Introduction to Psychology - Spring 2012 PSYC 1315, Section 007, Number 23215 Tuesday & Thursday 6:30pm – 7:50pm Science Hall Room 121 Instructor: Tamer F. Desouky, M.S. Office: Life Science 302 Office Hours: Tuesday 1-2pm or by appointment E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://elearn.uta.edu (grades and PowerPoints will be posted here) Required Book: “The Science of Psychology: An Appreciative View” 2nd edition by Laura A. King, McGraw Hill. Although it is not mandatory, the online companion to the book through Connect Psychology provides study aid and has been beneficial to prior students. Course Description: The course is a general survey of the various areas of psychology, and it is intended to provide a scientific basis for understanding thoughts, emotions, and behavior. The course is designed to interest and meet the needs of both psychology majors and non-majors. We will cover biological, developmental, social, cognitive-affective, and psychological bases of behavior. Moreover, abnormal psychology and applied psychology will be discussed. Learning Objectives: Instructional goals are directed toward enabling students to recognize and recall basic facts and describe major concepts and terminology in all fields of psychology. Instructional materials will be provided in the assigned textbook, study guide and lecture presentations. Assessment of mastery of these goals will be via exams, with questions that focus on each of the above knowledge skills. Attendance: Attendance is technically not mandatory. However, students do not do well in this course unless they are present. Students who miss a class meeting(s) due to absence, or portions of a class or classes due to tardiness or early departure will still be held accountable for all of the material that is covered during those sessions. Drop Policy: A course drop grade will be assigned in accordance with UT-Arlington policy (http://www.uta.edu/catalog/). No grade is given if a student drops a course before 5:00 p.m. CST on the Census Date, Wednesday February 1st, 2012. The last day to drop a class with a grade of “W” is Friday March 30th, 2012. A student may drop a course after this point only upon approval of the appropriate official. E-Culture Policy: The University of Texas at Arlington has adopted the University email address as an official means of communication with students. Through the use of email, UT-Arlington is able to provide students with relevant and timely information, designed to facilitate student success. In particular, important information concerning registration, financial aid, payment of bills, and graduation may be sent to students through email. All students are assigned an email account and information about activating and using it is available at www.uta.edu/email. New students (first semester at UTA) are able to activate their email account 24 hours after registering for courses. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, and it remains active as long as a student is enrolled at UT-Arlington. Students are responsible for checking their email regularly.Course Communication: ALL electronic communication is done through BlackBoard. Do not e-mail me if you can use BlackBoard. If for some reason you cannot communicate with me through BlackBoard then you can e-mail me. Before you communicate with me, be sure to read this syllabus. As a general rule: I do not reply to student emails when the answer to their question can easily be found by reading the course syllabus. Do not email using poor communication form. E-mail is a formal channel of communication. Therefore, you are expected to identify yourself, to use proper capitalization, spelling, and punctuation. Do not use « txt language » or associated abbreviations. The use of BlackBoard is required in this course. Occasional syllabus updates and course announcements will be communicated via BlackBoard. Course grades are posted on BlackBoard only. Go to http://elearn.uta.edu and login with your usual UTA Net ID and password. If you are unfamiliar with how to work within this system contact the Help Desk in the Central Library. You must bring a photo ID with you. You can also email them for assistance: [email protected]. Exam Composition: There will be four regular exams covering between 3 to 5 chapters each. No cumulative final will be offered. The exams will cover lectures, videos, all textbook readings, and anything else discussed in class. Each regular exam will contain approximately 50-60 questions. Students arriving after the scheduled class start time, on an exam date, will not be allowed to take the exam after the first completed exam is turned in. Make-up Exams: A request for a makeup exam must be made in writing within two days of the missed exam. If the instructor is not notified, the student will receive a zero and no makeup exam will be offered unless there is a valid University-approved excuse. Makeup exam requests will be approved only when appropriate documentation is provided that indicates compelling circumstances prevented a student from taking a scheduled exam (http://wweb.uta.edu/catalog/content/general/academic_regulations.aspx#4). Examples of such circumstances include funeral attendance, religious holidays, and illness. No information should be provided in a makeup exam request that is private or confidential in nature. A note from a friend or family member is not acceptable documentation. There will be no opportunity to make-up a makeup exam. Make-up exams will consist of an essay exam with 4 essay questions to complete. Grading Format, Weighting/Point Value of Assignments, and Examinations: The grade for each exam will be the percent correct of exam questions. The minimum points for a letter grade are (A=90, B=80, C=70, D=60, and F=below 60). All exams are of equal weight. Rounding will be applied only for the calculation of the course grade. This will consist of raising a decimal fraction of 0.5 or greater to 1. For example, a course grade of 79.5 will be rounded to 80 for a course letter grade of B. A course grade of 79.4 will not be rounded and will yield a course grade of C. This grading policy is not flexible under any circumstances. No consideration for special circumstances will be given. The numbers will dictate the grade. The Final Course Grade: The final course grade will be calculated the following way: 1. Lowest numerical grade dropped 2.
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