The goals I have for my students are to develop lifelong skills that they
could use in their daily lives and across disciplines. To that end, I
spend some time while in the Research unit teaching them how to access
professional databases, newsgroups, etc, and they need to apply these skills
in their term projects which is any Psychology related topic of their
choice. Critical thinking skills are infused in every unit and at the
conclusion of the course it is hoped that the students will have have better
understanding of their own psychological makeup and understand how
psychology relates to everyday life. As far as specific topics are
concerned, I think this depends on both the instructor's background and the
variability of students within the class each semester. We have class
discussions periodically about their interests and I try to gear the units
towards what the majority of students would like to learn. I have found
through the years that their motivational level is much higher when they are
involved in the decision making.
Janice Swartz
