LaGrange College Student Learning Outcomes (LC SLO):

1.  Students will demonstrate creativity by approaching complex problems with innovation and from diverse perspectives.

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2.  Students will demonstrate critical thinking by acquiring, interpreting, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reason out conclusions appropriately.

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3.  Students will demonstrate proficiency in communication skills that are applicable to any field of study.

 

Course Learning Objectives:

There are 6 categories of learning objectives listed below along with the assessment tools used to evaluate both your performance as a student and my performance as an instructor. Additionally, each course learning objective is associated with the corresponding LC SLO. This list is adapted from the Assessment Cyberguide for Learning Goals and Outcomes (Pusateri, Halonen, Hill, & McCarthy, 2009) and APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major (American Psychological Association, 2007) both produced by the American Psychological Association.

1.  Research Methods in Psychology (Assessed by Quizzes and Final Project) LC SLO 2, 3

a.  Understand the basics of each step of research including research design, data analysis, and interpretation.

b.  Understand why research is so important to science and psychology specifically.

 

2.  Critical Thinking Skills in Psychology (Quizzes and Final Project) LC SLO 1, 2, 3

a.  Understand your target behavior by either utilizing several methods of data analysis or reading in-depth research about the target behavior.

b.  Utilize problem solving skills to overcome logistical issues in research design and program analysis.

 

3.  Applications of Psychology (Assessed by Final Project) LC SLO 1, 2, 3

a.  Apply research design and data analysis skills to answer original research questions.

b.  Apply knowledge from different fields of psychology in order to fully understand complicated behaviors.

 

4.  Information and technological literacy (Assessed by Class Presentation and Final Project) LC SLO 3

a.  Demonstrate information competence at each stage in the following process: formulate a response to essay topic; locate and choose relevant sources from appropriate media, use selected sources after evaluating their suitability; read and accurately summarize the general scientific literature of psychology.

b.  Demonstrate these computer skills: use basic software programs, search the Web, use proper etiquette and security safeguards when communicating through e-mail.

 

5.  Communication skills (Assessed by Class Presentation and Participation) LC SLO 2, 3

a.  Demonstrate effective writing skills in various formats (e.g., essays, correspondence, note taking) and for various purposes (e.g., informing, defending, explaining, persuading, arguing, teaching).

b.  Demonstrate effective oral communication skills in various formats (e.g., group discussion, debate, lecture) and for various purposes (e.g., informing, defending, explaining, persuading, arguing, teaching).

c.  Exhibit the ability to collaborate effectively.

d.  Demonstrate effective communication through poster displays and visual representations of data.

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Course Requirements

All graded activities should follow the LaGrange College Honor Code and should be your own work. Unless otherwise noted, all work receives an individual grade; thus graded items cannot be completed with the input of others.

 

Individual Project

You will be assigned to a faculty member within the program in order to complete an individual project during this course. Projects in this course will be either a scientific research project or a community issue research project. You will be assigned to one of these two types of projects based on your previous performance in Behavioral Statistics and Research Methods and/or your career goal.

 

Scientific Research Project

You will complete all objectives in the research process from generating an idea to compiling a research paper and poster displaying results. To move onto each successive objective in the research process, you must demonstrate mastery and be approved for continuation to the next objective. If you do not demonstrate mastery, you will continue working until you do. The specific objectives to be achieved are:

 

SUMMER

1. Research topic (ideas can be broad at this stage) (DUE: Sunday, May 31)

2. Research question (DUE: Wednesday, July 1)

3. Annotated bibliography (DUE: Tuesday, August 25 @ 9:40 am)

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FALL SEMESTER

4. Outline for Introduction (paper) and specific hypotheses (DUE: Monday, September 14 @ 3 pm)

5. Introduction (paper) (DUE: Monday, September 28 @ 3 pm)

6. Research methodology plan (DUE: Monday, October 5 @ 3 pm)

7. IRB application (DUE: Monday, October 12 @ 3 pm)

8. Data collection (Must complete by end of day Wednesday, Nov 18)

9. Methods (paper) (DUE: Saturday, Nov 21 @ 11 am)

10. Data table layout (DUE: Saturday, Nov 21 @ 11 am)

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Due dates specify when things are due to the instructor. All materials should be approved by the research mentor PRIOR to submitting for the course. All submissions will require that an email be sent from the mentor to the instructor stating that they approve of the submission. 

