LEE

Interim Report

November 28, 1998

Brad Johnson
University of Calgary

1. Name of Report: Development and Evaluation of Technologically Enhanced Supplements for Introductory Psychology

Names of Project Members:

Address on Campus: Chip Scialfa
Department of Psychology

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2. Brief Overview of Project

In 1998, several post-secondary institutions in Alberta (led administratively by the University of Alberta) received continuing LEE funding to support efforts to enhance learning in introductory psychology through a variety of technological innovations. This brief report summarizes our work during the 1997-98 calendar year.

During the past year, this network of institutions has worked at a level of productivity beyond our initial expectations. Connie Varnhagen (University of Alberta) has coordinated several efforts to use Web-based resources to improve students' ability to read the primary journal literature and to understand the content of introductory psychology. This work has undergone qualitative evaluations and continued curricular changes based on the evaluations are already in place. Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary) has coordinated a series of other projects involving the institutions in Calgary, Red Deer and Fort MacMurray. The most notable of these projects are (1) developing a conceptual taxonomy of the content in introductory psychology, (2) assessing objective difficulty of the content of the course, (3) assessing subjective difficulty of the concepts as developed in (1) above, developing a scale of academic self-efficacy and evaluating that instrument psychometrically, and (4) determining the degree to which technology-based concept-mapping and outlining enhance mastery of the course content and transfer to other domains. As well, these and other research efforts formed the basis of the second annual teaching of psychology meeting (ATOP2) held at Edmonton in June of this year.

The efforts made thus far have resulted in greatly expanded opportunities for participating institutions. At the University of Calgary, for example, our LEE team consists of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from psychology, educational psychology and the Learning Commons, all of whom are carrying out research projects that would be left unexecuted without these monies. These projects form the basis of more than 10 presentations at provincial, national, and international meetings over a 15-month period. It is anticipated that at least 6 peer-reviewed publications will result from this year's effort and these publications are particularly important in the early career development of our students, and in establishing the University of Calgary as a leader in the area.

While it is difficult to provide unequivocal evidence that our supplements are improving learning, several data suggest that this is true. Many students report that tutorials focusing on concept-mapping and outlining have improved their confidence in writing even in other courses. Our drop-out rate has been surpassingly low, another sign that students perceive the value of these supplements to their learning. Finally, early evidence indicates that students exposed to these supplements perform somewhat better than "control" students on multiple-choice exams. Given that recognition tests are not particularly sensitive indices of learning, this finding indicates a rather profound impact of the experience.

In the early stages of efforts such as this, increased productivity is not a realistic expectation. Setting of curricular priorities, development of protocols, implementation and evaluation of results are time-consuming efforts that emphasize rigor over efficiency. Against this background, the LEE funding of this project has increased productivity of partners in a variety of ways. By working collaboratively, we have created a work environment in which the allocation of responsibilities capitalizes on individual strengths. The environment created is one in which students and faculty maintain involvement in several projects, learn the value of team work, and contribute to numerous presentations and publications that advance their careers. Results of ongoing projects will be used to determine if our supplements allow students to increase productivity, but early signs, as mentioned above, are encouraging.

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3. Project Planning

Projects by Institution

University of Calgary
Concept Mapping Study
Analysis of Core Concepts
Objective Difficulty Analysis
Evaluate Technological Supplements

University of Alberta
Development and Evaluation of Web supplements

Red Deer College
Analysis of Concept Difficulty
Develop Subjective Difficulty Survey.
Evaluate Technological Supplements

Keyano College
Evaluate Technological Supplements
Analysis of Core Concepts
Objective Difficulty Analysis

Concordia University College of Alberta
Evaluate Technological Supplements

Grant MacEwan Community College
Technological Supplements

Project Timelines

May, 1998 - September, 1998 Concept Mapping Pilot Study Determine optimal procedures for conducting concept mapping study.

Analysis of Concepts Generate a listing of concepts in introductory psychology text books. Begin to determine objective difficulty analysis.

Technological Supplements Determination of appropriate software for evaluation.

September, 1998 - May, 1999 Concept Mapping Study Begin evaluation of concept mapping and outlining using both paper and pencil and technology enhanced methods.

Analysis of Concepts Continue concept listing. Begin to determine unique concepts. Continue subjective and objective difficulty analysis.

Technological Supplements Begin evaluation of supplements in classroom settings.

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4. Implementation

Two projects were conducted simultaneously: (1) an evaluation of technological supplements used in Introductory Psychology courses, and (2) an analysis of concepts commonly taught in introductory psychology courses. Communications between institutions was maintained by Chip Scialfa. In order to promote internal communications weekly meetings were instituted.

Each of the institutions involved have begun to evaluate the technological supplements available and to assess their efficacy in terms of course support. The University of Alberta has been working with web-page and web-based chat supplements. The University of Calgary has been evaluating the use of computer-based outlining and concept mapping. Red Deer College is looking into various supplements including Cyber-Rat and The Integrator. Finally, Concordia University College of Alberta has begun to evaluate technological supplements in two introductory psychology courses.

During the 1998-99 academic year, Don Heth and Connie Varnhagen are evaluating the experimental intro.psych courses, examining the framework, technology, and content through attitude surveys, behaviour, and learning outcomes At the same time, they are leading further development in content and technology, consulting with colleagues on curriculum change and technology, and developing and extending collaborative links within and outside of the university.

A pilot study involving essay writing and paper-based concept mapping was conducted during the summer of 1998. This was accomplished with the assistance of Dr. Lenora Brown, the instructor of an Introductory Psychology course (Psychology 205) and the participation of approximately 20 students from that class. The study itself was conducted by Chip Scialfa, Brad Johnson, Connie, Stacey Nairn, and Paula Saunders. The results of this pilot study formed the basis for a larger study initiated in the Fall '98 session.

In that term, a section of Psychology 205, Introductory Psychology, was time-tabled with a lab component. An experimental design was determined whereby concept mapping and outlining were used as study strategies. Students were asked to respond to a question generated from content they had recently learned in class by first constructing either an outline or a concept map and then writing an essay related to the map/outline. A single lab period was devoted to constructing either an outline or a concept map. A second lab period was provided for students to create an essay based on the outline or concept map they had constructed in the previous lab. A third group of students wrote essays regarding the same question but created neither an outline or a concept map. Two questions were responded to using paper and pencil techniques. Two more questions were responded to using computer-based techniques. However, the essays were always written using paper and pencil.

Letters were written to the students enrolled in the experimental section of 205 asking for volunteer participants. The instructor for this course was Dr. John Mueller. The lab sections were conducted by Stacey Nairn.

The structure of the study, including development of lesson plans, evaluation measures, and a self-efficacy questionnaire, were determined by input from a team composed of professors, graduate and undergraduate students and research assistants. These included Dr. Chip Scialfa, Dr. John Ellard, Dr. John Mueller, Dr. Mike Dobson, Larry Wenger, Stacey Nairn, Christine Simms, Paula Saunders, Brad Johnson.

Lesson plans were constructed to introduce students to either outlining or concept mapping. Similar lesson plans were constructed to demonstrate the use of computer-based outlining or concept mapping.

Evaluation measures included both performance measures gathered from the regular in-class testing and evaluation of the essays students generated. Both human and computer-based evaluators were investigated, however it was determined human raters were more appropriate. Jo-anne Andre from The Effective Writing Centre was asked to assist in the evaluation of the essays. Subsequently a protocol was developed that incorporated expert outlines and the Effective Writing Centre's own evaluation criteria.

Self-efficacy measures were also investigated and a questionnaire was created and implemented. It was delivered to students in several Psychology 205 in psychology. A web-based version of the self-efficacy questionnaire was created by John Mueller and will be used to gather further self-efficacy data.

An analysis of the number and kind of concepts found in introductory psychology text books was undertaken to help determine the common concepts across text books and the range of concepts presented by all text books. In addition both subjective and objective difficulty of the concepts was considered.

