Senior Seminar

PSYC 4900

Course Description

A capstone course integrating the undergraduate psychology degree program. Should be taken during your last semester before graduation.

Prerequisites

PSYC 3080K with a grade of C or higher 

Learning Outcomes

Required Materials

Assignments & Grades

Activities  (10% of overall grade)

Throughout the semester, we will complete in-class and at-home activities and assignments designed to improve understanding and application of concepts. You will get credit for completing these activities. In-class activities cannot be made up; therefore, your consistent attendance is important. At-home activities will be turned in on D2L unless told otherwise. Most of the activity grades for this class will come from attending and participating in review games and in-class presentations. 


Quizzes  (10% of overall grade)

By now in your undergraduate career, you have learned about all the major subfields of psychology. In this class we will test your knowledge of the major topics within the field. The class is broken into ten major topics. Each topic will be assessed on a weekly quiz. Quizzes will be proctored using Respondus LockDown Browser on D2L + a webcam. Click here to download the latest version of LockDown Browser. To begin the quiz, go to Quizzes on D2L. Click on the quiz; then click Launch LockDown Browser. The startup sequence will take a couple minutes. You will need to do a webcam check, read some instructions, take a photo of yourself, take a photo of your UNG student ID, complete an environment check, complete a facial detection check, and then take the quiz. The purpose of this startup sequence is explained in the following instructions: “During this quiz, you shouldn't access other resources (a phone, tablet, notes, books, etc.) or communicate with other people. Please stay in your seat and focus on the computer screen until the quiz is complete. If an interruption occurs, briefly explain what happened by speaking directly to your webcam. And, finally, remember that you cannot exit the quiz until all questions are completed and submitted it for grading.” You have three attempts per quiz, and the quizzes are timed. The second and third attempts include only the questions missed from the first attempt. Quizzes cannot be made up. A bonus quiz (named “Quiz 0”) will occur before the first required quiz. This bonus quiz will cover history and systems in psychology. This will be the only extra credit provided for quizzes and serves to counteract any issues with quizzing throughout the semester including technical difficulties, etc.

 

Topic Review & Review Game  (10% of overall grade)

At the beginning of the semester, you will join a group. Your group will be assigned two major topics in psychology. One topic will be covered in the first half of the semester and the other in will be covered in the second half. Your group will review the material for each of your topics on your own. Then you will create a review game that you will facilitate during class. The rest of the class will be expected to have studied the material before the review game. You can pick any review activity you want, but it is highly recommended you get the activity you choose approved by Dr. Hale prior to the review day. 


 

Career Fair (10% of overall grade)

We will also host a mock career fair for both topics your group was assigned. Everyone in your group will be part of the career fair for that week, but this is an individual assignment (i.e., you will NOT work as a group). These career fairs will mimic a real career fair in which booths are setup for prospective employees to learn more about the careers.  You will be a representative of one career from your topic for that week. 


 

Career Project (25% of overall grade)

The purpose of this project is to help you brainstorm a career path in a psychology or psychology-adjacent field. (Note: all careers are psychology adjacent since they connect in some way to one or more subfields of psychology and/or they require that you work with other people effectively. Change my mind.) This project consists of several parts that will be completed across the semester. 









Research @ Work (15% of overall grade)

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate transferrable skills acquired as a psychology student: information literacy, critical thinking, empirical/research skills, and statistical/analytic skills. In the career project above, you are selecting and preparing for a career of your choice. Here, you will be exploring how research and empirical data influence your chosen career. 




 

Psychology Major Fields Test  (20% of overall grade)

The final exam for this class is a standardized test in psychology known as the Major Fields Test (MFT). The purpose of this test is to assess your knowledge and mastery of general psychology. This test consists of 140 multiple choice questions. The test will be completed in class during our final exam period. You will complete TWO scantrons with identical answers; one will be sent to the MFT scoring office and the other will be graded for this course. Review the linked MFT guide for more information. This test will be completed individually and no resources (e.g., notes) can be used during the test. This comprehensive final exam cannot be made up without excused absence documentation and permission from the Dean of Students office.

Grade Scale

> 90.0% = A

80.0 - 89.9% = B

70.0 - 79.9% = C

60.0 - 69.9% = D

< 60.0 = F

Schedule Overview

Week 1: Syllabus & Planning

Week 2: Psych Topic 0 // Focus2 Career Assessment

Week 3: Psych Topic 1 // Career Paper Outline

Week 4: Psych Topic 2 // Career Material First Draft

Week 5: Psych Topic 3 // Career Services

Week 6: Psych Topic 4 // Career Services

Week 7: Psych Topic 5 // Career Services

Week 8: Psych Topic 6 // Career Paper & Materials Final Draft

Week 9: Psych Topic 7 // In-class Interviewing Workshop

Week 10: Psych Topic 8 // Research @ Work: Literature Review

Week 11: Psych Topic 9 // Interviews Due

Week 12: Psych Topic 10 // Research @ Work: Career Connection

Week 13: Research @ Work Presentations

Week 14: Research @ Work Presentations

Week 15: Research @ Work Presentations

Finals: Major Fields Test