PSY 526 - Psychology of Learning

Fall 2001 - FD 106

Instructor: Moises F. Salinas, Ph.D. Office: 214 Marcus White

Office Hours: T-Th 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Telephone: 860-832-3104

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I. OVERVIEW

This is a general course in the theories and research on human learning and motivation. By the end of the class, you will be able to:

• summarize the basic tenets of the theories of learning and motivation as they apply to educational settings;
• discuss the relevance of these theories to your own area of specialization;
• discuss yourself as a learner and/or teacher, using the appropriate vocabulary and concepts that have been developed in the course;
• use the theories and concepts to analyze, evaluate and design instructional strategies for yourself and others;
• critique ideas and proposals that arise during the discussion in light of the theories and concepts of human learning and motivation.

II. COURSE MATERIALS

Texts: Human Learning (3rd Edition),

by Jeanne E. Ormrod.

Optional: How to Write Psychology Papers, Parrot, L. (1999).

III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

A. Regular attendance and participation, including occasional understanding checks; to use the theories, critiques ideas and grasp the basic content: 20 points.

You will be expected to have read the materials to be discussed in class!

What is an understanding check? I have found that having regular activities that ask you to use the information we're reading and discussing encourages deeper processing and longer retention. I want to be sure about your grasp of the material. I also want you to get used to writing about these theories for other faculty as well. These are not exams or quizzes, but in class applications and discussions that use the reading material in a way that demonstrates you understand it.

B. Project Paper. For this you have two options:

B1 - A Learning/Teaching project; to demonstrate the use of theories in the actual practice

of learning or teaching: 30 points total

To give you an opportunity to experience firsthand the concepts we are discussing, you will be invited to undertake an eight week project in which you are either the learner or the teacher. You may choose what you wish to learn or teach, but it can range from a new skill (like tennis) to a new language (like SPSS) to a new content area (but not this content). Of course, if you decide you want to be the teacher, you will need to find a learner. Your grade will not be based on whether you learned or taught, but on how well you understood and applied the course content to the process. In this project, you will monitor and plan the learning activities and maintain a personal physical log of strategies attempted, experiences, interpretations and observations on the progress of learning and the reasons behind it. When the eight week period is over, you will produce a report that describes objectively what was observed and subjectively what was going on in the learner. (Note that if you choose to be a teacher, you'll have to debrief the learner periodically.) Then you will analyze in groups the learning/teaching from the standpoint of one or more of the theories we have studied during the semester. Once the projects have been decided on, I will attempt to group class members into "learning teams" working on similar projects. These groups will meet during class as one of the regular class activities and compare notes and observations from their log and discuss questions I will provide.

B2 - Team Research Paper: You will be asked to write a term paper which counts 30% of your final grade.

The details will be discussed when the assignment is given. For this paper, you will be researching in a team of two to three people a subject area which interests you and writing 10-15 pages integrating the information you have read. You will need at least five (5) primary research references to support the points you make in your paper. Each research team will meet periodically as part of the class activities to discuss and work on their project.

C. Connection Papers: Three "connections" essays; to make the connections between this content and your area of specialization: 10 points each. One of the most agreed-on phenomena in learning is the value of making connections between prior knowledge and new learning, between learner goals and learning goals, between classroom contexts and "real world" contexts of use. Therefore, approximately every other week, you'll have an opportunity to describe how some aspect of what we have been discussing applies in your own experience or field. You'll bring a 1-2 page essay that makes a connection between the literature in your own field and this course, which will be shared in small groups with others from the same or closely related fields. The first two essays may be reworked on the basis of feedback and resubmitted once each for additional points, but this must be done before the third essay is submitted.

D. Paper presentation: Each student will select one or two professional papers from a file the first day of class, and lead a 20-30 minute discussion of the paper in class worth 10% of your grade. Each week there will be one or two presentations, and the papers will be presented when a topic is appropriate for that day of class. In addition, each student is required to give a one-to-two page handout summarizing the paper.

E. Team Presentation: Each learning team will prepare either a short (10-15 min.) presentation or a poster presentation about your projects. The presentation will be worth 10% of your final grade and will be delivered the final day of class.

F. Evaluation: Your final grade will be based upon the following:

Project Paper 30%

3 "Connections" Papers 30%

Class Participation 20%

Paper Presnetation 10%

Team Presentation 10%

The final grades will be based on the following scale: 85 points or more will earn an "A"; 70 points a "B"; 55 points a "C". I cannot imagine anyone at this level falling below 55 points. If that appears to be happening, we'll talk before it's too late.

G. Class activities: Since this is a three hour class, we're going to do a lot of different things each week so our attention is maintained. Class will usually follow this sequence:

- 1st 75 minutes: Review and discussion of main reading topic for the day and paper presentations

- Break

- 2nd 40 minutes: One of three possible activities - read and discuss "connections" essays in groups or report and discuss learning projects or do an understanding check or activity about major theories

Final 20 minutes: Debriefing on group activities if appropriate or continue the

understanding checks or activities.

This schedule is subject to correction as we see how the group coalesces. I am always open to deviations from the schedule for interesting but related current events.