General Psychology Syllabus for 2019-2020
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Instructor Information

Course Information

COVID-19 Protocols

Recording Policy

Disability Statement

If you have a disability (learning, mental, physical) that affects your ability to participate effectively and have access to any program or service at Amarillo College please contact Disability Services at (806) 345-5639 . Our offices are located in the Student Service Center office 112. More information may be found at www.actx.edu/disability.
Disability Services facilitates access to all programs and services according to the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, as well as other federal and state laws.

Amarillo College Web Accessibility Policy Statement

Amarillo College is committed to providing equal access to all programs and services, including all working, learning, and service environments that affect equal access for persons with disabilities. This commitment to provide equal access and opportunity for persons with disabilities is in compliance with federal and state law. Amarillo College also strives to provide Electronic and Information Resources (EIR) that are accessible to all authorized users.

If you find you are unable to access material in an accessible format please contact the Disability Services Office at (806) 345-5639 . This office will work in conjunction with other campus resources to address and accommodate your issue in a timely manner.

Statement for Mental Health and Advocacy & Resource Center:

As a student you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, feeling down, difficulty concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce a student's ability to participate in daily activities. Amarillo College offers services to assist you with addressing these and other concerns you may be experiencing. If you or someone you know are suffering from any of the aforementioned conditions, you can learn more about the broad range of confidential mental health services available on campus by calling the AC Counseling Center at 806-371-5900. The AC Counseling Center website is https://www.actx.edu/counseling/ . Also, if you are in need of social services (affordable housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, childcare, medical/dental/vision, legal), please call the AC Advocacy & Resource Center at 806-371-5439. The AC Advocacy & Resource Center website is https://www.actx.edu/arc

Amarillo College Tutoring for Success Policy:

The Tutoring for Success policy applies to any student whose grade or performance in the course falls below a departmentally determined minimum threshold. In either of those cases, the instructor will direct the student to the appropriate tutoring service, which may be faculty-led, discipline-specific, and/or general. Under this policy, the instructor will follow specific departmental guidelines governing the use, duration, and grade component of the tutoring need.

Administrative Drop Policy

Students who do not attend class on or prior to the census date will be administratively dropped. Effective Fall, 2016

Student Withdrawal Procedures

Students who wish to withdraw from a course must complete all steps indicated on the Academic Withdrawal Request form by the course withdrawal deadline.

NOTE: Students who are attending Texas institutions of higher education, for the first time fall 2007 and later, may not withdraw from more than six courses during their academic career. This withdrawal limitation does not include dual credit or developmental classes (Senate Bill 1231 Rule 4.10.) For more information on Drop and Withdrawal Policies, please visit the Registrar's Office Web site.

Privacy Statement

The Amarillo College Privacy Policy is found at https://www.actx.edu/-amarillo-college-privacy-notice , and applies to all Amarillo College students.  If you have questions about this privacy statement or you believe that your personal information has been released without your consent, send email to humanresources@actx.edu .

Course

PSYC-2301-027 General Psychology

Prerequisites

Course Description

General Psychology is a survey of the major psychological topics, theories and approaches to the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Student ResourcesStudent Resources Website

Department Expectations

Occupational License Disclaimer

Notice to Students enrolled in an educational program for preparation of issuance of certain occupational licenses:

Students enrolled in an educational program in preparation for obtaining certain occupational licenses are potentially ineligible for such license if the student has been convicted of an offense. For further information, please contact:

Melodie Graves
Justice Involved Advocate
Student Service Center 117
mgraves24@actx.edu
806-371-5995
Make appointment at https://melodiegraves.youcanbook.me

You can also contact the Legal Clinic, or the faculty member in charge of the educational program that you seek to enroll in. The further information you will receive will include notification to you of your right to request a criminal history evaluation letter from the licensing authority in order to clarify your particular situation.

Hours

(3 sem hrs; 3 lec)

Class Type

Online Course

Syllabus Information

Textbooks

Exploring Psychology,11^th edition loose-leaf, David G. Myers with access code (the access code IS required)

Supplies

Access to a computer with Internet access. If you do not have your own computer, you will need to use AC computers located on the 4^th floor of the Ware building or in the Underground (basement of Ware). EVERYTHING will be completed online, so you need to make sure you have reliable Internet access AND the access code for our textbook.

Student Performance

These are the MINIMUM competencies. After studying the material presented in this course, the student will be able to do the following as evaluated by the faculty in the department/program:

1. Identify various research methods and their characteristics used in the scientific study of psychology.

2. Describe the historical influences and early schools of thought that shaped the field of psychology.

3. Describe some of the prominent perspectives and approaches used in the study of psychology.

4. Use terminology unique to the study of psychology.

5. Describe accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.

6. Identify factors in physiological and psychological processes involved in human behavior.

Students Rights and Responsibilities

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Log in using the AC Connect Portal

In order to receive your AC Connect Email, you must log in through AC Connect at https://acconnect.actx.edu .

If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".

