Course Syllabus for Psyc 235 for Spring, 2008.Psyc 235: Intro to StatisticsSpring 2008Instructors:Melinda S. Jensen ([email protected])Jason R. Finley ([email protected])Teaching Assistants: Chun WangLab Sections: AB1, AB4, BB1, BB2Email: [email protected] MarcusLab Sections: AB2, AB3, BB3, BB4Email: [email protected] website: http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~jrfinley/p235/PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY.IT CONTAINS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.YOU NEED TO ACT IMMEDIATELY.FAILURE TO ACT PROMPTLY MAY HURT YOUR GRADE.This course will introduce you to statistical reasoning and the application of basic statistical procedures in psychology. You will learn some very useful techniques that are important in experimental psychology. These techniques include both descriptive and inferential statistics, with anemphasis on the types of statistics needed to conduct research and to test hypotheses about human behavior. However, you will learn more than just formulae and statistical cooking recipes. We will concentrate on the logic behind statistics and why the formulae work. Regular weekly lectures will be held once a week on Tuesdays in Room 31 (10:30am-11:45am & 12:00pm-1:15pm). Attending the weekly lecture, and signing in on the attendance sheet that day, willcredit you with 1 hour toward your required 6 hours of ALEKS coursework that week (more on this below). The same lecture will be given at 10:30am and at 12:00pm, so feel free to attend either one. Attending both will not credit you with 2 hours toward your 6 required ALEKS weekly hours.The first lecture is on Tuesday January 15th.Powerpoint slides from lecture will be posted online: http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~jrfinley/p235/Posted slides may be missing key information, so shouldn’t be considered substitutes for lecture.Office hours will be held on Thursdays in Room 35 during class time (10:30am-1:15pm), unless a special lecture session is announced for that day (more below). Room 35 is equipped with computers.Lab sections will be on Mondays (AB1-4) or Wednesdays (BB1-4) in Room 289. These provide youwith time to work on your coursework, with a TA present to provide hands-on help if needed, unless a special lab session is announced for that day (more below). Lab sections start on Wednesday January 16th.1Course Syllabus for Psyc 235 for Spring, 2008.ALEKSThe bulk of the course is taught online, using an Artificial Intelligence Tutoring System called ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces). There will be no text book, as ALEKS contains everything you need from a textbook and much more! If you need access to statistics books as alternative sources of information, the Psychology library (on 8th floor of Psychology Building) contains a number of statistics textbooks of various kinds and at various levels: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/psyc/ALEKS is an adaptive tutoring and knowledge assessment system. It continuously monitors your progress and your current knowledge of the material. It only teaches you new material that you are ready for. This means that it may not let you off the hook as long as it considers your mastery of a given concept to be shaky! (Note: This may cause some frustration when you have the impression that you know enough about the topic in question. ALEKS can be picky as to what it considers “mastery” of a concept. It does not distinguish between small, ‘careless’ errors, and major errors.) The greatest advantage of ALEKS is that the system allows you to move at your own pace. If you find the material easy, you might knock off the entire semester in a handful of weeks, or fewer! If you are struggling with the material, the system will patiently work with you and not jump to material that you are not ready for. We have set certain target dates by which certain objectives must be met, and we will be regularly monitoring your progress online.ALEKS provides you with constant feedback about whether you are on track to meet the target date for a given objective or not, and it estimates how much more effort you need to invest in order to reach the next objective. If you are struggling to keep up with the target dates, then you should expect your TA and instructorsto be ‘breathing down your neck’ and to suggest that you visit office hours or to invite you in for mandatory custom designed lab or lecture sessions designed to focus on and/or readdress topics thatwe notice students struggling with. If you are invited to such a mandatory custom lab or lecture session and you fail to attend and sign in on the attendance sheet, you will be penalized one hour from your weekly ALEKS coursework hours.The ALEKS system is fully automated. All graded assessments (a.k.a. exams) will be taken online, using the computers in the lab room (proctored, ID required), with no two students likely receiving the exact same set of questions. Grades are available immediately after you complete each exam. Weekly Coursework RequirementYou are required to work on ALEKS for at least an average of 6 hours per week (except Spring break). Failure to do so will disqualify you from extra credit. Lab sections are a great time to do work on ALEKS. Additionally, attending and signing in at a weekly lecture will credit you with 1 hour for that week. See “Extra Credit / Final Exam” below for more details on the weekly ALEKS coursework requirement.2Course Syllabus for Psyc 235 for Spring, 2008.Afraid of Math?Breathe deeply and relax. This is not a class about math. Mathematics is used in carrying out statistical principles, but you only need basic math skills to begin with, and a willingness to learn themath you need when you need it. As long as you work hard, there is no reason why you should not be able to achieve any grade you desire. All students who spend an average of 6 or more hours per week qualify for extra credit (see below). Also, recall that the TAs and instructors stand by to help you during lab sections and office hours. Please make sure to take advantage of these great resources.Grading ScaleA+ if you master 98% or more (by the end of the semester),A and above if you master 92% or more (by the end of the semester),B and above if you master 84% or more (by the end of the semester),C or above if you master 75% or more (by the end of the semester),D or above if you master 65% or more (by the end of the semester),F if you master less than 65% (by the end of the semester).The final grade will be