[tips] Random Thought: On Being Intellectual And Spiritual
Her questions: You talk about being spiritual in your teaching. What does that mean? How can you be both an intellectual and spiritual? Isn't it an either/or proposition? My answer: Let me put it this way. A student once came up to me in class on the first day of the semester to inform me that 'I am an honors student.'' I answered, 'I'm glad to hear that. But, tell me, are you an honors person?' She didn't understand my question. I told her, as I now tell you, that we each should focus on who we are rather than merely on what we do, or have, or know. Now, before I go any further, let me say what I think my 'spiritual' is not. It's not synonomous with formal religion or institutionalized church. My 'spiritual' has no interest in and is not rooted in any isms or -ologies. It doesn't mean a strict adherence to some dogma, dogmatically following the true way, meticulous performing rituals or ceremonies, having an exclusive possession of truth, or being on some higher plane. It's not a promise to be more knowledgeable or have greater insight. It's not a preaching of a gospel or starting a movement. It's not asking for some monastic withdrawal and isolation. And, because I love my glass of red wine and bit of cheese each day with my Susan, it certainly is not a rejection of material things. 'Spiritual' for me, as I once said over a decade ago and have struggled to lived by since, is to realize I am not a ' human thinking,' 'human doing,' 'human having,' 'human feeling,' or 'human knowing.' I am a 'human being!' At that time I wrote a poem at the end of which I asked, when there are no titles to display, when there are no roles to play, when there are no masks to wear, who is each of us? So, to paraphrase the Bard, I ask, do you really believe the resume doth make the person? We often heed the ghost of the machine, that we are some apparatus that can be disassembled into separate parts. So, we point to this separate intellectual and that distinct spiritual, of this emotional intelligence and that social intelligence and those multiple intelligences. But, the reality is that such talk is merely for the sake of convenience and to segregate and isolate each from the other has no bearing on reality. Emotions, thoughts, attitudes, and actions all interact and influence each other. 'Spiritual,' then, is my personal story of learning that I am a holistic, harmonized 'human being,' and learning how to live my life holistically from the essence my integrated and inseparable heart and mind and soul rather than from the facades of my pocketbook, position, title, social role, or resume. It's about turning myself upside down and shaking all the nonsense of appearance and image out of my soul and striving to live a life of compassion and unconditional love. I think when I mean 'spiritual,' I mean being true inside, for I truly don't believe I can see clearly and honestly what is outside until I can see clearly and honestly what is inside. It's about my personal development and transformation to a connection with and unity of all that diversity in here and out there. This is not 'values added.' It's 'values ingrained.' It's 'values essence.' That is, like chameleons, we take on the color of our moral character. I mean being and living those values, not just saying or listing them. I mean having and exercising character that focuses on three things. First there is service to others, giving of myself to others. Second, there is everyday practicing of those values in the everyday world. And last, there is a humbling, liberating, and honoring of differences rather than an accusing, denigrating, enslaving, and demand for conforming. By 'spiritual' I mean a way of living that permeates my emotions, attitudes, thoughts, and actions in everything I do in concrete ways. I mean not cubby-holing my professional apart from my personal apart from my social life. I mean not separating what some would call my spiritual life from any other aspect of my material life. And, if at the end of a day I can pause, think back, take a deep breath, and give out an honest fulfilled aaah, I know I've done it that one day. You see, I am not spiritual in my teaching, or in my gardening, or in my periodic sculpting, or in my occasional poetry, or in my spoiling of the grandmunchkins, or in my nudging of Susan, or in my conference presentations or in my workshops, or in my pre-dawn walks, or in anything else I do or with whomever I do. I am spiritual in me. That is critical. I think it was Rumi who said let the beauty that you love be who you are, to which I add: and be what you do. That means, always being intensely aware and mindful of, to paraphrase Jon Kabat-Zinn, that wherever I go and whatever I do, there I am. I mean being, what my son, Michael, calls that
[tips] Existential psychology
I'll start out by saying that existentialism is far from my field of expertise, yet we do run across the topic occasionally in the textbooks so I gave the topic a stab in the most recent episode of my podcast. I tried to make the topic a bit more accessible by relating it to a very funny musical called The Drowsy Chaperon. Always open to feedback: http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2011/03/episode-144-the-drowsy-chaperone-holds-the-key-to-life/ Also, I found an interesting new blog in which the author points out existential ideas he finds in various entertainment sources: http://existentialtainment.com/ Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9596 or send a blank email to leave-9596-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] orientation to major
