PSY 3314
Learning & Behavior
Online
Information for New
and Prospective Students
B. F. Skinner
PSY 3314
|
B. F. Skinner |
For the 2010 spring semester, PSY 3314 (Learning and Behavior) is being offered by the University of Houston-Downtown as an online course. This page provides pre-semester information intended to help students who have registered for the course get off to a fast start, and to help other interested students decide if they might want to take the course. Both registered and prospective students should check this page often between now and the beginning of the semester in case useful information might have been added since the last time you visited.
CURRENT UHD STUDENTS If you're already a UHD student, you may register for this course by following the usual registration procedures.
NON-UHD STUDENTS If you're not currently enrolled at UHD, then in order to take this course, you must first apply for admission to the university. Your first step should be to contact Dr. Williams at williamsp[at]uhd.edu.
BCABA CERTIFICATION CANDIDATES If you wish to take this course as part of the three-course BCABA certification series, and if you find that the course is closed, contact Dr. Williams at williamsp[at]uhd.edu about the possibility that a space can be opened for you.
SEND ME AN EMAIL If you haven't already done so, send me an email at williamsp[at]uhd.edu so I'll know that you've visited this page and have read the information here. In that email, please include your telephone numbers (home, work, cell phone) in case I need them to contact you before the semester begins. When class begins, all of our communication will be via the email and bulletin board channels provided by the Vista software. But before then, I'll be communicating with you for the purpose of getting the fast start mentioned above. In addition to news posted on this web page, I'll communicate with you using your personal email address and, only when necessary, your telephone number.
GET TEXTBOOK The textbook for this course is Principles of Behavior (6th ed., 2008), written by Richard Malott and published by Pearson/Prentice Hall. In order to be sure that you're ordering the correct book, you must know its ISBN number. At present all books have two ISBN numbers – one with 10 digits and one with 13 digits. For this book, the 10-digit ISBN is 0-13-243363-X and the 13-digit ISBN is 978-0-13-243363-1. If you're in the Houston area, the fastest way to get this book may be to pick it up in person at the UHD bookstore. You may also order it by mail, fax, or online, and have it delivered to you. Instructions for these options are available at the UHD Virtual Bookstore.
GET CYBERRAT In addition to the textbook, you'll order and install on your computer a software application called CyberRat. It will turn your computer monitor into an operant chamber (Skinner box) so that you can practice applying the principles learned in the course to modify the behavior of a laboratory rat. For detailed instructions about purchasing and installing CyberRat, click here.
VISIT UHD ONLINE SITE Visit the UHD Online web site. Explore the information there carefully and be sure to work through all the links, especially Resources in the Student section.
FIRST DAY OF CLASS The "classroom door" will open on January 19, 2010. Once that happens, you'll be able to access the course through your "My Vista" page. For information about how to do this, and for other technical issues throughout the semester, use the help that's available on the UHD Online web site.
CHECK THIS PAGE OFTEN Stay in touch by checking this web page often in the weeks and days before the first day of class. A major advantage of the technology available to us is being able to avoid some of the constraints of clock and calendar. By communicating certain "getting started" information before the official first day of class, we'll be able to "hit the ground running" and use all of our learning time on exactly that -– learning – rather than administrative and logistical trivia.
PSY 3314 will be a regular, advanced undergraduate course with one important difference – all of your engagement with the teacher, your fellow students, and a significant portion of the instructional material will take place outside the classroom through the media of the Internet, e-mail, and other electronic means. In theory, there will be no need for you to set foot on campus for any purpose related to this course. However, this does NOT mean that there won't be much interaction between you, the teacher, and your fellow students. In fact you should expect to be MORE involved with them than you would be in a traditional face-to-face course.
The course will not include formal lectures of the type that occur in many traditional classrooms. But I will be an active participant in the discussions that take place on the course bulletin board, and my comments there will often be somewhat lengthy and will, in other respects, resemble the traditional lecture.
As of the date of this writing, my plans for grading in the course include a combination of the following elements. However, this is subject to change before the start of the semester:
September 25
Please don't delay in getting your textbook. You will have a reading
assignment from the first day of class and a quiz on it within a couple
of days. Please don't delay in ordering CyberRat. We'll be using it
soon after class begins.
If you know of other students who might be taking this course, or who might be interested in taking it, please tell them about this web page. I'm trying to contact all registered students before the semester begins, but without your help, I may miss a few. Thanks!
If you have other questions about the course, please send me an email at williamsp[at]uhd.edu.