syllabus_PSY-211-feb11

The study of the life span, the subject of Developmental Psychology intrigues us all. Each of us, and everyone we care about, is constantly developing. We see development in childhood more readily because rapid changes take place in physical size, knowledge, and social interactions. Heightened public awareness of the problems of aging in our contemporary society has led to new information on the processes of growth and change taking place in middle and late adulthood as well. This course includes both scientific discoveries and personal insights.

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Course Objectives

After completing Developmental Psychology, you should be able to:

Describe the life span as an ongoing developmental process, or set of processes, involving both continuity and change, by giving examples from the literature, including physical, social, cognitive, and personality development.

Analyze different developmental events from the perspectives of the four major theories of development--cognitive, learning, psychoanalytic, and humanistic--and recognize those theories when used by others to analyze events.

Explain how research contributes to the understanding of development.

Identify important developmental concepts and apply these concepts in various situations.

Formulate relevant questions about developmental processes and events, and use standardized techniques for gathering objective answers to these questions.

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Course Materials

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbook is available from the college's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbook

The Developing Person through the Life Span, 7th ed., by Kathleen Stassen Berger (New York: Worth, 2008). ISBN-13: 978-0-7167-6080-1

Study Guide

Study Guide [to accompany The Developing Person through the Life Span, 7th ed.], by Richard O. Straub (New York: Worth, 2008). ISBN-13: 978-0-7167-6092-4

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Course Structure

Developmental Psychology is a 3-credit online course. It consists of 11 modules, each of which has readings in the textbook and study guide. You are required to complete six (6) written assignments, participate in five (5) discussion forums and to take a both a proctored online midterm and a proctored online final examination.

Consult the Course Calendar for assignment due dates.

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Assessment Methods

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete written assignments, and take both a midterm and a final examination, both proctored online. See below for more details.

Consult the Course Calendar for assignment due dates.

Written Assignments

Developmental Psychology has six (6) writing assignments. Each assignment consists of four or five questions dealing with material from the textbook or Study Guide, and you are required to answer two (2) of these questions for each assignment. Many students find it helpful to read over the assignment questions for a module before beginning the reading for the module.

Before submitting your first assignment, check with your mentor to determine whether your word processing software is compatible with your mentor's software. If so, you can submit your work as you prepared it. If not, save your assignment as a rich-text (.rtf) file, using the Save As command of your software program. Rich text retains basic formatting and can be read by any other word processing program.

Go to the Submit Assignments area of the course website to submit all written assignments.

See the Student Handbook for additional help regarding preparing and submitting assignments located within the General Information section of the course website.

Online Discussion Forums
In addition to posting an introduction to the class in Module 1, you are required to introduce yourself and participate in five (5) graded online class discussions.

Communication with your mentor and among fellow students is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online class discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a discussion question and at least two subsequent comments on classmates' responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate or your mentor, state and support your position. Remember, these are discussions. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, mature, and respectful.

Deadlines for posting discussion threads on the class Discussion Board are given in the course Calendar.

For posting guidelines and additional help with discussion board assignments please see the Student Handbook located within the General Information section of the course website.

Examinations

You are required to take two (2) proctored online examinations: a midterm and a final. Both exams require that you use the College's Online Proctor Service (OPS). Please refer to the "Examinations and Proctors" section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course Web site) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures.

The midterm exam is two hours long and covers material from Modules 1–5 of the course. It consists of identification and essay questions.

The final is a closed-book and unproctored exam. It is two hours long and covers all reading and assignments from Modules 6-11 of the course. It consists of identification and essay questions.

Exams are administered in the Tests & Quizzes area of the course Web site. Consult the course Calendar for the official dates of your midterm and final exam weeks.

Statement about Cheating
The final examination in this course is an unproctored exam. That means you will not be supervised while taking the test. You are on your honor not to cheat during the exam. Cheating means:

Looking up any answer or part of an answer in an unauthorized textbook or on the Internet, or using any other source to find the answer.

Copying and pasting or in any way copying responses or parts of responses from any other source into your online test. This includes but is not limited to copying and pasting from other documents or spreadsheets, whether written by yourself or anyone else.

Plagiarizing answers.

Asking anyone else to assist you by whatever means available while you take the exam.

Copying any part of the exam to share with other students.

Telling your mentor that you need another attempt at the exam because your connection to the Internet was interrupted when that is not true.

If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in your exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.

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Grading and Evaluation

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

Written assignments	40% (6 written assignments)
Online discussions	10% (5 online discussions)
Midterm exam	30% (proctored)
Final exam	20% (proctored)

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of D or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings, etc.).

You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Letter grades for online participation, written assignments, and examinations are based on the following numerical grades:

A	=	93-100
A-	=	90-92
B+	=	88-89
B	=	83-87
B-	=	80-82
C+	=	78-79
C	=	73-77
C-	=	70-72
D	=	60-69
F	=	Below 60

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Strategies for Success

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

Read carefully the entire Syllabus, making sure that all aspects of the course are clear to you and that you have all the materials required for the course.
Take the time to read the entire Online Student Handbook. The Handbook answers many questions about how to proceed through the course, how to schedule exams, and how to get the most from your educational experience at Thomas Edison State College.
Arrange to take your examinations by following the instructions in the Online Student Handbook.

Familiarize yourself with the learning management systems environment—how to navigate it and what the various course areas contain. If you know what to expect as you navigate the course, you can better pace yourself and complete the work on time.
If you are not familiar with Web-based learning be sure to review the processes for posting responses online and submitting assignments before class begins.

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

To stay on track throughout the course, begin each week by consulting the course Calendar. The calendar provides an overview of the course and indicates due dates for submitting assignments, posting discussions, and scheduling and taking examinations.

As often as possible, provide examples from your own experience to elaborate on topics in the written assignments and on the examination. Doing this helps you to internalize the material and demonstrate mastery of the content. However, be sure to connect your examples from everyday life to specific material you have read in the course.

Generally there is no right or wrong answer to the written assignment questions. Let your responses to the questions reflect your understanding of how course content relates to the topic being considered.

Don't be afraid to tackle difficult or controversial material. This is a significant challenge in this course. However, be sure to build on what is known about these topics by giving credit to past accomplishments in the field.

Check the Announcements page and class Discussion Board regularly for new course information.

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Course Description

Course Objectives

Course Materials

Course Structure

Assessment Methods

Written Assignments

Online Discussion Forums

Examinations

Grading and Evaluation

Strategies for Success