PSY 125-A Social Psychology
Course Syllabus

Course Description: The focus of this course is on the influence of social groups on the psychological functioning and behavior of the individual. Students will study social psychological theories and research concerning individuals in all of their complex social relationships. It is hoped that students will gain an understanding of the psychologist's perspective on social behavior and an appreciation of the contributions of social psychology to the potential solutions to social problems.

COURSE POLICIES & PROCEDURES

Wecome! I am confident that you will find this to be both an interesting and valuable learning experience, and I look forward to working with you in exploring Social Psychology. This course will employ a Self-Paced Unit Mastery approach. In addition to reading a given chapter in the text, students will have access to online lecture notes and a variety of other helpful learning activities (e.g., chapter objectives, "flash cards" to study important terms, practice tests, exercises to illustrate concepts, supplemental readings, etc.).

COURSE GRADING POLICIES: All chapter quizzes must be completed by the due dates indicated (see below). All quizzes will be completed online, and the VU Honor Code applies. Specifically, all quizzes will be closed-notes/closed-text, and the student may not consult any other people or resources while completing a quiz. All quizzes must be completed within a 30 minute time period. I trust all of you to adhere to the Honor Code, but will rely on you to report observed violations as specified by the Honor Code. Thank you for maintaining honesty and trust in our community.

Grades will be assigned based on the total number of course points, according to the following criteria: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, less than 60% = F. The instructor retains the right to lower these criteria, but they will not be raised under any circumstances. Total Course Points will be based on 12 Chapter Quizzes ( worth 25 points each) and 50 points for Course Participation (explained in points 1-3 under Course Procedures below). The breakdown of Course Points is shown in the table below:

Class Sessions: This is a hybrid course, with some activities online and others in person. One class session per week will be devoted to your online unit mastery activities (see below), and we will meet the other session for exercises and lecture/discussion and questions. You may email me at any time with questions, and you may also post questions on Discussion Board topics. It is a requirement to use and check your VU email account for all course communications, since CourseVU uses this address. You must check your mail daily!

Unit Mastery - This means that course material is divided into managable "chunks" of material (i.e., individual chapters). That is, instead of testing students over several chapters at once (e.g., a midterm exam), students are quizzed over individual chapters. This increases the chances of mastering the material in each chapter. In this course, you will be able to complete two "practice" tests on each chapter that won't count towards your grade. Then you will have two opportunities to take a quiz on each chapter, with the best of the two scores counting towards your grade.

Self-Paced - This means that students can move at their own pace through the material (within the limits of the semester and deadlines for unit completion) - what this usually means is that some students will be able to actually finish course requirements before the semester is over. In fact, you may even begin working on units before the semester officially starts! I actually recommend this, since it will remove some of the initial anxiety over meeting deadlines for completion of individual units.

Self-Directed Learning - I chose to conduct part of this course online for two reasons: (1) The material is intrinsically interesting - you will be studying concepts and processes that relate to your everyday life. This helps to motivate and stay on task in self-paced learning. (2) The text is well-written and easy to understand. This helps with self-directed learning. The online learning activities that accompany this text are excellent and lend themselves well to self-paced unit mastery learning.

COURSE PROCEDURES: In order to succeed in this course, it is critical that you take the initative and keep on schedule. You need to take responsibility for doing assignments and meeting chapter quiz deadlines and you cannot fall behind! Indeed, be aware that the online quizzes that count towards your grade expire at the indicated date (defined as noon on the due date). If you do not take a chapter quiz by the deadline, you will receive a "0" for that chapter quiz. The basic approach to each chapter is:

• Complete Pretest - a first practice test to give you an idea of what will be tested in this chapter.
• Complete chapter Learning Activities - read chapter, study objectives & lecture notes, practice with flash cards.
• Retest - a second practice test to give you a sense of how close you are to mastery on this chapter.
• Complete first Chapter Quiz A- decide whether or not you want your score to count towards your grade.
• Complete second attempt (Chapter Quiz B) - if dissatisfied with your score on the first attempt at this chapter quiz, review the material and retake this quiz. This quiz will be similar, but not identical to Quiz A
• The best of the two scores on your two Chapter Quizzes will count towards your grade.

