How Does a Departmental Review Work?

The most common type of request we get at the Departmental Consulting Service is a general one. Many departments request an overall evaluation of the department, or perhaps a review of the curriculum. If you are wondering how such a review would work, here is an overview.

• The most important aspect of the review is that it is tailored to the needs of your department. As you make arrangements with a consultant, you will discuss what the department hopes to accomplish with the review as well as details such as the time frame and expenses associated with the review. The consultant will work with you to customize the review. It will not be very helpful for the department to tell the consultant something vague like, "We just want someone to take a look at our department." If you can give the consultant specific ideas about your needs, the review process will make better use of your time and money.
  
• The department should expect to provide some information to the consultant prior to a site visit. The exact information that you supply will depend on what you want the consultant to do for you, as well as on what information you actually have available. Very likely, the DCS consultant will ask for specific types of information. Do your best to supply these materials in a timely manner.
  
• The structure of the site visit will again depend on what the department hopes to accomplish with the review. Typically, the consultant will want to meet with various groups and individuals (faculty, students, office staff, administrators), tour facilities, and possibly present some ideas or a preliminary report to the department.
  
• After the site visit, the consultant will submit a report to the department. Your department should review this report and decide what actions, if any, should be taken. For example, the consultant may recommend that a degree program be revised, that advising should be done in a different way, or that the department should change the way it makes decisions. After some deliberation, you may or may not agree with suggestions that the consultant has made.
  
• It is very helpful if the department can submit an evaluation of the consultant to the DCS coordinator at the end of the entire process. An evaluation form is included in the materials that I will send to you when you request a consultant.
  

In forthcoming posts, I will describe some examples of particular issues that have come up in departmental reviews. As always, if you are interesting in finding a consultant for your department, contact me at kreiner@ucmo.edu.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW OTRP RESOURCES

As new resources are posted on OTRP, I will try to give more information about what they contain than the brief description included at the site link. I will start with the resource most recently posted and then work backward in time. I hope these longer looks at the resources will tempt you to read the entire documents and find ways to use them in your classes or your professional life.

Four authors, William Altman, Jill Shulz, Kenneth Bordens, and Rhea Farberman, have collaborated to share their knowledge of how to work with local media in order to produce effective communication with the general public about psychology. The resource stems from a preconference workshop they delivered at the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (Jan., 2008). Called "Taking it to the Streets: How to Give Psychology Away and Become a Local Media Hero," the 13-page document outlines guidelines for developing effective relationships with various media,  including newspapers, radio and television news or feature programs, and the internet. It is organized into 10 sections:

1. Get to Know the Media and Media Staff


2. Match your Stories to Their Needs


3. How to Prepare for an Interview or Pitch


4. How to Pitch a Story


5. Become the Perfect Source


6. If You Would Rather Write


7. Make it Easy for Media Professionals to Work with You


8. Links to More Information about Working with the Media


9. About Electronic Media (Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts )


10. Clips of Psychology Stories from Various Media

Although the resource is a series of bulleted points, it reads well, and the format allows the user to find information quickly. We have posted a pdf for those who want to easily print the document, but we also provide a link to Altman's internet site where the same 10 sections are separately presented and where the embedded links are live.

The authors do not directly address how teachers could use the information in classes, but if you include mass communication topics in your classes, you might want to share the resource directly with students or create assignments using the final section: sample clips of media stories.


Our journal, Teaching of Psychology, has published a few articles illustrating such assignments (e.g., Lawson, 1994; Rider, 1992; Schwarzmueller, 2006), so this new resource would provide students with a perspective on the constraints under which the media and psychologists operate.


The OTRP post is available at  http://www.apadiv2.org/otrp/resources/resources.php?category=Media


The internet site for this resource is http://web.sunybroome.edu/~altman_w/Bill_Projects/Working_with_the_Media/Psychologists_and_the_Media.htm

References


Lawson, T. J. (1994). The media assignment: Enhancing psychology students' ability to apply their knowledge of psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 21, 157-159.

