOT accepted. Procrastination is the downfall for online students. You have 7 days to complete these activities. If you wait until the last day to work on them and you go to the hospital, your internet browser goes down, etc. I will not give you extra time to make up these activities as I feel you had 6 previous days to work on the activities. It was you who chose to put off the work. Students taking this class will need to have frequent and regular access to internet connected computers with the ability to open pdf documents. (I provide a free and safe download link which will allow
you to open pdf files if your computer software doesn t already have it.) If you are concerned about using Blackboard (Bb), I will be glad to meet you on campus to guide you through the processes used when taking a Bb online class. Just like everything new, there is a learning curve but Bb is a very easy online management system to use. Required Activities: Generally 2 activities per week- one is a quiz and the others are an assignment and/or discussion board post and replies. Please pay attention to the Fall Schedule. a. Discussion Boards: There are discussion board forums. For each discussion, you will be asked to share your initial thoughts about the critical thinking question AND to reply to the posts of at least two other students (responding to what the student wrote). With the exception of the Introduction Discussion Board, the requirements for each of the posts will be at least 200 words in length and for each reply is to be at least 75 words in length which will go beyond simple agreement or disagreement but will make a comment about the post. This discussion provides a chance to learn and share with one another. Your posts and replies will be graded. Each Discussion Board forum will be described within the chapter it is required for. All Discussion Board posts and replies are due on Fridays at 11pm I will read all the posts and sometimes times ask you questions; therefore you need to look at your posts at least once after responding. No anonymous posts are permitted. When you are ready to post your answer, click Submit. Most of the time as part of the Discussion Board assignment, you will be asked not only to post but also to respond to another student's/other students' postings. When you want to reply to a classmate's comment, click on the comment of the person you want to reply to. (Do not click on the author's name or you will open an e-mail window.) The selected posting will appear. Click on the Reply button in the lower right hand corner and type or paste in your reply. Click Submit. Please remember: Responses and replies should be thoughtful, respectful and considerate. If you are disagreeing with the views of another student, please provide constructive feedback, which addresses the point of view, not the author and offer reasons why you think this viewpoint is incorrect; also you will need to support your position by citing the text or other sources. GRADING POLICIES FOR DISCUSSION BOARD POSTS AND REPLIES: Your post and replies need to be a certain number of words. Generally your posts need to be at least 200 words and your replies need to be at least 75 words. Points for Discussion Bard posts will be assigned in this manner: -the maximum points (8) mean that you posted a response demonstrating knowledge of the concept and answered all parts of the question(s) completely; -less than maximum points but above half of the maximum points mean that you posted a response demonstrating partial knowledge of the concept and/or answered only some of the questions; -below half of the maximum points means that little of your post was accurate, i.e., it was way off-base; -0 points mean that you didn't participate in the discussion board or none of your post was accurate. Points for replies will be assigned in this manner: - a poorly written response will say "I disagree with you," "good comment," or something like this (worth 0 points); -a well written response, on the other hand, will say "I disagree with you because...," "good comment because..."(worth up to 5 points). As I must grade these posts and replies manually, please allow me 7 days from the deadline to grade them. I will post an announcement with some comments when I have finished grading and I will
leave individual feedback for each of you alongside your grade within My Grades. b. Assignments: There are graded assignments throughout the semester. Each assignment will be described within the chapter it is required for. All assignments are due on Fridays at 11pm. As I must grade these posts and replies manually, please allow me up to 7 days from the deadline to grade them. I will post an announcement with some comments when I have finished grading. c. Quizzes: There are online quizzes for each of the chapters. Quizzes will consist of objective items (e.g., multiple-choice) and will be based on reading assignments and lecture material. These quizzes are multiple attempts (meaning you can take them as many times as you want), open-book, and not timed; they are developed to help you learn the material. Each time you finish a quiz you will see your score but you won t know which questions you missed or the correct answers. The intent of this is to encourage you to reread the material and keep retaking the quiz until you get 100%. The score that will be record in the one that you have at the time of the quiz deadline which is Fridays at 11pm d. Exams: The two closed-book exams will consist of questions concerning concepts covered by the text, any online lecture, class assignments & activities. They will be composed of a combination of multiple choice questions, and short essays with 70 total questions. You will have 70 minutes in which to take the exam. I will give you more detailed information about each exam as the time approaches. Students will have 4 days in which to take an exam at either Academic Proctoring Center. Failure to take the exam during the specified time period, or to follow the rules at the Academic Proctoring Center, may result in a zero for the exam grade. All exams are compulsory. I do not drop an exams. If you have a situation arise that prevents you from taking an exam on its schedule time, please contact me immediately, I can work with you on a somewhat flexible schedule. e. Extra-Credit: There are extra credit opportunities. You can find information about these under the Syllabus button within our Blackboard site. Course Policies and Procedures 1. Academic Honesty: Cheating and/or plagiarism (using the work or ideas of another as your own) are unacceptable academic behaviors. The student who violates academic honesty (e.g. using unauthorized material during an exam, copying from someone else s test/quiz or assignment or allowing others to copying from him or her, taking another student s quiz, OR plagiarizing) will fail the quiz, exam or assignment. In addition, all students who violate academic honesty will have their name forwarded to the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Dick Robertson. You will be asked to read and sign an Academic Integrity Contract the first week. 2. Grading Policy: Grades are computed on a percentage basis (90%=A, 80%=B, 70%=C, 60%=D, <60%=F) of the total points accumulated from the quizzes, assignments, discussion boards, exams and tests. TENTATIVE GRADING SCALE Chapter quizzes 250 points Exams 420 points (2@ 210) Assignments 75 points Library assignments 30 points (2 @ 15) Discussion Board 143 points Maximum Points 918 points There are options for a maximum of 20 extra credit points.
