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.)

Best Practices Conference in October

I'm delighted that the Best Practices Conference is shaping up to be as wonderful as the prior eight! We already have over 50 participants signed up, so our spaces are filling up fast. Please remember that we have an early-bird deadline of September 1st for a reduced rate of $185. Sign up at TeachPsych.org.

Project Syllabus: Woot!

I recently ordered a t-shirt from Woot.com. This is the email I received once my order was placed:

Welcome to the warm embrace of Woot, the first, best, and most hygienic daily deal site! Sit still a minute because you need to know this stuff:

• You're now a registered member of all four of our sites: woot.com, shirt.woot.com, wine.woot.com and sellout.woot.com. Don't be alarmed. We'll explain more later.


• Typical orders take up to 5 business days to ship from our warehouse (except for overnight t-shirt orders). If you order an item during peak times like a Woot-Off, it can take a little longer. Once we ship it, delivery time to your door depends on FedEx or SmartPost.


• Once the item ships out, you can access your tracking data by going to Your Account and clicking on the order number. If you have a problem receiving your order, or you receive the wrong item, contact service@woot.com.


• If you receive your item and it doesn't work, contact the manufacturer first. They made the junk. Let them deal with it. If they turn out to be total tools, contact service@woot.com and we'll grudgingly provide some further assistance.


• If you receive your item and decide you don't like it, take it to eBay or pawn it off on one of your so-called friends. We don't want it, either.

That goes for Woot.com and all of the sites in the Woot.com family. There's some specific stuff you might want to know about each of the others. And here it comes now.

Shirt.woot - Check the size chart, check the size chart, check the size chart. It's at the bottom of the product description for each sale. If you order the wrong size, we won't take it back - your only option is to gain or lose weight so it fits, possibly including painful, costly cosmetic surgery. If you want your overnight order the next day, place it by noon Central time. International orders generally take about 3-4 weeks to arrive. If you think your one-year-old can design a better shirt, encourage your one-year-old to enter the Derby, our weekly design competition. That $1,000 prize can buy a lot of Binkies.
http://shirt.woot.com/derby/
http://shirt.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx

Wine.woot - First, don't get your hopes up: wine orders can only be shipped to certain states, so read the entire list of eligible states before you print up the invitations to your wine party and place your order. Ineligible orders will be cancelled and refunded. If you do complete your order and receive the tracking data, make sure you give it some time to update. It won't be uncommon for it to take a little while for real, actual data to show up. You might call the data "late" - we prefer to think of it as "aged". http://wine.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx

Sellout.woot - Don't be confused or disoriented by the redirect when you visit the site - we just have to run you through Yahoo! Shopping before you come back to Woot turf. It's perfectly normal. You should know that we actually sell things here at times that could partner nicely with items from the regular Woot website, giving you a chance to have your cake and eat it, and then take a bite of another guy's cake when he's not looking, and mmmm...cake...is this email almost over? We're getting hungry. http://sellout.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx

Bear with us a moment more and we can all get on with our lives. If you email service@woot.com, make sure you include your order number and/or username. We'd hate to have to track you down through other, less savory means. And this last bit of information is critical: when you look at your order history and panic because you don't see an order you placed, make sure you are logged into the Woot site you purchased it from. Your Wine.Woot orders won't show up in your order history if you're looking at it on Shirt.Woot, and so on. And you'll be upset, and we'll be upset, and we'll each say things we don't mean, and even though we'll eventually work it all out, things will never be the same between us again.

Last but certainly not least, happy Wooting!

Woot Member Services

You read the whole thing, didn't you?

Like a syllabus, this email provides both an introduction and the rules of engagement. They not only got me to read the entire email, I also found myself ready to do business with them again even though they have some un-customer-friendly policies, e.g., no returns. How did they do it?

Enthusiastic. The company's enthusiasm appears in the very first sentence. "Welcome to the warm embrace of Woot, the first, best, and most hygienic daily deal site!" These are people who clearly enjoy what they're doing. Who wants to deal with a surly company?


Use of humor. By about the third bullet point I was beginning to mentally drift off, and then I got slammed back into consciousness with the fourth bullet: "If you receive your item and it doesn't work, contact the manufacturer first. They made the junk. Let them deal with it. If they turn out to be total tools, contact service@woot.com and we'll grudgingly provide some further assistance." I'm hooked. I know I'm going to stick around until the end. Are you picturing your new academic dishonesty statement? "Students who cheat are total tools."

Written in the first person. By using "we" I get the sense that there is a real, live human being writing this. If so, that means that there's a real, live human being with whom I can communicate if I need something. I feel like we've been introduced.

Easy to read. This email is broken up nicely. There are bullets when bullets are needed. Later paragraphs begin with "shirt.woot," "wine.woot," and "sellout.woot" making it easy to see what they're talking about when.

Clear expectations. The Project Syllabus reviewers have been putting greater emphasis on syllabus tone. When some hear "warmer tone" they may think that means the instructor needs to have lax policies to accommodate every possible student issue. Not at all. This email has a warm tone, generated by humor, but the policies are not lax at all. They are not lax, but they are crystal clear.

Rationale for rules. We know that people are more likely to go along with the rules when they know the reasons for the rules. Woot provides rationales. Why do you have the attendance policy that you do? What's the reasoning behind your late assignment policy? Why are you asking students to do a particular assignment? The reasons may be obvious to you, but they may not be obvious to students.

A syllabus does not need to be a dry read. While the language and style Woot uses may not fit you, I encourage you to use your own voice to put yourself in your syllabus.

[This blog post was based on a symposium titled "Project Syllabus: Best Practices in Syllabus Tone" presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Toronto, Canada, August 2009.]

Is it Review Time for Your Department?

If your department is looking for one or more consultants/external reviewers, the Departmental Consulting Service can help you. Is it program review time at your institution? Did your dean request an external review? Is there a specific opportunity or challenge that your department is facing?

Consulting is not one-size-fits-all. Sometimes a department needs a fairly comprehensive evaluation. Sometimes a department needs a consultant for one specific issue, such as revising a degree program or developing a laboratory. We can help you find consultants to meet your needs.

One of the nice things about DCS is that our matching service is provided at no cost to you. Note that departments are expected to cover travel costs for consultants and provide an honorarium to be negotiated with each consultant. But DCS will not charge you for providing a list of qualified consultants.

If you'd like to get started, just contact me at kreiner@ucmo.edu. I'll ask you for some detailed information about what your needs are, then I'll match that with our list of approved consultants.