Psychology 206

(Note: this information can also be found in our ANGEL classroom. Click on the In box/out box tab.)

FAQ'S ABOUT DISCUSSION ROOMS/SEMINAR:

What do we talk about in the discussion rooms? During each week, we will be discussing our readings using topics related to what we are reading.

Can you give us examples of topics that are appropriate for discussion? Yes. Click here for some suggested discussion questions for each chapter to get you started, but you’ll find the discussion more meaningful if you determine its direction rather than me.

How frequently should I check for new messages in the discussion rooms? Do I need to read ALL the posts? I encourage you to check the discussion rooms in ANGEL at least once a day, read or skim all the new posts, and participate regularly.

Why is seminar part of the course requirements? Learning facts on your own will not be as satisfying an encounter with the discipline of psychology as discussing these facts with others. You need to not only think about, but also discuss the ideas that you encounter in your reading. You may not clearly understand something and be unaware you missed it, or you will bump into subtleties you might not have thought about without the stimulus of other people interjecting their own take on what they read.

If you take seminar participation seriously, you will be pleasantly surprised by the things you uncover. Tossing ideas around and learning how to separate opinion and personal bias from confirmed or valid evidence create knowledge. It is not just lying in a book waiting to be memorized. That is certainly not how most people become interested in this subject at least.

How much time do I need to allocate to coursework? Writing rather than talking will take a lot more time than you may be used to, but that time has to be invested for you to learn and to do well. This course will take just as much time as taking the course on campus and possibly more. I expect you will need to budget about 15 hours per week to get all the reading done and participate in seminar. Some of you will be able to do that in less time and some will require more.

Can I share my personal opinion about a subject in seminar? One common pitfall in taking any psychology course is everyone has an opinion or belief about why people behave the way they do. What we want to focus on in this course is what the research reveals about human development. What has the discipline of developmental psychology learned about human behavior? What I will be emphasizing in the seminar is getting you to focus first on what you are learning and only afterwards what you may think about that. Personal opinion should only come after you reflect on what the author says. You need to be able to clearly differentiate what you are learning in this class from what you already believe to be true. We who read your comments are particulary interested in your opinions or beliefs as they relate to text material as well as to your own experience.

That being said, in a class like this, commenting on your own experience is not only unavoidable but actually is what makes the seminar most interesting. Usually there are students in this class who come from a variety of different ethnicities and cultures - not to mention age, gender, sexual orientation, and other highly interesting demographics! The more we hear from all of you, the better!

Just be sure to always connect your experience to course material and avoid generalizing from your experience to everyone.

Exactly when are seminar responses due?

I will close the discussion rooms dealing with specific chapters to new posts and responses one week after assignments are due on those chapters. Other than that, there really are no fixed "due dates" for seminar posts. Just focus on posting something at least 5 times/week. The topics will tend to slide around and are cumulative, just like life, so it's not like at the end of some week or other, we are " done" with a particular topic. As you'll see, some topics are relevant throughout the lifespan. Accordingly, if you want to continue a conversation from a closed discussion room because you see a connection to current material, you can copy and paste and add your new thoughts on the new material.

Remember you can still read what's in the closed discussion rooms in order to keep up with your self evaluation and also continue conversations as they might relate to current course material.

I don't want to be rigid and over-manage the seminar discussions. If you are engaging in genuine conversation without repetition and your conversation relates to class topics, go for it. I would rather you be authentic in your seminar posting than adhere to some arbitrary schedule. Accordingly, I have organized the discussion rooms according to life stage but even that belies the cumulative and overlapping nature of developmental issues.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, here's why the due dates for essays and quizzes are as they are: it's been my experience if everyone has read the chapters, taken a few quizzes, and written a couple of essays that the seminar discussion is much deeper and richer than if participants don't have the "common ground" of the text. That's why the assignments are due early in the week as opposed to say Friday at midnight.

So the quizzes and essays are intended to prepare you for more informed participation in seminar. Otherwise seminar can become trivial and not grounded in material that you all share. We don't want that.

How will my seminar performance be evaluated?

CLICK HERE FOR GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING YOUR SEMINAR PERFORMANCE. You will be evaluating your own seminar performance according to these criteria at mid-term and at the end of the quarter. I will be evaluating your performance by these criteria as well.

Will you be active in seminar along with us?

I will monitor all discussions in all discussion rooms at least once or twice a day. In other words,I will be reading each and every post or reply that you make. I will also be contributing my thoughts and responses to comments of others.

So what are the basic rules of seminar?

1. DON'T REPEAT WHAT OTHERS HAVE ALREADY SAID. This means you have to at least skim all posts to avoid being repetitive.

2. FREQUENTLY REVIEW THE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION ROOMS/SEMINAR EFFECTIVELY AND HOW TO ASSESS YOUR PERFORMANCE.

3. DON'T RELY SOLELY ON THE SUGGESTED TOPICS ON THE COURSE WEBSITE.

4. INTRODUCE NEW TOPICS AS THEY RELATE TO COURSE MATERIAL.

5. DON'T FEEL YOU HAVE TO REPLY TO EVERYONE. BE SELECTIVE. REPLY ONLY TO THOSE POSTS THAT GRAB YOUR ATTENTION AND MAKE YOU WANT TO BE IN CONVERSATION.

Don't hesitate to ask for further clarification by e-mailing me in ANGEL.