What Is This Course About?

The field of psychology seeks to understand the human experience and improve lives. Toward this goal, psychologists conduct research, which is guided by ethical principles and uses the scientific method to obtain empirical data.

Be aware that while empirical methods generate data, the interpretation of that data is often impacted by core assumptions (which will not always be obvious).

Also, be aware that while research provides general information, psychology recognizes individual differences. You are one of those individuals. Welcome to Psychology 111. 

Spoiler Alert!  Philosophy and biology will be part of this course. Why? Stay tuned to Weeks 01, 02 and 03 as we explore psychology's origin story.    

What Will Be the Course Learning Objectives?

At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to:

• Know the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and applications in psychology.
• Recognize the core assumptions that underlie the theories in psychology.
• Apply psychological principles to personal and social issues.
• Describe where the psychology field is compatible or incompatible with the Restored Gospel.

What Textbook Interface Will We Be Using? Will It Be Required?

See the Textbook Access Module in the course for more information. Be aware that you will not pass the course without setting up and using the resource text from Pearson Revel listed below. Quizzes have been embedded into your weekly Revel textbook reading assignments. Points from these quizzes will sync directly with your Canvas gradebook (after a delay of several hours). These Revel quiz points will be needed to earn a passing grade in the course. 

Resource Title/Description (books, software, etc.)	Author/Provider	Ed./Vol.	13-Digit ISBN (if applicable)
Psychology	Hudson, Danae L.; Whisenhunt, Brooke L.	1st edition	978-0133969368

 

Will There Be an App for the Textbook?

Yes. Download the Revel App from your usual app store. Remember the username and password you created when you originally logged in to the Revel Textbook from the course. Use these same credentials when you log in to the Revel App for the first time. By using the same username and password will demonstrate that you have paid for access to the Revel App.

How Will Exams Work?

Proctored Exams

This course will use an online proctoring software called Proctorio for the Midterm and Final Exam only. You will take these two assessments in closed book conditions. Proctorio will make it possible for you to take the Midterm and Final Exam without a human proctor present. Proctored exams can be accessed like any other exam once the Chrome extension has been installed on your computer. The Midterm and Final will be recorded by Proctorio and reviewed by the BYUI Testing Center. Any questionable exams will be forwarded to the instructor for further review.

When your assessment has been (1) flagged by Proctorio, (2) viewed by the testing center, (3) forwarded to your instructor, (4) and reviewed by your instructor, if there is still concern that you may have obtained help during the Midterm or Final Exam, you will be contacted by your instructor. Depending on the outcome and the degree of concern, instructors will be expected to refer you to the University's Student Honors Office and change the grade on the assessment-in-question to zero, even if the semester has ended.

The best way for you to demonstrate that you were not receiving help during the Midterm and Final Exam would be to sit in front of your computer, in view of your camera. If you sit far off to the side or cover your face (with hands, hats, etc.) or cover your ears (with headphones, etc.), your exam has not been proctored. If your exam has not been proctored it cannot receive any credit. Note: Some courses allow the use of physical 'scratch' paper during exams. This class does NOT allow 'scratch' paper.

For a list of important things to avoid during a Proctorio test and step by step installation instructions refer to Student Help: Proctorio in Canvas. 

Please Note: If you have a slower internet connection, you will need to find a suitable location for the Midterm and Final. A slow connection will NOT excuse you from taking these assessments.

Un-proctored Exams

Exams during weeks 02, 04, 06, etc. will be taken open-book and not proctored. Be aware that these exams are time limited, so it will not be possible to use the exam session as a study session. In other words, there will not be enough time during the exam to look-up every concept..

Feedback from My Graded Exams

Students will no longer be given access to view their graded Bi-Weekly Exams, Midterm or Final. Ideally, students would be able to see what they missed because knowing what was missed is a valuable part of the learning process.

At this point in the evolution of online information sharing, it is possible for students to share graded exams (for profit). Too many people have taken the opportunity to profit from sharing graded exams. For this reason, it is no longer possible for courses to post graded exams.