A content analysis of six of the most frequently used introductory psychology textbooks in Canada was conducted. Concepts were catalogued for each chapter and core concepts were defined as terms that appeared in at least five of the six texts. The number of shared concepts varied considerably from one chapter to another. There were also a great number of idiosyncratic terms which account for much of the variance between the textbooks within a given subject area. Information compiled in this study indicates that although there is a core to introductory psychology, there is extreme variability between textbook content beyond the core. The knowledge gained from this study is important in curriculum development for introductory psychology courses, as well as in choosing textbooks for these courses. Currently the analysis is focussing on distilling the list into a set of unique concepts. This analysis has been conducted primarily at the University of Calgary by Chip Scialfa, John Ellard, Larry Wenger, Connie, Stacey Nairn, and Christine Simms.

Item difficulty analysis has been conducted at Red Deer College by Scott Oddie, Keyano College by Louis Dingle, and at the University of Calgary by Larry Wenger and Connie Legare. Surveys have been constructed and are being distributed at Red Deer College and Keyano College to help assess subjective difficulty of the content.

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5. Deliverables from the Project

There are currently two projects underway that are expected to generate deliverables: (1) a study to determine the efficacy of concept mapping in introductory psychology courses, and (2) an analysis of concepts commonly included in introductory psychology courses.

The main deliverable from this project consists of intro.psych, the two experimental, technologically enhanced courses. PSYCO 104 (Basic Psychological Processes), spearheaded by Don Heth, is being piloted with a limited number of students Fall term, 1998-99, and will be offered to a larger number of students Winter term. Components of PSYCO 105 (Individual and Social Behaviour), spearheaded by Connie Varnhagen, was piloted by Leanne Willson in Spring term, 1997-98; PSYCO 105 is being piloted with a limited number of students Fall term, 1998-99, and will be offered to a larger number of students Winter term. The home pages and syllabi for these two courses is attached as Appendix A. The URL for PSYCO 104 is http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/~dheth/Intro_104/ htdocs/Home.htm; the URL for PSYCO 105 is http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/~varn/ EZSite/Home.htm.

Connie Varnhagen developed a brochure advertising intro.psych, with assistance from Patricia Boechler and the Production Studio of Academic Technologies for Learning. This brochure was distributed through the bookstore in the summer of 1998 and will be distributed to high school guidance counselors in fall of 1998. A copy of this brochure is attached as Appendix B.

Reading the Research is a module for helping students learn how to read published empirical research articles. Connie Varnhagen originally developed it as part of intro.psych but the module can be adapted easily for use in many other psychology courses. Reading the Research was evaluated in PSYCO 208 (Experimental Methods) at Grant MacEwan Community College by Connie Varnhagen and Nancy Digdon (GMCC), Winter term 1997-98. In addition to its use in the intro.psych courses, Reading the Research is being used in a number of courses at Grant MacEwan Community College, Keyano College, and Grand Prairie Regional College, beginning Fall term 1998-99, and is being licensed to Harcourt Brace Publishers for use at their Web site. Sample pages for an article7ummarized in Reading the Research is attached as Appendix C. The URL for this sample is http://Iweb.psych.ualberta. ca/~varn/EZReading-SocDev/Reading.htm.

Psychology and Literature is an interdisciplinary offshoot of intro.psych. We are beginning to reform and revitalize the undergraduate curriculum in the Department of Psychology. One goal of our process is to help students realize interdisciplinary links between psychology and other disciplines. Psychology and Literature is being developed by David Miall (English) and Don Kuiken to (a) foster student understanding of interpretive studies in psychology and in literature; (b) provide opportunities for interactive identification – and refinement – of the interpretive approach that the student initially brings to the text that is being interpreted (c) encourage inter-disciplinary consideration of the common features of interpretive studies in literature and psychology. Sample pages for an interpretive study of the poem, "Frost at Midnight," by S. T. Coleridge, is attached as Appendix D. The URL for this sample is http.//www.ualbaerta.ca/~dmiall/psychlit/psychlit.htm. Work is underway for a parallel interpretive module concerning Freud's well-known specimen dream, "The Irma Dream."

The concept mapping project is concerned with determining whether a tutorial strategy that includes concept mapping, and/or outlining, will improve students understanding of the material covered in an introductory psychology course. The concept mapping and outlining is performed using either paper and pencil or computer-based techniques. Three deliverables are expected from this project: (1) a set of lesson plans for implementing concept mapping/outlining, (2) a protocol for the development of tools to evaluate the conceptual content of essays, and (3) a standardized self-efficacy questionnaire.

This project included two different but related strategies: generating listings of concepts from various introductory psychology text books, and obtaining objective and subjective ratings of topic difficulty from students. The subsequent listing should help inform curriculum design and text book choice. Topic difficulty ratings will also help curriculum designers target areas in which students are performing poorly or perceive to be difficult. Together these can be distilled into a publicly available set of curriculum design guidelines.

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6. Meeting Lee Objectives

The deliverables described above (see 5. Deliverables) constitute a major portion of the accomplishments for this project. During the 1998-1999 academic year the analysis of concepts will continue as will an evaluation of concept mapping and technology-based supplements.

Expand Opportunity. Development and evaluation of alternative, technologically enhanced courses in introductory psychology supports the objectives of expanding opportunity. Projects evaluating technological supplements range from enhanced access to students via web-based dissemination of information to student learning support using various commercially available software packages. In addition, both students and faculty benefit from opportunities to pursue research projects not otherwise available.

Improve learning. This objective of improving student learning is the driving force behind our collaborative project. Large lectures and dwindling resources severely restrict the ability to provide introductory students with rich learning experiences. As well, our framework of the learner and emphasis on research and evaluation will allow a progressive differentiation between aspects of learning that are best fostered through technology-based applications and those that require direct person-to-person interaction. Early indications suggest that appropriately applied technology does improve learner outcomes.

Increase productivity. The collaborative nature of this project allows instructors to realize economies of scale that would not be possible in individual projects. Faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students are able to participate in research on a much larger scale than would otherwise be possible.

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7. Preliminary Findings

Any results found thus far are preliminary. However, some initial findings are offered and more specific experimental questions for the 1998-1999 academic year are stated.

Students report that tutorials focusing on concept-mapping and outlining have improved their confidence in writing even in other courses. Post-course measures e.g. self-efficacy measures should help to determine if this is, in fact, the case. Although the essays generated during these tutorials have not yet been evaluated, preliminary indications suggest that the students involved in the study produce better essays than do those in the control groups. Our drop-out rate has been surprisingly low, another sign that students perceive the value of these supplements to their learning. Finally, early evidence indicates that students exposed to these supplements perform somewhat better than "control" students on multiple-choice exams. Given that recognition tests are not particularly sensitive indices of learning, this finding indicates a rather profound impact of the experience.

As a part of a needs assessment, 910 introductory psychology students were surveyed regarding their access to computers and self-reported computer skills. Although 88% of students had access to a home computer and 65% had access to the Internet, only 20% rated themselves as very comfortable using computers, 26% as having good to excellent skills at using E-mail and 20% as having good to excellent skills at using the World Wide Web. Thus, although students have at least some access to computers, they do not report very good computer skills. A consequence of this survey was that the experimental intro.psych courses were offered only to students who considered themselves to be skilled at using the Internet.

Students represented a range of skill in the classes in which we formative evaluations were conducted using various components of intro.psych. Varnhagen and Digdon (1998) examined the use of Reading the Research in Psyc 208, Experimental Psychology, at Grant MacEwan Community College. Students expressed generally positive attitudes toward and indicated learning from the modules. Interestingly, although students who were more comfortable with computers expressed a more positive impression of the modules they used students who were less comfortable with computers reported enjoying the module more.