Expected Student Behavior

Note: As of 3/18/20, in response to COVID-19, the official start date of this class is now Monday, March 30. That means that the dates on our calendar are now incorrect. I will work to fix all of this over the coming days; however, you can still use the calendar as a guide to at least give you an idea of what the assignments will be. Please just ignore the specific due dates for now. I made several other last-minute changes to this course, including replacing the “Social Responsibility Assignment” with the “Research Assignment,” so please let me know if anything seems odd. Beyond all of this, since this is an online-only course, everything should remain as planned. I will remain in touch with you and all other students, via the Remind app and email, for the duration of this course.

Reading your textbook will enable you to do well in this class.  Exam questions are pulled directly from the textbook, so you will need the book.  You will also need the access code to use LaunchPad.  This is required, since you will have LaunchPad activities due for grades throughout this course.  The book is usually cheapest if you purchase the bundle, including the print version in a loose-leaf format as well as the digital version (with the access code you need to use LaunchPad). The publisher allows students to access LaunchPad for a free trial period, so please sign up immediately, even if you are waiting on financial aid or for your book to be delivered. Before our class starts, I will email instructions on how to sign up (these instructions will also be posted on the Announcements page in our class in Blackboard).

Even though I will not be lecturing in this online-only class, I have still provided you with PowerPoint files for the lectures I give to my in-person classes.  You should use these to guide your work in this course.  If you notice that my PowerPoint lecture includes absolutely no information on something, you will not find exam questions on that content.   (I also include a “Not on Exam” slide at the end of these PowerPoint lectures.)  We do not cover every single aspect from the textbook in this 8-week course.

In lieu of the in-person lectures you miss when taking an online class, please take advantage of the videos in our class. I have made some, walking you through exactly how to do things (these are available on the Start Here page in our course), and there are also videos prepared by the authors and publisher of our textbook.  These publisher videos are obviously good sources of information, since exam questions come directly from the book.  Access them through your LaunchPad access (activated with your access code).  Once in our course in LaunchPad, select the menu item “Resources” and then you can search either by type (look for Videos) or by chapter.

All students are expected to be tolerant and respectful of other students. There will be zero tolerance for any type of harassment.  On Discussion Boards and all other assignments, please be courteous and respectful of the different opinions of your classmates.  AC also expects that each student will engage in academic honesty and refrain from cheating and/or plagiarism.  I expect each student to complete his/her own work independently rather than copying assignments from classmates or working collaboratively.  Exams should be completed independently, as should all other assignments for this class.  Penalties for cheating as well as plagiarism are outlined in the Amarillo College Student Handbook. 

Typically, I expect all students to complete assignments in a timely manner and do not provide any extensions of any due dates; however, due to COVID-19 disrupting so much of our lives, I will be more flexible in this class. I still want you to try your best to complete all assignments on time. As soon as I post the revised due dates (on our course calendar), please calendar those, take advantage of the time you have, plan ahead, and try to meet all deadlines. If something is going to prevent you from completing an assignment by the deadline, you will need to let me know, and I will require you to tell me before 5:00 p.m. on the day the assignment is due. Provided you do let me know before the deadline has actually passed, I will work with you. By 5:00 p.m. on the due date, you should know if it will be possible for you to complete the assignment, so please do not procrastinate past 5:00 p.m. on all due dates.

Grading Criteria

You can check your grades in our course in Blackboard.  For your final overall course grade, I will round up at the standard .5 and above.  Grading will be on the scale:

100-89.5% = A
89.4-79.5% = B
79.4-69.5% = C
69.4-59.5% = D
59.4% and below = F

The points will be earned:

50% of overall grade – Exams (4); each Exam is worth 12.5% of your total grade
20% of overall grade – Research Assignment
15% of overall grade – Discussion Boards (3); each Discussion Board is worth 5% of your total grade
15% of overall grade – LaunchPad LearningCurve Activities (15); each is worth 1% of your total grade

• There will be four 50-question multiple-choice exams taken online in Blackboard. 
  • I will drop your lowest exam grade.
  • The exam questions will be taken directly from the textbook.
  • Exams will open at 12:00 a.m. on the date indicated on the course calendar and will close when indicated, at least 5 days later, at 11:59 p.m. 
  • You must complete the exam, all at once, within the allotted time of 90 minutes. 
  • Please do not wait until the last minute, when you will not find anyone to assist you with technical problems.  I, and most all other AC staff, will be unavailable to answer questions after 8 p.m. each night. 
  • Do NOT take exams on a laptop connecting to the Internet wirelessly, a cell phone, or when using an unreliable connection.  Use an actual computer that has a dedicated cable for the Internet connection.
  • You may take each exam from any location – from home, in an AC computer lab, at the public library, etc.
  • These exams are open-book/open-note.
• The Research Assignment requires you to:
  • Select a topic on a specific social problem that impacts communities and individuals in terms of their psychological health. This can be anything that you read about in our textbook. Possible topics include:
    • Poverty
    • Food insecurity
    • Inadequate healthcare
    • Lack of support/treatment for mental illness
    • High (and growing) rates of suicide . . . .
    • . . . but find a topic that interests you.
  • Discuss:
    • First, define the social problem. What is it and which population(s) does it most impact (such as the poor, children under 12, Native Americans, etc.)
    • Why does the issue matter? How does it impact people/communities and their psychological well-being specifically?
    • How can we fix this problem? Which social agencies might aid in resolving this problem? How can individual citizens help? If your answer involves investing more money to eradicate the problem, be sure to explain where this money will come from. I want you to try to come up with a valid way that we could possibly alleviate some of the burdens faced by people impacted by the social problem you choose to discuss.

