PSY 101 On-Line (Holt School)
Introductory Psychology

Syllabus

Fall Term, 2008

Grading Scale   Instructor Access   Testing Schedule Access   Calendar

If you contact me prior to the start of the course, as requested, you will receive by e-mail a greeting and message about the Intro to PsychOL course. In case you didn't contact me or wish to have a copy of this explanation of goals and testing strategy, here is a link to download a pdf file of that message:

About Intro to PsychOL.pdf

It repeats some of the information below, but that material is well worth repeating!

This course presents an introductory topical survey of the various aspects of Psychology as both a scientific and an applied discipline. Unique to this particular offering of Psy 101 is its sole reliance on electronic text, tutoring and mastery certification testing. This unique mixture of tutoring and testing allows the course to be delivered exclusively on-line. Only a final exam requires you to come to campus.

To purchase the electronic text and tutoring system required for this course (Kasschau's Psychology: Exploring Behavior), go to:

http://www.ai2inc.com/POL/PEBPOL.html

and follow the "On-line Purchase" options to register and purchase.

You are strongly advised to use the on-line Tutoring services provided within the download textbookk delivery system (called MediaMatrix), however, printable pdf versions of these chapters are also available for download and off-line reading at:

http://www.ai2inc.com/StudentServices/StdntDownload/pdf/Kpdfs.html

 

Grades for the course will be determined by a combination of these electronic certification tests and one supervised final exam using the following procedures and rules:

75% of your final grade for the course will be determined by the composite (average) grades established through electronic certification of chapter readings for ALL of the 17 chapters of text and tutorials assigned. Any missed certification tests count in this average as a zero for each skipped chapter. Certification testing on any and all chapters takes place as follows:

1. You may take any chapter certification test as many times as you wish, with only the maximum obtained score counting towards your eventual course grade. Maximum scores are maintained on an Internet server, and you must have an active connection with that server at the time of submission of your test results for the grade to be recorded. Only a score greater than your previous score for that chapter will be recorded to the server.

Students are allowed 2 diagnostic opportunities to make at least a 70% or better score on each chapter. If this level is not accomplished within the administration of these 2 tests, then students are required to use the adaptive tutoring services in the electronic text as preparation for retaking that chapter's certification tests. Where sufficient data on your successful preparation of a topic exists, you may not be required to tutor that topic. Thus all required topics will appear in a navigable list to aid your tutoring for all required topics in a chapter prior to taking your next certification tests.

2. You may take any chapter certification at any time UP TO MIDNIGHT of the published Certification Due Date for that chapter. Thus a test due on, say, Jan 20, will have to be completed before 11:59 PM of Jan 20. When midnight starts Jan 21, your test scores will no longer be accepted by the server. Attempts to start a chapter test after this date will also give you a message that the due date for that chapter has expired and the test is no longer available.

NOTE: All students are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to anticipate due dates in advance and both read and certify well before deadlines. In fact, waiting until the last few hours of the deadline date will almost always meet sufficient traffic on the server as to make the server's responses less than 100% reliable. If you wait until the last minute it is quite likely that you may miss submitting your test score successfully. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE; instead, certify often and certify early!

 

25% of your final grade for the course will be determined by a final exam that is two hours in length, or approximately 200 questions sampled from the text's electronic testing bank. NOTE: This means that you will be tested on text assignments both electronically without supervision and under supervised conditions.

Tests are given frequently in this course and, except for the Final exam, are allowed to be taken multiple times. Thus no make-up tests (i.e., tests that have expired deadlines or Final exam) are normally allowed unless extreme circumstances require them.

 

I HIGHLY recommend viewing the FREE (with simple personal registration) on-line streaming videos that make up the Discovering Psychology series (titles pretty much match up with chapter titles). These will give you a chance to see psychological research being done and applications being discussed. These are NOT tested materials, but are really great supplements to the text (that IS tested material). ENGAGE and ENJOY! These are at:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series138.html

 

Our Commitment to Students with Disabilities

Rollins College is committed to equal access and does not discriminate unlawfully against persons with disabilities in its policies, procedures, programs or employment processes. The College recognizes its obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to provide an environment that does not discriminate against persons with disabilities.

If you are a person with a disability on this campus and anticipate needing any type of academic accommodations in order to participate in your classes, please make timely arrangements by disclosing this disability in writing to the Disability Services Office at (box 2613) - Thomas P. Johnson Student Resource Center, 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park, FL, 37289 or call 407-646-2354 for an appointment.

The Honor Code and You

Honest (adj) –     1. Marked by or displaying integrity; upright

2. Not deceptive or fraudulent; genuine

3. Equitable; fair

4. a) Characterized by truth; not false / b) Sincere; frank

5. a) Of good repute; respectable / b) Without affectation; plain

6. Virtuous; chaste

 

Honor (n) – Principled uprightness of character; personal integrity

 

Integrity (n) – Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code

 

Virtue (n) – Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness

 

Responsible (adj) –     1. Involving personal accountability or ability to act without guidance or superior authority

                            2. Able to make moral or rational decisions on one's own and therefore answerable for one's behavior

                              3. Able to be trusted or depended upon; reliable.

 

Definitions Quoted Directly from The American Heritage¬ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Downloaded from www.dictionary.com on 8/17/06

The Honor Code is About a Culture of Integrity, Not About Rules:

As a student at Rollins College, you belong to a community where the members (i.e., students, faculty, and administration) have agreed to abide by an Academic Honor Code. Although this code includes rules, judicial processes, and sanctions for dishonesty, its primary purpose is not as a system of enforcement and punishment.  At its base, the Rollins College Academic Honor Code recognizes that you are a responsible individual embodying the characteristics of honesty, honor, integrity, and virtue. Because you are this type of individual, we are proud to have you as a member of our community. The Honor Code is not about being a good student, it is about being a good person. We trust that you are a good person and hope that you will never violate this trust.

As an individual of honesty, honor, integrity and virtue, we acknowledge that you would never engage in acts of plagiarism, cheating, unauthorized collaboration, fabrication, or lying, nor would you submit work prepared for another course for a current assignment without the professor's permission, facilitate academic dishonesty, or violate testing conditions (see definitions below). We also acknowledge that, as a responsible style='font-size:10.0pt'> member of your community, you would feel obligated to report an honor code violation if you had knowledge of one occurring.

If you do not think that you can live up to these expectations, if you are not fully committed to the principles of the honor code, or if you simply believe that this whole policy is unrealistic and nonsensical, you do not belong at Rollins College – we wish you well, but please find another school that is better suited to your world view.

 

Definitions from the Rollins College Academic Honor Code:

 

1.   PLAGIARISM.  Offering the words, facts, or ideas of another person as your own in any academic exercise. 

 

2.   CHEATING.  Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in an academic exercise.  This includes sharing knowledge of previously administered or current tests.  The keeping of tests, papers, and other assignments belonging to former students is prohibited.  Use of external assistance (e.g., books, notes, calculators, conversations with others) in completing an "in class" or "take home" examination, unless specifically authorized by the instructor, is prohibited.

 

3.   UNAUTHORIZED COLLABORATION.  Collaboration, without specific authorization by the instructor, on homework assignments, lab reports, exam preparations, research projects, take home exams, essays, or other work for which you will receive academic credit.

4.   SUBMISSION OF WORK PREPARED FOR ANOTHER COURSE.  Turning in the same work, in whole or in part, to two or more instructors, without the consent of the instructors in both courses.

 

5.   FABRICATION.  Misrepresenting, mishandling, or falsifying information in an academic exercise.  For example, creating false information for a bibliography, inventing data for a laboratory assignment, or representing a quotation from a secondary source (such as a book review or a textbook) as if it were a primary source.

 

6.   FACILITATING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY.  Helping another student commit an act of academic dishonesty.

 

7.   VIOLATION OF TESTING CONDITIONS.  Looking at other studentsÍ answers, allowing other students to look at your test, and working past allotted time are just a few examples where test conditions may be considered to be violated.

 

8.   LYING.  Lying is the making of a statement that one knows to be false with the intent to deceive.   It includes actions such as (a) lying to faculty, administrators, or staff; (b) falsifying any college document or record by mutilation, addition, deletion, or forgery; or (c) lying to a member of the Honor Council or judicial affairs officer.

 

9.   FAILURE TO REPORT AN HONOR CODE VIOLATION.  Failure to report occurs when a student has knowledge of or is witness to an act in violation of the Academic Honor Code and does not report it within five class days.

 

Honor Code Statement

Membership in the student body of Rollins College carries with it an obligation, and requires a commitment, to act with honor in all things. Because academic integrity is fundamental to the pursuit of knowledge and truth and is the heart of the academic life of Rollins College, it is the responsibility of all members of the College community to practice it and to report apparent violations.

The following pledge is a binding commitment by the students of Rollins College:

The development of the virtues of Honor and Integrity are integral to a Rollins College education and to membership in the Rollins College community.  Therefore, I, a student of Rollins College, pledge to show my commitment to these virtues by abstaining from any lying, cheating, or plagiarism in my academic endeavors and by behaving responsibly, respectfully and honorably in my social life and in my relationships with others.

This pledge is reinforced every time a student submits work for academic credit as his/her own. Students shall add to all papers, quizzes, tests, lab reports, etc., the following handwritten abbreviated pledge followed by their signature:

"On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work."

Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.