Varnhagen and Willson (1998) found similar results in a their evaluation of Sites to Visit. In addition, consistent with other research, Help features, were seldom used. Students rated access to lecture notes as very useful and almost all students printed out the lecture notes prior to attending lectures. Students also preferred the format of greater opportunity to explore topics in introductory psychology on their own time coupled with fewer lectures.

An analysis of six introductory psychology text books has generated a listing of some 4000 concepts. Due to differences in organization and concept labeling, many of these concepts overlap. The listing is currently being distilled into a set of core concepts shared by all six text books.

Difficulty analysis has suggested that students across institutions find certain content areas more difficult than others. Ongoing analysis during the 1998-1999 academic year will help determine how students perceive content areas and how they perform in those areas.

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8. Lessons Learned and Recommendations

Although the projects are only beginning their main phase, a number of lessons have already been learned.

a) Issues in evaluation of software supplements. In order to attribute any performance gains to the use of software, care must be taken to ensure that any results are replicable. Effects due to presentation style, TA, or instructor must be separated from experimental treatments. To address this issue much care was taken to derive experimental protocols and lesson plans to teach concept mapping and outlining, and to instruct students in the use of the software. These were constructed based on the pilot study, and from discussion generated during team meetings to address these issues. The process was time consuming but in the end generated very useful and appropriate protocols and lesson plans.

b) Evaluation of essays. Although performance criteria (marks) is a traditional means for determining the success of software and/or training supplements, it was felt that evaluation of richer processing and clearer conceptual understanding was very important. To this end students were asked to write essays. Generating an evaluation protocol for the essays proved much more difficult than originally anticipated. However, a protocol is being established that should greatly facilitate the evaluation of some 1000 essays generated during the fall session study.

c) Career Development. One recommendation that has been repeated stressed by University administrators concerns the role of technological innovation in the normal career development of university professors. University professors in the Faculties of Arts and Science are scholars, teachers, and researchers. The amount of work required to develop not just new courses, but new technologies for the courses, must be justified within this framework if these initiatives are to be sustained. Psychologists are fortunate in that the impact of these technological changes is of interest within the discipline itself We have therefore developed within our approach a central focus on viable research questions and issues that could inform the wider psychological community.

Dingley, Louis (1998). What They Get and What They Don't: Differential Understanding of the Content of Introductory Psychology. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB.

Ellard, J., Nairn, S., Scialfa, C., and Simms, C. (1999). At the core of introductory psychology: A content analysis. Canadian Psychological Association, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Heller, Bob (1998). What's Out There: Characterizing Commercial Applications. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB.

Johnson, B., Dobson, M., Scialfa, C., Ellard, J., Nairn, S.(1999). Concept Mapping and Essay Writing as Learning Aids in Introductory Psychology. National Institute for the Teaching of Introductory Psychology, Proceedings, 1998.

Mitterer, John. (1998). Developing and Evaluating Educational Software. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB.

Scialfa, C., Nairn, S., and Ellard, J. (1998). Content Analysis of Introductory Psychology Texts. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB.

Scialfa, C. (1998). Mapping the Territory: The Content of Introductory Psychology. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB.

Oddie, S. (1998). Context-based Learning of Introductory Psychology. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB.

Varnhagen, C.K. (1998, June). Maybe we should resist: Grappling with issues in technology and instructional innovation. Presentation at the meeting of the Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada, Edmonton, AB. [slides available at http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/~varn/AMTECs/sld00 1.htm]

Varnhagen, O.K., and Digdon, N. (1998, June). Reading the Research: Helping students learn how to read empirical research reports. Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB. [slides available at http://web.psych.uaIberta.ca/~varn/Nancy-s/sld001.htm]

Varnhagen, C.K., and Wilson, L. (1998, June). Using the Internet to enhance critical thinking in introductory psychology Presentation to the Second Annual Alberta Teachers of Psychology meeting, Edmonton, AB. [slides available at http://web.psych.ualberta. ca/~varn/Leanne-s/sld00 1.htm]

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10. Faculty Development

Where relevant, team members representing the different collaborating institutions will attend workshops, presentation, and conferences to develop and extend their understanding of and skills in instructional design, development, and evaluation. Team members will act as resource people within their departments to assist with the development, modification, implementation, and evaluation of instructional technology by colleagues and students.

This model is being used successfully by the team from the University of Alberta. This group is taking part in another LEE-sponsored project to train leadership teams from different departments to support development and implementation of instructional technology.

Faculty development workshops will also be offered at the annual meeting of collaborating institutions. These will allow team members to share their skills and knowledge with faculty in other institutions.

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11. Future Plans

The following experimental questions are being used to guide our plans for current and future research.

a) Will introductory psychology students benefit from concept mapping and/or outlining techniques when used as study aids? In order to implement and evaluate this question experimental procedures have been developed to ensure replicability. Evaluation will be conducted using both performance criteria (e.g. marks) and retention criteria. A protocol for evaluating essays generated by the students is being developed in association with the Effective Writing Centre.

b) Does technological support for concept mapping and/or outlining produce better results than paper and pencil techniques? To avoid access issues, students are using the Department of Psychology's computer lab to complete computer-based aspects of this study. The software includes Microsoft Word '98 to support outlining and Inspiration to support concept mapping. This software was picked according to their ease of use and applicability to the content being addressed in Introductory Psychology courses.

c) Is there a relationship between students perceptions of self-efficacy and course performance? A self-efficacy questionnaire has been developed and will be standardized over a number of departments including psychology. A web-based version will be made more publicly available to help broaden the range of respondents.

d) Can an analysis of concepts in introductory psychology courses help inform curriculum design? By combining difficulty analysis and concept listings, it is hoped that the design of introductory psychology courses can make better use of time and resources by targeting content areas that students commonly find difficult.

e) What are students' attitudes toward intro.psych? We are administering attitude questionnaires at the beginning, throughout, and at the end of the term. Items were adapted from a database of items maintained by Stanley Varnhagen, Evaluation Researcher, Academic Technologies for Learning. Attitudes toward computers and technologically enhanced courses, in general, and different components of the course (e.g., the text, the lecture, Sites to Visit, Reading the Research, Help), in particular, are being assessed. It is important to measure attitude as part of the evaluation because of the strong relationships between student attitude, motivation, and performance.

f) How do students use intro.psych? Our departmental server software and the record keeping system that Don Heth developed allow us to track students' use of intro.psych. We will be examining student sessions to determine what types of sessions students engage in, when they engage in these sessions in relation to the course schedule, how they navigate, and how they interact with other students in their discussion groups, the instructor, and the graduate teaching assistant.

g) What do students learn from intro.psych? Although there is a great deal of overlap, some course material is specific to a particular learning component of the course. For example, in PSYCO 105, some tested information is specific either to the text, the lectures, or Sites to Visit. Performance on fact/comprehension questions and application/ analysis/evaluation questions will be compared as a function of course component. We anticipate finding an interaction between type of question (fact/comprehension versus application/analysis/evaluation) and learning component.

We are also developing a critical thinking test to administer to students enrolled in various introductory psychology classes. One important goal motivating development of intro.psych is to enhance critical thinking skills. We will compare critical thinking by students enrolled in traditional lecture courses with students enrolled in intro.psych to determine whether intro.psych enhances critical thinking skills.

h) How do students' attitudes and use relate to learning from intro.psych? Based on the rich research literature on student learning, we expect to find a number of relationships between our measures of student attitude, use of intro.psych, and student learning.

A hypothetical model of the relationships between these variables is:

Student variables that we are measuring include gender, faculty, year, motivation, attitude, and discussion group to which they have been assigned. Technology variables include computer access and skill. Instructional variables include format of content presentation (text, lecture, Web), topics, time/frequency of sessions on the computer, gets/puts, and number of words posted across weeks. Outcome variables include knowledge, skills, and attitudes about introductory psychology, marks, performance on the critical thinking test, motivation to take other psychology courses, and progress through their degree program.

