NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE

COURSE SYLLABUS

COURSE AND INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Course title: General Psychology

Course prefix, number, and section number: PSYC2301 0341

Semester/Year of course: Fall 2023

Semester start and end dates: August 28th, 2023 through December 15th, 2023

Modality (Face to face/Synchronous or Asynchronous online/Hybrid): Online

Class meeting location, days, and times: Online

Lab meeting location, days, and times: N/A

Semester credit hours: 3

Course description: General Psychology is a survey of the major psychological topics, theories and approaches to the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Course prerequisites: none

Required course materials: Registration in the course gives you access to the e-book needed for PSYC 2301. You do not need to purchase a separate textbook.

Inclusive Access is a partnership between NCTC and McGraw-Hill Education, to provide the best learning resources on the first day of class. Students can gain access to McGraw-Hill’s adaptive online platforms with the latest version of the eBook at a discount. If students would like to purchase a physical copy of the textbook, they can order a discounted loose-leaf version through the bookstore.

Students who drop before the add/drop date will have their book fees credited back to their student account, and students who remain in the course will be charged a materials fee by the school to have continued access of the online platforms. If you remain enrolled in the course but wish to opt-out of access to the book please email the NCTC Bookstore with your name and student number to 1263mgr@follett.com.

Name of instructor: Matt Diggs

Office location: Online

Telephone number: None - Please Email.  Zoom/Phone Calls available by appointment.

E-mail address: mdiggs@nctc.edu

Office hours for students: Online by Appointment.

SYLLABUS CHANGE DISCLAIMER

The faculty member reserves the right to make changes to this published syllabus if it is in the best interest of the educational development of this class. Any such changes will be announced as soon as possible in person and/or writing.

SUMMARY OF COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

List of graded assignments:

Chapter Quizzes (13 x 30) = 390 points (39% of the grade)

Extended-Time Quizzes (4 x 20) = 80 points (8% of the grade)

Module Discussion Boards (4 x 20) = 80 points (8% of the grade)

Paper Preparation Assignments (1 x 20, 2 x 15) = 50 points (5% of the grade)

NCTC Institutional Effectiveness Assessment (1 x 100) = 100 points (10% of the grade)

Term Paper (1 x 300) = 300 points (30% of the grade)

Final grade scale: This class is graded on a 1000-point scale.  The following letter grades correspond to the letters.

A = 895 to 1000 (89.5%)

B = 795 to 894 (79.5%)

C = 695 to 794 (69.5%)

D = 595 to 694 (59.5%)

F = 594 and Under (Under 59.4%)

Late work policy: Generally speaking, the bar to accept late work is very high.  I have two guaranteed current exceptions to my late policy.  If you are in the military and have a deployment over the deadline, I will work with you.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!  If you are involuntarily in the hospital for multiple days including the deadline, or you have a medically documented reason written by a doctor why you couldn’t complete an assignment over a period of time, including the deadline, I will also work with you. (Having an elective procedure where you’re aware of the date should inspire you to work ahead – that will not be an acceptable reason).  Both exceptions will require verification at the end of the semester, and it may require an “incomplete” in the class.  These exceptions are generally multi-day and involuntary.

Furthermore, if you feel you have a documented reason that you feel should qualify for an exception, please contact me (if possible, proactively) for a discussion of that documented reason.  As with the above exceptions, they should be multi-day and involuntary as criteria I use to judge the reason.  The two reasons mentioned above I can confidently say would qualify, however, there may be other documentable reasons that could qualify (but are not necessarily guaranteed to qualify).  Please reach out if you feel there is something going on that falls within this range.  If you were able to email me 5 minutes late to ask for an exception, you probably will not qualify for an exception. 

SEE CANVAS FOR THE COMPLETE COURSE CALENDAR, OUTLINE, DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF GRADED WORK, AND OTHER RELATED MATERIAL.

COURSE POLICIES

Academic Integrity Policy: Scholastic dishonesty shall include, but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, academic falsification, intellectual property dishonesty, academic dishonesty facilitation and collusion.  Faculty members may document and bring charges against a student who is engaged in or is suspected to be engaged in academic dishonesty.  See Student Handbook, “Student Rights & Responsibilities: Student Conduct ([FLB(LOCAL)]”. 

