During this four week live online course, students will be introduced to psychology. Students will learn to define psychology and then gain knowledge of the different disciplines within the field. By the end of the course, students will have developed a basic understanding of the field. No background knowledge is required, just come to class ready to learn. This is an exciting field with so many options!  

Week One, Lesson One: Defining Psychology & Industrial Organizational Psychology

Week Two, Lesson Two: Clinical Psychology versus Research Psychology

Week Three, Lesson Three: Educational Psychology & Animal Psychology

Week Four, Lesson Four: Forensic Psychology & Recap of Prior Learning

Overview: During this course, students will develop a basic understanding of psychology and many of the subfields that it consists of. Throughout this course we will explore different specializations, the education requirements for each, as well as average salaries of a psychologist in each field. We will also touch on famous psychologists and/or experiments from the specialization areas. By the end of the class, students will have an understanding of each specialization and what it takes to become a psychologist.  

Methodology: Every class session will begin with an icebreaker to encourage students to feel comfortable speaking to the class. Each week, the students will be shown a presentation that incorporates multiple modalities (text, video, audio, etc.).  The handouts for the presentation will be made available for you to print (printing is optional). Throughout the presentation, there will be stopping points for discussions related to the topic. Students will engage in on-topic discussions with their instructor as well as peers. Students will be offered the opportunity to ask questions, as well as opportunities to further explore the material through brief assignments. These assignments will also provide students an opportunity to improve their research skills. Students will practice presentation skills throughout this class as they will be required to present their homework findings to the class during weeks 2 through 4. 

Weeks 1-3 will have a very brief homework assignment. Students should arrive to class the following week prepared to present their homework to the group. The homework assignments generally will not take longer than 30 minutes to complete. Homework is used to extend learning and to allow for practice of research and presentation skills. 

Learner Time: 45 minutes per week in class, and an estimate of 0-1 hours per week outside of class as assigned.