Psychology 101 - S&M

Dr. Hawk
Requirements & Policies

There are several aspects of this course, all of which students need understand.  Here, I have outlined the following course requirements and policies.

I.  Requirements and Grading
    A.  Materials
    B.  Exams
    C.  Web-based quizzes
    D.  Research requirement
    E.  Extra credit
    F.  Grading summary

II. Additional Policies
    A.  Academic dishonesty
    B.  Notice to students with disabilities

I.  Requirements and Grading

  A. Materials

    Required course package, including:

    1.  Book:  Kalat, J.W. (2005).  Introduction to Psychology (7th Edition).
         New York:  Wadsworth - Thomson Learning.

    2.  WebTutor access pin code (note that students cannot share this component)

    3.  RF "Clicker" response system (note that students cannot share this component)

    4.  Specialized course packet by Dr. Hawk (note that this is thrown in for free by the publisher)

  B. Exams

Overview.  There will be 3 in-class, multiple choice midterm exams during the semester and a comprehensive final exam (2 hours) during the final exam period.  The midterm exams will test material covered since the previous exam(s).  In addition to the memorization of content, the exams will assess your ability to apply major concepts in the field.  You are responsible for material covered in either lecture or book.  The final exam will be comprehensive, meaning that anything covered in the course may be tested.

Each of your three highest exam grades will be worth 30% of the course grade.  This makes several scenarios possible:

Missed exams. Of course, there are justifiable reasons for missing class, and potentially an exam.  The  Faculty Senate has published a class absence policy, which states:

"Students may be justifiably absent from classes due to religious observances, illness documented by a physician or other appropriate health care professional, conflicts with University sanctioned activities, public emergencies, and documented personal or family emergencies. The student is responsible for notifying the instructor in writing with as much advance notice as possible of required absences in a timely manner, preferably at the beginning of the course...Absences for University sanctioned activities shall be certified in writing by an appropriate senior University administrator..."

If you miss an exam due to what you feel meets the above justifiable absence criteria, you must bring written documentation to support your case to Dr. Hawk during his office hours.  If it is a religious observence or conflict with University-sanctioned activities, written documentation (from your clergy member, director of athletics, etc.) should be provided at least a two weeks in advance of the exam.  If it is an emergency, you must contact Dr. Hawk as soon as possible to inform me of the emergency and then bring written documentation of the emergency (e.g., doctor's note, obituary, police report) to Dr. Hawk's office hours within 2 weeks of the emergency (or arrange otherwise).   Please note that minor "emergencies" (e.g., overslept, 'it snowed', had a cold) will not be considered justifiable absences.

If, after reviewing your documentation, Dr. Hawk concurs that the absence is justifiable, then we will simply eliminate that exam from the computation of your grade.  You will have a requirement of 3 exams, with the lowest of those 3 dropped.  For example, consider a student athlete who has an away game on the day of Exam 2 and gave me documentation at the beginning of the term.  She makes a 72% on Exam 1, 93% on Exam 3, and 84% on the final.  We will drop the 72 (her lowest), and her exam grade will be based on the 84 and 93 (each is 45% of her course grade).  In the extremely unusual case in which a student misses two exams under justifiably absent conditions, the student will need to meet promptly with Dr. Hawk during office hours to discuss the limited range of potential solutions.

Exam-day procedures.  Because of the large size of the course, a strict procedure will be followed for all exams.  Any student who does not comply with the following will receive a score of 22.5% (chance performance) and be excused from the exam (unless academic dishonesty is suspected; procedures regarding academic dishonesty are described below):

NOTE that you can only take the exam at the time and place scheduled for your section of the course (see syllabus).
Exam grades will typically be posted on the Grade Page within 3-5 days.

  C. Web-based quizzes

While exams contribute 90% of your grade for the course, the remaining 10% will be determined by your completion of quizzes on the UBlearns.buffalo.edu site for the course.  (The homepage contains a link to UBLearns; see Section 2 of the Introductory Psychology Packet that came with your book.)  There is a web quiz for each of the book's 16 chapters.  You will be required to complete 12 quizzes (though you may wish to complete them all).  Thus, each completed quiz (up to 12) contributes just under 1% to your final grade.