The only instance where you could receive feedback regarding the questions you missed on an exam would be by asking your instructor for personalized feedback. Midterm and Final Exam feedback can only be obtained by meeting with your instructor.

This limitation on receiving feedback does NOT apply to quizzes taken inside the Revel learning resource textbook. You will have immediate feedback regarding the accuracy of your responses when you interact with a quiz inside Revel.

How Will Turnitin Be Used?

All written work will be screened through the Turnitin system. Your Turnitin percentage will tell you whether you were using your own words as you were composing your written work. When you use your own words, you have understood the ideas in a meaningful way.

To be eligible for full credit, an assignment’s Turnitin similarity score must be 24% or less. Similarity scores between 25% and 29% will be eligible for half-credit.  If your Turnitin score is 30% or greater, your grade will automatically be zero. 

Turnitin can also be used to screen for plagiarism, but this problem is rare.

If you are not familiar with Turnitin, please contact your instructor or teaching assistant with any questions you might have. 

How to Check Your Turnitin Similarity Score 

Step One: Submit your work through the link found in the assignment. 

Step Two: Go to your grades tab (which is linked on the left margin of every screen in the course). Find the green, yellow, or red box located next to your recently submitted assignment. 

Step Three: Click on the (green, yellow, or red) box to see where your similarity score is coming from.  Underlined text will represent work that was NOT your original work. 

Note: Tables, headings, specific vocabulary will overlap with the course material and make-up most of your Turnitin similarity score. Only when your similarity score is very high (25% or greater) will you receive half credit or zero credit due to the lack of original content in your report. 

All reports can be edited and resubmitted three times (before the close of the assignment). Submitting up to three times will give you an opportunity to edit your report, resubmit, and check your Turnitin similarity score several times. After the close of the assignment, re-submissions will be considered late and will accrue the late penalty, so submit early to give yourself an opportunity to resubmit up to three times before the deadline and avoid any late penalties.   

What Will Be the Basic Structure of the Course?

Assignments

General Information

Ethical Considerations: You will be asking friends and family to help you with some of your assignments. They will serve as your research participants (or as the research while YOU serve as the participant). Ethical behavior includes protecting the anonymity of your friends and family by NOT using their names in your report. You must also debrief them at the end of their participation. (You will receive specific instructions in each Micro Study regarding debriefing for that particular activity.)  

You can work ahead to some extent. A new Module will open up each Wednesday at midnight Mountain Time. This means that even though you would be working on assignments for the current week, you will also have access to the assignments for the upcoming week. For example, Week 03 will opens on Wednesday at midnight Mountain Time during Week 02. Week 04 opens on Wednesday at midnight Mountain Time during Week 03, etc. 

Due on Wednesdays

The Big Picture videos will provide you with background and context for understanding psychology and ask a few multiple choice questions. 

Reading/Quizzing assignments open in Canvas with a short preview of the assigned reading for that week. However, the reading itself (as well as videos, and quizzes) will take place inside the embedded Revel learning resource textbook. You will access the Revel text via Course Materials > Launch Courseware > Pearson Revel. 

See how to access the Revel text for the first time in the Textbook Access Module.

The chapter numbers of the Revel text WILL NOT reflect the Week number. For instance, during Week 02, we will read Chapter 1 in Revel. 

Often the entire chapter will NOT be assigned. Follow along with the assigned readings inside Revel. The weekly reading assignments will contain only what is assigned. You could also consult the Study Guides to double check what is and is not assigned in terms of reading for the week. 

Enrichment Activities will provide you with a short topic-focused video or a story and ask two multiple choice questions. 

Due on Saturdays

Class Connect Forum (CCF) will place you into a small group (of ten or fewer classmates) where you will consider a question related to the coming week. Early in the week, you will post an initial response to a question. Then you will read the posts of those in your Class Connect group, post a reply to your original post.

