Dr. Snell's PY101 Syllabus:
Psychological Perspectives on Human Behavior

Varies by Semester (email me) and/or by prearranged appointment

The Southeast (SE) Missouri State University administration implemented an official policy in 2005 that all SE students are REQUIRED to use their SE Key email accounts in their university courses.  Thus, be sure to use your SE Key email account when emailing Dr. Snell.  After the first week of classes, Dr. Snell will no longer respond to email--unless it is send with an official SE Key email account.  Be sure to "activate" your SE Key email account (described below).

Whenever you email Dr. Snell, type "PY101.XX - FALL 2009 - YOURNAME" in the header/title of your email message (replace "YOURNAME" with your actual real name AND replace "xx" with your real section number).  Because of the large volume of email messages that professors receive (about 50\100 per day), Dr. Snell's email messages are sorted into class categories, based on the information in the title/header of the email messages.  Any email messages to Dr. Snell that fail to use the "correct" title/header will be erased before Dr. Snell can read them.  Thus, make sure that you include the following information in the "header/title" of any email message that you send Dr. Snell:  "PY101.XX - FALL 2009 - YOURNAME" (replace "YOURNAME" with your actual real name AND replace "xx" with your real section number).

PY101 is a University Studies course that provides students with an introduction to Psychology--the study of human thought, feelings, and behaviors.

NEVER send Dr. Snell an assignment by email.  All assignments and quizzes must be completed and posted at the PY101 web site.  Any assignment that is mailed to Dr. Snell, instead of being posted at the PY101 web site, will receive a grade of zero ("0").  Graded assignments/quizzes CANNOT be completed or posted after the official due date.  Also, double-check that your postings are actually posted--do this before the deadline.  If an assignment is not there at the course website, you will receive a grade of "0" for that assignment--even if you tell me that you completed it !

Students in Dr. Snell's on-campus section of PY101 are required to use the psychology textbook described above.  Visit the university's book store (click here) for more information on textbook acquisition.  Also, consider buying the optional study guide (about $15.00-$20.00) at the campus bookstore, "Southeast Book Store."  Students who buy and use the study guide tend to make better grades.  

When PY101 meets for the first time, Dr. Snell will distribute a printed copy of the "official syllabus" for PY101.  All course assignments and exams will be indicated on the printed copy of the PY101 syllabus.  In addition, all OFFICIAL deadlines for PY101 are indicated on the printed version of the syllabus that Dr. Snell distributes to PY101 students on the first day of class.  Always use the assignment/exam deadlines, as indicated on the printer version of the "official" syllabus!  NO CREDIT FOR WORK THAT IS LATE!  So plan ahead!
           THIS WEB SITE IS NOT THE OFFICIAL SYLLABUS FOR THE PY101 COURSE!  Rather, this web site is designed to be supplementary to the official syllabus.  If anything on this supplementary website seems to clash with anything on the official syllabus, then follow the instructions on the "official" syllabus.  As always, email Dr. Snell (wesnell@semo.edu) if you have any questions.  Click here to download an official copy of the course syllabus for the Fall 2008 semester (click here).

Yes, students in PY101 will be required to complete their written assignments at the PY101 web site.  In addition, students in PY101 will have to complete their weekly quizzes at the course web site.  In this regard, PY101 does has some online "supportive"  features to it--but this does not make PY101 an "online" course.  More specifically, an "online" course never meets in a classroom, but the students in this section of PY101 will meet every week of the semester at the assigned time/location (and Dr. Snell will take attendance).  Part of a university education is preparing students for their future, and your future will include use of the web/internet.

Since you will have extensive email correspondence with Dr. Snell in this course, it is imperative and necessary that you have and use a Southeast University email account.  Thus, all PY101 students MUST activate/use their UNIVERSITY SE Key e-mail account!  Once you have a university account, at least once per day check your university email messages.   In short, there is a class requirement that students in this PY101 course obtain and use a University email account!  DO THIS BEFORE THE SEMESTER STARTS!  Whenever you e-mail Dr. Snell, type "PY101.XX - FALL 2009 - your name" in the "subject line/title/header" of the e-mail message.  Because of the huge amount of email that university professors receive, no email messages to Dr. Snell will be read unless you type "PY101.XX - FALL 2009 - YOURNAME" in the "subject line/title/header" of the e-mail message (replace "YOURNAME" with your actual name; replace "XX" with your section number).