Each quiz will be available for a limited time only.  Typically, this period will start when we begin the relevant section of the course and end on the day of the midterm exam covering that content (see the Course Calendar for details).

Credit for quizzes will be based solely on completion.  However, to catch those who simply click "Finish" without answering any of the questions (!), only quizzes with a score of at least 40% will be counted as completed.  NOTE that only quizzes which have been submitted for grading and had their results viewed will be added to the instructor's database to count towards your credit (a software requirement, not mine)!

Although it is easy to get 40% without working very hard, there are some important reasons to try to do well on the quizzes.  The main one is that the quizzes are included to help you learn the material.  In addition, at least 10% of each course exam will consist of questions that are identical to, or nearly identical to, quiz questions.

  D. Research requirement

To get a true sense of psychological science, it is imperative that students become familiar with psychological research.  All students in Psychology 101 must earn 7.0 research credits.  This can be done in one of two ways:  by serving as a research participant in studies being conducted in the Psychology Department and/or writing research summaries.
Regardless of which option you choose, get to work on these early in the semester.  For each 1.0 credit you are shy of 7, you will lose 3 points off your final grade.  For example, someone who had a course average of 85, a B, but only completed 2.5 credits would end up with a final grade of only 71.5, a C- (85 - [4.5*3]).  So make sure you get those credits!
The research requirement is the same for every Psychology 101 section.  Therefore, this information is maintained centrally.  The RPG Website is located at http://wings.buffalo.edu/psychology/rpg.  The site provides links to an overview of the requirement, http://wings.buffalo.edu/psychology/rpg/ResearchRequirement.html
and explicit instructions on:
    serving as a research participant, http://wings.buffalo.edu/psychology/rpg/participation/
    and completing research summaries, http://wings.buffalo.edu/psychology/rpg/summary/   

Please go to the RPG site and take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the system.  Students who choose to complete research summaries should also be sure they understand, and avoid, plagiarism.  I recommend reading http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html. 

Note that it is a good idea to earn your participation credits early in the semester.  Typically, it is more difficult to find an available research study near the end of the semester.

  E. Extra credit

In response to requests from students, I have decided to make it possible to obtain extra credit in my course!!!  :-)  In a nutshell, you can earn up to 2.0 points that will be added onto your final course average.   Obviously, those are powerful points.  A point will be earned for each hour of research credit earned beyond the 7 required for the course (up to a maximum of 2.0 extra credit points).  

  F. Grading summary

The three highest exam grades will each contribute 30% to your final grade.  The remaining 10% will come from the web-based quizzes.  The resulting course average will then be adjusted for completed research requirements (see Sections D and E above).

The following scale will be used to assign grades:

                                              93-100% = A          90-92% = A-
                87-89% = B+       83-86% = B            80-82% = B-
                77-79% = C+       73-76% = C            70-72% = C-
                67-69% = D+       60-66% = D            60% or below = F

A curve, if applied, will never be used to lower students' grades, as I would be thrilled if everyone got an A.

II.  Additional Policies

 A.  Academic dishonesty

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.  Please review the Undergraduate Handbook for a description of the university policies and procedures for cases of academic dishonesty and the Student Conduct Rules for examples of academic dishonesty.  Students suspected of an infringement will first meet with their instructor for a review of the situation.  Cases may also be forwarded to the university Judiciary review in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Student Handbook.  Academic dishonesty may be punished by expulsion from the Univeristy.

 B.  Notice for students with disabilities

If you have a disability (physical or psychological) and require reasonable accommodations to enable you to participate in this course, such as note-takers, readers, or extended time on exams and assignments, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 25 Capen Hall, 645-2608, and also me during the first two weeks of class. ODS will provide you with information and review appropriate arrangements for reasonable accommodations.
 

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Last Updated: November 12, 2005