Professor Diggs’ Academic Dishonesty Policy: Students found responsible for scholastic dishonesty offenses will receive an authorized disciplinary penalty or penalties from the Dean of Student Office. The student may also receive an academic penalty in the course where the scholastic dishonesty took place. The faculty member will determine the appropriate academic penalty.  In my course, an academic integrity violation’s consequence will range from an F on the assignment to an F on the class – depending on the severity noted by the Dean of Students office.  You may not re-use assignments from other courses as part of any written work unless you have written expressed consent from me and have discussed the reason for the assignment recycling.

Professor Diggs’ Artificial Intelligence Policy: This information is used with permission and citation with gratitude to Princeton University: The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning.

• Intellectual honesty is vital to an academic community and for my fair evaluation of your work.  All work submitted in this course must be your own, completed in accordance with the College's academic regulations. You may not engage in unauthorized collaboration or make use of ChatGPT or other AI composition software/NLPs (Natural Language Processing)/LLMs (Large Language Model).
• Students must obtain permission from me before using AI composition software (like ChatGPT) for any assignments (discussions or papers) in this course. Using these tools without my permission puts your academic integrity at risk. 
• This course does make use of AI/NLPs/LLMs plagiarism checker software as such as “Turnitin” developed for the purpose of detecting the use of AI programs.  Rewording what ChatGPT or other AI/NLP/LLM software produces is similarly disallowed.

Attendance Policy: Regular and punctual attendance is expected of all students in all classes for which they have registered.  All absences are considered to be unauthorized unless the student is absent due to illness or emergencies as determined by the instructor.  It is the student responsibility to provide documentation as to the emergency for approval and judgement by the faculty member.  Approved college sponsored activities are the only absences for which a student should not be held liable and only when provided by a college official ahead of the absence.  Valid reasons for absence, however, do not relieve the student of the responsibility for making up required work.  Students will not be allowed to make up an examination missed due to absence unless they have reasons acceptable to the instructor.  A student who is compelled to be absent when a test is given should petition the instructor, in advance if possible, for permission to postpone the exam.  Student will be dropped from a class by the Registrar upon recommendation of the instructor who feels the student has been justifiably absent or tardy a sufficient number of times to preclude meeting the course’s objectives.    Persistent, unjustified absences from classes or laboratories will be considered sufficient cause for College officials to drop a student from the rolls of the College. From Board Policy FC (LOCAL)

Professor Diggs’ Attendance Policy: This is an online course, therefore no formal attendance is taken; however, there is a strong correlation between logging in multiple times in a week and those who receive A’s in the course.  Canvas Analytics lets me know how long you are logged in, how many times you’ve logged in, and what pages you accessed while you were logged into the course. This information is looked at frequently and used at the end of the semester in all decision making.

Withdrawal Policy

A student may withdraw from a course on or after the official date of record. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate and complete a Withdrawal Request Form.

Last day to withdraw from the course with a “W” is: Monday, November 6th, 2023

Student Learning Outcomes: (From Academic Course Guide Manual/Workforce Education Course Manual/NCTC Catalog)

At the successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. Identify various research methods and their characteristics used in the scientific study of psychology.
2. Describe the historical influences and early schools of thought that shaped the field of psychology.
3. Describe some of the prominent perspectives and approaches used in the study of psychology.
4. Use terminology unique to the study of psychology.
5. Describe accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.
6. Identify factors in physiological and psychological process involved in human behavior.

Core Objectives: Critical Thinking, Communication, Empirical and Quantitative, Social Responsibility

COLLEGE POLICIES

STUDENT HANDBOOK

Students are expected to follow all rules and regulations found in the Student Handbook.

ADA STATEMENT

NCTC will adhere to all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the Office for Students with Disabilities to arrange appropriate accommodations.  See the OSD Syllabus Addendum.

STUDENT SERVICES

NCTC provides a multitude of services and resources to support students.  See the Student Services Syllabus Addendum for a listing of those departments and links to their sites.

QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, or COMPLAINTS