COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, COUNSELING & GUIDANCE

PSYC 7020: CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
Course Syllabus

Instructor:

William G. (Bill) Huitt, Ph.D.
Office Hours: Generally available M-W, 9am-12N
Office: Psychology Building (next to Continuing Education Center on Patterson)
Phone: 333-5613 (O); 247-2327 (H)        E-mail: whuitt at valdosta dot edu

Required Texts:

There is no required text. Web-based materials available at: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/interact.html

Course Description:

This course is designed to aid the inservice educator (especially the school counselor or school psychologist) in predicting, understanding, and controlling the fundamental principles of learning and human development as they apply to schools. The emphasis is on studying the variables shown by research to affect students and educators in the teaching/learning process.

College of Education Conceptual Framework: Guiding Principles

The following are adapted from the Georgia Systemic Teacher Education Program Accomplished Teacher Framework

• Dispositions Principle:  Productive dispositions positively affect learners, professional growth, and the learning environment.

• Equity Principle:  All learners deserve high expectations and support. 

• Process Principle:  Learning is a life-long process of development and growth. 

• Ownership Principle:  Professionals are committed to, and assume responsibility for, the future of their disciplines. 

• Support Principle:  Successful engagement in the process of learning requires collaboration among multiple partners.

• Impact Principle:  Effective practice yields evidence of learning.

• Technology Principle:  Technology facilitates teaching, learning, community building, and resource acquisition. 

• Standards Principle:  Evidence-based standards systematically guide professional preparation and development. 

College of Education Conceptual Framework Principles:

The following College of Education Conceptual Framework Principles will be addressed at an introductory level in this course:

Proposition 1	Graduates are committed to their roles as helping professionals.
Proposition 2	Graduates are capable of excellence in their professional practice.
Proposition 3	Graduates think systematically about their practice, use research, and contribute to the knowledge base.
Proposition 4	Graduates are members of learning communities.

General Course Objectives:

Students will be able to:

1. name and discuss the major categories of variables that have been studied in educational psychology in an attempt to answer the question "Why do some students learn more than others?" and arrange these in the form of a model of the teaching/learning process;
2. name and discuss the major categories addressed in a systems model of human behavior, describing how behavioral, cognitive, humanistic and learning/development theories address different factors in this model;
3. define learning and compare and contrast the factors that behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and social cognition theorists believe influence the learning process, giving specific examples of how these principles could be used in the classroom.
4. name and discuss the major components and techniques of classroom planning, management and instruction that have been addressed in the study of the teaching/learning process as well as how these general techniques can be modified to address individual differences.

School Counseling Objectives:

Students will be able to:

1. describe the history, philosophy and current trends in school counseling and education systems (CACREP A.1.)
2. describe the school setting and P-12  curriculum (CACREP A.5.)

Course Outline:

I. Introduction
     A. How can Educational Psychology help professional educators
     B. Characteristics of effective classrooms and schools
     C. Purpose of science as applied to Educational Psychology
     D. Scientific methods applied to Educational Psychology

II. A Complex Adaptive Systems Perspective
     A. A systems model of human behavior
     B. Complexity sciences
     C. Brilliant Star model

III. The Changing Context of Education
     A. Industrial to information age
     B. National to global economy
     C. Role of the family

IV. Self and Personal Style
     A. Self-concept & self-esteem
     B.  Learning style
     C. Personal strengths

V. Overview of Learning and Development Theories
     A. Brain structure/functioning and psychomotor development
     B. Overview
          1. Definitions of learning and development
          2. Types of learning and development

VI. Major Theories
     A. Behavioristic learning theories
          1. Classical conditioning
          2. Operant conditioning
          3. Social learning theories
     B. Cognitive theories
          1. Perceptual processing
          2. Information processing
          3. Taxonomy of cognitive domain
          4. Cognitive constructivistic theories
     C. Affect and emotional development
          1. Affective development
          2. Socio-emotional development
          3. Self-concept and self-esteem
     D. Social cognitive and social constructivistic theories
          1. Vygotsky's sociohistorical theory
          2. Bandura's social cognitive theory
              a. Self-efficacy
              b. Self-regulation
          3. Conation and volition

VII. Other topics
     A. Motivation
     B. Spirituality and moral consciousness
     C. Moral/character development

VIII. Model of the Teaching/Learning Process
     A. Overview of the model
     B. Integrated education
     C. Educational accountability

IX. School and classroom practices
     A. Teacher Planning
          1. Educational objectives
          2. Content overlap
          3. The planning process
     B. Instructional Methods
          1. Overview
          2. Events of instruction
     C. Classroom Management
          1. Classroom discipline
          2. Time-on-task
     D. Measurement and evaluation
          1. Basic concepts
          2. Developing tests
          3. Grading

Students With Disabilities:

Students requesting classroom accommodations or modifications because of a documented disability must contact the Access Office for Students with Disabilities located in room 1115 Nevins Hall. The phone numbers are 245-2498 (voice) and 219-1348 (tty).

Course Grading:

* Some excellent suggestions related to Effective Learning
** Excellent suggestions on Writing in the Sciences
^a Using APA Style (another source; citing electronic documents); (samples of 10- and 25-page papers are provided); APA Style Sheet; APA Style Checklist; APA Style Overview; APA Citation Styles; generally the paper will be a literature review (another source)

Note: Students and faculty at VSU are bound by the Code of Ethics developed by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.

Extra credit:

Up to 10 points extra credit (added on to the midterm or final essay exam) may be earned by reading research articles from education or psychology journals or readings in educational psychology; by listening to cassette tapes; viewing video tapes; or reviewing computer software dealing with issues related to the teaching-learning process. A critique (typewritten, double-spaced) is to be written which should include:

1. Publication/bibliographic data or identification of cassette, film or computer software;
2. Summary of article, tape, film or software (1 to 1 1/2 pages);
3. Your personal reaction or opinion about the value of what you are critiquing (1/2 to 1 page).

Each report will be worth a maximum of one point added to one of your midterm or final essay exam grades.

Last updated: January 2010
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