ATTENTION:   All students at Southeast Missouri State University receive a free computing account, known as a Southeast Key (SE Key account for short).   HOWEVER, you must activate your SE Key account before you can use it for email purposes.  To activate an SE Key, students log on to My Southeast from the university’s web page (http://www.semo.edu), just as they do to enroll for classes.  Next, select My Southeast from the upper right-hand corner, and then click on "CURRENT STUDENTS." Next, type your Student ID number and your personal PIN number, and then press the Login button to process your request.  Once logged on, a link will be available to take you to the SE Key activation page.  Here you will review the usage policies for your SE Key, set a SE Key password, and activate your SE Key.  You will also be able to set up a password reset capability.  SE Keys cannot be used until they are activated.  

A SE Key will be generated automatically for each new student the next working day after they enroll for classes.  SE Keys have already been generated for all students enrolled in the Fall 2008 classes.  Once an SE Key is generated, it will remain assigned to that particular student regardless of his/her enrollment status.  But, remember, you will have to activate your SE Key account before it will work for you.  Dr. Snell has been sending email messages to your SE Key email account since the first day of classes!

Note:  After you activate your SE Key, go to http://student.semo.edu to check your electronic mail for messages from your SE professors.

In this course, you will need a “USERNAME and PASSWORD” to access the PY101 course website (to do assignments and to take tests).  The PY101 “USERNAME and PASSWORD” will be the same Username/Password that you use for your “SE Key” account.  THUS, be sure to activate your “SE Key” account before the second day of class (do it immediately--now)!

1.    
Class Participation in the Course Activities:

Regular class attendance is required, since the class activities will involve (a) the simplification and/or elaboration of material described in assigned readings; (b) the introduction of important concepts and ideas not included in assigned reading; (c) some group discussions; and (d) numerous written assignments.  Students will be expected to have read the assigned chapters from the text, before doing any of the other PY101 class activities.  ATTENDANCE WILL BE TAKEN AT EVERY CLASS, AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS (if you come in late, you will be marked as "absent").  STUDENTS WHO ARE ABSENT WILL RECEIVE 0% OF THE POINTS FOR ASSIGNMENTS SCHEDULED THE DAY THEY ARE ABSENT FROM PY101 CLASS!

2.    
Exams:

Students will be required to take several in-class exams over the assigned chapters in the text.  Exam questions will ask students to apply and/or to integrate textbook information to relevant human situations.  These exams will be administered on the assigned dates (see the class schedule).  Make-up exams will consist of 20 essay questions!

