Survey of Psychology: Perception (320)

Syllabus (Fall 2007)

Writing Assignment Information and a Note about writing assignments 

Tentative Semester Schedule

Additional Resources

How do I check my grades on Blackboard?

Instructions for forwarding your titan email to another email account.

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Syllabus for Perception (PSY 320)

Fall 2007

Instructor: Dr. Scharff
Office: EDU 215f
Lab: EDU 117c
TEC Office: Steen Library 202H
Office Hours: M 10-11, 1-2 T 11-12:30, W 1-2, TH 11-12:30, or by appointment
Phone: 468-1415
Email: lscharff@sfasu.edu

TA: Richard Sylvester
Office: ED 104A
Hours: TR 8:00 - 9:30, 10:45 - 12:30, 1:45 - 4:00 and by appointment
Email: RSylvesterJr@gmail.com

Required Texts: Sensation and Perception by Wolfe, Kluender, & Levi

There will also be articles / readings handed out in class and possibly some articles on reserve in the library or placed on my web page. Some class announcements and assignments will be sent to you via email. I will use your titan account that you are assigned through SFASU. It will be your responsibility to check your email regularly. It is possible to forward your titan account email to another account if you prefer (e.g. a hotmail account). I will also send Psychology news updates; these are optional readings unless otherwise noted.

Prerequisites: Psy 133 or consent of the instructor.

Objectives: The objectives of this course are to provide you with a general background of psychophysical and physiological perception research and how perception applies to many areas outside of academia (e.g. communications, marketing, art, heath services, everyday happenings). Developmental perception topics will also be incorporated throughout the semester. This course will place an emphasis on vision, and secondarily, on audition; however, all five senses will be covered.

Although this course will primarily be lecture-based, as part of the course you will also participate in perceptual demonstrations and class discussions regarding the application of the material to everyday life. My assessment of your understanding of the material will be based on exams and short writing assignments. I expect you to come to class prepared to discuss the material and to treat everyone in the classroom with respect (i.e. turn of cell phones, and refrain from personal discussions while others are presenting information).

Chapter Exams: There will be 6 exams plus a comprehensive final. All of the exams will consist of some multiple-choice questions and some short answer questions. Questions on the exams will be drawn from the assigned chapters in the text, as well as from the lectures. Chapter exams are scheduled to last 50 minutes at the beginning of class. Following the exam there will be an introduction to the next topic that will incorporate an activity.

Each exam and the final will be worth 100 points. I will use your top 6 exam grades when calculating your final course grade (i.e. the cumulative final can replace one regular exam grade; if you are happy with your grade without taking the final, then it is not required).

The semester schedule (see the final page of the syllabus) shows the highly probable topic and exam schedule. I will hand out blank (unlined) paper for the exams. If you prefer to write on lined paper, please bring blank sheets and show them to me prior to the start of the exam.

If you require special arrangements for taking exams, and you are registered with Disability Services, please see me as soon as possible to discuss this.

NO make-ups will be given except for a DOCUMENTED emergency. (In other words, weddings, vacations, oversleeping etc. will not qualify as a legitimate excuse.) In order to qualify for a make-up, you must contact me as soon as your emergency allows, and you must take the make-up within one week of returning to class. If you know ahead of time that you have a university-related conflict, give me documentation prior to missing the exam.

Reflection writing Assignments: One of the main objectives of this course is to help you explore how perception applies to everyday life and to other areas beyond perception research in the lab. Therefore, 7 times this semester (see the semester schedule below) you will submit a reflection paper that answers three of the following five questions. For each paper, you can choose which of the three questions you prefer to answer. Write a separate paragraph (5-6 sentences on average) for each question so that it is clear which questions you are answering.

Questions for reflection papers:

1. 1. What was the most interesting new thing you learned in class or through the readings this week? Why?

   2. What was something you learned in class that you shared with a friend or family member outside of class? Why? How did they respond?

   3. What happened outside of class that reminded you of something you learned in class(anytime this semester)? Explain. [You may include information from the optional readings that I send via email or information you learn from other media sources for this question.]

   4. What happened outside of class that you were better able to understand or handle because of something you learned in class (anytime this semester)? Explain.

   5. What is something in class that you are having the most troubling understanding? What have you done so far to try to understand that material?

Each reflection paper will be worth 15 points. There will be 7 papers due, and they will be collected at the beginning of class. In order to give you more flexibility with your course load, I will drop one paper grade. I will accept late papers without documentation, but there will be a 2-point-per-day (including weekend days) penalty for late papers. Late papers on the due date (i.e. turned in later than the beginning of class) will be given a 1-point penalty.