The following lists the steps you need to follow in completing activities for each chapter:

Begin by clicking the "Assignments" button in the navigation panel on the left of the CourseVU website. Click the appropriate "Week" link, then the "Day/Date" link. For a given chapter, click on the "Ch 'X' Pretest Activites" and follow this sequence:

1. Complete the Chapter Pretest::

• Click the chapter "Pretest" link. Complete this short online pretest. Just guess if you don't know the correct answer - this is just practice.
• When done, click "Submit Answers for Grading." Your pretest will be scored, and correct answers will be given for questions you missed.
• Scroll to the bottom of this page to the "Routing Information" box. Type in your name and click the "Instructor" radio button to indicate where to email the results. Type daniel.arkkelin@valpo.edu for the email address to send your results (use the default "Text" option in the "Send as:" box).
• Make sure to email a copy of the results to yourself as well for your records!

2. Complete the Chapter Learning Activities:

• Click the "Ojectives" link under Chapter Pretest Activities. You might want to print these.
• Read and study the given chapter.
• Post any questions about material in the chapter on the appropriate "Discussion Board" chapter topic. Look back to that topic for my replies to your questions.
• Click the "Course Documents" button on the navigation bar on the left of CourseVU and study the Chapter Lecture Notes. These are Power Point, and you might want to print these also.
• Click on the "Flash Cards" link under the given Chapter Pretest Activities in the Course Assignments section. This is an excellent way to drill yourself on concepts that will be tested on the Chapter Quizzes.

3. Complete the Chapter Retest:

• Click the "Chapter Exam" link under Chapter Pretest Activities. This is a longer chapter practice test that should give you a good idea of how well you have mastered the material and an indication of how well you will do on the actual Chapter Quiz.
• When done, follow the steps outlined above for the Pretest scoring and routing of results to me via email.
• Review questions you missed in preparation for your actual Chapter Quiz. Again, post any further questions you have on the appropriate chapter discussion board and look for my replies.

NOTE: The chapter Pretest and Retests ("Chapter Exams") are for your learning benefit and your actual scores on them will not count towards your grade. However, completing the Chapter Pretests, the Chapter Retest/Exams and emailing your scores to me is an indication of your diligence in self-directed learning, and will be useful to you and me in addressing questions on a given chapter. Thus, I will keep track of these, and your completion of these will contribute to your Course Participation Points, along with promptness in meeting course deadlines and attendance at in-class sessions.

4. This step involves scores that will count towards your grade. When you're ready, complete Chapter Quiz A:

• In the Assignments section, navigate to the week/day that lists the appropriate chapter quiz (e.g., "Quiz Ch 1"). Each chapter quiz will consist of 25 multiple choice and true/false questions very similar to those on your chapter pre and post tests. Carefully follow the instructions for taking this first chapter quiz.
• Once you have completed and submitted your answers, the quiz will be scored and you will have the opportunity to review your answers and the correct answers to questions you missed. The grading criteria are as follows:
  • 23 correct (90%) = A
  • 20 correct (80%) = B
  • 18 correct (70%) = C
  • 15 correct (60%) = D
• If you are satisfied with your score on Quiz A, move on to the next chapter and your score will be used in computations of your final course grade.
• If you are dissatisfied with your score, you may take a second version of the quiz on this chapter. Note that at least one hour review time is required between Quiz A and Quiz B on a given chapter.

5. If you desire to take Chapter Quiz B, follow these steps:

• Review the questions and feedback from Quiz A. In addition to your answer and the correct answer for each question you missed, you will see a page number in the feedback. This refers to the page number in the text from which that question was drawn.
• Review the material and post any additional questions you have on the appropriate chapter Discussion Topic. Look back for my replies.
• When you are ready for Quiz B, in the Assignments section, navigate to the week/day that lists the appropriate chapter quiz (e.g., "Quiz Ch 1").
• Complete the quiz. The best of your two quiz scores will be used in computations of your final course grade.

NOTE: Since the biggest threat to success in self-directed learning is procrastination and falling behind, I have incorporated deadlines for completion of Quiz B on each chapter (see schedule below and the Assignments section for due dates). This should motivate you to keep on track - be aware that the chapter quizzes will expire after the deadlines, and you will receive a "0" for a given chapter after that deadline.

• Ideally, you should complete Quiz A on a given chapter two days before the deadline for Quiz B. This will give you time to review, ask me questions and receive my replies.
• Quiz B on a given chapter will expire at noon on the date the quiz is due. After that time, if you have not completed either Quiz A or Quiz B, you will receive a "0" for that chapter.

Use the following schedule to help you keep track of Quiz due dates - you should print this out and review it daily:

COURSE SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS