Explain how you will use these interests or challenge areas as catalysts for professional development and how you will grow your knowledge in these areas, or what resources you might use to complete tasks cooperatively as an evaluation team.

/in /by

Discussion: Data Analysis and Dissemination

“I don’t know.” Not knowing something is difficult for many people to admit for a variety of reasons: they don’t want to look unknowledgeable, they want to impress someone, or they are afraid of the truth. However, admitting what you do not know is a critical component of being a reflective practitioner. If you only focus on the things you know, you will stagnate. You will never explore new ideas, read innovative research, or improve your practice. In other words, you can never become stronger unless you focus on recognizing and developing your weaknesses.

In this Discussion, you complete a self-reflection regarding areas in program evaluation about which you feel confident and those in which you are not as confident. You will explain how you will use these weaker areas as catalysts for professional development and what resources you need to complete the task.

To Prepare

This week’s Learning Resources outline techniques that may be used for data analysis and outcome dissemination in program evaluation. You are asked to complete a self-reflection this week regarding areas in these two steps of program evaluation about which you feel confident and those in which you feel you need more professional development.

Post a description of at least two areas related to data analysis and outcome dissemination about which you would like to further professionally develop beyond the course. Explain how you will use these interests or challenge areas as catalysts for professional development and how you will grow your knowledge in these areas, or what resources you might use to complete tasks cooperatively as an evaluation team.

Provide a brief description of the team, its purpose, the organization, and the current situation. Because this is a role play, you may create hypothetical details as needed to fill “gaps” in the scenario.

/in /by

For this assignment you will role play. Presume that you are the manager of one of the Uber Company and you have been asked to lead a new project team. Your task is to create a virtual team consisting of experts from across the country who will share best practices. Members of your virtual team could include some representatives from the three teams you identified in Week 1. The goal of the new, virtual project team is to enhance organizational knowledge. In your role play scenario, a number of senior organizational members expect to retire in the next few years. Capturing their knowledge and wisdom will be crucial.

Your report should cover the following:

  • Provide a brief description of the team, its purpose, the organization, and the current situation. Because this is a role play, you may create hypothetical details as needed to fill “gaps” in the scenario.
  • Evaluate how you would invite possible remote members of this new team.
  • Evaluate some of the processes used to form the team without having to incur significant travel costs.
  • Define the virtual team mission all members will authentically own.
  • Assess the external forces that could confine the team’s capabilities and decision making.
  • Assess the potential conflicts that could arise from this new virtual team.
  • Justify how you will run the virtual meetings.
  • Analyze the various types of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation needed to ensure maximum participation.
  • Defend how you will obtain management support for this venture.
  • Justify five strategic measures to demonstrate the effectiveness of the virtual team.

Utilize scholarly sources from the South University Online Library to research the processes involved in virtual team creation and operations. 
Your paper must be 5 pages in length, not including the title page and reference page and must include at least five scholarly (peer-reviewed) sources formatted in APA style.

Create speaker notes for each slide describing the main talking points for the topic addressed in the slide. Include information from your personal experiences and the readings reviewed in the course.

/in /by

n this assignment, you will create a presentation addressing how gender identity is formed, the scientific evidence for the differences between the genders, and the various influences (biological, social, and cultural) that affect these differences.

Assume you are making a presentation as part of a national symposium on gender development. Your contribution will serve as the introductory presentation to provide context to the symposium and your copresenters. The target audience for this project is the research community.

Using the module readings, the Argosy University online library resources, and the Internet, research how gender identity is formed.

Develop a presentation that addresses the following:

  • Introduction: Overview of presentation
  • The history of the study of gender
  • Ways in which gender is studied
  • Psychological theories about gender development
  • Relative roles of biological, social, and cultural influences on gender (such as stereotyping and discrimination)
  • Scientific evidence for gender differences in the following areas:
    • School and work
    • Relationships and sexuality
    • Health and wellness
    • Stress, coping, and psychopathology
  • Conclusions that forecast the landscape for gender development at work and home, and in political arenas and initiatives in the coming years

Be sure to cover the following in your presentation:

  • Include a title slide and a slide with references.
  • Start each slide with a statement about the topic of the slide, and then include several bullet points to support your initial statement.
  • Create speaker notes for each slide describing the main talking points for the topic addressed in the slide.
  • Include information from your personal experiences and the readings reviewed in the course.
  • Provide proper credit to sources and write in a formal and organized fashion.
  • At a minimum, cite the online course and the textbook. Additional sources are welcome. Scholarly sources are preferred and can be found through Argosy University online library resources.
  • You may also cite nonscholarly references from reputable Web and print sources. For reputable Web sources, look for .org, .net, or .edu sites as opposed to .com sites. Be sure to avoid Wikipedia.

Develop a 10–12-slide presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A1.ppt.