We offered an introduction to the major class some years back at my suggestion: it was called Psychology as a Discipline and Profession. We were amazed at how many majors had misconceptions about careers, graduate school, etc well into their college program. I will try to find the last syllabus; we discontinued it after a few years, the primary culprit was that it was team-taught. Nobody owned the course, and interest in volunteering to do a stint in it declined and we canned it for lack of interest. Some people used their time to discuss their research, others talked about grad school, there was no consensus on what/how to grade it. The experience soured me on team teaching. == John W. Kulig, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Director, Psychology Honors Plymouth State University Plymouth NH 03264 == - Original Message - From: roig-rear...@comcast.net To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 3:47:28 PM Subject: Re: [tips] orientation to major Me too, as our department is currently considering such a course. Miguel - Original Message - From: Carol DeVolder devoldercar...@gmail.com To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 3:16:32 PM Subject: Re: [tips] orientation to major I would appreciate reading responses to Annette's question too. Carol On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Annette Taylor tay...@sandiego.edu wrote: Do any of your psychology programs have a course that orients students to the psychology major as a whole? At some institutions this is a sort of omnibus course that allows students, as soon as they declare a major, to prepare a program of study that will maximize their immediate and long term goals, with a fail safe in there someplace in case plans change. Some look at how to maximize psych goals in terms of core requirements. As well, it seems to often times be a combination careers course combined with an orientation to psychology as a science, with some information literacy components, APA style components, graduate school preparation components and others. If your department or program does, (or if you know about institutions that have such as program) can you please tell me about it, or better yet, send me a syllabus. There is only one on project syllabus for the course taught by Drew Appleby at Indiana Purdue. There are also a couple of careers courses but I am more interested in an omnibus course such as the one at Indiana. Thanks Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: ku...@mail.plymouth.edu . To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66454n=Tl=tipso=9582 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-9582-13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9598 or send a blank email to leave-9598-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] orientation to major
UWF has a course called Careers in Psychology It is intended to be a course that students take around the same time they take intro When I developed this as an online course several years ago, it was a combination of foundation skills (an introduction to using APA style, a touch of information literacy); advising for the major (students develop a degree plan for their undergraduate major in psychology), planning for the job / graduate school market (what can you do with a BA/BS in psychology?, in any BA/BS (using skills acquired in psychology)?, an MA?, a PhD? - which includes a threaded discussion based on current job postings students find), expectations for admission to graduate school in psychology. (the course is described in a chapter in the book Teaching critical thinking in psychology (Dunn, Halonen Smith, Eds., 2008). A colleague (Joan Duer, jd...@uwf.edu) has modified this a bit and sometimes includes conversations with psychologists from the community to illustrate the various career/work options available and answer student questions (this during a face-to-face run for the course). Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Associate Professor School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514 – 5751 Phone: (850) 857-6355 or 473-7435 csta...@uwf.edu CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/cutla/ Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Annette Taylor tay...@sandiego.edu wrote: Do any of your psychology programs have a course that orients students to the psychology major as a whole? At some institutions this is a sort of omnibus course that allows students, as soon as they declare a major, to prepare a program of study that will maximize their immediate and long term goals, with a fail safe in there someplace in case plans change. Some look at how to maximize psych goals in terms of core requirements. As well, it seems to often times be a combination careers course combined with an orientation to psychology as a science, with some information literacy components, APA style components, graduate school preparation components and others. If your department or program does, (or if you know about institutions that have such as program) can you please tell me about it, or better yet, send me a syllabus. There is only one on project syllabus for the course taught by Drew Appleby at Indiana Purdue. There are also a couple of careers courses but I am more interested in an omnibus course such as the one at Indiana. Thanks Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: csta...@uwf.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d550n=Tl=tipso=9579 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-9579-13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9599 or send a blank email to leave-9599-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
[tips] Orientation to major?
