The Power of Fiction: Reading Stories in Abnormal Psychology

We compared the instructional efficacy of a narrative text (i.e., a story) and an expository text (i.e., a textbook excerpt). Students enrolled in Abnormal Psychology classes read about the disorder, dissociative fugue from a story, a textbook, or both. The story contained literary elements that increased transportation into the story world. We predicted that this would facilitate memory encoding and improve subsequent test performance. Students who read the story achieved higher quiz scores and evidenced greater free recall about the disorder than those who read the textbook. They also reported greater transportation into the discourse. The combined reading conditions were more efficacious than either alone. The advantage of having read the story was evident up to 3 weeks later when students were retested. Our results suggest that, across text genre, the experience of being transported into discourse accounts for greater test performance over time

Introduction to General Psychology (Augusta)

This Grants Collection for Introduction to General Psychology was created under a Round Five ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/psychology-collections/1017/thumbnail.jp

Closing the Loop: Linking Assessment with Course Design

The objective for the session will be to show ways to effectively use assessments to facilitate the revision of course content. Best practices in assessment/course design will be presented along with a demonstration of the process using several semesters of assessment data from a course taught in our department. Attendees will be provided with an opportunity to work together in small groups to develop a plan to assess a course selected from among those taught by group members. The goal will be to develop a strategy and measures for the assessment and to consider how the outcome of the assessment might contribute in refining course content. The plans will be reviewed with the entire group to discuss strengths and potential weaknesse

Facilitating Faculty Engagement in Teaching with Technology

Members of a SoTL Faculty Learning Community will describe initiatives at their institution to support and encourage faculty in the use of instructional technology as they design and deliver courses. The goals of the session are to provide participants with information about strategies for engaging faculty with teaching technology, identify barriers to faculty engagement in online teaching, and show far-reaching benefits of a Faculty Learning Community structure. Session attendees will be asked to engage in discussions as the panel reviews data on the effect of technology on student learning, describes how a move to Desire2Learn provided an opportunity to train faculty in online course design, summarizes results of surveys assessing faculty needs for technology and attitudes about the effectiveness of online education, and describes the goals and plans of a faculty learning community that is providing support for the development of online courses

Psychological Aggression in Dating Relationships: Predictive Models for Males and Females

Used variables related to the use of physical aggression in dating relationships and conflict management strategies to predict the use of psychological aggression in courtship. Participants were 193 females and 194 males (aged 18-20 yrs) from 2 small universities. Individual factors (i.e., variables associated with threat susceptibility) and situational variables (i.e., relationship length and emotional commitment to the partner, conflict management strategies, and weekly alcohol intake) were proposed to be important in the prediction of male\u27s and female\u27s use of psychological aggression with their partners. Findings suggest that these variables successfully predict the use of psychologically aggressive acts in courtship. Further, interactions with sex of participant suggest that different variables are important in the prediction of males\u27 and females\u27 use of such negative behaviors. These differences in the relationships between the predictors and criteria for males and females suggest not only divergent predictive models but also potential motivational differences in the employment of such tactics