3 Course Learning Activities

Course Learning Activities: The course is organized into 5 Learning Modules.  Each module contains graded learning activities and one or more evaluations of your learning.

1. Read and study articles:  These articles are from the Noba Project – an Open Educational Resource (OER) which presents excellent coverage of select topics in psychology.  You are to read and study these articles, then take an exam to evaluate your learning.

2. Discussion forums: In every module you will find one or more Student-led Discussion forums. For each forum you must select one topic/issue to teach.  You must locate a relevant internet resource on the topic, write a short review of the resource, and submit your review for class discussion.  When other students reply to your review, you facilitate the discussion until your topic/issue has been thoroughly discussed. In addition you leading your own discussion thread, you are required to reply to a minimum of two reviews submitted by other students. You are encouraged to keep up these “virtual discussions” as long as they are productive. The idea here is for each student to lead one discussion with the other students about some important topic/issue and participate in 2 or more additional conversations in each forum. A large percentage of your final grade is determined by your participation in these discussions. I will grade these discussion forums, but I will not be a frequent participant. If a discussion you are leading gets off track, it is primarily your responsibility to refocus it. You are responsible for maintaining the quality of the discussion threads you lead. I will join in only as needed.  Every posting to a discussion should add something substantive to that discussion.

3. Reflective Blogs: In each module your appreciation for and understanding of the important content issues and concepts will be assessed by means of a reflective blog.  You are asked to write about the 4 most important things that you learned in each module, and how you think the knowledge you are gaining from the module will impact your values, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. After you submit your blog, you are required to respond to a few blogs submitted by your classmates.

4. Clinical case study: paper & discussion: You will write a clinical case studys based upon your own real, perceived, or fabricated psychological disorder(s).  Your case study will include diagnosis, predisposing and precipitating factors in the etiology and course of your disorder, recommendations for therapy, and prognosis.  Upon completion of your clinical case study, you will present and discuss it with your colleagues at a “symposium.”

Talk with the Professor:  In each module there is an ungraded “Talk with the Professor” area. In this area I may ask discussion questions about issues which I feel haven’t been fully explored in the Student Led discussion area. Also, in this area you may ask me questions, which I will respond to. Most often, I expect these questions (mine and yours) will be related to the discussions – but no relevant topic is “off-limits.” You should check this area each time you log on and participate in these discussion threads.

Extra Credit / Make-up Work / Incomplete Grades:

• The major requirement in this course is to discuss, with other students, the topics and issues in each learning module. There is no substitute for this requirement, and I do not permit “extra credit” or “alternative credit” assignments.
• Also, there is no way to “go back” after a module has ended and “make-up” missed discussion activity, because there are no other students left to learn from your posts and discuss the content with you.
• Finally, an incomplete in the course is not appropriate, as there is no way to complete the course once it has ended and all of the other students are gone.