If this is your first online class, be aware that you will need to find a way to remember to return for the second part of this assignment, since Canvas will generate a green checkmark next to the CCF as soon as you have posted your first comment. 

Psychology in Action will have two parts, like the CCFs. You will do a short activity then summarize in the first post and follow separate instructions for your second post. 

Micro Study and Field Report will use methods similar to actual research, so you will gain valuable experience related to how psychological research is conducted. You will be using between one and four participants, so your studies will be 'micro' in size and scope. You will be following ethical guidelines of protecting anonymity and debriefing. 

You will turn in a field report based on your micro study e.g., procedures, results, discussion, etc. There will be five micro studies assigned throughout the semester. Field Reports are usually 3-4 pages in length. Your report can be submitted up to three times without penalty prior to the deadline. The last submission will be graded, unless you ask your instructor to grade an earlier submission. 

Exams will cover two weeks' worth of material. For example, the Week 02 exam will cover the material from Week 01 and 02. The Week 04 exam will cover the material from Week 03 and 04. (To help you prepare for the midterm, exams prior to the midterm will include topics that will be covered on the midterm.) 

Midterm and Final formats were explained above in terms of proctoring and closed book expectations. Not every topic from the first half of the semester will be tested on the Midterm. Rather, it will test your knowledge of research design, neuroscience, and reliability/validity only.  The Midterm will consist of 28 multiple choice questions. Final will consist of five short essay questions and will cover the material from the entire semester. 

Pattern of Assignments

After Week 01 (which introduces the course) and Week 02 (which includes a sample of most assignments) the weekly schedule for 'A' (odd) and 'B' (even numbered) weeks will be slightly different. 

• 'A Week' - Odd Numbered Weeks
  • Big Picture
  • Micro Study and Field Report 
• 'B Week' - Even Numbered Weeks 
  • Class Connect Forum
  • Psychology in Action
  • Exam
• Every week (except for the introduction in Week 01)
  
  • Reading within the Revel Text
  • Enrichment Activity

When Will It Be Alright to Use Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

AI (such as ChatGPT) will be permitted

•     When you are using AI to brainstorm creative ideas you might want to use or explore for an assignment  
•     To check your written work for grammatical errors and other writing problems

AI can be risky as a learning tool

•     Because AI sources can give INCORRECT information.
  • • If you are asking for information from AI rather than asking for creative suggestions, you could be receiving INCORRECT information of which you would not be aware. 
    • It is easy to filter through ideas you like and ideas you do not. It is NOT easy to filter through correct and incorrect information when you are learning something new in a class.

AI will NOT be permitted.

•     As a resource to create all or part of the text in your written assignment
•     As any part of a submission when it has not been made unclear that AI was used 

Avoid plagiarism

•  If you used AI during the process of generating ideas, editing your written work, or another use, YOU MUST ADD A COMMENT AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SUBMISSION indicating HOW you used AI.
  • You could state for instance:
    • “I used ChatGPT to give me some ideas about things I could focus on for my Self-Study. I asked: What would be a good topic for a self-study that included independent and dependent variables? I got three good ideas and chose the one I could finish in a week.”

• Text generated by AI sources which has been submitted as if it were your work will be graded at zero points, since this would be considered plagiarism.

How Much Time Will this Course Require Each Week?

It is anticipated that you will spend 9 to 12 hours each week on the course. Time has been allotted in this estimate to allow for interacting with classmates, using the embedded Revel learning resources (in Course Materials), participating in various activities including micro-studies, short activities with posts attached, studying for Exams, and more. 

Note: This 3-credit course has been designed to have weekly deadlines. The course does not use a work-at-your-own-pace format.

What Will Be the Grading Scale?

A	93-100%
A-	90-92.99%
B+	87-89.99%
B	83-86.99%
B-	80-82.99%
C+	77-79.99%
C	73-76.99%
C-	70-72.99%
D+	67-69.99%
D	63-66.99%
D-	60-62.99%
F	0-59.99%

Students may check their total number of points for all assignments and quizzes at any time using the "Grades" link on the course toolbar.