We will examine the relationships among these measures not only as part of our evaluation of intro.psych but to advance understanding of instruction and learning.

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12. Financial Reporting

009 Opening Balance 77000.00

212 Temporary and Casual 5000.00

221 Student Assistance 4417.32

231 Overtime Pay 432.00

323 Benefits-Supp St-Other 746.15

409 Materials and Parts 77.39

412 Miscellaneous 104.75

414 Office Supplies 82.05

418 Software 126.00

430 Postage 45.58

449 Other Purchased Services 2331.10

472 Travel 1421.93

479 Travel Advances 325.28

480 Entertainment 30.90

510 Equipment 1835.45

537 Grants - Concordia College - University of Alberta 30000.00

819 Interdepartmental Allocation - Red Deer College - U of C sessional 13416.00

Total Expenses 60,391.90

16,608.10

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Appendix A

Compiled by
C.T. Scialfa
University of Calgary

ATOP2
The Second Annual Teaching of Psychology Conference
June 19th-20th
Grant MacEwan Community College
Edmonton, Alberta

In 1997, more than 40 teaching professors and publishers met at Red Deer College in Red Deer, Alberta to discuss issues related to the teaching of introductory psychology and the use of technology-based resources to facilitate that teaching. By all accounts, this meeting was a raging success and many of those attending felt it would be useful to have annual meetings devoted to issues in teaching academic psychology.

After a few delays, we are pleased to announce the Second Annual Teaching of Psychology Conference (ATOP2). It's to be held on June 19th and 20th, 1998 at the Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton. GMCC is a thoroughly modern environment, offering state-of-the-art resources for computing and multimedia work. It is also an architectural masterpiece, and will certainly inspire conference participants, many of whom have never seen the campus.

The meeting is divided into several symposia and workshops. Some are targeted at the goals of our collaborative LEE-funded project designing and evaluating technology-based courseware for introductory psychology. Included in this category will be sessions on defining the content of the course, assessing difficulty of that content, characterizing commercially available software, Web development issues, and determining the design and evaluation strategies for next year's phase of the project. In addition, there will be a symposium on general issues in the teaching of psychology, with a Keynote address by Dr. John Mitterer of Brock University. Thus, the Conference promises to be stimulating and valuable for the person directly involved in teaching introductory psychology, but also for those people who are interested in the more general issues surrounding teaching of psychology in the Information Age.

There is no conference fee for ATOP2, and the Universities of Alberta and Calgary are providing financial support for conference participants. We will provide one night's lodging and meals for up to two people per institution. We will provide the same support for conference presenters. Of course, anyone else is welcome and encouraged to join us.

Russ has made some arrangements with the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel (10155 105 Street, phone: 423-4811). They have reserved a block of rooms for June 19 and 20 (Friday and Saturday) at $72 a night or $82 Double. Reservations should be made by June 8. The event is called 'Psychology Meeting'. The hotel is about 2 blocks from the campus.

At the end of this announcement is a registration form. Please complete it and send it to Connie Varnhagen (varn@psych.ulberta.ca) or Chip Scialfa (scialfa@acs.ucalgary.ca) so that we can plan meals, etc. Those interested in attending or in getting more information should contact us as well. See you in Edmonton!

FRIDAY, JUNE 19TH

1:00 pm- Opening Remarks (Peter Furstenau, Chip Scialfa and Connie Varnagen

1:30 pm

1:30 pm- Keynote address (John Mitterer, Brock University)

2:30 pm Title: Evaluating Educational Software

2:30 pm- BREAK

2:45

2:45 pm - Teaching of Psychology Symposium

5:45 pm (Coordinator: Connie Varnhagen, University of Alberta)

Connie Varnhagen (University of

Alberta) and Nancy Digdon (Grant MacEwan Community

College).

Title: Reading the Research: Helping Students Learn How to Read Empirical Research Reports

Jeff Caird and Brad Johnson (Univerisity of Calgary)

Title: Ten Lessons Learned from the Integration of Web Pages and Chat Forums into Upper Level Psychology Courses

Scott Oddie (Red Deer College)

Title: Context-based Learning of Introductory Psychology

Connie Varnhagen and Leanne Willson (University of Alberta)

Title: Using the Internet to Enhance Critical Thinking in Introductory Psychology.

Chip Scialfa, Stacey Nairn and John Ellard (University of

Calgary)

Title: Content Analysis of Introductory Psychology Texts

6:30 DINNER (At this point we're trying to make arrangements for a group

dinner at La Boheme, a fun French Moroccan restaurant)

SATURDAY, JUNE 20TH

8:30 am- Mapping the Territory: The Content of Introductory

9:30 am Psychology (Coordinator: Chip Scialfa, University of Calgary)

1. Past content analyses of texts

2. Content analysis and concept mapping

3. Student understanding of text material

4. Discussion

9:30 am- What They Get and What They Don't: Differential

10:30 am Understanding of the Content of Introductory Psychology

(Coordinator: Louis Dingley, Keyano College)

1. Retesting in a CML course (Russ Powell, GMCC)

2. What can the GRE tell us about concept difficulty

3. Item analysis of examinations

4 Student assessments, objective and subjective

10:30 am What's Out There: Characterizing Commercial Applications

Noon (Coordinator: Bob Heller, Concordia)

1. Longman Psychology CD Rom

2. Worth Psychology Multimedia Exhibit

3. PsychQuest

4. PsykTrek

5. The Integrator for Biological Psychology

6. The Integrator

7. Digital Resource Library for Introductory Psychology

8. Multimedia Psych

9. CyberPsych

10. Psychology: The Core

11. The Writer's Helper

12. The Everyday Writer

13 West Astound Presentations for Introductory Psychology

14. PsychSim

Noon - Lunch at GMCC facilities

1 pm

1:00 pm Web Development Issues

2:00 pm (Coordinator: Connie Varnhagen, University of Alberta)

1. Development Needs

2. Task assignment

3. Evaluation and Research

2:00 pm- Research Design and Evaluation

5:00 pm Noon

(Coordinator : Scott Oddie, Red Deer College)

1. Getting adequate controls

2. Matching applications to pedagogical goals

3. Assessment - The How To Issue

4. Assessment - Implications for teaching

5. Publication and authorship

6. Discussion

After congratulating the conference participants on past and current efforts, Dr. Mitterer pointed out that collaborations on this scale are unprecedented, even in the larger population centers of North America. He discussed some of the forces that render these efforts particularly timely, among them the need for research on the application of technology to education, improvement in that technology, the need to overcome instructional frustrations associated with large classes, static images, and a desire to understand how students interact with knowledge to master it. He suggested that an alliance of students, instructors, multimedia authors, evaluators, post-secondary administrators, governments, and publishers can be an economically viable way of driving the development of instructional environments of the future. Dr. Mitterer discussed several specific threats and concerns related to our efforts including the following:

• Spreading ourselves too thinly in development or evaluation will be expensive and counterproductive.
• Splitting into factions will not work. Larger numbers are essential.
• It is unlikely that several publishers will cooperate with each other in this effort.
• Evaluation is difficult but necessary. The problem space is too large to be manageable without experimental controls. The evaluation must distinguish between formal variables (e.g., screen size) and content variables (e.g., extent of writing). It may be more important to emphasize formative, not summative evaluation so as to improve the next generation of resources. There is also a need to distinguish between content and process, and to match evaluation to the purpose of the software.

The objectives of this Internet-based module are to help students learn how to read published reports of empirical research. Reading the Research consists of a brief introduction to the genre of the report style, describes critical thinking questions for reading a report of empirical research, and provides guided experience in reading a published report. The instructor writes a summary and integrates two types of critical thinking questions into the summary. Factual questions help students identify important information from the report. Students determine their understanding of the key information in the report by answering self-test questions that provide immediate feedback as they read the summary. Discussion questions help students evaluate the importance, relevance, and generalizability of the research. Students discuss these questions among themselves in computer conferencing discussion groups. A formative evaluation of Reading the Research was conducted with an experimental psychology class at Grant MacEwan Community College. Students expressed positive attitudes about using the module, felt they had learned about the structure and content of the research report, and felt that Reading the Research should be used in other classes. The module will be part of experimental introductory psychology courses at the University of Alberta and will also be used in other courses at Grant MacEwan Community College We encourage other instructors to use and evaluate Reading the Research in their classes as well.