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If you demonstrate mastery of the first 10 objectives by the end of the fall semester, you will earn an A for this portion of your grade.

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If you have only mastered through objective 6 or 7 by the end of the semester, you will have to take an incomplete in the course, and finish during the Interim (January) term. If you complete all 10 objectives at this time, you will earn no higher than a B for this portion of your grade. If, by the end of the Interim term, you still have not achieved mastery of all 10 objectives, you will be required to attend a meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

 

If you have only mastered through objective 5 by the end of the semester, you will have to take an incomplete in the course, and finish during the Interim (January) term. If you complete all 10 objectives at this time, you will earn no higher than a C for this portion of your grade. If by the end of the Interim term, you still have not achieved mastery of all 10 objectives, you will be required to attend a meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

 

If you have only achieved mastery of objective 4 or less by the end of the semester, you will be required to attend a meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

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If unforeseen circumstances inhibit mastery of all 10 objectives by the end of the fall semester, exceptions to these requirements may be made. This will be up to the discretion of the instructor and program coordinator on a case-by-case basis.

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SPRING SEMESTER

11. Data spreadsheet complete (DUE: Monday, February 8th @ 11:20 am)

12. Data analysis (DUE: Monday, March 8th @ 11:20 am)

13. Abstract (DUE: Monday, March 15th @ 11:20 am)

13. Results (paper) (DUE: Monday, March 22nd @ 11:20 am)

14. Discussion (paper) (DUE: Monday, March 29th @ 11:20 am)

15. First draft of the poster (DUE: Monday, April 12th @ 11:20 am)

16. Final version of the poster (DUE: Monday, April 19th @ 11:20 am)

17. Final version of the paper (DUE: Friday, May 7th @ 8 am)

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If you demonstrate mastery of all 17 objectives by the end of the spring semester, you will earn an A for this portion of your grade.

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Failure to demonstrate mastery of all 17 objectives by the end of the spring term will result in grades of less than an A. Mastery of these objectives will be determined by the faculty mentor and instructor by assessing each student's: initiative on work, continual contact with mentor/instructor, independent completion of work, going above and beyond instead of waiting on exact instructions, and overall understanding of their own project and conclusions.

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Failure to complete a paper/poster will result in a required meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

 

If unforeseen circumstances inhibit mastery of all objectives by the end of the spring semester, exceptions to these requirements may be made. This will be up to the discretion of the instructor and program coordinator on a case-by-case basis.

 

Community Issue Research Project

You will complete all objectives in the research process from generating an idea to compiling a research paper and poster displaying results. To move onto each successive objective in the research process, you must demonstrate mastery and be approved for continuation to the next objective. If you do not demonstrate mastery, you will continue working until you do. The specific objectives to be achieved are:

 

SUMMER

1. 20 - 50 volunteer hours completed (To be completed between Monday, June 1 and Tuesday, July 30)

2. Interview completed (DUE: Wednesday, July 1)

3. Annotated bibliography (DUE: Tuesday, August 25 @ 9:40 am)

4. Pick community issue (DUE: Tuesday, August 25 @ 9:40 am)

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FALL SEMESTER

5. Extended annotated bibliography (DUE: Monday, September 21 @ 3 pm)

6. Non-profit service location chosen (DUE: Monday, September 21 @ 3 pm))

7. Outline for Introduction (DUE: Monday, October 5 @ 3 pm)

8. 50 - 100 volunteer hours completed (To be completed between Friday, September 18 and Friday, October 30)

9. Introduction and Interview completed (DUE: Monday, October 12 @ 3 pm)

10. Proposal of plan to mentor and community leader (DUE: Saturday, November 21 @ 11 am)

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Due dates specify when things are due to the instructor. All materials should be approved by the research mentor PRIOR to submitting for the course. All submissions will require that an email be sent from the mentor to the instructor stating that they approve of the submission. 

​

Due dates specify when things are due to the instructor. All materials should be approved by the research mentor PRIOR to submitting for the course. All submissions will require that an email be sent from the mentor to the instructor stating that they approve of the submission. 