The evaluation of your writing assignments will be based primarily on how fully and effectively you answer the questions. However, I will expect all writing to use the conventions of standard written English, which includes usage, punctuation, and mechanics (especially spelling). Assignments should be turned in typed, using Times New Roman font and double spacing. See the "note about the writing assignments" below for an explanation of point deductions.

Attendance/Lateness: Class attendance and participation are vital to your learning experience. Attendance will not be recorded everyday; however, there will be 10 attendance points given at random throughout the semester. THESE ARE REQUIRED POINTS, not extra credit points. If you come but do not participate (e.g. contribute to activities), I reserve the right to take away your attendance point.

Finally, I expect you to be professional and courteous in your behavior. Although I realize that occasional tardiness cannot be avoided, late arrivals disrupt the lecture, which is not fair to those students who do arrive on time. If you must arrive late or leave early for some reason, please let me know, and sit by the door so as to minimize the interruption. Other examples of professional behavior include turning off your cell phone, not holding side conversations, and when we are in the computer lab, not using the computers for personal tasks such as checking email. Thank you.

Extra Credit: The will be several opportunities for extra credit throughout the semester. Opportunities will include pop quizzes, activities, short assignments. The maximum number of extra credit points allowed is 2% of the possible course points (department policy).

Academic Dishonesty: THE NEW POLICY STATES: "After a determination of dishonesty, the faculty member shall notify the Office of the Dean of the student's major by submitting a Report of Academic Dishonesty form, along with supporting documentation as noted on the form. This report shall be made part of the student's record and shall remain on file with the Dean's office for at least four years. The Dean shall refer second or subsequent offenses to the University Committee on Academic Integrity established under this policy. The faculty member shall also inform the student of the appeals process available to all SFA students (Policy A-2)."

Blackboard: All your grades will be posted on Blackboard. To access Blackboard, you will use your mySFA ID and password. There are further instructions on the class web page. You will also have all your assignments returned to you in class after they have been graded.

Note: If you have any questions over the course material, please come discuss them with me or with the teaching assistant. (It helps to do this before the tests rather than after...) You may also email me at any time.

Course Grading:

The final course grade will be determined using the following points:

Exams & Comprehensive Final (100 points each; top 6 taken)	600
Reflection papers (top 6 of 7; 15 pts each)	90
Attendance	10
Total	700

Individuals receiving at least 90% of the points will receive an A, 80 &endash; 89.9% a B, etc.

A Note about the Writing Assignments PSY 320

Good writing skills are among the most important and fundamental that you should develop as a student of higher education (and prior to that). No matter what field you decide to explore, written communication skills will allow other people to clearly understand you, and they will often open doors that would remain closed if you did not have such skills. For example, many companies routinely discard any resumes that contain even a single spelling mistake or grammatical error.* That's it &endash; no chance for a second impression to overcome the first, negative one. Whether you want to work for someone else or be your own boss, to be successful in this world, you will generally need to make a favorable impression on others: they will need to believe that you are competent and professional.

So, in this class writing assignments will be taken seriously on two levels. The most obvious will be that of content. You should take time to think about the questions and write complete, reflective answers. Make sure you answer all questions, and all parts of each question. Incomplete or superficial answers will not receive full credit. The questions, however, will generally not have a "right" or "wrong" answer; they will be personal (but not intimate!) reflections.

The second level upon which your writing assignments will be graded will be for correct spelling and grammar. All misspellings will receive a 0.50 point deduction, even if they are a correctly spelled word out of context (e.g. if you use the word "there" instead of "their"). In this age of spell checks on computers, there is no excuse for most misspellings (if you don't have spell check, use a dictionary!). Proofreading is essential to find misused words and grammatical problems. Major grammatical problems (e.g. run-on sentences, sentence fragments, subject-verb disagreements) will receive a 0.50 point deduction, and minor ones (e.g. awkward sentences, transitions, paragraph structure), a 0.25 point deduction. Remember, each paper is worth a total of 15 points.

I realize that this is not an English class. However, good writing skills are fundamental and transcend course topic. Therefore, take the time to write and proofread your work. These papers can significantly help your course grade (especially if you are a poor test taker), or they can hurt it if you do not take them seriously. There are many free resources if you do not feel confident about your writing: make an appointment to have me review a paper draft, make an appointment to meet with the TA, go to the AARC in the library, or have a friend give you feedback.

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* Here is a quote from an interview published in the Washington Post, June 2003. The person being interviewed is an assistant director of a company who is answering questions about hiring practices at her company.

"You do have to be able to speak intelligently about what you know. If you're well-spoken, and can explain it back to me -- I'll respect that," she says. When Van Loon sees a typo on resume, she knocks an applicant out of the running. Her reasoning: if a candidate can't handle the details of his own job search, he probably can't meet the meticulous standards of the lab team.

"You need very high attention to detail ... I need to know if something is going wrong," she says.

Tentative Semester Schedule

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