Rider, E. A. (1992). Understanding and applying psychology through use of news clippings. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 161-163.

Schwarzmueller, A. (2006) Critiquing media depictions of forensic professionals: A project for students. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 205-207.

TeachPsych Links

As I was looking around the STP pages this week, I found the TeachPsych links. I'd actually found this before but it didn't make it into my long-term memory so I had to start looking again. Anyway, this is just one more example of all the great resources available to us within the STP pages.

The STP TeachPsych links can be found at http://teachpsych.org/resources/links/index.php. Once there, you'll see four different categories: General Resources, Organizations, Teaching/Pedagogical Resources, and Student Advisement. Each category has several great links and brief descriptions of the links to help you find the information you want. Some of the links you probably already have (or should have), such as a link to APA's Education Directorate. Others may pique your interest and become your new favorite go-to link for teaching of psychology.

Oh, and speaking of web links, I finally discovered Delicious (http://delicious.com). Ok, I'd heard about the site – mostly from Sue Frantz – but hadn't explored it first-hand. It was just hanging around on my to-do list. Well, my office computer died the first day of the semester (no lie!) and so I've been working on other computers for 4 weeks. These past few weeks reminded me how often I use my internet bookmarks, and how devastating it would be to lose them. Seriously, do you have all of your Favorites memorized? I didn't think so. The Delicious website allows you to store all of your sites on their site for safekeeping. It also includes a social networking component if you want to use that but, for right now, I'm just thrilled to have my favorite web links intact and backed up on Delicious. I'll be adding sites from the TeachPsych links page to my Delicious account, or maybe I'll just add the TeachPsych link itself. J

Project Syllabus: Psychology of Prejudice

You can find our Psychology of Prejudice syllabi cross-listed under Social and Special Topics.

Cyndi Kernahan's Psychology of Prejudice and Racism is our newest addition. She has her students submit two questions the morning of class for each reading that is due. Students also do weekly writings on a specific question.  The goal is to "identify, describe, and apply the concepts..."  Her most interesting assignment, though, is the plan of action paper.

"Plan of Action Paper: Plan of action papers will be due towards the end of the semester. These papers should be 6-8 typed, double-spaced pages (including at least 4 references). Specifically, these papers should outline a 'plan of action, that you feel you can take regarding prejudice and racism in our society. The format of the paper will require you to do some research on one or two problems that you feel you can take some action on. You will describe the problem and then describe what you would like to do, very specifically, about it. You may include in this a variety of ideas, ranging from simply discussing racial issues more in your classes/with your family or friends to more 'activist' ideas such as writing letters to elected officials or starting a discussion group about racial issues. Remember that this should be something you actually intend to do!"

She provides students with more detailed instructions.  Contact Cyndi at cynthia.kernahan@uwrf.edu.

George E. Schreer offers a seminar called Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination.  In addition to a research paper, students write weekly reaction papers.

"Weekly Reaction Papers of Assigned Readings (50% of final grade) Since a seminar relies heavily on discussion, it is imperative that you come to class prepared to contribute your newfound knowledge and insight. To accomplish this, reaction papers (1-2 pages single spaced) will be assigned on a regular basis. For the readings assigned: briefly summarize the major themes and ideas (what the researchers were trying to find out), methods (how they went about their task), and results and discussion (what they found and what it all means). While doing this, be sure to integrate together (make connections between) all the readings. In addition, the reaction papers should also include your own thoughts about the readings. Some important questions to consider are:

* How does the article apply to you or situations you might have experienced?

* What new questions, ideas, or testable hypotheses does the research raise?

* Can any theories be integrated with earlier material or applied to a different context?

* What new insights have you learned?"

