All
We considered such an orientation course. But we thought it was too much a 
"skills course" and wondered exactly what we'd be teaching and how in the world 
we'd assess it. Then there is the issue of being one of the top three majors 
(which due to our slow policies on new positions has resulted in our having the 
highest ration of campus of majors to faculty- i.e., who wants to teach this 
without compensation). So we settled (maybe not the right word) for a course 
called Introduction to Psychological Science. In that course we included some 
content on a) interacting with your faculty and other psychological 
professionals, b) how to get involved in internships and research, and c) 
understanding that psychology is a science and those practicing the craft are 
scientific practitioners. I can't tell you if it has helped very much in terms 
of etiquette yet as we only offered this course for the first time this term. 
(We completely revised our major at the same time that our College revised it's 
general curriculum- smart huh!?!?) We also decided, after much weeping and 
gnashing of teeth, that we'd include some common features on syllabi in the 
department. Things like ADA, the College honor code, a description of 
plagiarism, etc. But we also agreed to put some common sections that would 
remain "open to the personality of the instructor" - like personal 
introduction, course policies, etc. For example, I never allow/encourage first 
name use by first or second year students but often allow it with students who 
are TAs or working with me in the lab. The faculty member who teaches 
clinically related courses has never, to my knowledge told anyone to call him 
anything else besides his first name- which, of course, has lead to the 
students deciding to refer to him only by his last name. 
_______________________________
Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology
The College of Idaho
Caldwell, ID 83605
email: [email protected]

teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and 
systems

"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker
________________________________________
From: [email protected] [[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 1:47 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] orientation to major

Me too, as our department is currently considering such a course.



Miguel


----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol DeVolder" <[email protected]>
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]>
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 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> 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
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>



---

You are currently subscribed to tips as: 
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>.

To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177a&n=T&l=tips&o=9582

(It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken)

or send a blank email to 
leave-9582-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-9582-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu>


---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=9585
or send a blank email to 
leave-9585-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu

Reply via email to