In order to best leverage the funding provided by year ~ LEE funding, it was determined that the best use of both expertise and funds was in the generation, integration, and fine tuning of a series of web-based forums or discussion groups. Server-side technology was used which effectively increased both access and usability while a series of questions provided content for the forums. Lessons learned from the project fell into roughly three categories: resource lessons, pedagogical lessons, and more generally, how best to make use of the forums e.g. how to form questions to generate discussion. No formal analysis was conducted as the major part of this project was to determine both how best to construct discussion tools given a large set of access and usability constraints, and how best to use the forum once it was constructed. A logical next step is to begin a more formal process of testing and evaluation to determine whether any performance gains may be generated through use of forums or discussion groups.

Traditional (TRAD) and context based learning (CBL) paradigms use different teaching philosophies to deliver introductory psychology curriculum at Red Deer College (RDC). In a TRAD lecture course, learners are exposed to the course objectives and pertinent course curriculum in class as presented by an instructor. A text, videos, in class demonstrations, in class discussions, and group exercises are used to aid learners in the mastery of course objectives. In contrast, CBL proposes to relate curriculum to "real-life" scenarios which are used to introduce and outline related introductory psychology objectives. From the scenario, learners identified in groups what they currently know and may need to know. CBL resources are similar to those listed for TRAD and include an expert in the field of psychology. In contrast to TRAD, the CBL curriculum is presented in an unstructured manner. That is, CBL learners must examine and master the breadth of the course curriculum using predominantly their own guidance and skill.

We examined whether these different teaching philosophies resulted in inconsistent delivery of course content and academic performance of learners enrolled in TRAD or CBL introductory psychology courses at RDC. It was determined that CBL learners examined fewer objectives (and concepts), and spent more time on the course than TRAD learners but the academic performance of TRAD learners did not differ significantly from those in the CBL group.

The goals of most introductory psychology courses include developing critical, analytical, and integrative thought about psychological principles and processes. Given large lecture classes and little support for laboratory exploration, these goals are seldom met. At the University of Alberta, we are developing intro.psych, an Internet supplement for introductory psychology courses that is designed to help students develop essential critical thinking skills. Components of intro.psych include critical thinking exercises, called Sites to Visit, that make use of the World Wide Web (WWW) and computer conferencing.

A formative evaluation of these exercises was conducted with an Intersession class in introductory psychology. Students appeared to benefit from the exercises; they enjoyed the real life examples they encountered on the WWW, had a positive impression of the supplement, and learned computer literacy skills from the experience. As well, they preferred the format of less lecture and use of the Internet supplement to a traditional lecture format. We will be expanding our use of intro.psych in experimental, technologically enhanced courses in the Fall and Winter sessions, 1998-1999.

Six of the best selling introductory psychology texts were examined to uncover the concepts treated in the chapters on sensation and perception. The total list consisted of almost 800 concepts, with approximately 75 concepts being covered by at least 5 of the 6 texts. This approach, once expanded to include the entire text, can provide the conceptual core of introductory psychology and can be used to assess student-based and instructor-based assessment of conceptual difficulty.

Following an historical overview of page count and concept list approaches to delineating the core concepts in introductory psychology. Dr. Scialfa described recent efforts at the University of Calgary to find common concepts in chapters on sensation and perception from the six best-selling introductory texts in Canada. He then discussed contemporary research on concept mapping and summarized pilot work with Brad Johnson in assessing faculty responses to the use of concept mapping. Discussion centered on using concept maps in an experimental section of introductory psychology and how technology-based mapping tools might be used and evaluated.

Dr. Dingley initially described his analysis of the item difficulty of questions on exams from his introductory psychology courses. While differences across topics were not large, students performed best on the topics of perception, consciousness, learning and memory, cognitive development, social development, motivation and health. They performed worst on questions pertaining to history, language, thinking, social psychology, personality and therapy. Dr. Powell then described his efforts to examine content difficulty in his computer-managed learning (CML) introductory psychology course. Students had to take retests most frequently on the chapters on learning, motivation and emotion. There were no differences in retest frequency for the chapters on statistics, neuroscience, sensation and perception, consciousness, and memory. Louis Dingley then reported that, while the ETS has some data on the relative difficulty of material on the GRE-Advanced in psychology, it was too coarsely analyzed to be of value. In addition, ETS asserted that there are too many moderating variables to make general statements about relative difficulty. Next, Dr Scialfa discussed analyses of more than 1000 test items carried out by Larry Wenger and Connie Legare at the University of Calgary. Results suggest small differences in difficulty across topics. Finally, Dr. Scialfa presented a questionnaire that might be used by students to assess the relative difficulty of topics in the course. It was suggested that this approach allows for a test of the validity of the item analysis technique and might also dovetail nicely with concept-mapping studies currently under way.

Dr. Heller described the system he developed to describe a large number of software products designed for use in the teaching of psychology. This extensive effort is summarized below. In concluding, Dr. Heller focused on the following:

• Products will involve increased hardware requirements.
• There is a good deal of among-product variance in testing modules, glossaries, multi-media effectiveness, Internet connectivity, cost and accessibility.
• There is limited use of stated objectives and so, little connection between the products and pedagogical objectives.
• There is next to no progress monitoring.
• There is next to no emphasis on writing.
• There is little effort to develop critical thinking.
• There IS emphasis on psychological content.

CyberPsych is an electronic study guide designed to accompany 'Psychology:

Mind, Brain, & Culture' by Drew Westin. The primary organization is by chapter. Each chapter is reviewed by entering a room and clicking on various objects to enable quizzes, exercises, glossaries, case studies and videos (when available).

The Core is an electronic supplement to the text 'In Search of the Human Mind' by Robert Sternberg. It consists of a full text version of the Sternberg text that is accessible (via hyperlink) from different components in The Core. The Core also consists of Conceptual Overviews, minilectures, and quizzes that are organized by chapter. It also features an on-line tour of the disk.

Multimedia Psych is a an electronic study guide that supplements the text 'Psychology' by Morris. It consists of four components, three of which are relatively stand alone (Games, Study Guide, and Animations) and one (Interactive Book) that requires in-house software (Frame Viewer) in order to operate. All components, with the exception of Animations are organized by chapter. The Interactive Book contains a multimedia Overview, a hyperlinked Index, and a Table of Contents. The Table of Contents provides access to the different chapters. Each chapter contains a Quick Tour in the form of an audio overview, a set of learning objectives with hyperlinks to the full text, and a set of general review questions. The bulk of the chapter is accessed through a Full Text version or through an electronic TA (an animated figure with audio that provides a brief overview of the chapter). Both means of access contain essentially the same content (text, graphics, & videos).

PsychQuest is a set of 8 modules that examine high interest research topics that relate psychology to real world issues. Each module provides (a) background information (predominately in text form) with diagrams and click on definitions, (b) activities and demonstrations supplemented with video, animation, & audio, (c) references for further reading, (d) hot weblinks, and (e) a 20 item multiple choice test. It is text independent.

Psychology CD ROM is a product under completion. The product is organized by Topic (which generally correspond to broad chapter headings) and by Theme (which is the same content in Topic but organized thematically). Under each topic are several subtopics that are described an Introduction section, illustrated with 1-2 activities/demonstrations, and accompanied by a set of detailed references and a 10 question multiple choice exam. Each subtopic also has a control bar that enables access to More Information, Glossary, Weblinks, Notepad, & Help. Note: very little was functional in the prototype).

