PSYC 101 Introduction to Psychology Summer 2011 Course Syllabus Community College of Philadelphia About the Instructor Name Office Email Phone Office Hours Mrs Melissa St Pierre M S W3 06 WebStudy Email use mstpierre ccp edu if you can t access WebStudy 215 751 8570 By Appointment Only Course Information Course Description The course description in the College Catalog is as follows This course focuses on the scientific study of human and animal behavior including mental processes Among the subjects studied are the effect of the body on behavior how people think and learn what motivates individuals how children grow and develop and what makes people behave abnormally Student Learning Outcomes Students who successfully complete this course will be able to 1 Discuss the history of psychology and contemporary issues 2 Describe the function and structure of the nervous system as the biological basis of behavior and mental processes 3 Demonstrate an understanding of the scientific method and various research methodologies used in psychology and related ethical issues 4 Think scientifically creatively and skeptically like a psychologist to examine behavior and mental processes 5 Connect topics in psychology and research findings to personal situations observations and interactions with others 6 Integrate the major theoretical approaches to psychology such as biological cognitive humanistic and psychoanalytic to analyze complex behaviors in diverse populations and contexts 7 Appreciate the multitude of career options available in the discipline Prerequisites Students taking this course should be ENGL 101 ready Since this is an online course it is important that you are comfortable performing certain tasks with computers such as saving documents to your computer or flash drive sending and receiving emails with attachments and browsing the internet If you are not comfortable with computers or have trouble performing these tasks you may struggle in the online environment and an online course may not be your best option Course Delivery There are no required face to face meetings we will work entirely on line through the course management system WebStudy During a 7 week summer course we will move quickly and work will come fast because we must still cover the same amount material as expected of a 14 week class Page 1 Materials Needed REQUIRED Textbook Discovering Psychology 5th edition by Hockenbury and Hockenbury Regular and reliable access to the internet and a back up option MINIMUM COMPUTER NEEDS FOR USING WEB STUDY To login to WebStudy or for necessary Plug ins go to http ccp webstudy com Hardware processor speed should be 600 mhz or greater Internet connection of 56 kbs dial up minimum broadband cable or DSL preferred AOL NOT recommended if used MUST be used with IE or other recommended browser PC Any currently supported Microsoft Windows OS Internet Explorer 7 0x preferred Firefox 2 NetScape 7 2 Mozilla current version Mac OSX Safari Version 1 x NetScape Version 7 2 IE NOT supported on Mac External email address required for WebStudy support This series will use PowerPoint if you do not have PowerPoint a viewer can be downloaded at http www microsoft com downloads details aspx FamilyID 048dc840 14e1 467d 8dca19d2a8fd7485 displaylang en Grading Work Completed Each week you will have different tasks to complete which will generally include Reading 1 2 chapters from the textbook using reading questions as your guide Completing an assignment related to a topic of the week Assignments may be individual or involve small group work Posting your answer to the questions in the weekly forum by the deadline Responding to 2 different classmates in the weekly forum by the deadline You will earn a letter grade in this course based on points you earn from the following items more detailed information is located on WebStudy Quizzes Forums Assignments Optional Extra Credit Your final grade is determined strictly with mathematics by adding the points you earn dividing by the total points possible and multiplying by 100 to get a percentage No grading curve is used The points you earn determine the grade you are awarded no matter how close you are to the next letter grade A 90 100 B 80 89 C 70 79 D 60 69 F 59 below Standard rounding rules apply an 89 4 stays a B and an 89 5 rounds up to an A Page 2 DISCUSSION FORUM GRADING GUIDELINES The discussion forums are a vital component to the success of this course Former students often say that the best part of this course is the help and information that they get from classmates in the forums Therefore I want to you do most of the talking with each other rather than me doing all of the talking in the forums I can tell you a lot about psychology as a career but don t know much about advertising fortunately you don t just have to rely on me alone because you have each other And although I read every response posted I won t always respond to every student s post each week When I grade your forums I look for a number of things explained below and on the next page If you do not earn full credit for a post I will leave notes that explain why so be sure to check these notes in the gradebook first if you have questions about your forum grades For your initial post when you start a new thread and answer the questions I ve posed in the weekly forum I look for the following 1 Timeliness Did you post your response on time before the deadline If the answer is no you get an automatic zero 0 2 Quality Thoroughness Did you answer all of the questions for the forum thoroughly and completely in your own words I am looking at the depth of your answer and how well you summarize not copy the information you gained Cutting and pasting or copying your answers from another source will result in a significant loss of points 3 Organization Are your thoughts and ideas clear and easy to understand Do they follow the same structure as the forum questions such as numbering your answers 4 English Grammar Did you explain in full complete grammatically correct sentences Is your answer free of errors including text messaging language such as 2 u plz etc In your responses to classmates I look at the following 1 Timeliness Did you post your responses on time before the week ended If the answer is no you get an automatic zero 0 2 Quality Did you provide an insightful or thought provoking comment or question or provide useful information to your classmate in a supportive helpful and respectful