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  (8% 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  (12% 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 twelve 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 two attempts per quiz, and the quizzes are timed. The second attempt includes 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.

 

Review Game Facilitation  (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. The first half (~15-20 min) should be a content review/refresher for that topic. Highlight main ideas and themes. This should serve as a primer to help with your review game. You can make this part interactive too if you wish. Once the content review is over, you can jump into your review game for the remainder of class. The review and activity should take no more than 45 minutes total, including instructions, activity, and wrap-up. You will be graded on the following key factors: accuracy of content covered, effectiveness of review activity, preparedness, creativity, engagement with the class, and collegiality/professionalism. Even though this is a group activity, you will be graded individually. Note this activity must be created, not just taken from another source. You must participate meaningfully in the preparation AND facilitation of the activity to earn full credit. Using a pre-made activity is cheating and will result in a zero in the course. Refer to Academic Integrity statement earlier in the syllabus. Please note, for your second review game you should NOT use the same review game format your team used the first time. Try to branch out to something no other team has done!  

 

Career Presentations   (10% of overall grade)
 For the two psychology topics your group is assigned, you will also prepare for and complete two career presentations related to these topics. Each topic is a subfield of psychology, and people work in this subfield in a variety of careers. To prepare for each presentation, research the careers in the assigned subfield. Include the title and description of each career, how it ties to the assigned subfield, education level required, salary (medians preferred; consider location, state vs national data), and job availability (how common is the job) / scarcity (how many jobs are available). Also consider who would do well in each career (based on interests or other factors) and why. Try to find at least three careers from different sectors. For example, if your subfield is clinical psychology, don’t just pick counselor, therapist, and psychiatrist. Also consider educators, researchers, consultants, jobs in industry, etc. For most subfields in psychology, there are going to be jobs in academia/research, jobs in industry, and applied jobs. The presentation should not exceed 40 minutes, including quick description of your subfield, in-depth discussion of the careers in your field, and summary wrap-up. IMPORTANT: Rather than everyone picking a single career, I want you to work as a team to come up with all the main careers related to this topic. Then, if you want to divide up the other parts (salary, requirements of the job, etc.) you can do that. Remember to cover jobs at the bachelor, masters, and doctoral levels as appropriate. Leave time for a Q&A; also allow for questions during the presentation. You will be graded on the following key factors: accuracy of content covered, effectiveness of presentation, preparedness, creativity, engagement with the class, and collegiality/professionalism. Even though this is a group presentation, you will be graded individually. Note this activity must be created, not just taken from another source. You must participate meaningfully in the preparation AND facilitation of the presentation to earn full credit. Using a pre-made presentation is cheating and will result in a zero in the course. Refer to Academic Integrity statement earlier in the syllabus.

 

Problem Project  (20% of overall grade)

You group will pick ONE of your assigned topics to use for the Problem Project. In this project, you will consider a problem that individuals face in the real-world. For instance, if one of your topics is sensation and perception, you could pick color vision deficits as the “problem” you wish to address. Another example would be considering workplace harassment as the “problem” you address if one of your topics was social psychology. The “problem” should be something that commonly affects people in the population (or perhaps a particular sub-population). You should identify and research the problem specifically. Then you come up with a novel solution for the problem. This project should demonstrate your research methodology and scientific literacy search skills. You should use trusted (peer-reviewed) sources when researching the problem and the solution(s). You will write an APA formatted paper throughout the semester and present your project at the end of the semester. Use rubrics and other resources on D2L.


The Problem Project has six parts: 


Career Project  (20% of overall grade)

The purpose of this individual 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.) In this project, you will research a career using Focus2, ideas from career presentations, and/or other resources. The project has four primary components: career paper, CV/resume, letter of intent/cover letter, and interview.

 

The career paper should be an APA-formatted 7-10 page (content only) paper that includes: description of the career you have selected, why you selected this career path, what you have done to prepare to-date (e.g., classes taken, research, volunteer work, leadership roles), what is required to obtain this career, job availability/scarcity, salary, and the steps you plan to take to get to this career following graduation. For all this, consider the location you plan to live if you have a preferred location. You should find a real job ad online that is for a job you actually want and include it in your paper as an appendix. You should reference this job ad in your paper. If graduate school is required for your future job, you should also include the graduate schools to which you plan to apply. You need to pick a minimum of three graduate programs, all of which could help you get to your career goal. Include in your paper why you selected these programs and what their requirements are. For graduate programs, always consider acceptance rates, likelihood of acceptance based on your qualifications, cost, location, and fit. This paper should make it clear that you are interested in this career path, that you have already begun preparing for this career path, and that you have a plan following graduation to help you get to this career.


Before writing the career paper, you will complete an outline of the paper. Use the instructions above and resources on D2L to help with this.


Career Materials:

 

 


Once your outline and drafts of your career materials are complete, you will schedule an appointment to meet with Career Services. Click here to schedule an appointment. Use the appointment to help improve upon your materials (e.g., resume), ask questions about your future career, and prepare for your interview. You will need to submit evidence of attending this Career Services meeting AND submit notes from your meeting detailing how you plan to use what you learned to help you prepare for your career.

 

Finally, the last part of the project is a one-on-one interview with Dr. Hale. To prepare for this interview, you should review common questions asked during interviews for graduate school OR your chosen job. You should prepare for as many interview questions as possible, but you will turn in a list containing ten questions you think you might be asked during the interview and your answers to these questions. Then include three questions you would like to ask the interviewer (as they often ask if you have any questions for them). You can find lists of these questions online as well. You do not need to provide answers to these three since you would not be the one answering them in an interview. Please be intentional with the question you prepare for, your answers, and the questions you want to ask. If you find questions using online or Career Services resources, you must cite your sources. It is okay to create your own questions. You will schedule a time to meet with Dr. Hale for your interview. Your questions and answers must be submitted by 11:59 pm the day prior to the interview. Your interview will be graded based on preparedness, presentation style, and professionalism.

 

Content Team Journal  (Required for all group assignments)

Much of this course includes group work related to your two assigned content topics. This includes the two review games, the two career presentations, and the problem project. Throughout the semester, you will record your goals and your progress in a research journal. This journal will be on Microsoft Teams. All team members will use the same journal. This will help with communication and ensure proper progress is made throughout the course. Every member of the group must contribute to the journal on a regular basis. You should record your goals for each week at the start of the week, including what you plan to do and when. Then, you should record what you do throughout the week. Journaling is a good habit. Aside from the benefits mentioned here, your team assignment grades will be impacted by your journal entries. It is not fair for some people to do all the work for a team while others makes the same grades. When grading each group assignment, I will use the journals, the assignments themselves, my interactions with you during class, etc to determine your contribution and effort for each assignment. If you do not record your goals, contributions, and progress in the journal, you will not earn credit for team assignments. If you do not attend class during team assignment work or help your team outside of class appropriately, you will not earn credit for team assignments. A journal reflection will be completed at the middle and end of the semester. Finally, these journals are intended to improve communication and team effectiveness. If you notice team members inaccurately describing their effort/contributions or the effort/contributions of others, please let me know via email and/or during office hours. Intentionally recording inaccurate effort/contributions for yourself or others is cheating, a violation of the UNG Student Code of Conduct, and will result in an F in the course; it will also be reported to the Dean of Students and the office of Student Integrity.

 

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: Preparation week


Week 2


Week 3


Week 4


Week 5


Week 6


Week 7


Week 8


Week 9 


Week 10 


Week 11


Week 12


Week 13


Week 14


Week 15


Finals: Major Fields Test (MFT) during final exam period