PSYC 2301:
Prerequisites
In the event of an emergency or announced campus closure due to a natural disaster or pandemic, it may be necessary for Panola College to move to altered operations. During this time, Panola College may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include, but are not limited to: online learning management system (CANVAS), online conferencing, email messaging, and/or an alternate schedule. It is the responsibility of the student to monitor Panola College's website (www.panola.edu) for instructions about continuing courses remotely, CANVAS for each class for course-specific communication, and Panola College email for important general information.
Unexpected circumstances may arise, but Panola College offers various resources to support students. If you need mental health services or are facing challenges with transportation, affording class materials and supplies, or accessing food regularly—issues that may impact your class performance—please visit panola.edu/resources.
Regular and punctual attendance of classes and laboratories is required of all students. When a student has been ill or absent from class for approved extracurricular activities, he or she should be allowed, as far as possible, to make up for the missed work. If a student has not actively participated by the census date, they will be dropped by the instructor for non-attendance. This policy applies to courses that are in-person, online, hybrid, and hyflex.
Attendance in online courses is determined by submission of an assignment or participation in an activity. According to federal guidelines, simply logging into a distance learning course without participating in an academic assignment does not constitute attendance. Distance learning is defined as when a majority (more than 50%) of instruction occurs when the instructor and students are in separate physical locations. Students must engage in an academic activity prior to the course census date.
When an instructor feels that a student has been absent to such a degree as to invalidate the learning experience, the instructor may recommend to the Vice President of Instruction that the student be withdrawn from the course. Instructors may seek to withdraw students for non-attendance after they have accumulated the following number of absences:
Fall or spring semesters:
3 or more class meeting times per week - 5 absences
2 class meeting times per week - 3 absences
1 class meeting per week - 2 absences
The student is responsible for seeing that he or she has been officially withdrawn from a class. A student who stops attendance in a class without officially withdrawing from that class will be given a failing grade; consequently, the student must follow official withdrawal procedures in the Admissions/Records Office.
Please note: Health Science and Cosmetology courses may require more stringent attendance policies based on their accreditation agencies. Please see the addendum and/or program handbook for further information concerning attendance.
Panola College welcomes pregnant and parenting students as a part of the student body. This institution is committed to providing support and adaptations for a successful educational experience for pregnant and parenting students. Students experiencing a need for accommodations related to pregnancy or parenting will find a Pregnancy and Parenting Accommodations Request form in the Student Handbook or may request the form from the course instructor.
Use of generated AI Permitted under some classroom circumstances with permission.
There are situations throughout the course where you may be asked to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to explore how they can be used. Outside of those circumstances, you should not use AI tools to generate content that will end up in any student work (assignments, activities, discussion responses, etc.). In such cases for Option #2, no more than 25% of the student work should be generated by AI. Use of any AI-generated content in this course without the instructor’s consent qualifies as academic dishonesty and violates Panola College’s standards of academic integrity.
Communication Skills – to include effective development, interpretation, and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication
Empirical and Quantitative Skills – to include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions
Social Responsibility – to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities
- The purpose of this course is to introduce a general study of the field of psychology, covering the board schools of thought and major issues considered in psychology.
- The second goal is to familiarize the student with concepts, terminology and important persons in psychology, then to provide an understanding and framework for further study in this area, and to aid the individual in becoming a better consumer of mental health resources.
After studying all materials and resources presented in the course, the student will be able to:
- Identify various research methods and their characteristics used in the scientific study of psychology.
- Describe the historical influences and early schools of thought that shaped the field of psychology.
- Describe some of the prominent perspectives and approaches used in the study of psychology.
- Use terminology unique to the study of psychology.
- Describe accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.
- Identify factors in physiological and psychological processes involved in human behavior.
Students in all sections of this course will learn the following content:
- The history and basic theories of Psychology.
- How research is conducted.
- The biological basis for behavior from the cellular level to the nervous system.
- How sensory organs send sensations to the brain and how we perceive that information.
- The nature of consciousness and altered states of consciousness.
- What is learning and how do we explain it.
- What is memory and what are the processes involved with creating and retrieving memory.
- Cognition: Language and how we use information to problem solve.
- What are motivations and emotions, and how both effect behaviors.
- How we develop from concept through adulthood.
- How do we understand personality.
- How our behaviors are influenced by those around us.
- What is stress, how does it impact us and what can we do.
- What is meant by psychological disorders.
- How do we provide treatment for psychological disorders and mental health.
In traditional face-to-face classes instruction will consist of lecture, class discussion and class room assignments. For online class instruction will consist of the student completing the readings and assignments for each chapter. Hybrid classes will be a mixture of class room instruction with online assignments to augment classroom work. Class attendance is required for face-to-face class and hybrid class and will be recorded. For online class it will be determined by number and length of log in’s and submission of assignments.
Grade percentage breakdown for the course will be as follows:
Participation/Attendance: 5%
Assignments: 35%
Quizzes: 20%
Tests: 30%
Final Exam: 10%
Late Grade Policy
Deductions of points will be as follows:
- Within 1 week of due date student will receive 90% of earned points
- 8-21 days late: Student will receive 75% of earned points.
- 22-30 days late: Student will receive 50% of earned points
*A final date of work submission and acceptance will be determine within the course schedule by the professor.
