Course Learning Activities:
The course is organized into Learning Modules. The 5 numbered modules each contain an Internet Resources assignment, and 3 topic discussion forums, and a Reflective Blog assessment activity.
1. Internet Resources Assignments: Each module includes a Internet Resource review and a discussion forum. These assignments are designed to introduce you to some of the psychological resources available on the web. You must locate a relevant and authentic resource, write a brief, original summary/analysis paper which includes a link to the resource website, then lead a discussion about it. Before submitting your review to the class for discussion, you must submit it to the dropbox, which will detect, and help you avoid, plagiarism. After editing your essay (as needed to meet the originality requirements) you resubmit it to the dropbox for my evaluation and to the website forum for class discussion. This assignment requires that you lead the discussion on your own resource and also participate in the discussions of a few Internet resources reviewed by other students which you select.
2. Student-led Discussions: In every module you will find 3 Student-led Discussion forums. Each forum covers one topic. This is the way you cover the content of the textbook. For each topic forum you must ask one original “critical thinking” question. Other students will respond to your questions, and you will then reply back to those students. In addition you leading your own discussion thread, you are required to answer two questions from each topic posed by another student. You are encouraged to keep up these “virtual discussions” as long as they are productive. The idea here is for each student to lead one discussion with the other students about some important and/or controversial issue introduced in each topic, and participate in additional discussions for each topic. A large percentage of your final grade is determined by your participation in these discussions. I will grade these discussions, but I will not be a participant. If a discussion you are leading gets off track, it is your responsibility to refocus it. You are responsible for maintaining the quality of the discussion threads you lead. Every posting to a discussion should add substantive new information to that discussion.
3. Reflective Blogs: In each module your appreciation for and understanding of the important content issues and concepts will be assessed by means of a reflective blog. You are asked to write about the 4 most important things that you learned in each module, and how you think the knowledge you are gaining from the module will impact your values, attitudes, beliefs and behavior. After you submit your blog, you are required to respond tho the blogs submitted by 5 of your classmates.
Talk with the Professor:
In each module there is a “Talk with the Professor” area. In this area I may ask discussion questions about issues which I feel haven’t been fully explored in the Student Led discussion area. Also, in this area you may ask me questions, which I will respond to. Most often, I expect these questions (mine and yours) will be related to the discussions or the textbook – but no relevant topic is “off-limits.” You should check this area each time you log on and participate in these discussion threads.
Extra Credit / Make-up Work / Incomplete Grades:
The major requirement in this course is to discuss, with other students, the contents of each chapter in the text. There is no substitute for this requirement, and I do not permit “extra credit” or “alternative credit” assignments. Also, there is no way to “go back” after a module has ended and “make-up” missed discussion activity, because there are no other students left to learn from your posts and discuss the content with you Finally, an incomplete in the course is not appropriate, as there is no way to complete the course once it has ended and all of the other students are gone.
