Syllabus for PSY-300-OL
THANATOLOGY: AN UNDERSTANDING OF DEATH AND DYING
Description | Objectives | Materials | Structure | Assessment | Grading | Strategies
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.
After completing Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying, you should be able to:
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
Thanatology: An Understanding of Death and Dying is a three-credit course consisting of nine modules. You will have nine (9) reading assignments from the textbook. At the end of each module you will have either a discussion or a written essay assignment to complete 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 two proctored online exams: a midterm and a final.
Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete written assignments, and take two proctored online exams. See below for more details.
Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.
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.
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 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.
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 examinations, a midterm and a final. Consult the course Calendar for the official dates of your midterm and final exam weeks.
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. Online exams are administered in the Tests & Quizzes area of the course Web site.
Midterm and Final Examinations
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 1-4. This is a proctored, closed-book exam.
The final is a closed-book, unproctored online exam. It is two hours long and covers all material assigned in modules 5-9 of the course. The exam consists of twenty (20) multiple-choice items (worth 60 points) and four (4) essay questions (worth 40 points).
To prepare for both 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.
Statement about Cheating
You are on your honor not to cheat during the exams. 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.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
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 |
First Steps to Success
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
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.