​

If you demonstrate mastery of the first 10 objectives by the end of the fall semester, you will earn an A for this portion of your grade.

​

If you have only mastered through objective 6 or 7 by the end of the semester, you will have to take an incomplete in the course, and finish during the Interim (January) term. If you complete all 10 objectives at this time, you will earn no higher than a B for this portion of your grade. If, by the end of the Interim term, you still have not achieved mastery of all 10 objectives, you will be required to attend a meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

 

If you have only mastered through objective 5 by the end of the semester, you will have to take an incomplete in the course, and finish during the Interim (January) term. If you complete all 10 objectives at this time, you will earn no higher than a C for this portion of your grade. If, by the end of the Interim term, you still have not achieved mastery of all 10 objectives, you will be required to attend a meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

 

If you have only achieved mastery of objective 4 or less by the end of the semester, you will be required to attend a meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

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If unforeseen circumstances inhibit mastery of all 10 objectives by the end of the fall semester, exceptions to these requirements may be made. This will be up to the discretion of the instructor and program coordinator on a case-by-case basis.

 

SPRING SEMESTER

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If you demonstrate mastery of all 16 objectives by the end of the spring semester, you will earn an A for this portion of your grade.

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Failure to demonstrate mastery of all 16 objectives by the end of the spring term will result in grades of less than an A. Mastery of these objectives will be determined by the faculty mentor and instructor by assessing each student's: initiative on work, continual contact with mentor/instructor, independent completion of work, going above and beyond instead of waiting on exact instructions, and overall understanding of their own project and conclusions.

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Failure to complete a paper/poster will result in a required meeting with the instructor and program coordinator to discuss a plan for moving forward.

 

If unforeseen circumstances inhibit mastery of all objectives by the end of the spring semester, exceptions to these requirements may be made. This will be up to the discretion of the instructor and program coordinator on a case-by-case basis.

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Public Presentation: You will present your research project at LaGrange College's Honors Day Poster Session. This is for both the scientific research projects and the community issue research projects. Presenting at the Honors Day Poster Session is a requirement of the course. The Honor's Day Poster Session for Spring 2021 is on Friday, April 30th.

You may also be asked to submit your research to GURP or other local/regional conferences if the professor feels your research meets the qualifications for these conferences. Being able to present at off-campus conferences looks great on a CV and is a fantastic talking point for graduate school interviews. All students should strive to submit to an off-campus conference.

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Though students may be working with a faculty member who is not an instructor for the course, all students are still required to meet all deadlines and objectives in this syllabus.

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Participation

Though this class has been designated as an online course, the scheduled class time will still be utilized for class/group meetings through Microsoft Teams. You should leave this time slot open in your calendar as meetings will be scheduled at least weekly. During any class time that a meeting is not scheduled, that time should be used for work on your project. You will be required to log that time in your daily journal.

 

If a student has a chronic illness, are on an LC sponsored sports team, or have other situations that may cause the student to miss class or to cause the student to fall behind in class work, it is the student's responsibility to notify the instructor at the beginning of the semester or as soon as the conflict arises. Students should not wait until an assignment deadline to let the instructor know that of an ongoing problem that is interfering with the student's ability to keep up in the course.

 

Because this class only meets 2 days/week in fall and 1 day/week in spring and much class time is spent working on projects, attendance is crucial. Therefore, if you have four or more for Fall or two or more for Spring unexcused and/or unmade-up absences during the course, you will fail the course. Absences that you have been made-up using the above procedure will not be counted towards this total. In addition, only 1 undocumented excused absence will be accepted during the course. After that, all other absences require documentation to be considered excused.

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Daily Journal: Throughout this course (both fall and spring) you will keep a daily journal where you log all of the work that you complete for this course. In your journal for each day, you will answer each of the questions below. These journals will be checked by the instructor on a weekly basis. Journals will be kept in a Google Doc provided by the instructor. 

