PSY-300-OL


	Syllabus for PSY-300-OL

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying will provide you with a broad and general introduction to the study of death and dying. It is designed to help you understand the nature, course, and process of the experience of dying and death in our present society.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES

After successfully completing all course assignments, you should be able to:

Recognize death as a universal phenomenon that is constructed differently among different societies and throughout history and examine the institutional structures of the death system in contemporary American culture.

Assess the theories of death researchers and describe the views of people who are dying or have faced their own death or the death of loved ones.

Develop self-reflection about death and dying on order to assess your beliefs and attitudes about the subject.

Acquire consistency between your behavior and beliefs about dying and death in order to better prepare for your own mortality and become a compassionate caregiver.

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COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following textbook to complete the work of the course. It is available from the textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbook

Death, Society, and Human Experience, 9th ed., by Robert J. Kastenbaum (Boston: Pearson Education/Allyn and Bacon, 2007).

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COURSE STRUCTURE

Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying is a three-credit course consisting of six modules. You will have reading assignments from the textbook in each module. At the end of each module you are required to complete a written essay assignment and send it to your mentor for correction and grading. In addition, you will be asked to complete and submit two journal assignments. The course also requires you to participate in five graded online discussions and take a proctored midterm exam and an unproctored online final exam.

For the course's assignment activities (reading assignments, online discussion, journal assignments, and essay assignments), click Assignment Modules on the navigation bar to the left of your screen. That will take you to a list of the individual modules, which you can then click for the relevant assignments.

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ONLINE PARTICIPATION

In addition to submitting six essay assignments and two journal assignments for this class, you are required to introduce yourself and participate in five (5) graded online class discussions.

Your first posting, "Introductions," will give you a chance to tell your mentor and classmates something about yourself and to find out who they are. You should post your introduction in the Introductions forum on the class Discussion Board and respond to at least two of your classmates' responses.

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.

All of these responses must be substantial. 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.

You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation, including your use of relevant course information to support your point of view, and your awareness of and responses to the postings of your classmates. Remember, these are discussions. responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, mature, and respectful.

Your initial responses to the discussion questions and subsequent comments on classmates' responses are due on the days specified by the course Calendar.

For additional information on online discussions, see Online Discussions in the Online Student Handbook.

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WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

For Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying you are required to submit a total of eight written assignments: six (6) essay assignments and two (2) journal assignments. For each essay assignment, you must select two questions to answer from those that are listed. For each journal assignment, you must answer one from each pair of questions.

Read through the pertinent essay assignment questions before you begin each module. Your answers to these essay questions should be well developed and convey your understanding of the course materials. Formulate responses in your own words (do not merely copy answers from your reading material). Where appropriate, cite text material in an appropriate manner. Your answers to each essay assignment question should be no longer than two (2) double-spaced, typed pages or equivalent.

Preview the two journal assignments before you begin your first reading assignment. These journal assignments require self-reflection. You will improve your self-reflection by integrating the material you read in each module and applying your critical thinking skills. Your response to each journal assignment question should be no less than three (3) double-spaced, typed pages or equivalent.

Prepare your written essay and journal assignments using whatever word processing program you have on your computer. Include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled.

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.

When satisfied that your assignment represents your best work, submit it to your mentor by means of the

>>View/Complete Assignment

link provided at the bottom of the respective assignment page. Use the Browse button within this link to locate and submit your assignment file.

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EXAMINATIONS

Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying requires you to take a two examinations: a proctored midterm examination and an unproctored, online final examination. Consult the course Calendar for the scheduling of these exams.

To prepare for the exams, it is suggested that you reread the relevant parts of the text, highlighting major points. You may also find it helpful for review to answer all the relevant essay assignment questions, even though you are to submit the answers to only 2 questions in each essay assignment.

Both examinations are two hours in duration, and they are closed-book.

Midterm Examination
The midterm exam consists of twenty (20) multiple-choice items (worth 60 points) and four (4) essay questions (worth 40 points). The exam is two hours long and covers all material assigned in modules 1-3. This is a proctored, closed-book exam.

You may take the midterm examination only during the designated exam week, at an approved location, and with an approved proctor. In preparation, you must submit a "Proctor Request Form" with the necessary documentation to the Office of Test Administration during the first week of the semester.

If you are on a course extension and have not yet taken the midterm exam, you must let your examination proctor know when you plan to take the exam and contact the Office of Test Administration (609-984-1181) two weeks in advance to request that your exam be sent to the proctor.

For more information on scheduling your midterm examination, see the section Examinations and Proctors in the Online Student Handbook.

Final Examination
The final is a closed-book, unproctored online exam. It is two hours long and covers all material assigned in modules 4-6 of the course. The exam consists of twenty (20) multiple-choice items (worth 60 points) and four (4) essay questions (worth 40 points).

The final exam is taken online in Blackboard. An exam link will be activated and made available to you in the Tests & Quizzes area of the course Web site (see Test & Quizzes > Final Examination) at the start of final exam week. You may take the final exam at any time during that week, but no later than midnight Saturday (eastern time). If you are on a course extension, you will need to arrange with your mentor a time to reschedule the final exam.

Sample Examination
You will find a sample online examination in the Tests & Quizzes area of this course site. Use this sample exam to familiarize yourself with the online testing setting and format before you take your online exam. Keep in mind the following potential differences between the sample exam and your online exam:

The content of your exam will match the content of your course; the sample exam has some generic questions on art history, world history, and environmental science.

Your exam is likely to include only one type or at most several types of questions (such as multiple choice or essays). The sample exam includes all the types that you might encounter in an online assessment at Thomas Edison State College.

You will be able to enter and take your final exam just once—once you have entered the exam you must complete it. The sample exam may be taken as often as you like.

There will be a penalty for exceeding the time limit in your actual exams (see the "Statement about Cheating" below), whereas there is no corresponding penalty with this sample exam.

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.

Please also note that the exam is time-limited. That means you only have the allotted time in which to complete the exam. If you exceed the time limit on the exam, you will be penalized by having two points deducted for every minute that you exceed the time limit. This may also result in your failing the course.

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GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

Written Essay Assignments (6)	30 percent
Written Journal Assignments (2)	10 percent
Online Participation (5)	10 percent
Midterm Examination	30 percent
Final Examination	20 percent

Letter grades for online participation, written assignments, and the course examinations are based on the following numerical grades:

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

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, projects, papers, etc.). You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted.

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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 arrange for proctors, and how to get the most from your educational experience at Thomas Edison State College.

Arrange to take your midterm examination by following the instructions in the Online Student Handbook. Then complete the "Proctor Request Form" and submit it to the Office of Test Administration (OTA). You must make arrangements to take your midterm examination and send in your "Proctor Request Form" to OTA before the end of the first week of the current semester. (See Administrative Forms in the General Information area of the course Web site.)

Familiarize yourself with the Blackboard 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, or specifically with the Blackboard platform, 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 your examinations. For details on each assignment module and a complete listing of learning activities, go to the Assignment Modules area of the course Web site.

Before starting the first module, take time to look at the textbook and assignments.

It is highly recommended that you complete all of the boxes and inventories that are located in the textbook readings. They will help you clarify your views about death and dying. Also, some are springboards for the class discussions. You should NOT, however, submit your responses to these boxes and inventories to your mentor. Send in only the eight written assignments.

You may find it helpful for review to answer all the essay assignment questions even though you are to submit the answers to only 2 questions in each essay assignment.

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

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Syllabus Index

This document contains the following main sections:

Course Description

Course Objectives

Course Materials

Course Structure

Online Participation
Written Assignments

Examinations

Grading and Evaluation

Strategies for Success