1. By the due date indicated on our course calendar, watch the 2 videos in our course on the Start Here page called: “Researching Behavioral Science Topics” and “Google Advanced/Google Scholar Tutorial” and then for EACH video, email me something you learned and a strategy you plan to use to complete this Research Assignment. So 2 videos = 2 strategies, 1 from each video.
2. By the due date indicated on our course calendar, conduct research to find high-quality, academic, college-level information. You may use your textbook as one of your sources, but you will also need to conduct research to find additional sources on the topic you select.
   • • Following MLA citation style, find and cite 3-5 reliable sources on your Works Cited page. In Blackboard, submit your Works Cited Page as a Word document (if you use Google Docs, simply save your document as a Word file and upload that version to Blackboard).
3. Finally, by the due date indicated on our course calendar, EITHER:
   • • Write a 5-page paper.
       • OR
     • Using VidGrid* (a tool that’s available from the menu of our course), record yourself giving a 5-8 minute presentation. Prepare slides using PowerPoint or Google Slides and then film yourself while giving your speech.
       • *You MUST use VidGrid for this video, because file sizes will be too large to email or submit through Blackboard in a normal way.
       • Watch the video that will be in our class for how to use VidGrid. That video will be on the Start Here page of our class as well as on the page for the Research Assignment.
       • IF you have a webcam, you may record yourself as part of your video. If not, simply record the screen and your voice explaining what viewers are seeing on their screen – use the microphone on your device to pick up your voice as you explain each slide, which you will progress through on your screen.

• You will need to complete 3 Discussion Boards online in our course in Blackboard. 
  • Each Discussion Board will require you to submit an initial post responding to TWO of my prompts. 
  • Two days later, you will need to have replied to 2 of your classmates (2 different people) about their initial posts. 
    • These replies must be substantive (not simply “good job” or “I agree.”)
  • I will drop your lowest Discussion Board grade (just 1 of the 3).
• LaunchPad LearningCurve activities
  • If needed, I will drop 4 of these LearningCurve activities. If you score a 100 on each of the 15, you will receive bonus points.
  • Through your electronic access to our book (in LaunchPad) you will need to complete 1 LearningCurve activity for each chapter.
  • These LearningCurve activities are tied to, and will hopefully prepare you for, each exam.  For example, before Exam 1, I will ask you to complete 3 LearningCurve activities:  on Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3. 
  • See our course calendar for the specific LearningCurve activities and when they are due.
  • If you have technical problems using the LaunchPad system, contact Customer Support.  You can also call them at (800) 936-6899.
• In our class in Blackboard, you will find additional information about all assignments, including videos I have made for each of them.

Attendance

As an online-only course, we will not be meeting for classes in person, so attendance is measured by way of you completing assignments by the deadlines indicated in our course calendar.  You must complete the first assignments by their deadlines or communicate with me about why you are not participating, or you will be dropped from the class altogether.  Automatic withdrawals occur when students miss the first assignments.

Please check our class online each day for updates and announcements. I will post all of these in our class on the “Announcements page” and will also send these out via email, so checking your email regularly is also highly recommended, particularly as we continue to deal with COVID-19.

Do not expect that you can put off all of the work in this class until the last minute.  Online classes are not usually easier; in fact, for many students, they are harder, since you are completing all of your work on your own, without easy access to your classmates or instructor.

That said, please contact me if you have questions or problems that are impacting your performance in this class.  As much as possible, I will be happy to help you.  My contact information is below.

Calendar

Additional Information

I will hold office hours by appointment.  I am happy to schedule times that are convenient for you, even after-hours or on weekends.  Since this is an online class, if you are unable to meet with me in person, we could arrange a time for a video call or Skype session.

The best way to reach me is by sending me an email (mseder@actx.edu) or a message using the Remind app.

You can also contact me on my office phone (806)345-5582, but that will only work during typical business hours. I typically work 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Mondays-Fridays.  If you do not reach me when calling, leave me a message.  I will check voicemail messages periodically throughout most workdays.  If you do not leave a complete message, I may not be able to help you.  Please tell me your full name and which class you are attending (for example, “Sue Smith in General Psychology online”). 

I cannot guarantee that I will respond to any messages after 5:00 p.m.  I can guarantee that I will not respond to any messages left on my office number after 5:00 p.m. or to very many messages sent via email or Remind after 8:00 p.m.