Psyc 890 003 -
Professional Seminar in Psychology
DBS - I: The
Doctoral Student Experience
Course Syllabus -
Fall 2001 - Dr. Adam Winsler
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Instructor: Adam Winsler, Ph.D. Office: 2011 David King Hall
Phone: (703) 993-1881
Office Hours: Tues 1:00 – 3:00, + appt.
Email: awinsler@gmu.edu
Winsler URL: http://classweb.gmu.edu/awinsler
Course Schedule T 3:00 -4:15pm Location: East 121
Credit Hours: 1
Course Description
& Goals
The DPS professional seminars are organized into a series of three, 1-credit seminars which are offered in order, once each fall, for three years, starting with 1) "The Graduate School Experience", 2) "Communication Skills," and 3) “Preparing for Academic and Other Careers." The seminar this fall is the first of these, namely "The Graduate School Experience." The overarching goals for this course are to a) develop the practical knowledge and skills most needed for doctoral students to maximize their graduate school experience here, and b) provide a support group for facilitating each other's progress throughout the Ph.D. program and beyond.
Required Reading
Occasional articles - on reserve, or made available for photocopying in advance somehow.
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual (5th Ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Course
Requirements/Assignments/Activities
1) In-Class Participation. This is small doctoral seminar course that requires active discussion and contribution from each member of the class. The course will be enhanced greatly if we can all benefit from each individual student's ideas, questions, suggestions, and expertise.
2) On-line Discussion. We will be using WebCT to facilitate our discussion both inside and outside of class this semester. Students are encouraged to post whatever questions, issues, problems, suggestions, whatever, as often as they like throughout the semester. In addition to this voluntary usage of this resource, however, students will post each week (see below) at least one (1) question/problem/concern, and one (1) suggestion/answer/solution/tip relevant to the topic being discussed in class that week. These are due no later than 12:00 noon each Tuesday but the earlier the post comes in the (course) week, the better chance we will have for responses and discussion -- so please post these as soon after the previous class as possible.
Posts that are problems/concerns should end with some kind of question, and answers/suggestions/tips can either be in response to a particular student question already there or a general tip relevant to the topic that week. Questions and answers/tips posted will serve as a starting point for our in-class discussions and also ensure that everyone has thought about the topic of the week ahead of time and comes with some ideas. Students are required to post a minimum of 10 questions and 10 answers/tips across the semester and these can, but don’t have to be, in the same week. This means that students have 4 weeks that they skip posting for each type of post. The student with the most posts at the end of the semester will get a special prize (TBA) and the student with the least posts will be responsible for arranging/paying for the special prize for the winner.
The Psyc 890 course website located at: http://webct.gmu.edu/. You will log into this with your own individual MyWebCT account, and from there access the Psyc 890 WebCT page. To do this, simply locate the URL above in any browser, click on LOG ON TO MYWEBCT, and enter your mason user account (the first part of your mason email address, e.g. jsmith5) as your login ID, and the last four digits of your social security number as your password. Please have this done by the end of the first week of classes.
3) Readings - Students are required to read (before class) any texts that may be assigned.
4) Course Project – Resource guide for new students – It is the tradition of this prosem for the students to create/revise the New Student guide for new students that we give out to new DBS doctoral students. Each student will pick one or two of the topics from the guide and be responsible for updating the information in those sections. Students can turn in their materials earlier to Dr. Winsler, but they are required to do so by Dec. 4 in class.
As seen above, students will develop skills (if skills are
not there already) using a web-based tool for electronic course communication
(WebCT) in the form of an asynchronous unmoderated discussion. The course will
also ensure that students are familiar with a) searching professional bibliographic
databases for finding published scholarly literature, and b) using the WWW to
access potentially useful web links for graduate students.
Grades for this course will be on a satisfactory/no credit
basis. In order to receive a satisfactory pass, students will need to complete
requirements 1-4 above and any homework assignments that may be assigned.
Accommodation for
Students with Disabilities
It is the policy of the
University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with
disabilities. Students who may have special needs because of a physical or
learning disability are encouraged to contact Disability Support Services
ASAP (234 Student Union I) at
993-3247. Students with disabilities who are in need of accommodation relative
to class attendance/arrival, course requirements, or related aspects of course
performance and who have already processed the necessary paperwork with
Disability Support Services must initiate such a request in writing
immediately, and prior to any anticipated need, to the instructor. Such requests
will be accommodated within the reasonable constraints of fairness and
timeliness with regard to the instructor and the other students enrolled in the
course.
|
Date |
Topic(s) |
Reading/Assignment |
|
Tuesday – Aug 28 |
• Introductions • Overview and planning of the seminar |
• WebCT Account Registration |
|
Tuesday - Sept. 4 |
• Surviving, no, Thriving in Grad School - General Advice, Tricks, & Tips |
|
|
Tuesday - Sept. 11 |
• What You Can/Should be Doing Now to be Competitive for Academic Jobs Later |
|
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Tuesday - Sept. 18 |
• Internet/Technological/Software Resources for Graduate Students |
|
|
Tuesday – Sept. 25 |
• Literature and Measure Searching: -
Databases, Resources, and Strategies |
|
|
Tuesday - Oct. 2 |
• TA’ing and Teaching Tips/Issues |
|
|
Tuesday - Oct. 9 |
• FALL BREAK – NO CLASSES |
|
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Tuesday - Oct. 16 |
• Publishing and Presenting: - Questions and Answers |
|
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Tuesday - Oct. 23 |
• Getting Funding for Research/Travel |
|
|
Tuesday – Oct. 30 |
• Institutional Review Board (IRB) Procedures - Human and Animal Subjects |
• IRB Procedures |
|
Tuesday - Nov. 6 |
• Ethical Issues |
|
|
Tuesday - Nov. 13 |
• Early/Mid DBS Program Progress - Program of Study - Annual Evaluations - Advising/Mentoring Issues |
• Read & Bring DBS Doctoral Student Handbook |
|
Tuesday - Nov. 20 |
• Comprehensive Examinations |
• Read & Bring DBS Doctoral Student Handbook |
|
Tuesday - Nov. 27 |
• The Dissertation Process |
|
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Tuesday - Dec. 4 |
• Now What? - Career Options & Paths • Internships/Externships/Practica |
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Tuesday - Dec. 11 |
• Final Activity, Happy Hour, Awards Ceremony |
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