What About Late Work?

Assignments are due on the date listed in the course schedule. If for some extraordinary reason you cannot turn your work in on time, you must ask your instructor for an extension. Extensions are rare. Back up your work multiple times and resist the urge to procrastinate. Computer issues, church, and family-related commitments, and other common life events are not reasons for extensions.

What Are the University Academic Policies?

Plagiarism 

Intentional plagiarism is the deliberate act of representing the words, ideas, or data of another as one’s own without providing proper attribution to the original author through quotation, reference, or footnote. Plagiarism is probably the most well-known element of academic dishonesty.

Inadvertent Plagiarism

Inadvertent plagiarism involves the inappropriate, but non-deliberate, use of another’s words, ideas, or data without proper attribution. Although not a violation of the Honor Code, it is a form of academic misconduct for which an instructor can impose appropriate academic sanctions.

This can also include self-plagiarism which occurs when one uses work previously done for the class or another class and uses it again for credit. 

Fabrication (or Falsification)

When a student invents or distorts the origin or content of information. Examples include:

• Citing a source that does not exist.
• Citing information from a source that is not included in the source for which credit is given.
• Citing a source for a secondary proposition that it does not support.

Cheating

When a student attempts to give the appearance of a level of knowledge or skill that has not been obtained. Examples include:

• Using unauthorized materials during an examination or while completing an assignment
• Taking an examination or completing an assignment for another or permitting another to take an examination or to complete an assignment that is not his or her own.
• Interacting with websites such as Chegg, CourseHero, or others that give quiz information and answers.

Other Misconduct

Other academic misconduct includes other academically dishonest, deceitful, or inappropriate acts which are intentionally committed. Examples include:

• Obtaining or providing to another a test or answers to a test that has not yet been administered.
• Submitting the same work for more than one class without disclosure and approval.
• Getting equal credit on group assignments when equal work was not done.

What Policies Are Specific to Psychology 111?

The expectation is that you do your written work and that you respond to Quiz and Exam questions based upon your knowledge. Whether it occurs while you are taking Psych 111 or after the semester is finished (even after you graduate), any degree of cheating will result (at a minimum) in a failing grade on the assignment or exam and a report being filed with the University’s Student Honor Office.

Cheating in Psychology 111 includes:

• Discussing any aspect of a quiz or exam with anyone other than your instructor or teaching assistant.
• Looking at computer screens (in person or virtually) of anyone who has a quiz or exam open on their computer.
• Searching online during an assessment by using specific quiz or exam questions or specific content questions.
• Meeting (in person or virtually) with any person to work on a quiz or exam that is being taken live by one or more people or consulting with someone who has already taken the exam about specifics about the exam.
• Posting questions about a quiz or exam anywhere in the class, discussion boards, blogs, or any other internet website.
• Viewing, receiving, or downloading any portion of a quiz, exam or field report from another entity, person, or internet source.
• Posting, emailing, uploading, or distributing any portion of a quiz, exam or field report to an entity, person, or internet site, even after the semester is over.
• Posting, emailing, uploading, or distributing any portion of your work produced within the course to an entity, person, or internet site, other than to the discussion boards within the class, even after the semester is over.

What about Students with Disabilities?

Brigham Young University-Idaho is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the Accessibility Services Office at (208) 496-9210 or visit their website and follow the Steps for Receiving Accommodations.. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with students and instructors by the Disability Services Office.

This course may require synchronous meetings. If you are currently registered with the Disability Services Office and need an interpreter or transcriber for these meetings, please contact the deaf and hard of hearing coordinator at (208) 496-9219.

What If I Need More Information?

Read through University Policies for more information on the following topics:

• Student Honor
  • Academic Honesty
  • Student Conduct
    • Sexual Harassment
  • Students with Disabilities
  • Complaints and Grievances
  • Copyright Notice

Go to the Student Resources module to review further resources and information.

You can also visit the I-learn help tab located on the left-hand side of your screen to contact the appropriate support center.