I developed a class, based on faculty requests, called Scientific Foundations of Psych. I've posted about this class before as it pertains to prepping our majors for our research methods sequence. This was the central reason faculty wanted the class. I jumped into it (owning it) because I wanted to teach critical thinking, and deal with the misconceptions and pseudosciences surrounding Psych. I am ready to dis-own it for a variety of reasons, but the class does seem to be achieving our objectives, and it was a kick to develop. It is NOT geared to general learning about the field, career info, and such, but does end up challenging many misconceptions students have about becoming little Dr. Phils. I use Stanovich's Getting Straight About Psych, plus many handouts of my own. We start with the Freud problem regarding pop-psych ideas of Psychologists as clinical/counselors, and then go on to cover many misconceptions regarding science, and particularly psych science. The toughest part for students is to really learn what was presented in the first or second chapters of their Gen. Psych texts but usually glossed over and not brought up much furtherbasic research methods, with emphasis on correl. and experimental methods. I go much deeper and add a few more ideas, as half the class are taking our stats class at same time, and all will be taking our Experimental Psych class after. They complete a three part Review paper...A: assigned topic, library search for three research studies, next B: a review of these three articles to identify hypotheses, basic method, operationalization, controls and results, and then C: summary of their articles and idea for further research. The students ( who survive to the end) appear to have fewer misconceptions and are better prepped for the Research methods class that comes next. A few do drop and realize a non-science, non-research field may be more of interest. Many learn their study skills are poor, but they blame me for being hard-ass, and just seek out easier instructors, but I was hoping to also help them improve their study skills, so that we might increase the quality of graduating majors. Yes, this is a bit too much to expect for one class, but I can dream ;-). There is a price to be paid for teaching such a demanding class, and it may not be wise for new, non-tenured faculty to undertake. I am burnt out teaching the class, tired of the nasty student comments from a small handful, tired of being seen as too tough because I ask them to demonstrate proficiency, tired of having to challenge their myths and love of pseudoscintific psych, and am currently trying to get others to teach it so students can have some variety of faculty. On the plus side, I love following student progress after this class, seeing them do quality projects, and generally becoming better students in their later classes. Actually, I would love NOW to do a class that just befriends students, and gently exposes them to the different fields of Psych, and where we can gently discuss their goals and misconceptions, watch some fun videos, engage in fun activities to explore what some Psychologists do, and where I assess them in terms of their involvement and effort and do not have to worry or be at all concerned about whether they learned a damn thing!!! :-) G.L. (Gary) Peterson,Ph.D Psychology@SVSU --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9600 or send a blank email to leave-9600-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] orientation to major
I want to thank everyone who has responded and even sent along syllabi. I am facing two hurdles: (1) Getting some of our department faculty on board who think that this is not a content course and should, therefore, not carry any credit value to it. (2) Getting it through curriculum committee where it was shot down instantly as nothing more than advising. Sigh. What got me started on this was that I do our senior exit surveys, and have for the past decade at least. I found that a majority of our students demonstrated a poor understanding of the discipline, a poor understanding of what they want to do in life and how to get in a position to do that, and even didn't know how to go about getting advising. Another sigh. This has all been very helpful to me. Keep those syllabi coming and if anyone wants my 1-unit syllabus for the trial course I'm teaching now, just let me know. I will be on sabbatical next fall and my colleague who will teach it in the fall is amazed at the amount of reading I have assigned. She thinks it's more than many faculty assign for 3-unit content course. In addition, the assignments, 4-year plan, making a resume and CV and knowing the difference, writing up a letter of intent for a job and for a grad program, as well as knowing how to solicit letters of rec...basics of information literacy (a library scavenger hunt) as well as apa style; how we can use psychological principles to inform good learning skills and making time management logs...it's a lot of work and a lot of information! Along with the careers and meet the faculty stuff. OOF. Nevertheless the curriculum committee thought it was not worth considering as a college course, nor do a few of my colleagues. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edumailto:tay...@sandiego.edu From: Blaine Peden [cyber...@charter.net] Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:04 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] orientation to major Hi Annette here are a couple of older versions. you could email each instructor for the most current version. hope all is well, blaine - Original Message - From: Annette Taylormailto:tay...@sandiego.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)mailto:tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 2:06 PM Subject: [tips] orientation to major Do any of your psychology programs have a course that orients students to the psychology major as a whole? At some institutions this is a sort of omnibus course that allows students, as soon as they declare a major, to prepare a program of study that will maximize their immediate and long term goals, with a fail safe in there someplace in case plans change. Some look at how to maximize psych goals in terms of core requirements. As well, it seems to often times be a combination careers course combined with an orientation to psychology as a science, with some information literacy components, APA style components, graduate school preparation components and others. If your department or program does, (or if you know about institutions that have such as program) can you please tell me about it, or better yet, send me a syllabus. There is only one on project syllabus for the course taught by Drew Appleby at Indiana Purdue. There are also a couple of careers courses but I am more interested in an omnibus course such as the one at Indiana. Thanks Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edumailto:tay...