PSYCH 2301 Course Syllabus

Gina Weir	PSYC 2301.156 & 2301.501
Del Mar College	General Psychology
Spring 2008	Classroom HH 123
Office Hours:	Class Times
After 7:00 p.m. class	TTH 4:00-5:20 & 5:30-6:50 pm
or by appointment	Email: ginaweir@yahoo.com

General survey of the field of psychology, with particular emphasis on the following: scientific methods utilized in the field, behavioral theories, relationship of the brain to behavior, learning, memory, personality, stress, and psychological disorders.

To learn to thoroughly evaluate systems and/or theories, to include a variety of viewpoints.

To learn to identify and utilize appropriate criteria to evaluate historical evidence and research.

*Personal Qualities*	Each student is responsible for his/her own learning. This includes: attending class regularly, taking notes, timely completion of assignments, and asking for help when needed. In order to work effectively with others, respect is essential. This includes consideration when others are speaking, being prompt, courteous, and attentive toward others. This classroom will be a safe environment for all persons. As stated in the Standards of Student Conduct, behaviors such as plagiarism, cheating, persistent irresponsibility, or disruption of teaching and educational activities are cause for disciplinary action.
*Interpersonal Skills*	Working in teams will occur. You are responsible for assisting classmates in learning course material. On occasion you may evaluate your own or each other's work.
*Speaking*	Participation in class discussions is required. Oral presentations will also be assigned.
*Listening*	Participation in team discussions requires ACTIVE listening. You cannot assist yourself or others if you do not know what is going on around you.
*Critical Thinking Skills*	This is a theory class; you will be expected to use information from the course as a starting point from which to draw inferences or conclusions about something unknown . You will learn to employ the appropriate methods, technologies, and data that social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
*Mathematics*	An brief overview of statistics will be presented.
*Reading*	Chapter readings will be assigned and must read prior to attending class ; various articles may also be assigned.
*Writing*	All papers done outside of class must be typed , and completed with proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. Use of the English Learning Center is mandatory for all out-of-class papers, as points will be taken off for grammatical and spelling errors. Departmental writing and internet assignments are also required.

As noted earlier, interpersonal interactions are essential in these courses. Leaving class too early or arriving late, and absenteeism can be disruptive to the learning process, as well as have a detrimental effect on ones grade. Thus, you need to discuss these matters with the instructor(s) beforehand, as this may count as one of your absences. When absent, you are responsible for information presented in class, including assignments. You need to check with classmates for information from class sessions you miss.

*Extra credit will be awarded at the end of the semester to those who have three or fewer absences.

If you find you are unable to complete this class as scheduled, you must submit a drop slip to the Registrar. I will not drop you; if you do not drop, it will result in you receiving an “F” for the course.

Students needing disability accommodations/information should contact Special Services, 188 Harvin Center, 698-1298.

Textbook: Discovering Psychology (Fourth Edition) by Hockenbury & Hockenbury; other readings as assigned.

Points	Final Grade
90 - 100	A
80 - 89	B
70 - 79	C
60 - 69	D
0 - 59	F

Course Work	Percentage
Semester Exams	50%
Final	30%
Outside Work	10%
Group Work	10%

There will be several semester exams, which may include essay-type, short answer, and multiple-choice questions. There may also be pop quizzes, which will generally be limited to a word or phrase answer. All scores will be cumulative in nature. Content will cover textbook material whether covered in class or not, in addition to material presented in class that is not necessarily in the text.

On exam days you must be in class within five minutes after the class is scheduled to begin in order to take the exam, regardless of whether the exam has begun before you arrive. (NO EXCEPTIONS) .

Cheating-not allowed: (student effort, amount learned, and grade highly correlated).

* If you find you are unable to be in class the day a paper is due, you may take it and all attachments to the secretary to be placed in my mailbox before class. You can also e-mail your paper (due before class-time), but all attachments must already be in my mailbox. The actual paper can be brought to me by the next scheduled class time.

E. Make-up tests given only when notified in advance (at least one full day).

J. Instructors do not give grades nor fail students; students earn grades, and pass or fail themselves.

You as a student will be expected to budget your time wisely. Below is a table that estimates how much time you can expect to spend per credit hour to be successful college attendee.

As a rule of thumb, you should expect to study about 2-3 hours per week outside class for each unit of credit. Based on this rule of thumb, a student taking 15 credit hours should expect to spend 30-45 hours each week studying outside of class. Combined with time in class, this works out to a total of 45-60 hours spent on academic work.

If you are unable to budget this much time, your grades may not reflect your abilities.

I reserve the right to make necessary changes in this syllabus. Students will be promptly notified of these changes.

If your course is:	Time for reading (per week)	Time for homework (per week )	Time for review and test preparation (avg. per week)	Total study time (per week)
3 credits	1-2 hours	3-5 hours	2 hours	6-9 hours
4 credits	2-3 hours	3-6 hours	3 hours	8-12 hours
5 credits	2-4 hours	4-7 hours	4 hours	10-15 hours