PsycTrek is an full electronic study guide and electronic supplement designed to accompany Psychology; Themes and Variations by Wayne Weiten. The product consists of a set of 12 learning modules that roughly correspond to the chapters in Weiten, a study guide (complete with learning objectives, concept review, person review and quizzes), 7 simulations, and a glossary. The learning modules make use of audio, animation, and video. The modules also have embedded review checks.

PsychSim is an electronic supplement designed to accompany any (Worth) psychology text. The product consists of 19 modules that are designed to either simulate difficult-to-illustrate psychological processes (e.g. neural impulses) or demonstrate classic psychological experiments (e.g. Sperling's partial report procedure). In addition to the simulations/experiments, each modules consist of approximately 40 pages of accompanying text and graphics. The modules conclude with a summary, references and a glossary. It comes on floppies or CD ROM.

The Integrator is an electronic supplement to Brooks/Cole books (Weiten; Plotnik; Kalat & Nairne) for students and a lecture-maker resource for instructors. Both functions make use of the same digital resources. The student supplement is organized by chapter and includes essentially one or more of the following types content presentations: (a) slide shows (diagrams that can be optionally accompanied with text and/or music) (b) activities (may involve student participation), (c) study pages (which are glossaries) and (c) thoughts on ... (quotations from famous individuals).

Several hours were spent Saturday afternoon discussing issues related to carrying out the evaluations of technology-based courseware. The discussions fell into several broad categories including the delineation of pedagogical goals, use and development of adequate controls, and issues of design. Following is a summary of those discussions.

• Increase depth of treatment of material
• Increase methodological understanding
• Increase understanding of psychology as science
• Improve ease of reading peer-review literature and summarizing same
• Build writing skills.
• Improve ability to work in groups.
• Engage students in the "stuff' of psychology

• Motivation. Perhaps adopt a waiting-list control approach so that motivation in control group and treatment groups are equated. Alternatively, one might use a repeated-measures design.

• Computer literacy. If students are giving reactions to computer applications, these must be done after they have gotten beyond the steepest portion of the learning curve.

• Instructor interest and motivation important. Pick the best instructors or match for teaching ratings for both treatment and control conditions.

• Hawthorne effect. Perhaps assess differential impact over time since Hawthorne effect should dissipate.

• Must document the ease of use. If treatment does not "work" (e.g., frequently crashes) then it may not be used or viewed favourably.

• Verifying use is critical to control for time on task, among other things.

• Pre-assessment of prior exposure to computers, interest level in material, GPA, etc.

• Scope. Target manageable topics or modules and make comparisons at a low enough level of complexity to allow for reasonably unambiguous inferences about the processes involved.

• Gather multiple measures over time.

• Construct theoretically meaningful comparisons.

• Measures should include depth of processing, time on task, interest, footprints, affective reactions, comprehension, short-term retention, long-term retention, transfer, and writing skills

• Be wary of cohort and subject effects.

• Possible products and tools for evaluation: concept mapping, Reading the Research, Cyber Rat, Psych Trek, discussion groups and chat rooms, OCR and Acrobat, simulations gathered from the group and the Web.

This would require following an agreed upon protocol for outlining the texts, aggregating the data and evaluating questionable concept entries (e.g., potential synonyms). Chapters on sensation and perception and social psychology have already been completed. Those indicating an interest in partnering on this project include Larry Wenger, John Ellard, Connie Legare, Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary), Louis Dingley (Keyano College), and Tim Parker (Augustana College).

This would require getting item analyses on examinations following Webb's (1991) chapter taxonomy as has been done for approximately 1000 items to date. The results would then be aggregated at the University of Calgary. Those indicating an interest in partnering on this project include Larry Wenger, John Ellard, Connie Legare, Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary), Louis Dingley (Keyano College), and Scott Oddie (Red Deer College).

This would require developing further a questionnaire to assess student ratings of topic difficulty. It would be done at a global level, following Webb's (1991) chapter taxonomy, but also at a more fine-grained level using the concept lists generated from

the project on defining the core concepts in psychology. Those indicating an interest include Larry Wenger, John Ellard, Connie Legare, Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary), and Louis Dingley (Keyano College).

Concept Mapping

Those indicating an interest include Brad Johnson, John Ellard, Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary), and Louis Dingley (Keyano College) and Karsten Loepelman (University of Alberta). Details to be developed, but Brad Johnson and Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary) are piloting a concept mapping exercise in a Summer, 1998 session of introductory psychology.

Those indicating an interest include Brad Johnson, John Ellard, Chip Scialfa (University

of Calgary), and Louis Dingley (Keyano College). Details to be developed, but Brad

Johnson and Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary) are piloting a writing exercise in a

Summer, 1998 session of introductory psychology.

Those indicating an interest include Brad Johnson, Chip Scialfa (University of Calgary), and Louis Dingley (Keyano College). Details to be developed but Brad Johnson (University of Calgary) is the contact person.

Reading the Research, a module designed to help students learn how to read and critically evaluate empirical research, will be used and evaluated by a number of ATOP faculty, including Nancy Digdon (GMCC), Connie Varnhagen University of Alberta), Louis Dingley (Keyano College). It will also be used at the Harcourt Brace Webster, maintained by John Mitterer. The Larger Web-based introductory psychology supplement, intro.psych, will be evaluated in experimental sections of introductory psychology taught by Connie Varnhagen and Don Heth University of Alberta). Continued Web-based psychology supplement development and evaluation is directed by Connie Varnhagen and Don Heth based on input and suggestions by any ATOP member.

Those indicating an interest include Louis Dingley (Keyano College) and Andrew Howell (GMCC). Details to be worked out but Andrew Howell (GMCC) is the contact person.

Name Institution

Larry Andreotti Grand Prairie Regional College

Charles Beck University of Alberta

Patricia Boechler University of Alberta

John Connors Canadian University College

Louis Dingley Keyano College

John Ellard University of Calgary

Peter Fustenau Grant MacEwan Community College

Darren George Canadian University College

Bob Heller Concordia University College

Andrew Howell Grant MacEwan Community College

Brad Johnson University of Calgary

Karsten Loepelmann Grant MacEwan Community College

Heather Looy Kings College

Paula Marentette Augustana College

John Mitterer Brock University

Scott Odie Red Deer College

Tim Parker Augustana ColIege

Russell Powell Grant MacEwan Community College

Chip Scialfa University of Calgary

Connie Varnhagen University of Alberta

Leanne Willson University of Alberta

Larry Wenger University of Calgary

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Appendix B

Lesson Plan for Psychology 205 Lab

Lab 1 - Concept Mapping

(revised to accomodate software installation problems)

Topic Area: Measuring Brain Activity using Various Electronic Methods

Audience: Psychology 205 students

Goals: Students should know and understand the different measurement tools used for measuring brain activity and understand what output from the tools means.

Objectives: There are two sets of objectives:

1. Students should be able to answer questions regarding measurement tools e.g. which measurement tool should be used to measure alpha activity in the brain?

2. Students should be able to construct simple concept maps using pencil and paper (labeled links are optional).

Materials:

Concept Mapping Crib Sheet - a description of concept mapping and the different link labels.

Exam booklets to record the concept maps in.

Activities:

1. Welcome students to the study. Overview of what they will be doing in this lab:

a) Learn what concept mapping is

b) Try to construct one on their own

c) Hand in finished map to TA

2. Describe what concept mapping is. Use the following example:

[Overhead 1]

3. Overlay a more structured concept map onto an essay-writing template

[Overhead 2]

4. Pass out Crib sheets. Talk briefly about the crib sheet e.g. that they should hang onto it as they may be useful in subsequent lab sessions.

5. Begin the study question.

When you are finished, please hand them in to me. They will be returned to you at the beginning of next lab [students could be asked to keep them for next week, but how many will?].

You can use your text-book and/or class notes if you like. You are free to go when you are finished.

