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Psychology 390: Psychology of
Learning
| Instructor: |
Steve Meier Ph.D. |
Print Syllabus
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| Office: |
Student
Health 211 |
| Office Phone: |
885-7679
or 1-800-824-2889 extension 7679 |
| Fax: |
885-7710 |
| Off Hrs |
By appointment. It is best to
call me |
| e-mail:
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smeier@uidaho.edu Best way to contact me. |
TA:
Course Description
This course is designed to provide you with an overview of
learning theories and some general applications. The course will take a
historical/empirical approach. It is also designed to assist you with
understanding basic concepts of classical, instrumental, operant, and
cognitive learning.
In addition to basic course concepts, the course is designed
to make you apply these concepts through the use of animal simulation
software.
Course Objectives
This course is designed to provide an overview of various
learning theories, with an emphasis on classical, operant, and cognitive
approaches. Throughout the course, information will be provided that
encompasses classic experimental studies and how that information is applied
in a variety of settings.
Other objectives:
To increase your research and writing proficiency
Technology
Requirements
To take this course, you must have a computer that can access
information using Adobe Acrobat.
It
is recommended that you have a Pentium computer with 32meg Ram and one
gig of hard drive space. However,
computers with slower speeds may be able to access the information at
various websites. If you
cannot access the information, try using a computer at your local
library.
Required Texts:
Kline. Learning:
Principles
and Applications 5th ed. Sage Publishers
Alloway, T., Wilson, G., Graham, J., &
Krames, L. Sniffy: The Virtual Rat.
Second Ed. Wadsworth Publishers.
Optional Texts:
Malone, J.C. Theories of Learning:
A Historical Approach. Wadsworth Publishers
All texts can be obtained from the University
of Idaho Bookstore. They
can be contacted:
Grading/Evaluation/Proficiency
There will be several requirements for this
course.
Sniffy Exercises:
You will be required to purchase and perform several computer
exercises with Sniffy: The Virtual Rat. From the information you
observe, you will develop some brief papers that you will submit to
me. Basically, do the exercises in each chapter. Then, write me a
brief paper (less than one page) describing what you observed and
send it to me. Although you can work together, all write-ups must
be your own. Material too similar will be considered cheating. (100 points)
Exams: There
will be three exams to examine and develop your knowledge of the
material. Each exam will be open book, or open note, not
open person. That is, you can use any book or lecture information you wish to
help you. Each exam will be multiple
choice but may include
essay
and/or fill in the blank questions. For the essay questions, you
may
be able to drop one or two questions (depending on the format) you
find ambiguous or confusing. You will not be able to drop any of the
other questions. For essay questions, you cannot cut and paste
material from the web (300 points).
Note these exams are difficult. Study as you would for a
regular in class exam. Make sure you know the material BEFORE
taking the exam
Discussion:
You will be required to participate in Blackboard
discussions about topics related to the class.
Information and requirements related to these discussions
will be posted in the Blackboard site. All discussions
must be completed within 5 hours of the due date.
Discussions received after 24 hours after that time will
receive no points.
(50 Points)
Term Paper
There is no term paper required for undergraduates. The paper
requirement is only
for graduate students.
Extra Credit = 30
points: You can write a 15 reference annotated bibliography on
a learning topic of your choice. Annotated
bibliographies are similar to abstracts of a paper.
Generally, they provide an overview of the topic paper you
are reviewing.
Only four of the articles you review
can come from the web. All remaining material needs to
be books or articles
from journals. On line
encyclopedias (e.g., Wikipedia) are considered suspect and will NOT
count toward your total.
Email the bibliography to your
instructor in the body of the email. Do not send attachments.
Do not cut and paste
material from the internet.
Grading
All grading will be based on the
following scale
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> 90% = A
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80% = B |
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70% = C |
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60% = D |
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< 60% =
F |
Cheating/Plagiarism: If you
cheat, plagiarize, use someone else's material, or cut and paste
material directly from
the internet without providing appropriate credit and I catch you, you
will receive an "F" grade for the class and be
referred to the Dean of Students for expulsion from the University.
Do not even think of cheating or plagiarizing
material in this class.
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Psyc 390 Schedule - Fall
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