OTRP’s Mentoring Services

As I continue exploring all the great things STP has to offer, I check out the OTRP pages quite a bit. Within OTRP (Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology), there are tons of resources for psychology teachers at all levels. Well, maybe not tons, but an impressive number (To be accurate, tons would require me to print them all off and weigh them, which I'm not willing to do). I want to share with you one particular resource that may not be on your radar, but should be.


From the Mentoring Services webpage -- http://teachpsych.org/otrp/mentoring/index.php -- the purpose of the Service is to "…enable teachers of psychology who have questions about pedagogical topics, methods, issues, or specific classes to identify and communicate with more experienced colleagues who are willing to provide them with answers to these questions and/or refer them to other sources of information." After reading that, who wouldn't find this service useful? I'll be the first to admit I don't know everything about the teaching of psychology. So why not turn to a friendly colleague through the Mentoring Service if I have questions about, say, starting a Psychology Club at my school? Sure, I could fumble around and take a stab at it myself, probably having some avoidable failures and false starts along the way. On the other hand, I could contact Peter, Martha, Liz, David, or Jeanne, who have each volunteered to be a mentor for this topic.


The reason I said the OTRP Mentoring Services may not be on your radar is that folks might think "mentoring" and assume it's only for early-career teachers, to help them get comfortable in the classroom. True, OTRP Mentoring Services can match you to that type of mentoring if that's what you're looking for, but the Service is there for things outside the classroom, too. Go ahead, check out the Mentoring Services website. Scroll down through all the mentoring links, especially the "Mentoring of topics, methods, and issues" link and the "Mentoring of courses" link. Like me, you may find yourself saying, "Wow! I wish I'd known about that".


Who knows, you might even decide to offer your own expertise to the Mentoring Services resource!

Project Syllabus: Intro Psych Projects

Recently a member of the PsychTeach listserv was looking for an assignment for Intro Psych that gave students the opportunity to bring together what they learned in the course. Here are a few syllabi from the Project Syllabus database that have some type of 'capstone' project. Visit the site to view these Intro syllabi: http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php?category=Introductory%20Psychology

 

Rory McElwee's syllabus

"Case Study Paper: To take your understanding of the course material to a higher level and to solidify your learning for the long term, the last part of the semester will be spent in a collaborative, problem-based learning exercise in which teams of students will be given a case study to analyze. This exercise will enable the student to apply and synthesize material from throughout the course as well as build research, writing, and oral communication skills. Students will complete a 5-page paper outlining their work which will be due during finals week. You will receive detailed guidelines later in the term. Attendance during these class periods is mandatory for full credit on the project."

 

If you're interested in learning more about this assignment, contact Rory at mcelwee@rowan.edu

 

 

John Schwoebel's syllabus

"OICS Project: Ask a novel question? Explore an intriguing idea. Find a person, theory, area of study, idea, or finding that interests you. Then develop (with my help) an activity that will allow you to further explore the topic. You might: Imagine how a conversation/argument between two famous psychologists might proceed. Create and explain illusions. Paint depression. Apply psychological findings in order to improve your memory, happiness, or attitudes toward others. Write stories, poems, or songs. Construct study aides. Conduct a psychological study. Etc... Design an activity that fits with your interests and strengths and then discuss it with me. You should meet with me (in my office) by October 18 th at the latest. If you don't discuss the activity with me by then, the activity will be graded as late. After we come to an agreement concerning the goals and requirements of the activity, you may begin working on it.

 

"In general, the final product of each activity will be a Poster Presentation at Cazenovia College's 3 rd Biannual Undergraduate Psychology Conference. The format of the poster will vary depending on the type of activity you choose and we will discuss this when we meet individually and as a class. The poster should not be a standard, run-of-the-mill presentation of other people's ideas. The poster should be an original, independent, creative, and scholarly work that reflects your careful thoughts, analyses, and a semester's worth of hard work. Your OICS Project grade will be worth 20% of your total course grade and will be graded based on the following components (each worth 25%):

 

• Originality: novel/unique questions, comparisons, arguments, etc...
  
