Print Syllabus

Richard Reardon
Department of Psychology & Communication Studies
University of Idaho
1031 N. Academic Way, Suite 242
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814-2277
Phone: 208-292-2523
E-mail: rreardon@uidaho.edu

NOTE:  In all email communication, We will use your official UI email address.  This is university policy.  So, please get into the habit of checking this address regularly.  We will be adding features to this site, as well as posting interesting tidbits that we think are relevant.  We will use email to let you know of these things.

Course Description:
This course is designed to give you a broad overview of the field of Psychology.  Psychology is the science of behavior and mental activity.  To do it justice, we will start from the basic units of the nervous system and carry through to the complexities of social and personal cognitions and actions. To better understand the coverage of the course, simply look at the range of issues identified in the course schedule.

Required Text:
Nairne, J. S. (2006). Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson.
(If you go online, you can arrange for the UI Bookstore to send you a copy if you purchase it from them.  Typically, also available at most resellers, such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.  If you come across a used edition, keep in mind that any edition with a copyright date of 2005 or later, i.e., the 4th, 5th, or later edition, will be fine.)

   Looks like there is an online version of the text.  There will be an access fee (6 months) for the download (about $80) which looks to be a pretty good discount off of the bookstore price (about $139 for an unused book).  You won’t be able to make notes and underline (unless there’s some way to print it), and you can’t haul it around (unless you cram it into your iPhone or Nexus), but you can have access to a text almost immediately.  Here’s the site if you want to look it over: http://www.cengagebrain.com/market/index.html  (in their catalog, you’ll be looking for the Nairne’s 5th edition).

Note:  Some content on the PowerPoint slides bears the copyright of Thompson Publishing. 

Grading:
   There will be 5 multiple-choice exams.  Each exam will be potentially worth 25% of your grade because We will drop the lowest of your 5 scores.  Each exam will quiz you only over material covered since the previous exam. The exams will be “open-book”.  You may use whatever materials you wish to answer exam questions, but the exams have a time limit; so, only those of you who prepare well will be able to benefit from having all your materials handy. If you wish to, you can take only 4 of the five exams.  If you only take 4 exams, you will not be able to drop your lowest score.  If you take only 3 exams, you will not be able to pass the course.

   The multiple-choice exams will be administered through Blackboard (login details will be given to you well before the first exam).  The exams will open a couple of weeks into the semester (see "Schedule", below).  All exams will be available to you starting around mid-February; the dates associated with the exams, chapters, and lectures are to assist you with your planning.  Conceivably, you could take all of the multiple-choice exams the first day they are made available to you.  I recommend you not do this.  Nor would I recommend that you put off all of your exams until the last day, even though that is possible.  Keep in mind that you will be allowed a limited time (about 45 minutes) to complete each exam, and once started, you must finish the exam.  Logging in and out and back in again will not be permitted.  Because of the broad, fairly continuous availability of the exams, there will be no make-up exams for any reason.  Please note that Blackboard shuts down every Friday evening and late Sunday-early Monday for routine updates/repairs.  Avoid logging in for your exams at those times (there is a reminder about this at the Blackboard login page).

   In the belief that hope springs eternal, We will also make available an extensive and unpleasant essay assignment a day or so after Exam 5.  We call this assignment the "Amnesty Exam" because it comes at the end of the semester and can be used to help bail you out.  If you took all 5 multiple-choice exams, and you complete the Amnesty Exam, we will drop your lowest score and also replace your next-lowest score with your Amnesty score.  If you took only 4 multiple-choice exams, the Amnesty exam can replace your lowest score.  If you took only 3 multiple-choice exams, the Amnesty Exam can be your fourth score.  The Amnesty Exam can be long and difficult (several pages over 2-3 days), but some of you might find the payoff worth it.  It is purely optional (unless you need it to replace a missing multiple-choice exam).  Scores on the Amnesty Exam tend to be high for those who put the effort in and complete it in the time frame allotted.

   To earn an ‘A’ in the course, you need to average 90-100% over the best 4 of your 5-6 exams; similarly, 80-89% will guarantee a ‘B’; 70-79%, a ‘C’; 60-69%, a ‘D’; the grade of ‘F’ may be “earned” by obtaining less than 60%, or by taking fewer than 4 exams.

Outreach Course Fee:
   The University of Idaho charges a $35 per credit hour course fee for all of our WWW outreach courses.  We sincerely regret this charge.  The budget we receive each year is barely adequate to meet the regular teaching needs on the Moscow campus.  We are given no money for outreach—the outreach program is supported solely by enrollments.  Without the fee, we would not be able to offer the courses.   About $10 of the $35 collected is used to fund the technical infrastructure and support involved in internet hosting; the remaining $25 is used to support instruction.  (Note that students in off-campus outreach lecture courses, such as those on our Coeur d’Alene campus, pay only for instruction, thus the fee is only $25 per credit hour.)  Please also keep in mind that the refund policy for special course fees is different than that for regular course fees.  After 2 weeks in a regular semester (or one week in summer), if you drop a course, the bursar will not refund the $35 fee.  This is a university policy, not a departmental one.

Drop Deadlines:
   If you get in a bind and find that you must drop this course, please understand that there may be financial implications for the timing of your decision.  You refund amount will drop depending on how late you make your drop decision.  Also, for a few weeks, dropping a course makes the course disappear from your record.  However, at a certain point, dropping will leave "W" on your record (I don't think a "W" or two is particularly worrisome on a student's record, but there are limits on how many "W"s can be earned, so pay attention).   Also, after a still later date, dropping is not permitted.  The key dates for drops are given in the university's Academic Calendar, which can be found here: http://www.uidaho.edu/registrar/classes/calendar

Schedule—Spring, 2012
   Note: Dates and times suggested are guidelines.  You may proceed through the chapters and multiple-choice exams at whatever pace you’d like (there will be a lag on when the Exams start becoming available (Feb 15), but once available they will remain open until May 4).  Only the window for the Amnesty Exam is fixed and firm.  Just make sure you complete the chapters (both text reading and web lectures) before you take the test for those chapters.  Also notice that we don’t cover the chapters in exactly the same order as in Nairne (e.g., we jump from Ch. 3 to Ch. 5; Ch. 4 is pushed back to later in the course).  So, pay attention to the chapter numbers and titles.  I have done my best to limit your "official", i.e., scheduled, activity to weekdays, but like any course, you may have to use some of your weekend time to keep up with the lectures and reading.