Other Course Components. There are three other components of the course that are important for you to know about: Canvas Modules, discussion boards, and research participation.

Canvas modules. We will place information about the chapters in the “modules” section on the course Canvas page. We will provide screencasts, in addition to Launchpad activities, videos, and flashcards. You will need to complete an entrance ticket activity in order to access each module. For the first module (Prologue/Ch. 1), you will need to complete four activities: 1. Student orientation quiz (score 9/11 correct), 2. Introduce Yourself! discussion board, 3. Download and install Respondus Lockdown (available at https://download.respondus.com/lockdown/download.php?id=755512061), and 4. Submit an introductory survey. When you have successfully completed all four of these, content for the first module will open.

Discussion boards. Each chapter will have an optional discussion board. This is where you can ask questions about the screencasts (like raising your hand if you were at an in-person lecture). This way the entire class can benefit from your question. This is also the place you can ask questions about other activities and videos for the chapter. The use of the discussion board is not graded, but encouraged!

Each unit will also have an entrance ticket discussion board. Students will be sorted into discussion groups of about 20 to facilitate student interaction for these discussion board entrance tickets. These discussion boards are ungraded, but students must post something to the board in order to unlock the screencasts and videos for that unit.

For the first discussion board, called Introduce Yourself, students need to post a written or video introduction of themselves in order to open the module for Unit 1. The purpose of this specific discussion board is to get to know your fellow students, which might be a little tougher in an online course.

Research participation requirement. In this class, you will be required to participate in 4 hours of psychological research. One benefit of research participation is to learn first-hand how psychologists gather data from human participants. You will also be aiding the researcher(s) in their exploration of issues valuable to the science of psychology. Opportunities to participate in psychological research are posted online at http://baylor.sona-systems.com/. Students must register with the online system in order to sign up for experiments. It is the student’s responsibility to let an instructor know if he/she is having difficulty registering with the online system. Further details about this online system and instructions for how to register can be found at:

https://www.baylor.edu/psychologyneuroscience/index.php?id=946373

You must register with the online system and complete your first two hours of required research participation by Friday, Mar 12, to avoid a 1 point penalty from your grade. All four hours of required research must be completed by Wednesday, April 28, 5pm Central Time in order to avoid an Incomplete for the course.

It is strongly advised that students complete their research requirement as soon as possible, Sign-ups for experiments tend to be light at the beginning of the semester; if you wait until just before the deadline, you will find that there are no longer any sign-ups available. Please alert an instructor about any problems you may have with the online sign-up system.

The vast majority of research is for participants age 18 and older. If you are under the age of 18, please complete the research paper alternative, detailed below, in lieu of research participation.

Research paper alternative. For students who find research participation objectionable, or for those students who are under the age of 18, you may write four research article summaries in lieu of research participation. You will choose a topic in psychology, summarize what the text says about it, and critically review 4 research articles on the topic. The topic and corresponding research articles for the research paper and the extra credit paper (see below), must be approved by an instructor in advance, at the latest by Mar 12. We recommend that you contact an instructor as soon as you know that you wish to write the paper, so that we can help you find a topic and acceptable articles. This paper should be written consistently with APA format, and is due on Apr. 28. Students who choose the research paper option will be required to utilize the TurnItIn Plagiarism Detection Service. Baylor’s Office of General Counsel requires that we provide you with the following notice:

Students agree that by taking this course, all required papers, exams, class projects or other assignments submitted for credit may be submitted to turnitin.com or similar third parties to review and evaluate for originality and intellectual integrity. A description of the services, terms and conditions of use, and privacy policy of turnitin.com is available on its web site: http://www.turnitin.com. Students understand all work submitted to turnitin.com will be added to its database of papers. Students further understand that if the results of such a review support an allegation of academic dishonesty, the course work in question as well as any supporting materials may be submitted to the Honor Council for investigation and further action.

If you do not complete the first two hours of research participation or receive approval for your paper topic by the deadline of Mar 12, you will lose 1 point from your total grade. Additionally, students who do not complete the 4 hours of required research participation (including 2 hours of in-person participation) or the research paper by Apr. 28 will receive an “incomplete” for the course. Likewise, if the student does not submit his/her alternative research summaries to Canvas by Apr 28, that student will also receive an “incomplete.” If the research credit or summary is not completed within the next enrolled semester (including summer semesters), the incomplete will be changed to an “F”. It is the students’ responsibility to contact an instructor in the event of an incomplete to discuss research credit needed. The student is also responsible for alerting the instructors the following semester when the research credit is completed.

Extra Credit Opportunities:

Students may participate in up to 3 additional hours (for a total of 7 hours) of research for extra credit. These 3 additional hours will each be the equivalent of an item on a regular exam, and must be completed by Dec. 1. See above for guidelines regarding research participation. Students who have not completed their first two hours of required research participation by the Mar 12 deadline will not be eligible for extra research credit. Alternatively, if you find participation in research objectionable, you may critically review an additional 3 research articles (for a total of 7 articles) for extra credit, due Apr 28.

Grades: Percent

Exam 1 17%

Exam 2 17%

Exam 3 17%

Exam 4 17%

(lowest unit exam dropped - 17%)

LaunchPad learning curve assignments 8%

LaunchPad chapter quizzes 8%

Cumulative Final 33%

Research requirement: 4 credits (minus 1 exam item if late)

Extra credit: up to 3 additional credits (up to 3 exam items)

------------------------------- 100%

Grades will be assigned as follows:

% cutoff	GRADE
90%	A
88%	B+
80%	B
78%	C+
70%	C
60%	D
Below 60%	F