6. Gather the concept maps.

Concept mapping is a technique used to visually depict concepts or ideas and the relationship between them. Concept maps may be simple or complex depending upon what is being depicted. The concepts are connected using links. Links are often labeled to indicate the type of connection between concepts. For example, the concept map below is a simple concept map using labeled links:

Each of the concepts or ideas are called nodes. In this diagram there are 4 nodes. The lines drawn between the nodes are called links. The arrows denote the direction of the link and the label tells us something about the link. For example, in the above diagram the node 'A Concept Map' is linked to the node Relationships'. The arrow at the end of the link indicates that 'Relationships' follows or is included in the more general node 'A Concept Map'. The link-label indicates how the two nodes are related.

Concepts or nodes may be drawn using any number of shapes. Circles, squares, stars, or any other shape that makes sense could be used. In general, however, only one or two shapes are used É concept maps would become confusing if too many different shapes were used, or different shapes were used 'just for fun'.

Concept maps can also be used to help construct essays. In the following example all of the elements of an essay are structured in a concept map:

Although there are no link description in this map, it is clear that there is a hierarchical structure.

Now consider the same map with a basic essay-writing template applied:

The structure of the essay is clear. The body of the essay consists of three parts, red blood cells, blood vessels and the heart. As well the important components of each of these three elements are shown. Although the link-types are not labeled here, arrows help indicate the flow of the map. However, labels could be added to increase the descriptive power of the map.Links between nodes range from simple lines without labels or arrows to lines with arrows and elaborate labels. Below is a list of some of the various link labels that one may use.

First Concept Link Label Second Concept

A is a B

A is a part of B

A is connected to B

A comes before B

A leads to B

A results in B

A is determined by B

A illustrates B

A causes B

A results in B

A is determined by B

A leads to B

A is a characteristic of B

A is a property of B

A is a principle of B

A is analogous to B

A is a case of B

A is a metaphor of B

Issue generalizes to Issue

Position responds to Issue

Position objects to Argument

Argument supports Position

Issue is supported by Argument

Data is for

Data is against hypothesis

These are only some of the link labels you can use. When constructing your own concept maps, you should feel free to use whatever label you feel appropriately describes the connection between the two concepts. In some cases you may feel that the best label is no label!

For example, in the above example you might use a link-type to describe your argument:

The heart causes The pumping of blood carrying carbon dioxide to the lungs

Lesson Plan for Psychology 205 Lab

Lab 1 - Outlining

Topic Area: Measuring Brain Activity using Various Electronic Methods

Audience: Psychology 205 students

Goals: Students should know and understand the different measurement tools used for measuring brain activity and understand what output from the tools means.

Objectives: There are two sets of objectives:

1. Students should be able to answer questions regarding measurement tools e.g. which measurement tool should be used to measure alpha activity in the brain?

2. Students should be able to construct simple outlines using pencil and paper

Materials:

Outlining Crib Sheet - a description of outlining and the different link types.

Exam booklets to record the outlines in.

Activities:

1. Welcome students to the study. Overview of what they will be doing in this lab:

a) Learn what outlining is

b) Try to construct an outline on their own

c) Hand in finished outline to TA

2. Describe what outlining is. Use the following example:

[use overhead 1]

3. Apply essay-writing template to the outline:

[use overhead 2]

4. Pass out Crib sheets. Talk briefly about the crib sheet e.g. that they should hang onto it as they may be useful in subsequent lab sessions.

5. Begin the study question.

When you are finished, please hand them in to me. They will be returned to you at the beginning of next lab [students could be asked to keep them for next week, but how many will?].

You can use your text-book and/or class notes if you like.

You are free to go when you are finished.

6. Gather the outlines.

Outlining is a way of organizing your thoughts and arranging them in a hierarchical structure. The structure is supposed to help you get a better idea of how the pieces fit together. Here is an example of an outline:

Notice how the major headings are followed by more detailed sub-headings. In general, an outline can be grouped like an essay:

Outlines are very useful for organizing information so that you get a concise representation of how everything goes together. With an outline you can often tell at a glance if something is missing, or if something is in the wrong place, or how the information should flow.

Outlines can also help determine the types of relationships that exist between the various elements within it. In most outlines the types of elements one may find range from ideas or concepts to facts. The links between elements indicates how they are related. Links between elements range from simple relationships such as 'element A is a part of element B'. The different relationships are generally referred to as different link-types. Below is a list of some of the various link types that one may use.

First Element Link Label Second Element

A is a B

A is a part of B

A is connected to B

A comes before B

A leads to B

A results in B

A is determined by B

A illustrates B

A causes B

A results in B

A is determined by B

A leads to B

A is a characteristic of B

A is a property of B

A is a principle of B

A is analogous to B

A is a case of B

A is a metaphor of B

Issue generalizes to Issue

Position responds to Issue

Position objects to Argument

Argument supports Position

Issue is supported by Argument

Data is for

Data is against hypothesis

These are only some of the link labels you can use. When constructing your own outlines, you should feel free to use whatever label you feel appropriately describes the connection between the two elements. In some cases you may feel that the best label is no label!

For example, in the above example you might use a link-type to describe your argument:

The heart causes the pumping of blood carrying carbon dioxide to the lungs

Lesson Plan – Introductory Computer-Based Concept Mapping

Goals: Understand the basics of using a computerized concept mapping tool

Objectives:

1. Open and close Inspiration

2. Use Inspiration to duplicate a concept map from a previous paper & pencil concept mapping session.

3. Save the Concept Map onto the Psych. Network server

4. Print the Concept Map

Materials:

Inspiration

Access to a shared folder on Psych. Server (standard login and access privileges)

Printers and paper

LCD overhead display (optional)

Procedures:

1) Find Inspiration on the local hard drive and start it up.

2) Construct a 'sample' concept map

a) Add a few nodes

b) Connect them using the 'Link' button

c) Change the titles of several nodes (just to see how)

d) Label one or two links.

3) Save the Concept Map

a) Gain access to the Psych. Server using Chooser. Select the Undergrad lab

b) The userid is inspiration, no password.

c) When the server icon shows up on the desktop, open it up and look for the folder 'Undergrads'

d) In the folder 'Undergrads' there should be a folder named 'Inspiration'. Open this folder

e) If this is your first concept map, you should make a folder for yourself. Use your id# as the folder name

f) To make a new folder, first double-click on the inspiration folder to open it up

g) Use the 'File' menu item at the top of the screen and select new folder. You can name the folder with your ID number

h) Save the concept map in your new folder using whatever name makes sense to you.

4) Use the concept map generated from the last exercise (last question), and duplicate it using Inspiration

5) Save the Concept Map (see step 3 above)

6) Print the Concept Map

a) Select the 'File' menu item. About half way down there is a "Print' item. Select 'Print'. When the next dialog box comes up, make sure the printer is set to printer #1 or #4. Finally, click the O.K. button. Your concept map should be printed in one of the printers in the lab.

7) Hand in the Concept Map. Make sure your name is at the top.

Lesson Plan – Introductory Computer-based Outlining

Goals: Understand the basics of using a computerized outlining tool

Objectives:

5. Open and close Word '98

6. Use the Outliner component of Word including multi-level numbering to duplicate a previously made outline (e.g. from the last paper & pencil outline)

7. Save an outline onto the Psych. Network server

8. Print an outline

Materials:

Word '98

Access to a shared folder on Psych. Server (standard login and access privileges)

Printers and paper

LCD overhead display (optional)

Procedures:

8) Find Office 98 on the local harddrive and start Word

9) Under 'View', change to 'Outline' mode

a) Input a number of headings and sub-headings

b) Use the <tab> key to indent a level

c) Use the <shift><tab> keys to un-indent a level

d) Use 'cut' and 'paste' to move headings/sub-headings around

10) Save the Outline

a) Gain access to the Psych. Server using Chooser. Select the Undergrad lab

b) The userid is inspiration, no password.

c) When the server icon shows up on the desktop, open it up and look for the folder 'Undergrads'

d) In the folder 'Undergrads' there should be a folder named 'Inspiration'. Open this folder

e) If this is your first outline, you should make a folder for yourself. Use your id# as the folder name

f) To make a new folder, first double-click on the inspiration folder to open it up

g) Use the 'File' menu item at the top of the screen and select new folder. You can name the folder with your ID number

h) Save the outline in your new folder using whatever name makes sense to you.

