Montgomery College

SYLLABUS

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY 2301

Spring 2014 4026

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

In order for you to have a very successful semester and to eliminate many frustrations students have with Distance Education you will be required to read and understand 3 documents; syllabus, how to submit assignments, and frequently answered questions. These items are located under the lessons tab Week One Orientation. This orientation is required for all students.

WEB BROWSER

Mozilla Firefox is the preferred browser. Internet Explorer is not as good.  Safari will result in many problems so don’t use.  Firefox is free and it is highly recommended that you download and use it with Angel.

ASSESSMENT/EXAM

Located in the Week One orientation folder is the practice test or assessment. The assessment quizzes you on 3 documents; syllabus, how to submit assignments, and frequently answered questions. You may take the assessment as many times as you wish. This will help you learn how to take an assessment online and to submit the assessment for grading.  This will also help you with course instructions. When you have answered all questions correctly, you earn points and you may then begin this course. You must have a score greater than 80% before beginning the class. Class materials will not be released until you have a score greater or equal to 80%.

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CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION

An introductory course with the elementary principles of human behavior.  Designed especially for those students majoring in the social or biological sciences, premedicine or education. (4201015125)

CREDIT  3 CREDIT HOURS

PREREQUISITE

None

ADA STATEMENT

Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric, developmental, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the Disability Support Services (DSS) Counselor at the beginning of each semester. Faculty members are authorized to provide only the accommodations requested by the DSS Office.

DEAN AND DEPARTMENT CHAIR CONTACT

Dean of BELS Division: Barbara Buchanan. barbara.buchanan@lonestar.edu

Department Chair of Social Sciences: Michael Green michael.green@lonestar.edu

(936) 273-7000

INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION

IrvLichtman; irv.lichtman@lonestar.edu.(936) 273-7000

2013 – 2014 Learning Outcomes for PSYC 2301

1.      Learning Outcomes for PSYC 2301, General Psychology
1. Identify factors in the historical development of the study of human behavior including current theoretical perspectives prominent in the field of psychology.
2. Identify terminology unique to the study of psychology.
3. Identify research findings through the application of the scientific method.
4. Identify factors contributing to development and the human experience.
5. Identify accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.
6. Identify factors in physiological and psychological processes involved in human behavior including those experiences which deviate from the mainstream of accepted experience and behavior.

REQUIRED  MATERIALS

Myers, David (2011)  Exploring Psychology. Worth Publishers.  (9E edition in modules)

ISBN: 978-1-4641-6596-3

TOPICS

Biopsychologicalperspective

Behavioral Perspective

Cognitive Perspective

Developmental Perspective

Psychological Disorders and Therapy

Psychoanalytic Perspective

PLAGIARISM AND CHEATING

In the case of plagiarism (claiming that words and ideas of others are your own and/or not indicating the source of ideas), the instructor reserves the right to give the student a zero for the assignment and may result in withdraw from the course. In the case of cheating during the course of a quiz or unauthorized collaboration on a writing project, the instructor reserves the right to give the student or students a zero for the quiz or assignment  and may result in withdraw from the course.  All work must reflect individuality even though you may choose to work collaboratively.

NOTICE OF INSTRUCTOR’S RIGHT TO MODIFY THE SYLLABUS

The instructor reserves the right to modify this syllabus and will notify the class of any changes in a timely manner.

WITHDRAWL/DROP POLICY

The instructor reserves the right to withdraw a student after determining that the student is not satisfactorily completing assigned work. In most cases the instructor will deny the student access to the course when there is a critical need to communicate with the student. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor in order to work out a mutually agreed plan to remove the deficiency or deficiencies in question.  Ultimately, it is the student’s responsibility to withdraw from the course to avoid receiving a failing grade.

INSTRUCTOR’S RESPONSE TIME TO STUDENT

The instructor responds to students within 8 hours. The instructor goes on line a minimum of two times daily; afternoon and evening.  There are times that instructor may have to deviate from this schedule and students will be notified.  Under the most unforeseen circumstances the instructor will respond within 24 hours.  Your instructor usually checks online classes once or twice on weekends.

COURSE CALENDAR

This is an important tool.  Every time you logon you need to check your calendar for important postings. This tool will keep you up to date as to when course requirements are available to you as well as the date and time of deadlines to submit work.

FOLDER

Each folder contains learning modules that pertain to an assessment.  A learning module contains all information you need to complete an assignment and assessment. Items in the learning module include written assignment, power points, psychology simulation, critical thinking exercises, helpful web links, supplementary activities, reviews, videos, and discussions. Below is a more detailed description of the contents.

Module Power Points

Power points are an excellent way to review for exams, obtain information for the module written assignments, and to understand key course objectives. * You will need Microsoft Word .doc to view and work with all online documentation. Without high speed internet it takes approximately 2-4 minutes to download the power point presentations.

Video Clips

There are video clips showing historical information about the module topic. It is not mandatory that you view them. You must have high speed internet to download or this will take several minutes to load.

