New ToPIX Content

Aaron Richmond is the ToPIX go-to person for all things Ed Psych.  This week he’s added three very nifty resources.  Be sure to check out the rest on that page.  You can find them all here.

• “Motivation Reflection Activities” comes from a 1984 Teaching of Psychology journal article where students engaged in three classroom activities that were designed to increase student motivation while learning about motivation.
• In “How to Be a Bully” the author of a 2004 Psychology Learning and Teaching article describes using role-playing to help students understand bullying and identify appropriate responses to it.
• In “The Motivational Toolbox,” an article in the Teaching Educational Psychology journal, the authors “focused on how to motivate students to learn motivation theories.”  It sounds like an activity that would be easily adapted to other courses that cover motivation.

The “In the News” section of ToPIX has some new content this week.

• Social: “One Man Says No to Harsh Interrogation Techniques” is a 26-min Fresh Air interview with Matthew Alexander (pseudonym), the author of How to Break a Terrorist and Kill or Capture.
• Neuroscience: “V.S. Ramachandran’s Tales of the ‘Tell-Tale Brain’” is a 19-min Fresh Air interview with V.S. Ramachandran.  He discusses, among other things, phantom limbs.
• Neuroscience: “Aerobic Exercise May Improve Memory In Seniors” is a 5-min Morning Edition story on a study that found that aerobic exercise increased the volume of the hippocampus in previously sedentary seniors.
• Development: “Taking a New Approach to ‘How We Age;” is a 31-min Talk of the Nation interview with Marc Agronin, author of How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Growing Old.  He argues that, culturally, we see aging as a disease and that it’s time that we change our way of thinking.
• Gender/Sexuality: “Virus Passed During Oral Sex Tops Tobacco as Throat Cancer Cause” from the NRP blog.

New ToPIX Content

For the last week participants in the various teaching of psychology listservs have been contributing their favorite examples of positive/negative reinforcement/punishment.  If yours isn’t there, be sure to add it by editing the page or adding a comment at the end of the page.  You can also find some more examples of schedules of reinforcement.  Erin Hardin has contributed a handy document for instructors new to teaching operant conditioning.

This week NPR reported on a study that found that children’s self-control is correlated with their later success.  You can find a link to that study in the In the News: Development section of ToPIX.  This fits in well with the video (now available in the Video: Development area) that shows how different kids react when given a marshmallow that they can either eat now or, if they save it, they can have a second one later.  

There’s been much discussion on the TIPS listserv of how an engineering student created a live replica of Escher’s waterfall.  See the video and the likely building plans at Video: Perception.

This past week reporter Serene Branson, while reporting from the Grammy’s, had a migraine that scrambled her speech.  The interview with her, including footage from her episode, is available from Video: Neuroscience.  (Thanks to Mike Palij of the TIPS listserv for this story.)  Continuing in the area of neuroscience, the NY Times reports that the runner’s high may be due to endocannabinoids.  Access that article through In the News: Neuroscience.  

Other news stories making it to ToPIX this week include an NPR story on how women hesitate to ask for a raise (In the News: Gender/Sexuality) and a NY Times report from a participant in this year’s U.S. Memory Championship (In the News: Memory).

New ToPIX Content

This week I asked on the teaching of psych listservs for examples of schedules of reinforcement.  Many of you contributed examples, thanks!  I've added them to ToPIX on this page. If you have examples you'd like to add, you can edit that page or visit that page and add them in the comments box.  

Also new this week is a short video from ABC News on distracted driving, a short video from CBS News on belief perseverance, and an edited episode from the TV show the Big Bang Theory that shows just the positive reinforcement scenes.

New ToPIX Content

While my ToPIX updates have been on hiatus, ToPIX has not been.  ToPIX is averaging over 1,000 page views a week. It looks like you're finding it to be a useful resource.  Great!

I want to thank Aaron Richmond (primarily ed psych resources), Julie Murphy (psych disorders videos), Bill Altman (rubrics), Robin Musselman (books) and Scott Bates (APA assignment) for their contributions to ToPIX over the last few months.  (If I've forgotten someone, my sincerest apologies!)

If you have content that you think should be added to ToPIX, please drop me an email at sfrantz@highline.edu.  I can either help you post it yourself or I can post it for you, whatever your preference.

What's New

The 'video' section is now called 'video/audio.'   Under "Other Teaching of Psych Wikis..." (bottom left on the main page), TeachPsychScience.org (specializing in resources for teaching research methods) has been added as a link.

Here's the most recent new content:

http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19981038/Sexuality-Video

81 Words: This American Life (Audio)

Guys and Dolls  (Video)

http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19980986/Development-Video

 Growing Up Online: Frontline (Video)

http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19981004/History-in-the-Classroom

Psychology’s Feminist Voices

http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19980997/Grading-rubrics-from-Bill-Altman

Bill Altman has provided several of his rubrics.

http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19981012/Language-Video

RadioLab’s Lucy story is now in the Video/Audio area

http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19981011/Language-in-the-News

Does Your Language Shape How You Think (NY Times, 8/26/2010)

STP Early Career Psychologist Council

 STP is now accepting nominations (including self-nominations) for this new Council. Nominees must be members of STP, within 7 years of having completed their doctoral degrees, and willing to commit to a three-year term to work with the VP for RRR to promote the interests of early career professionals. Nominations should include a CV, the name of two references who agree to be contacted, and a one-page statement of interest in the position. Please reply by February 14th to Regan A. R. Gurung or Diane Finley.