Describe a time when you have consciously deliberated about buying something. Describe how you know the process was conscious. Were you satisfied with your decision? Explain why or why not, tying in the concepts you learned about this week.

/in /by

Week 1: Psychology as a Science

Welcome to Introduction to Psychology! Are you excited to embark on this journey together? The roots of psychology reach back to ancient times. As you can imagine, theories about human behavior and mental process have evolved and grown since then. This course introduces you to some of those theories and the tools that psychologists use to uncover the secrets of how the brain is connected to our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

By the end of this term, you will learn to think like a psychologist by taking a scientific approach to understanding observable behaviors and internal experiences such as feelings, sensations, and perceptions. As you progress through the course, you may find many of your current beliefs about behavior and internal experiences do not hold up to the test of science. That is good! That means you are learning to think like a psychologist. Please watch this video introduction to learn more about psychology as a science and what you can expect as you begin your study of psychology.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2015c). Psychology as a science. [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 8 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Learning Objectives

Students will:
  • Apply research methods to the scientific study of consciousness
  • Assess understanding of psychology as a science
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the evolution of psychology and research
  • Differentiate between behavioral and cognitive approaches
  • Demonstrate understanding of research ethics

Discussion:

Discussion: Consciousness and Research Techniques

In some of your weekly Discussion forums, your Instructor will provide a Discussion Spark that comes before the Main Discussion. The Discussion Spark is a question that is meant to get the conversation started early in the week and prepare you for the weekly Main Discussion by focusing on an idea related to the week’s topics. You do not need to use your weekly Learning Resources to answer the Discussion Spark. Instead, your response to the Discussion Spark should be based on your prior knowledge and experience. While you are required to answer the Discussion Spark, you do not need to spend as much time on it as you would for your Main Discussion post. The Discussion Spark and the Main Discussion will be graded together. You will see one score in your My Grades area. Refer to the Discussion Rubric, located in the Course Information area, for details on how this discussion will be graded.

Be sure to read the Discussion Spark topic/question or comment posted by your Instructor in the Discussion Thread on Day 1.

By Day 2

Discussion Spark

When you hear the word psychology, what images come to mind? What about psychologist? Consider these images, and then ask yourself where you believe your mental pictures may come from. Psychology is a prominent field in the cultural landscape. References to psychology and its practitioners and researchers abound in popular culture, through film, television, and other media. Some of the images may be accurate, and many may not. Because many references come from ideas obtained through popular culture, you may already possess some thoughts about the field of psychology. It may be a field that you feel acquainted with, but which you may not feel you know very deeply. You will learn more about the science of psychology in the coming weeks, but let’s take a look at your current understanding of the field.

Post a 1- to 2-paragraph response to the following Discussion Spark in the Discussion Spark thread for this week.

Introduce yourself to the class. What is one belief you have about psychology? Briefly explain your understanding of what the field of psychology is.

By Day 3

Main Discussion

Every day, we make countless decisions, some trivial and some high-stakes. Sometimes you do things consciously, and sometimes you do things based on a hunch or habit, seemingly without conscious thought. Either way, you could be acting on misguided or erroneous ideas and information. But how do you know? As a student of any field of study, you will be faced with various ideas, concepts, and beliefs. Of course, you should not blindly accept everything you hear or read; instead, you must critically evaluate information to determine fact from fiction, science from myth, good decision from poor choice. The Week 1 Discussion asks you to reflect on your decision-making experiences and describe how you might use the research methods you learned about this week to compare conscious and unconscious processing in people.

After reviewing this week’s readings and the video from the Week 1 Introduction, post a response to the following:

Describe a time when you have consciously deliberated about buying something. Describe how you know the process was conscious. Were you satisfied with your decision? Explain why or why not, tying in the concepts you learned about this week. Describe a time when you unconsciously deliberated about buying something. Describe how you now know the process was unconscious. Were you satisfied with your decision? Explain why or why not, tying in the concepts you learned about in this chapter. Describe a research technique from Chapter 1 that you could use to study conscious versus unconscious processing in people.

Support your assignment post with at least one reference (textbook or other scholarly, empirical resources).

By Day 5

Response instructions:

Support your reply to a colleagues’ assignment post with at least onereference (textbook or other scholarly, empirical resources). You may state your opinion and/or provide personal examples; however, you must also back up your assertions with evidence (including in-text citations) from the source and provide a reference.

Respond in one or more of the following ways:

  • Ask a probing question and provide insight into how you would answer your question and why.
  • Ask a probing question and provide the foundation, or rationale, for the question.
  • Expand on your colleague’s posting by offering a new perspective or insight.
  • Agree with a colleague and offer additional (new) supporting information for consideration.
  • Disagree with a colleague by respectfully discussing and supporting a different perspective.

Important Note: For all Main Discussions in this course, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleague’s postings. Begin by clicking on the “Week 1 Discussion” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your inital post. Remember, once you click submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking Submit!