11) Use the outline generated from the last exercise (last question), and duplicate it using the Word outliner.

12) When finished, select all of the outline and set the multi-level numbering scheme

a) Under 'Format', 'Bullets & Numbering', 'Outline Numbered', select the numbering scheme you want.

b) Change the 'View' to 'Normal' to see what the printed page will look like.

13) Save the Outline (see step 3 above)

14) Print the Outline

a) Select the 'File' menu item. About half way down there is a "Print' item. Select 'Print'. When the next dialog box comes up, make sure the printer is set to one that is in the lab. Finally, click the O.K. button. Your outline should be printed in one of the printers in the lab.

15) Hand in the Outline. Make sure your name is at the top.

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Appendix C

Letter to Solicit Control Group Participants

v

Faculty of SOCIAL SCIENCES

Department of PSYCHOLOGY

<current date>

Hello, my name is John Mueller. I am your professor for the Psychology 205 course you registered for this winter. Welcome to the course!

I am writing to you because of a unique opportunity you have to expand your experience in Psychology 205 by participating in an important research project on university student learning being conducted in connection with the course. We have received research funding from the Government of Alberta to investigate the effectiveness of recent innovations designed to facilitate learning for university students, particularly in large classes like Psychology 205. Specifically, we are systematically investigating how instruction in concept mapping, outlining, and computer based learning software may assist students not only learn and comprehend material better but also develop their analytic and written communication skills, which is a vital part of quality university training.

You, along with approximately 75 others, were randomly selected from amongst the nearly 400 people registered in the class to participate in the study. For the study to meet acceptable scientific standards, it is very important that as many of our randomly selected participants as possible participate in the study, so I hope your response to this request when we call you in a week or so will be yes.

Participation requires attendance at three 50-minute tutorials during the fall session: Thursday, September 17 at 1:00 p.m., Thursday, December 3 at 1:00 p.m., and Wednesday, December 9 at 11:00 a.m. These tutorial times will not conflict with your other regularly scheduled classes. We will pay you $10 for each tutorial for a total of approximately $30 over the course of the session.

It is important that you know that whether or not you decide to participate will have no bearing on your grade in Psychology 205, nor will any of the information gathered in the study be used in any way to determine your grade. You should also know that the study has been carefully reviewed and approved by a University of Calgary ethics committee to ensure that there are no negative consequences for participating students.

We will call you within a week of your receipt of this letter to confirm whether or not you will be participating. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at that time.

Finally, a hot tip on the textbook we're using for the course: Sternberg, Robert. In Search of the Human Mind. If you pick it up at the U of C bookstore before classes start, you'll beat the rush and long lines! If you agree to participate, you will also receive a free personal copy of the CD) entitled: The Explorer, which is a multimedia resource designed to accompany the Sternberg text.

Sincerely,

John Mueller, Ph.D.

Letter to Solicit Concept Mapping Group Participants

Faculty of SOCIAL SCIENCES

Department of PSYCHOLOGY

<current date>

Dear ÇFirstNameÈ:

Hello, my name is John Mueller. I am your professor for the Psychology 205 course you registered for this winter. Welcome to the course!

I am writing to you because of a unique opportunity you have to expand your experience in Psychology 205 by participating in an important research project on university student learning being conducted in connection with the course. We have received research funding from the Government of Alberta to investigate the effectiveness of recent innovations designed to facilitate learning for university students, particularly in large classes like Psychology 205. Specifically, we are systematically investigating how instruction in concept mapping, outlining, and computer based learning software may assist students not only learn and comprehend material better but also develop their analytic and written communication skills, which is a vital part of quality university training.

You, along with approximately 75 others, were randomly selected from amongst the nearly 400 people registered in the class to participate in the study. For the study to meet acceptable scientific standards, it is very important that as many of our randomly selected participants as possible participate in the study, so I hope your response to this request when we call you in a week or so will be yes.

Participation requires attendance at a 50-minute tutorial once a week throughout the fall session at a time that does not conflict with any of your other classes. The tutorial you will attend, should you agree to participate, meets on Thursday afternoons from 3:00 to 3:50p.m. We will pay you $10 for each tutorial for a total of approximately $140 over the course of the session.

It is important that you know that whether or not you decide to participate will have no bearing on your grade in Psychology 205, nor will any of the information gathered in the study be used in any way to determine your grade. You should also know that the study has been carefully reviewed and approved by a University of Calgary ethics committee to ensure that there are no negative consequences for participating students.

We will call you within a week of your receipt of this letter to confirm whether or not you will be participating. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at that time.

Finally, a hot tip on the textbook we're using for the course: Sternberg, Robert. In Search of the Human Mind. If you pick it up at the U of C bookstore before classes start, you'll beat the rush and long lines! If you agree to participate, you will also receive a free personal copy of the CD entitled: The Explorer, which is a multimedia resource designed to accompany the Sternberg text.

Sincerely,

John Mueller, Ph.D.

Letter to Solicit Outlining Group Participants

Faculty of SOCIAL SCIENCES

Department of PSYCHOLOGY

<current date>

Dear ÇFirstNameÈ:

Hello, my name is John Mueller. I am your professor for the Psychology 205 course you registered for this winter. Welcome to the course!

I am writing to you because of a unique opportunity you have to expand your experience in Psychology 205 by participating in an important research project on university student learning' being conducted in connection with the course. We have received research funding from the Government of Alberta to investigate the effectiveness of recent innovations designed to facilitate learning for university students, particularly in large classes like Psychology 205. Specifically, we are systematically investigating how instruction in concept mapping, outlining, and computer based learning software may assist students not only learn and comprehend material better but also develop their analytic and written communication skills, which is a vital part of quality university training.

You, along with approximately 75 others, were randomly selected from amongst the nearly 400 people registered in the class to participate in the study. For the study to meet acceptable scientific standards, it is very important that as many of our randomly selected participants as possible participate in the study, so I hope your response to this request when we call you in a week or so will be yes.

Participation requires attendance at a 50-minute tutorial once a week throughout the fall session at a time that does not conflict with any of your other classes. The tutorial you will attend, should you agree to participate, meets on Tuesday mornings from 10:00 to 10:50a.m.. We will pay you $10 for each tutorial for a total of approximately $140 over the course of the session.

It is important that you know that whether or not you decide to participate will have no bearing on your grade in Psychology 205, nor will any of the information gathered in the study be used in any way to determine your grade. You should also know that the study has been carefully reviewed and approved by a University of Calgary ethics committee to ensure that there are no negative consequences for participating students.

We will call you within a week of your receipt of this letter to confirm whether or not you will be participating. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at that time.

Finally, a hot tip on the textbook we're using for the course: Sternberg, Robert. In Search of the Human Mind. If you pick it up at the U of C bookstore before classes start, you'll beat the rush and long lines! If you agree to participate, you will also receive a free personal copy of the CD entitled: The Explorer, which is a multimedia resource designed to accompany the Sternberg text.

Sincerely,

John Mueller, Ph.D.

Sample Web Pages

Sample Web pages:

1. Home page for PSYCO 104 M1
2. Syllabus for PSYCO 104 M1  Note: This link actually goes to the current syllabus for the intro.psych 104 class
3. Home page for PSYCO 105 M1  Note:This link also goes to current intro.psych 105 home page
4. Syllabus for PSYCO 105 M1  Note: Syllabus for current 105 section