3.   
Writing Assignments: 

4.
NONVIDEO
Interactive Assignments:

5. 
VIDEO Assignments. 

6.    PowerPoint Assignments: 

Students in this class are REQUIRED to participate in a group PowerPoint project.  That is, you and the other members of the class will be assigned to a particular PowerPoint group (failure to complete this project will result in failing the course).  Dr. Snell will give each group a topic (i.e., a psychological disorder), and that group will then research the topic and prepare a PowerPoint file on that topic.  The specific directions for doing this group PowerPoint project are located at the following website:  http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/Snell/PowerPoint/PowerPoint.htm.  The final PowerPoint project/file is due on Sunday of the 13 week of the semester.  Then, during the last few weeks of the semester, the members of each group will deliver their PowerPoint presentation to the PY101 class (i.e., in the classroom).  The PowerPoint group project/file is due on this Sunday (week#13) by midnight.  The "group coordinator" from each of the groups needs to "upload" the PowerPoint file to the course website.  When you go to the course website (http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/Snell/PY101/), click on the menu selection that is labeled, "DropBox."  When you click on the word "DropBox," you will first be asked to give your Username/Password.  Next, select your particular group (either Group A, B, C, D, E, F) and click on that group.  When the next webpage shows, click on the "AddFile" button AND then follow the directions for uploading your PowerPoint file to the PY101-XX website.  If you have any questions about uploading your PowerPoint file to the course website, be sure to! contact me.  Midnight on Sunday (April XX) is the due date ! ! ! ! !  The in-class group presentations, using the PowerPoint files, will begin after Exam#4.  Group A will go first, then Group B, then Group C, then Group D, then Group E, and then Group F.  All of the members of each group HAVE to participate in the classroom presentation, and someone from each group needs to bring a copy of the PowerPoint file on the day of presentation.  The group presentations will be about 50-60 minutes long.  Contact me if you have any questions about these PowerPoint presentations.  In addition, the directions for the PowerPoint project (and each group's topic) are presented in the "PowerPoint Tutorial" (click here).  All members of each group will receive the same grade as the other group members, assuming that each person has contributed her/his fair share of work to the project!
         Group Coordinator.  For each of the PowerPoint groups, a member will need to volunteer during the first 2 weeks of class to be the "group coordinator" for the groups.  This person will earn a bonus of 25 points for serving as the group coordinator.  S/he will monitor the PowerPoint postings of the other group members to ensure that they are "correctly" and "appropriately" doing their assigned group activities on a timely basis.  The group coordinator also is not required to prepare any "content" slides for the group project (see the "PowerPoint Tutorial" to learn more about this).  The group coordinator will be grading each group member's contributions to the PowerPoint project.  Each week when the group members post an "APA formatted" reference to the group's website, the group coordinator will copy and past these references into the "Reference" slide(s) of the group's file.  In addition, each week when the group members post a "PowerPoint slide" to the group's website, the group coordinator will first download the the slides and then s/he will copy and past these references into the group's "final" file.  If you have 2 PowerPoint files open at the same time, you can "click and drag" a slide from one file to the other file.  This procedure is easier to do, if you have clicked the "cascade" option in the one of the drop-down menus in PowerPoint.
           Weekly PowerPoint Posting.  Each week every member of the course has to post at least once to her/his group's PowerPoint location (see the weekly schedule).  The group coordinator has until Sunday of teach week to post, but other group members have to post by Saturday at midnight.  The specific directions for each weekly PowerPoint assignment may be seen by clicking on the appropriate link on the "Weekly Schedule."  If you fail to post during any week, you will receive a score of "zero" and you will not be allowed to make up that missed work.  For the first 6 weeks of the semester you will have to use "PsycARTICLES" to locate the literature on your group project (you and your group members will divide the "topic outline" so that different group members will be responsible for locating the literature on different parts of the topic outline).  You can ONLY use the PsycARTICLES to locate information from psychology journal articles for your topic; no other sources of information may be used!  Beginning in Week#07, you will also be "attaching" at least one PowerPoint slide to your weekly group postings.  And, each week until Week#13 you are required to post an entirely NEW PowerPoint slide at your group's website (see the specific instructions by clicking on the appropriate link in the "Weekly Schedule").  During the first 6 weeks of the semester you will locate psychology journal articles that are related to your specific topic (i.e., your part of the "outline" for your topic).  And, the slides that you prepare will be based on the information that you obtained from the PsycARTICLES database.  Be sure to post messages back-and-forth to your group coordinator, to coordinator the various parts of the group project. 
         Example of a "Group" PowerPoint file.  If you would like to see a copy of what a group's PowerPoint file should be, then click here.  When you click on this link, you will be able to download and view the example of an acceptable "Group" PowerPoint file.  You and the other members of your group should be preparing a project similar to this example.  This particular file was prepared in PowerPoint 2003, but remember that you have to prepare your group file in PowerPoint 2007 (Windows version).
          Group PowerPoint Presentation.  During the last 2-3 weeks of the semester (see the "weekly schedule") students in PY101 will be delivering their group PowerPoint presentations in class.  Every member of the group is required to participate in this presentation.  The grading criteria for the presentation can be seen by clicking here (click here to download in Word format).  All members of each group will receive the same grade (because it is a "group" project); however, the group coordinator will indicate whether every group member participated equally in the project (and individual grades will be adjusted based on this participation).  Normally, there are 6 group presentations each lasting about 30-45 minutes.   Someone from each group will need to bring a copy of the presentation itself to class on the scheduled day of presentation.  The final exam will consist of questions based on the 6 group presentations.   The presentations themselves will be available only in class on the day that the presentation is scheduled (that is, the group PowerPoint files will not be posted at the course website). 

Students in Dr. Snell's sections of PY101 need to use 3 FREE software programs:  (1) Windows Media Player, the software that will allow students in PY101 to view the assigned video tapes, (2) UTest (the OIS testing software), the software that will allow students in PY101 to take the assigned quizzes/exams, and (3) FlashPlayer, a component of the Windows software.  Click here to learn how to download, install, and use these 3 software programs.

Academic Honesty at Southeast Missouri State University (Undergraduate Bulletin, pp. 15-16): Academic honesty is one of the most import qualities influencing the character and vitality of an educational institution. Academic misconduct or dishonesty is inconsistent with membership in an academic community and cannot be accepted. This means do not cheat in PY101, and do not cite someone else's work as your own.  Violations of academic honesty represent a serious breach of discipline and may be considered grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal from the University.  Those who cheat in the class will receive a grade of zero (0).

Dr. William E. Snell, Jr., will be the instructor for this course.  If you ever have any academic problems with this course, then please feel free to contact me in any or all of the following ways:   e-mail me directly (wesnell@semo.edu), call me on the phone (573-651-2447), or come to campus to see me in person (Scully Building, Room 427-F).