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Psychology 100

Introduction to Psychology

(online)

Fall, 2020

Professor Frank McAndrew

Mobile Phone: 309-368-2696

email: fmcandre@knox.edu

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Virtual Office Hours:
I will be available Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 1:30 - 3:00 p.m (Central Time). During these times I will be reachable by phone and I will reply quickly to email. 
 
I will of course respond to emails sent at other times, but I will reply immediately during my office hours.  I will also be glad to schedule one-on-one video conferences or phone conversations with you - just send me an email and we will set something up.
 
PLEASE GET IN THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR EMAIL DAILY! - This is the primary way in which I will communicate with you. PLEASE DO NOT TEXT ME; use email or make a telephone call if you wish to contact me.
The Textbook:
Introduction to Psychology (11th edition) by James W. Kalat
(ISBN: 978-1-305-27155-5 (regular student edition); 978-1-305-63054-3 (loose leaf edition)
Using the 9th or 10th edition of this book is also acceptable.
Lab Assistants:  Maggie Corlew, Matt Cagle, Jonathan Doriscar, Karina Khanna, Thu Nguyen,
                                    Nicolette Schmidt, Laurel Stugart
Teaching Fellow: Isabel Temosihue
Goals of the Course
I would like you to become a more sophisticated observer of human behavior by learning to think about humans scientifically by understanding the limitations and pitfalls of intuition. 
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In addition to this informal goal, the course will help you achieve the following psychology department learning goals:
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1. Apply the scientific method to studying the mind, the brain, and behavior.
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2. Understand the basic theoretical approaches and classic empirical findings of psychology.
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3. Effectively communicate through grammatically correct writing.
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Your progress toward the learning goals will be assessed by written lab reports and quizzes based upon textbook readings and other information presented in the class.
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Click HERE for a video introduction to the course from the professor.
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How the Online Format will Operate
The class will be run as an "asynchronous" class. This means that the class never has to be together online at the same time. The class is too large and the students too scattered around the world for that to work. Instead, each of you will be free to engage with the material at your convenience, although there will be clear due dates for lab reports and time windows during which quizzes must be taken.
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Having said this, there will be a synchronous Zoom Meeting of the class every Wednesday, one for the 4th period class and then another one for the 6th period class. Attendance at this session is optional, and I promise that nothing new will be covered (i.e., for the quizzes) that cannot be found elsewhere. This weekly online get-together is an opportunity for me to match student names with faces and for us to get to know each other a bit better. Each week will be a little different, but the weekly session will be more of a conversation and a question and answer session than a lecture.
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The class will consist of a series of ten bite-sized modules. Plan on spending about six days on each of the modules.  Each module will include assigned reading from the textbook, Powerpoint (PPT) slides narrated by me, a few video clips, and a quiz. Most of the modules, but not all, will also have an online lab experiment or demonstration that will be the basis of a written lab report.
LINKS TO EACH ONE OF THE MODULES CAN BE FOUND BY SCROLLING DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
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Here is the Schedule for the Fall Term, 2020:
September 14: First Day Of Class
September 21-23: Take Quiz for Module 1
(There is no Lab Report for Module 1)
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September 28-30: Take Quiz for Module 2
September 29: Lab Report for Module 2 is Due
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October 5-7: Take Quiz for Module 3
October 6: Lab Report for Module 3 is Due
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October 12-14: Take Quiz for Module 4
October 13: Lab Report for Module 4 is Due
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October 19-21: Take Quiz for Module 5
October 20: Lab Report for Module 5 is Due
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October 26-28: Take Quiz for Module 6
October 27: Lab Report for Module 6 is Due
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November 2-4: Take Quiz for Module 7
November 3: Lab Report for Module 7 is Due
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November 9-11: Take Quiz for Module 8
November 10: Lab Report for Module 8 is Due
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November 16-18: Take Quiz for Module 9
(There is no lab report for Module 9)
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November 20-22: Take Quiz for Module 10
(There is no lab report for Module 10)
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Grading
Your grade will be based upon the average percentage of total possible points that you accumulate on the quizzes and lab reports. I will be translating lab report grades into scores that will get averaged in with the quiz scores, and collectively the six lab reports will carry the same weight as two quizzes. I will drop your lowest quiz score and also your lowest lab report score.
Here are the grade cutoffs: A = 93%; A- = 90%; B+ = 88%; B = 83%; B- = 80%; C+ = 78%; C = 73%; C- = 70%; D+ = 68%; D = 63%; D- = 60%; F < 60%.
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The Quizzes
At the end of each module, I will email a link that will allow you to access an online quiz. Each quiz will be available for a period of THREE DAYS. All of the quizzes will be multiple choice, and they will be fairly short - usually ranging between 20 and 40 questions.
 
YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO USE YOUR TEXTBOOK AND NOTES DURING THE QUIZ. 
 
I recognize that it would be extremely difficult to stop cheating if I require a closed-book exam, and this would not be fair to the honest students who play by the rules. Having said this, your textbook and notes are the ONLY resources that are allowed. You cannot communicate or collaborate with other students while you are taking a quiz -- I will consider this to be an Honor Code Violation. The quiz will be timed, so you will not have unlimited time to complete it. This means that you will need to be organized when you open up the quiz. Most of the questions will not be something that you can simply look up, so do not expect to be successful if you have not studied well ahead of time. I strongly recommend that you study for the quizzes as if they were not open-book.  You will receive instant feedback after the quiz regarding your score and what the correct answers were for the questions you got wrong. Please remember that I will be dropping your lowest quiz grade.
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Once you begin the quiz, you must complete it. You will not be able to leave the quiz and come back at a later time to finish it.
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The quizzes will be based primarily on the textbook, but it will be fair game for me to include information from my narrated PPT slides that may not be in the textbook.
The Labs
You will be doing a series of lab exercises this term. Each lab will be unique, but all of them will provide you with data or other information that will be the basis of a lab report. You will type a report and submit it via email by an assigned due date. Remember that I will be dropping your lowest lab report grade from the calculations of final grades in the class.
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Each lab will be nested within one of the modules, and the instructions for conducting the lab and writing the report can be downloaded from the module page where the lab resides (these are listed below).  You will also find a link to the online lab in the same place.
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There is no fixed format for the lab reports. Each one is a bit different, and you will receive clear instructions for writing each report. While the length and format will differ a bit from lab to lab, the average report will be about two or three double-spaced pages in length.
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LAB REPORTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED LATE. Be sure to pay close attention to the date on which each report is due. EACH LAB REPORT will be graded on a ten point scale, and the average percentage on your lab reports will be weighted the same as TWO quiz scores in your final grade.
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How will you submit the lab reports?
There are seven lab assistants who are helping me to manage the labs for this class. Each one of these individuals is a bright, upper-level psychology student. They will be helping me manage and grade the lab exercises and reports.
 
You will submit your lab reports by email directly to the TA to whom you have been assigned.  To figure out who your Lab TA is, check the Psyc 100L lab section that you are enrolled in and find your teaching assistant's name and email address below:
Psyc 100L (Section A, 2nd period) - Jonathan Doriscar (jedoriscar@knox.edu)
Psyc 100L (Section B, 2nd period) - Karina Khanna (kkhanna@knox.edu)
Psyc 100L (Section C, 3rd period) - Laurel Stugart (lstugart@knox.edu)
Psyc 100L (Section D, 3rd period) - Maggie Corlew (mjcorlew@knox.edu)
Psyc 100L (Section E, 5th period) - Matt Cagle (mdcagle@knox.edu)
Psyc 100L (Section F, 5th period) - Thu Nguyen (tpnguyen@knox.edu)
Psyc 100L (Section G, 6th period) - Nicolette Schmidt (ntschmidt@knox.edu)
Participation in Psychological Research (extra credit opportunity)
Even though Knox College (along with everyone else!) is facing highly unusual circumstances this term, research is still happening. There are a number of psychology seniors doing research, and faculty research is ongoing as well. Of necessity, many of these projects involve the collection of data online. You can earn one extra credit point toward your grade by participating in an online research project, with a maximum of eight extra credit points getting counted toward your grade.
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When such opportunities arise, I will forward a link to studies for you to participate in.
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