@sandiego.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: cyber...@charter.netmailto:cyber...@charter.net. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13150.302fb879d23a9f8b8b43c453fd3bfed3n=Tl=tipso=9579 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-9579-13150.302fb879d23a9f8b8b43c453fd3bf...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-9579-13150.302fb879d23a9f8b8b43c453fd3bf...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tay...@sandiego.edumailto:tay...@sandiego.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a21b0n=Tl=tipso=9601 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-9601-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-9601-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9602 or send a blank email to leave-9602-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] orientation to major
Hi Annette, This was a very interesting post. I would like a copy of the syllabus. Also you mentioned a reading or series of readings that points out the difference between the resume and the CV - do you have those references as well? Finally, I would be interested in obtaining your scavenger hunt. We have just approved a course such as this and I would like to compare the syllabus currently used (I do not teach this class) with yours. Thanks. Bob Intrieri From: Annette Taylor [mailto:tay...@sandiego.edu] Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 11:44 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] orientation to major I want to thank everyone who has responded and even sent along syllabi. I am facing two hurdles: (1) Getting some of our department faculty on board who think that this is not a content course and should, therefore, not carry any credit value to it. (2) Getting it through curriculum committee where it was shot down instantly as nothing more than advising. Sigh. What got me started on this was that I do our senior exit surveys, and have for the past decade at least. I found that a majority of our students demonstrated a poor understanding of the discipline, a poor understanding of what they want to do in life and how to get in a position to do that, and even didn't know how to go about getting advising. Another sigh. This has all been very helpful to me. Keep those syllabi coming and if anyone wants my 1-unit syllabus for the trial course I'm teaching now, just let me know. I will be on sabbatical next fall and my colleague who will teach it in the fall is amazed at the amount of reading I have assigned. She thinks it's more than many faculty assign for 3-unit content course. In addition, the assignments, 4-year plan, making a resume and CV and knowing the difference, writing up a letter of intent for a job and for a grad program, as well as knowing how to solicit letters of rec...basics of information literacy (a library scavenger hunt) as well as apa style; how we can use psychological principles to inform good learning skills and making time management logs...it's a lot of work and a lot of information! Along with the careers and meet the faculty stuff. OOF. Nevertheless the curriculum committee thought it was not worth considering as a college course, nor do a few of my colleagues. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu _ From: Blaine Peden [cyber...@charter.net] Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:04 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] orientation to major Hi Annette here are a couple of older versions. you could email each instructor for the most current version. hope all is well, blaine - Original Message - From: Annette Taylor mailto:tay...@sandiego.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) mailto:tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 2:06 PM Subject: [tips] orientation to major Do any of your psychology programs have a course that orients students to the psychology major as a whole? At some institutions this is a sort of omnibus course that allows students, as soon as they declare a major, to prepare a program of study that will maximize their immediate and long term goals, with a fail safe in there someplace in case plans change. Some look at how to maximize psych goals in terms of core requirements. As well, it seems to often times be a combination careers course combined with an orientation to psychology as a science, with some information literacy components, APA style components, graduate school preparation components and others. If your department or program does, (or if you know about institutions that have such as program) can you please tell me about it, or better yet, send me a syllabus. There is only one on project syllabus for the course taught by Drew Appleby at Indiana Purdue. There are also a couple of careers courses but I am more interested in an omnibus course such as the one at Indiana. Thanks Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: cyber...@charter.net. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13150.302fb879d23a9f8b8b43c453fd3bfed3 http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13150.302fb879d23a9f8b8b43c453fd3bfed3; n=Tl=tipso=9579 n=Tl=tipso=9579 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-9579-13150.302fb879d23a9f8b8b43c453fd3bf...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tay...@sandiego.edu. To unsubscribe click here:
RE: [tips] orientation to major