The Early Career Professionals (ECP) Council is comprised of four members who are engaged in establishing their professional careers. The Vice President of Recruitment, Retention, and Public Relations will serve as ex-officio member. The Council is charged with spearheading activities and opportunities to aid Early Career Professionals through education, training and networking, and as well as representing ECP interests in division matters. Possible projects might include a workshop for the APA/STP program or maybe for the STP hospitality suite or building a web link for early career professionals on the STP homepage.

Chair and Members

This Council is comprised of a Chair and members, all of whom are within 7 years of having completed their doctoral degrees. The Council Chair oversees the activities of the Council and will be appointed by the VP and STP-Executive Council. Each Council member, including the Chair, will serve a three-year term. Terms will be staggered.

Activities, Responsibilities, Policies, and Procedures.

The ECP Council works to promote the contributions and concerns of Early Career Professionals in Division matters. This is accomplished through two avenues. First, members of the ECP Council are assigned to Division Councils or Committees of particular interest to the ECP membership. Committee assignments are based on representation, need, relevance to ECP issues, and the respective member's interests. Second, the ECP Council will promote training and professional development through organization and implementation of focused programs at the Annual Meeting and other endeavors consistent with these goals.

Responsibilities of specific ECP Council members include the following:

Early Career Professionals Council Chair. Maintain contact with and coordinate activities of the ECP Council members; prepare and submit two reports each year to the VP for RRR (prior to mid-winter and APA convention Board meetings).

Liaison to APA Early Career Professionals Network. Report to the Division leadership about activities and needs.

Budget
The Council will have a budget of $1000.00 to support incidental expenses related to any initiatives the committee comes up with or to facilitate council meetings (conference calls, meetings).

Why Would You Want to be a DCS Consultant?

If you are reading this blog (which you are!), you probably already have a good idea of what DCS is about. You may have even used DCS as a resource when locating a consultant for your own department. But have you considered becoming a consultant for DCS?

First, you should know that DCS does not pay consultants. Not even a dime! But the departments that contract with consultants do pay. So one reason to consider becoming listed as a DCS consultant is that it can provide opportunities to add to your income. Departments are expected to cover your travel expenses plus an honorarium, the honorarium being negotiated between you and the department.

You may also enjoy serving as a consultant because of the intellectual adventure involved in learning about a department and providing recommendations. You may find it satisfying to help a department make progress toward its goals, solve a problem, or validate its excellence.

Another benefit is the opportunity to learn about different departments and meet diverse faculty and staff. You may find that you learn things from other departments that you can apply to your own department.

If this sounds good to you, I hope you will consider applying to be listed as a DCS consultant. The basic requirements are that you must have some experience as an administrator (e.g. department chair, assistant dean), you must have experience as a program evaluator, and you must have expertise in multiple consultation areas (e.g., curriculum, faculty development, advising, assessment). The most common request that we get is for an overall department evaluation or self-assessment. We do have a fairly rigorous review process involving review by current DCS consultants and by the APA's Board of Educational Affairs.

We review applications at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters. The deadline for spring, 2011 applications is January 28. If you are interested in applying, please contact me at kreiner@ucmo.edu.

Identifying Problems You Don’t Know Your Department Has

One of the most common requests that we receive is for a consultant to do a general evaluation of the department or to help the department conduct a self-assessment. In previous posts, I outlined some issues that come up in two common situations: (1) you think your department is in excellent shape; and (2) you know that your department has problems. In the last post of this series, I will address what happens if your department is somewhere in between. In other words, you have a general awareness that your department could be in better shape, but you're not sure what particular problems might exist. This is an excellent time to seek out an experienced external consultant to help you identify those problems.

It might help to consider some of the more likely culprits, those issues that tend to present difficulties to many departments. Of course, the specifics associated with any of these areas may well be unique to your institution.

• Do you have clearly defined goals for each of your degree programs?
  
• Do the goals of your programs fit with the mission of your department and your institution?
  
• Could the design of your programs be improved? Have you compared against APA recommendations and benchmarked against other departments?
  
• Are you doing a good job of advising and mentoring your students? Are they aware of the opportunities in your department? Are they prepared for the workplace and/or graduate school?
  
• Do you have assessment activities that provide useful information about whether you are meeting your goals?
  

Depending on where you are in evaluating your department, you may want to develop a list of questions like these, but tailor them specifically to your department. Your department could then ask one or more external consultants to help you answer your questions. If the answer is that your department could improve, consultants can help you plan a path to make changes. If your department is not at the point of being able to formulate specific questions, then consultants can guide you through that process.

If you are interested in hiring one or more external consultants, DCS can provide you (at no charge!) with a list of recommendations for potential consultants. If you have any questions about our services, please contact me at kreiner@ucmo.edu.