The grading scale for this course is as follows:
- A= 90 - 100%
- B= 80 - 89%
- C= 70 - 79%
- D= 60 – 69%
- F= Below 60%
Major Assignments/Assessments
Assignments
Assignments: Each semester there will be projects to allow the student to explore in greater detail presented concepts. An example of this would be that for the chapter on personality the student would complete an online personality assessment and then reflect on how valid they felt the instrument was in describing their personality. Other possible examples could include weekly discussions, chapter exercises or weekly assignments to ensure mastery learning and application. Grading for such projects and assignments generally comes from the quality of the student’s response, accuracy of the concept, and thoroughness of reflection as demonstrated by the length and depth of their response.
Quizzes: Each chapter will be review with a quiz. The chapters may have quiz banks of study questions students may use for review. The purpose of the quizzes is for students to use them as a study guide. As such, when students are taking the quizzes, open book and open notes are permitted. The chapter quizzes are timed and may be taken up 2-3 times. Your highest score will be the one recorded in the grade book.
Participation/attendance: students will be graded on their attendance and professional student behavior during the course meeting times or within the online learning platform.
For face-to-face/hybrid classes you are expected to show up for class at the scheduled start
time and if coming in late please do not cause a disruption. Participation in class activities and discussions will be evaluated, therefore questions and comments need to relate to
class material. Disruptive, disrespectful or off-task behavior will result in a point deduction. For example, sleeping in class may be counted as a tardy or absence. Excessive leaving the room to answer your phone or going to the restroom will also count towards absences. Cell phone use is not permitted during class time. If a student needs to have access to their phone during class, the instructor should be made aware at the beginning of the course and the student quietly leave the classroom when necessary to answer an emergency phone call. If the student is off-task or causing a disruption with their phone, points will be deducted. Use of computer during lecture time is only for those using the computer for note taking. At any time, the instructor may request that you allow him/her to view your screen.
For online students, professional student behavior and attendance will be determined by number and length of log in’s and submission of assignments. Simply, logging into Canvas once a week may not constitute full points for participation/attendance. If a student falls behind and is not logging into Canvas to complete work in a timely manner, this may result in point deduction. If a student's submissions reflect incomplete participation in a course activity, this could also result in point deduction. If a student has missed logging in a significant number of weeks, it may be determined that the letter grade at the end of the semester should be reduced. When a student has been absent to such a degree as to invalidate the learning experience, I will give that student a failing grade for the class.
Plagiarism Policy: If it is noted that you have simply found information and pasted it directly into an assignment you will receive a zero for the assignment and not be allowed to resubmit.
It is up to the discretion of the teacher to determine when that has been done to the point that the assignment is compromised. Typically, if there is over 20% indicated by Turnitin, this will result in a 0 for the assignment. It is also considered plagiarism if you just repeat verbatim what the speaker on the video says or if you copy the closed caption.
Assessments
Tests: There are usually between 2 – 4 tests during the semester covering content from the chapters. Online testing will require students to be proctored during the exam using Proctorio. Students may not use course materials, notes, online resources, cell phones or any other additional/outside resources during the tests.
Final Exam: A comprehensive exam will be given at the end of the semester. During this exam, Students may not use course materials, notes, online resources, cell phones or any other additional/outside resources.
Testing Conditions:
Testing may be done in the college testing center, or online with the Proctorio app. Online students will be given a range of days to go to one of our testing centers for testing or online with Proctorio. Instructions will be given for how to use this app. If you are asked for a password, usually that means you need to reload the test. Procotorio will never ask you for the password. Tech support for Proctorio can be found at the chat support website. https://chat.proctorio.com/
**Please know that the following behaviors/conditions must be met during a test. Any deviation from these or any indication of academic dishonesty by the student could result in a zero for that test.
- FULL face must be seen in the camera screen during the entire test.
- Student must be at a desk/table with the desk/table in view to ensure the surface is clear of information.
- NO use of notes, quiz banks, phones, webpages or access to outside information is permitted during the exams.
- Eye contact must be kept on screen during test. If it is noted that the student is looking down, or outside of the camera’s view for a significant amount of time, this will result in a zero for the test.
Textbook: We are currently using Psychology by Spielman, published by Openstax. The textbook is OER, which means it is free. An electronic version is provided with the class and is embedded in your Canvas shell. Our semester is broken down into week modules and the corresponding chapter for the module will be provided within Canvas.
Psychology by Spielman, published by Openstax
Within each module, students may find additional resources such as PowerPoint presentations, chapter outlines, note outlines, quiz bank questions, helpful handouts and/or graphic organizers. It is recommended that students review this additional information and use it to study for upcoming assignments, quizzes, and exams.
- Courses conducted via video conferencing may be recorded and shared for instructional purposes by the instructor.
- For current texts and materials, use the following link to access bookstore listings: https://www.panolacollegestore.com.
- For testing services, use the following link: https://www.panola.edu/student-services/studentsupport/academic-testing-center.
- If any student in this class has special classroom or testing needs because of a physical learning or emotional condition, please contact the ADA Student Coordinator in Support Services located in the Charles C. Matthews Student Center or go to https://www.panola.edu/studentservices/student-support/disability-support-services for more information.
- Withdrawing from a course is the student’s responsibility. Students who do not attend class and who do not withdraw will receive the grade earned for the course.
- Student Handbook: https://www.panola.edu/ (located on at the bottom under student)