Hi I have to admit to reacting much like Annette's critics. Some of the things (e.g., career advising) appear more appropriate for student services or the like. Others do get covered, perhaps implicitly, in other courses (e.g., APA in methods course?). Others I would think that university students should be able to learn on their own and / or get help from appropriate resources (e.g., library search through on-line help and reference librarians). I have always been somewhat leery about explicit teaching of all competencies we might want to instill in students. For one thing, it could prevent students from many opportunities to learn how to learn things for themselves, an important meta-cognitive skill? And it might wash out natural (for want of a better term) differences in the learning abilities of students, such that grades no longer indicate all the competencies they once did. Somewhat hypocritically, I do try to show students how complex material in courses can be conceptualized or organized, but at the same time I worry that they are missing opportunities to learn how to organize such information for themselves, especially if everyone is now doing more of this than in the past. I remember many hours as an undergraduate trying to distill year-long courses into a combination outline / notes on a single page (often a big page with little and very cryptic writing). What role did such repeated exercise and practice play in my own cognitive development in an age prior to detailed text outlines, nicely demarcated sections of books, powerpoint slides, conceptual maps, and the like? Finally, I worry somewhat that we could be emphasizing the pragmatic importance of what we teach, whether it is related to work opportunities or even practical skills. Might not this emphasis on such topics help to undermine the idea of learning psychology (or any liberal arts discipline) for its own merits? Perhaps especially when combined with all the other pressures that undermine the liberal arts. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca Annette Taylor tay...@sandiego.edu 26-Mar-11 11:44:04 AM I want to thank everyone who has responded and even sent along syllabi. I am facing two hurdles: (1) Getting some of our department faculty on board who think that this is not a content course and should, therefore, not carry any credit value to it. (2) Getting it through curriculum committee where it was shot down instantly as nothing more than advising. Sigh. What got me started on this was that I do our senior exit surveys, and have for the past decade at least. I found that a majority of our students demonstrated a poor understanding of the discipline, a poor understanding of what they want to do in life and how to get in a position to do that, and even didn't know how to go about getting advising. Another sigh. This has all been very helpful to me. Keep those syllabi coming and if anyone wants my 1-unit syllabus for the trial course I'm teaching now, just let me know. I will be on sabbatical next fall and my colleague who will teach it in the fall is amazed at the amount of reading I have assigned. She thinks it's more than many faculty assign for 3-unit content course. In addition, the assignments, 4-year plan, making a resume and CV and knowing the difference, writing up a letter of intent for a job and for a grad program, as well as knowing how to solicit letters of rec...basics of information literacy (a library scavenger hunt) as well as apa style; how we can use psychological principles to inform good learning skills and making time management logs...it's a lot of work and a lot of information! Along with the careers and meet the faculty stuff. OOF. Nevertheless the curriculum committee thought it was not worth considering as a college course, nor do a few of my colleagues. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edumailto:tay...@sandiego.edu From: Blaine Peden [cyber...@charter.net] Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:04 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] orientation to major Hi Annette here are a couple of older versions. you could email each instructor for the most current version. hope all is well, blaine - Original Message - From: Annette Taylormailto:tay...@sandiego.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)mailto:tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 2:06 PM Subject: [tips] orientation to major Do any of your psychology programs have a course that orients students to the psychology major as a whole? At some institutions this is a sort of omnibus course that allows students, as soon as they declare a major, to prepare a program of study that will maximize their
RE: [tips] orientation to major
I have been advocating for such a course in my department for a while now, but without success. I see the need for our students because there is a tremendous misconception about psychology. Even the best and brightest come in senior year and say that they want to be a therapist and they do not like research, so they are applying to clinical psychology programs!? In my department, we have two people who do course advising for our psychology majors. We are lucky that faculty do not do advising; however, the advisors do not have degrees in psychology and do not understand the field of psychology (although that might be sore subject). They ony have time to advise students as to what courses will count for graduation. It's a terribly hard job (there are 400-500) majors for 1.5 FTE advisors. By relying on this as the only advising in the department, we do short-change our students, in my opinion. A course early on that orients students to the major and to the field could help steer the most capable students toward activities that will ensure that they are able to gain entry into the most competitive graduate programs. Currently, I see first generation college students with very high standard test scores going into terminal master's programs that they are paying for out of pocket, simply because they do not know 1) that they are Ph.D. material and 2) that they do not need a master's to apply to a Ph.D. program. A course for majors could also help students who do not want to pursue graduate work to realize that the psychology major will not provide them with all the skills that they probably need to get a good job after graduation. They should seek out resources on campus to gain marketable skills (e.g., computer and/or technical skills, etc.). These folks could also benefit from the orientation course so that they can be better consumer's of the field of psychology in the future. They would be able to learn the difference between a master's level counselor of psych, MSW counselor, school psychology specialist, school psychology Ph.D., etc. There is just so much going on in psychology. I feel that it has taken me this long (15 years) to get a handle on it all myself. When we expect our students to learn it themselves, that is great. But where do they learn it? My two cents, Shelia Associate Professor IRB Chair Department of Psychology 116 North Murray Hall Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 74078 (405) 744-7335 shelia.kenni...@okstate.edu http://psychology.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=95Itemid=28 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9606 or send a blank email to leave-9606-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Orientation to major?
- Original Message - From: Gerald Peterson peter...@svsu.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 2:00 PM Subject: [tips] Orientation to major? I developed a class, based on faculty requests, called Scientific Foundations of Psych. You must be kidding. What scientific foundation? Research methods have more to do with reliability than validity. Baloney is still baloney even though it is statistically significant. Michael omnicentric Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=9609 or send a blank email to leave-9609-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] orientation to major
I agree with you completely. While I'm sure that many of us on TIPS were first generation college students, I'm confident that most of us had family members who went to college before we did, often parents. Therefore, we had some awareness of what is needed for college success, trusted persons to ask, and support for our goals. I see many students who show up at college and they think (and their parents think) they are making a transition similar to that from primary school to secondary school, as if freshman year of college is just the 13th grade. They need to be taught how to go to college. They need to be taught that courses will not meet 5 days a week (typically) and that what you will be tested on will be not necessarily be talked about in class. They need to learn that they are expected to do much work on their own. They need to learn how to prioritize their time, including their family. I have been astonished at times the degree of demands that some families put on their children who are away at college. I regularly see students whose parents are actively undermining their success, in some cases with not-so-secret communication that 'becoming educated is not what the family values, so just give up this college fantasy.' They are begged to come home every weekend, skip classes on Friday and Monday, etc. I've seen students whose parents have them come home every weekend to work in the family business all day Friday through Sunday. These parents (and the students) see only 12 credit hours scheduled as a full load and imagine that they have all the free time in the world, not knowing that 12 credits is expected to take up about 36 hours of their life when outside study is taken into account. I can go on and on... but it is clear to me that with the ongoing democratization of college access that a large proportion of our students at all but the elite colleges will be first generation and therefore likely to be poorly prepared to manage the total experience of college. Therefore, it is clear to me that courses which teach basic skills, management of their path through the curriculum, long term planning of their education for later life success, etc. are vital to the ultimate success of the college. If the college admits, but does not graduate, then they don't go on to get jobs that implicitly promote the school and in the most practical sense, that earn money to donate back to the school. It is vital to the ongoing success of the college that the college admit the best qualified it can, and support those it admits as well as it can and create systems that create higher likelihood of success both in college and after college. Successful graduates may enrich the college. Non-graduates will not. Courses that increase the yield of successful graduates from those who admitted should be welcomed by administrators and by faculty who value their careers and the future of the academy. Paul C Bernhardt Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD, USA pcbernhardt[at]frostburg[d0t]edu On Mar 26, 2011, at 4:25 PM, Claudia Stanny wrote: For those who are making arguments for intro-to-the-major courses, you have my best wishes and all my sympathy. When the Careers course was proposed by a departmental committee as part of a big curriculum review and reform about 10 years ago, we had all of these discussions in the department and again when the course went through the campus curriculum review process. The course was criticized for being too fluffy and not having any real content. I admit, it is almost entirely an academic skills course and this criticism reflects the deeply held belief that courses are all about content. Interestingly, some of the criticism came from individuals who argued that the course was too demanding and had too many learning outcomes for a 1 sh credit course! Go figure. There were similar discussions on campus about the Academic Foundations course (an introduction to college life, study skills, time management, etc. for first year students). The university advising center (which controls this course) had been tracking student success and persistence for students who do and do not take this course. It is an elective course that is strongly advised for students entering with weaker academic credentials (lower SAT scores, lower HS GPA, other flags for problems transitioning to college). At the end of the first year, students who completed this course have higher GPAs (even with lower overall predictive scores on admission) than the students who don't take this course. (They now offer a special section of this course for students in the Honors program, but this is the same course taught to a cohort of Honors students.) Yes, many students manage to learn these skills through trial and error and maybe the intervention of a outstanding academic advisor or mentor (as did those of us on this list, I
