FAML 150 - Introduction to Marriage & Family

Course Textbook & Other Materials

Compare prices for your textbooks through the University Store Price Comparison site. They will show you all of the options from the University Store plus several online options to help you find the best price.

  1. Careers in Family Science 204
  2. Reading assignments that will be posted in each lesson.
  3. Access to a computer and a webcam.

Course Description

This is an introductory and required course for all students desiring to obtain a major in Marriage and Family (MF). This class is inappropriate for non-majors or minors in Marriage and Family Studies. The course includes an overview of historical and current scientific, societal, and family issues related to the family sciences. Applications will be made to career and advanced educational opportunities as well as family, church, and community settings.

Course Load

This course is a one credit course and as such would demand around 2-3 hours per week devoted to it and this is true to a normal 12-week-semester course. However, this course is a block course, where you have around 6-7 weeks to complete, which means that you should be prepared to devote around 5-6 hours per week to it.

Goals and Objectives

  1. Analyze the purposes, methodologies, and challenges of scientific study in the marriage and family field.
  2. Discuss prevention and intervention approaches for improving marriages and families.
  3. Research career opportunities for marriage and family studies professionals.
  4. Analyze the relationship between professional conduct, ethics, and career growth.
  5. Design a comprehensive BYU-Idaho Marriage and Family Studies degree completion plan.

Requirements

  1. Participation. Participate appropriately in group activities (your instructor will assign the groups), discussion boards, and other instructional experiences. Participate fully, but do not dominate the class discussion. All students must participate.
  2. Professional Writing. You are training to be a professional. We expect your papers' formatting, content, grammar, spelling, and referencing to be of professional quality. Edit and proofread your papers for each of this professional writing criteria.
  3. Completion of Two Exams. Exams will include material from videos,assigned reading, discussion boards, and lectures; they will consist of objective and short-answer items; and they may be comprehensive.
  4. Student Introduction Paper. You will complete a personal information paper. This is basically a letter of introduction to help the instructor get to know you. Please include your reasons for choosing to be a Marriage and Family Studies major and how you hope to use this degree in the future.
  5. Graduation Plan. You will use the Grad Report screen to plan your coursework to complete the Marriage and Family Studies de gree. You should have already done this in progressing toward graduating the Marriage and Family program. To ensure that you have thought through all the necessary steps to graduate, including their sequence, talk to your advisor about the sequence of the major (e.g.core courses, practicum, and internship), minor, and general education classes, including religion courses. Turn in the actual printout from the Grad Report screen as your completed assignment. The grad plan does not need to be approved by your advisor for this class.
  6. Character Strengths Assessment. You will go to authentichappiness.org, create an account, and complete the Online VIA Survey of Character Strengths (240 questions). You will then do a brief write-up including: 1.) an ordered list of your top 24 strengths- discuss whether you agree with the top and bottom five strengths and how they compare to the other strengths. 2.) Identify specific ways you could develop and use your top five strengths to serve married couples and families in your career. In other words, identify a specific career you may be interested in and discuss how you could use your strengths to creatively excel in this career. Spend most of your time on this part.
  7. Career Profiles. Every student will research two specific Marriage and Family Studies careers and complete a career profile sheet for each. Use this as a worksheet to gather information about your chosen career.
  8. Ethics Analysis. Students will work in pairs to respond to an ethics case study. This is to help you internalize the ethical guidelines of the profession. Type a paper (one paper per pair) that addresses ALL of the ethical issues in the scenario. Your paper should address:
    • What ethical guidelines apply to the case? List each one from the CFLE Code of Ethics. List as many as you find.
    • Why is it a potential problem in this case? Provide a reason for each guideline.
    • If you were the professional in this case, how should you proceed with helping this family in a way that maintains that specific ethical guideline?

For example: "Principle I.1—The part in the case regarding the family life educator yelling at the family and telling them they will have to change or they'll be charged double for their sessions violates Ethical Principle I.1: 'I will be aware of the impact/power we have on parents and family relations.' This is an issue because the family life educator is misusing the power she/he has over the family. If I were the professional in this case and became frustrated with the family, I would be careful not to give mandates that involve me using my p owe r over the family to manipulate them. These manipulations could be threatening to charge them more, threatening to give a negative report to their superiors, or to tell others they are having problems. Instead, I would let the family know of my disappointment, but then work with them to find a better solution."

Late Work

Late Work: 1 point off per day late.

Grades

Grades will be calculated as follows:

A = 93%-100% C = 73%-76%
A- = 90%-92% C- = 70%-72%
B+ = 87%-89% D+ = 67%-69%
B = 83%-86% D = 63%-66%
B- = 80%-82% D- = 60%-62%
C+ = 77%-79% F = 59% and below

Grades are based on the following assignments:

Syllabus Quiz 5
Ice Breaker Activity 5
Student Introduction Paper 5
Graduation Plan 10
Career Presentation- 10 pts x 2 presentations 20
Web Pages Search 10
Career Profiles- 10pts x 2 profiles 20
Input Low/High Salary 5
Annual Salary Discussion Board 5
Character Strengths 10
Code of Ethics for Family Life Education 10
Ethics Analysis 10
Mid Course Feedback 2
Mid Term Exam 30
Final Exam 30
TOTAL 177 Points