Written Module Assignments

There are 10 written assignments each worth 25 points for a total of 250 points. Please follow your course calendar for dates of submissions. Each written MODULE assignment is located in the learning modules. All assignments are released at 6 am and have deadlines of 11 pm.  Instructor makes comments on each assignment. Always read instructor comments prior to emailing to ask a question. Download and fill out assignment and Upload or attach and submit. Always download and save to your computer before uploading and submitting. Submit your assignment to the assignment drop box.

Up to 3 bonus points are awarded for assignment submitted prior to the cutoff or deadline date.  The assignment and all questions must be fully completed.  There are 10 written assignments for a possible total of 30 bonus points.

Discussions

You are required to respond to10 discussion questions. You are required to respond to instructor’ discussion question from each assigned module and another student’s discussion from the same assigned module. There is a response to the instructors’ lead question which is at the beginning of all questions. This discussion MUST be one full page or approximately 200 words or no credit will be issued.  ** Minimum of 200 words for credit. You must also respond to another student’s discussion in addition to the discussion of the instructor. Your response to another students discussion must be a minimum of 100 words for credit. There are a total of 2 discussions (200 words and 100 words) per module for 10 points per module. You must respond to both for credit.  There is no partial credit for responding to one and not the other.

Module Web Links

The web links for each module add additional opportunity to find supplementary information for each topic. This is not a mandatory assignment but for learning enrichment.

Critical Thinking Exercises

These exercises may be used to expand you knowledge on each module topic. This is not a mandatory assignment but for learning enrichment.

Assessments

There are 5 assessments and a Final exam for a total of 6 exams. You will drop the lowest of the first 5 assessments but the final exam is not dropped.

Each is worth 100 points for a total of 500 points. Dates and times will be posted on the course calendar.  All exams are online. The final exam is mandatory. You have 3 attempts for all exams (except for the final) during the testing period and the highest test score counts. You have two attempts for the final. The final exam is online.

Journal Assignment (Journal Article + Journal Report) Folder

You are required to read and submit an article and a report from a psychological journal.  You will first select a topic. You will then select a scientific psychology journal  from an approved APA Subject List. The link to the American Psychology Association subject web site is located in the Journal Instructions in the Journal Assignment folder. You will submit a copy of the journal article and report which is worth 100 points. If it is submitted on the due date there is a 20 point bonus for a total of 120 points. The precise requirements as well as criteria for grading are located in this folder. An example of this assignment is also located in this folder. Take the time to review the example. You must submit an electronic copy of the Journal Article together with your Journal Report.  (Journal Report + Copy of Journal Article = Journal Assignment)

The Journal article is to be in pdf format and the report is to be a word document. Both are uploaded first and then both are submitted together. You may combine the report and the article into one word doc file.  The first method is easiest because many of the articles are downloaded in pdf. The questions for your report are located in the file titled Becoming Acquainted with Research. Your course calendar specifies the dates when the Journal Assignment is due. **Journal articles that pertain to Dreams are prohibited

The journal assignment may not be submitted prior to the due date. On the calendar due date an assignment folder drop box will open within the journal assignment folder.  You then attach and submit your journal.

No credit issued if copy of journal article is not submitted with journal report and copy of journal must specify the name of journal, date of journal article, name of journal article and volume number in such manner that is easily readable by  the instructor.  Do not hyperlink your journal article. This, too, will result in no credit. The instructor does not have the time to surf the web looking for your journal article.

Journal Assignments are not submitted until the due date marked on the course calendar. A folder will open only on the due date at 10 am.  You may submit your journal assignment from that date until the deadline date also marked on the course calendar. This assignment is attached and submitted the same as all written assignments.

EXTRA CREDIT

The extra credit assignment requires you to find an article from a scientific journal of psychology. This assignment is simply an additional article from a journal on the APA subject list. You may earn up to 50 points. You must submit extra credit under Extra Assignment .

Extra Credit Assignments are not submitted until the due date marked on the course calendar.  A folder will open only on the due date at 6 am.  You may submit your extra credit assignment only on the due date.

GRADE CALCULATION

Written chapter assignments              250 points

Discussions                                         100 points

Journal Report                                    100 points

4 Exams                                              400 points

Final Exam                                          100 points

Practice Exam                                    50 points

TOTAL 1000 points

Extra Possible Points

Extra Credit                                         50 points (Must meet qualifications)

Assignment Bonus Points                   30 points (3 points for each assignment complete and submitted early)

Journal Assignment                      20 points (Bonus for submitting on Due date)

Total Possible Points 1100 points

GRADE CALCULATOR

895-1000 points = A

795-894  points = B

695-794 points = C

594-694  points = D

Below 594 = F

REVIEW

**All work must be Microsoft Word Doc., rtf.   No other format is acceptable.

**All discussions are posted to for public view and not attached to emails.

**NO ASSIGNMENT OR DISCUSSION is ATTACHED TO AN E MAIL.

**Anything attached to an e mail will not receive credit under any circumstances.