Questions for daily journal

1. What specific tasks did you work on today?

2. What were you able to accomplish today?

3. What do you need to work on tomorrow?

4. Time log (log all time you spent working on class assignments, including class time)

 

CE Credits: All LaGrange College students are required to complete 40 CE credits before graduation. To be on track for graduation, by the start of senior year, students should have 30 CE credits. To help ensure that students are completing their credits for graduation, a requirement of the fall semester will be to have 87% of the required CE credits accumulated by the end of this semester. This means, if your requirement is 40 CE credits, then you should have 35 CE credits accumulated by the end of the semester. You will earn a grade for your CE credits based on the following scale.

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87% of required CE credits - 100%

83% of required CE credits - 90%

77% of required CE credits - 80%

73% of required CE credits - 70%

67% of required CE credits - 60%

63% of required CE credits - 50%

57%  or less of required CE credits - 0%

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Career Plan Meeting: Before you can begin preparing for after graduation and your career, you have to know what that will entail. Thus, you will be required to meet with your advisor to discuss your plans for after graduation. This meeting should be scheduled ASAP after the start of the spring semester (see course calendar for specific due date). After this meeting, send an email to me and your advisor recapping what you discussed in your meeting.​

 

CV/Resume: If you are planning to go to graduate school, you will compile a CV. If you are planning to enter the workforce, you will compile a resume. There are examples and resources available for both on Connect. This will be submitted and reviewed by your advisor! You must get feedback on  your CV/resume from your advisor. After you incorporate their feedback, you will submit a final draft on Connect. This will be due during spring semester (see course calendar for specific due date). ​

 

ACAT: Before you can graduate with your degree in psychological science, you must complete the ACAT exam. This is a comprehensive exam from APA to assess all that you have learned within the field of psychology. You must achieve an overall score that falls at at least the 30th percentile to pass! As a word of warning, students that don't take this test seriously have FAILED in the past (we have students earn as low as the 1st percentile! On the other hand, a high grade on the ACAT should be a point of pride and should be included on your CV/Resume. The date for the ACAT for Spring 2021 is TBD.​

 

Meeting with Upcoming Seniors: To help prepare next year's seniors for the undertaking you are starting to finish, a meeting will be held with all of this year's capstone students and the students planning to take capstone next year during the last month of spring semester. Students do not need to prepare any type of formal presentation but will discuss what they learned in capstone, what they wished they knew before starting, and the impact they believe their independent research project has had them, as well as answer the future student's questions. The meeting for Spring 2021 is TBD. Pizza will be provided.

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Overall Grading

The following table lists the percent of your final grade that will come from each of the designated areas.

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Individual Project - 80%

Participation - 20%

 

The following factors may also affect a student's grade:

 

Grades may also reflect class behavior, and those students who behave in a way deemed disruptive by the instructor may have their grades reduced and/or be referred to the Honor Council. Likewise, students that are active in class discussion may have their grades increased.

 

Academic misconduct. Any student who cheats or plagiarizes will be given a grade of “F” for the course and will be referred to the Honor Council. Cheating includes, but is not limited to: wearing earphones or hats to the test session, attempting to or leaving the classroom with a copy of the test or answer sheet, looking at another student’s test or answer sheet, or using a phone during the exam period. Plagiarism involves any attempt to pass off work from another source as your own. This applies to both tests and assignments.

 

Maintaining a Good Learning Environment

Phones and Other Devices

Given that this course is being conducted as an online course, access to a computer and reliable internet is a requirement of the course. Students need a computer with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and JASP (link on Connect) installed.

 

Email

Please use polite email etiquette and don't email me about these issues or your email may be deleted. In general, my email responses will be very short (1-sentence). I am not trying to be rude, just efficient as I get many emails in a day. If your question requires a lengthy response, I would suggest scheduling a meeting with me instead. For all email responses, please permit at least 24 hours before expecting a response (e.g., you are unlikely to get a response to your email the night before an exam). In general, emails may not be answered over the weekend, holidays, or after business hours.

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Microsoft Teams

For Fall 2020 we will be using Microsoft Teams to live-stream class sessions as well as to aid in communication both inside and outside of the classroom. Thus, you are required to have Microsoft Teams setup on your computer. You are also strongly encouraged to set this up on your phone as well. There is a free app in the app store you can download. This software is free with your LC account. Do not create a new account, use your LC Microsoft account to log in. If you have trouble logging in, please contact IT. More information including tutorials on how to access and download Teams as well as a link to our course Team are provided on Connect.