• Independence: reading/study/research that goes beyond the text/lectures
  
• Creativity: nonstandard, non-term paperish, fun way of communicating your ideas · Scholarship: reflects a great deal of work and thought and the achievement of a deep understanding of your chosen topic"
  

 

 

E.M. Magidson's syllabus. This assignment comes from 2004, but it could easily be adapted for the more recent Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping by Phillip Garrido. The syllabus provides detailed instructions that I haven't reproduced here.

 

"Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, for nine months in 2002 by a self-proclaimed prophet, Brian Mitchell and his companion, Wanda Barzee.

1. Find on the Internet one or two authoritative articles on this case that discuss these ideas, which you should label as subheadings in your paper:

a. Smart was (was not) Brainwashed. Discuss your choice.

b. Psychological Effects Smart May be Experiencing Now c. Suggested Therapy. Indicate why you would recommend such therapy, as well as the specific procedures used in the therapy."

 

 

Chuck Huff. Chuck uses an "Empirical Investigation" project. Students work together to develop a research question, do the background reading on it, design a study, collect and analyze the data, and then present a poster. Visit this link to go directly to his assignment: http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff/classes/Intro/empirical.html.

If you have a capstone-type project for your Intro Psych course, consider submitting your syllabus to Project Syllabus for peer review and possible inclusion in our database!

Getting the most out of your STP membership: News

I've been a member of STP for a while, but didn't feel that I was getting the most out of my membership, especially the STP website. I kept reading emails and hearing conversations about all the great things available through STP, and said to myself "why didn't I know that?". As luck would have it, I was asked if I'd be interested in contributing to this blog, and I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to share with other "why didn't I know that?" colleagues all the great resources we have available to us as STP members. So, periodically, I'll be posting about something fabulous (at least to me) that I found on the STP website that I think will be helpful or interesting. I welcome your responses and other feedback!

 

My first posting is about the News page on the STP site -- http://teachpsych.org/news/index.php. Did you know you can subscribe to the STP News RSS feed, or just enter your cell phone # and receive immediate updates whenever there's an STP News update? How simple is that?!? No more trying to remember to check out the website periodically for the latest info, or relying on others to tell you about it second-hand. Plus, if you change your mind, you can unsubscribe at anytime. It's pretty much a win-win, and worth checking out.

Project Syllabus: Service Learning

Recently there was a question on STP's PsychTeach listserv about service learning and how it is incorporated into courses.


If you've been thinking about adding a service learning component to a course or are considering revising an existing service learning requirement, here are some syllabi from the Project Syllabus database for courses that contain a service learning component. [If you use service learning, consider submitting your syllabus for peer review and possible inclusion in our database!]


Intro Psych: "Service learning students will contribute 15 hours of service over the semester, typically about 1½ hours per week for 10 weeks. You are welcome to "count" service in any public sector or voluntary organization you now are part of, or which you arrange. As well, about 20 spaces are available to students who would like to volunteer with the on-campus day care programme, Campus Kids." Philip Smith. http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/ps07intro.pdf


Multicultural Psychology: "You are to complete 10 hours of service-learning in either a public school or community program. This activity requires a serious commitment to the school/program. You are required to complete a service log and keep a critical reflection journal of your experiences." Lori Simons. http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/ls07multiculturalpsychology.pdf


Psych of Culture: "We are working with Journey's End, one of a handful of service providers for refugees in the community." Jill Norvilitis. http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/jn08culture.pdf


Abnormal Psych: "All students are required to complete 20 hours of service work at a location that works with individuals with mental illness." Meera Rastoogi. http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/mr07abnormal.pdf


Fieldwork in School Settings: "Each of you will be matched up with a school age child. You will be required to spend 20 hours over the semester (2 hours per week for 10 weeks in order to provide the school with consistent and predictable participation)." Tasha Howe. http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/th05fieldworkf.pdf

For more information about service learning in general, visit the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse. (Link will open in a new window.)