Your final letter grade in this class is determined by the following point system A= 826-918 points B= 734-825 points C= 642-733 points D= 550-641 points F= less than 550 points Students seeking an "I" (incomplete) must consult with me no later than the week prior to finals. Incompletes will only be considered for unforeseeable, emergency and justifiable reasons at the end of the term, and only upon agreement of conditions for completing coursework. You have the option to choose Pass/No Pass grading for this class. If you choose this option, you must submit a Petition for Pass/No Pass to Admissions & Records by Oct 3. This option for grading is nonreversible once selected. The petition is available online or from Admissions & Records. Students planning to transfer should consult with a counselor before opting for this to ensure this option is accepted by their intended transfer institutions. 3. Withdrawal/Drop Policy: Students are responsible for dropping/withdrawing the class themselves- with one exception: if you are receiving any financial aid; here two weeks of inactivity may result in your being dropped by the instructor. If you stop attending, you must go to Admissions & Records and drop the course or you may receive an "F" at the end of the semester. See the Important Course Dates above for further details on dropping courses. 4. Disability Accommodations: If you have a disability, you are encouraged to contact the Disabled Students Program & Services Office at 760-795-6658. Their office is located in Building 3000, adjacent at Parking lot 3C. They will help you determine what assistance is available to you. 5. Course Conduct: Students are to practice courtesy and common sense. Students that violate online courtesy will receive a warning describing the online violation. The student must respond to the warning with an acknowledgement of the violation and a statement of future compliance to appropriate behavior. If there is a repeat violation, the student s access to the course will be denied until he or she meets with the Dean of Student Services. The student will receive an email notification of the violation and the review proceedings. Then the student may be given the option to drop the course or to agree to comply with the rules of conduct. The student will not be re-admitted into the class until the instructor receives a written statement of re-admittance from the Dean of Students. Continued violations and disturbances will result in the student s dismissal from the course. 6. Library Resources: The MiraCosta College faculty librarians assist students with their research/project questions, whether academic or personal. Students may obtain assistance from librarians either one-onone at the reference desk, through class orientation, group workshops, and individual appointments or online. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of our library resources. More information regarding the library may be found on their webpage www.miracosta.edu/library. 7. College Support Services: The Tutoring and Academic Support center (TASC) and the Writing Center (WC) assist students by providing individual and group tutoring, WC drop-ins, learning communities, self-help materials and student success workshops. Services are free and available to all students during day and evening hours at all MiraCosta College campuses. For more specific information please call 760 795 6682.
8. Communication: Communication between student and instructor is very important in online classes. Please feel free to contact me about any question or concerns. I am here to help you succeed and to answer any of your questions. Please note: I send out emails on various topics throughout the semester. It is your responsibility to check your email account on a very regularly basis- at least twice a week -and then to read the emails I send you. I also suggest that you get to know others in the class. Studying with a partner or in a small group will greatly enhance the meaning and retention of the material. We will have telephone conference calls as the office hours for this online class. I ve put the dates and times within the Fall Schedule. I will also make announcements about them, which will give you the exact details. This is very similar to a conference phone call. You can call in from your work or any place. You don t need to be at a computer. 9. Your writing in this class should reflect college-level English. I m seeing too many of you take text messaging format from the phone into the college environment and expect this to be acceptable. It is not acceptable in this class as all writing must use college-level English, including capitalization, punctuation, grammar, spelling (run spell check before submitting), proper use of upper and lower case letters. This applies to your posts, replies, assignments, exams, and emails. 10. Another concept that I feel is very important for all college students to develop is that of following instructions. I will take points off when you don t follow my instructions. For example, when I ask you to write a full one page paper in 12 TNR with 1 margins and 1.5 spacing and answer questions 1, 2 and 3, I will count off for any deviations in length, font, font size, margins, spacing, and if you don t address the questions. These instructions are not guidelines; they are requirements.