PSYS 095: Careers in Psychological Science

Overall structure of the course
(or, the syllabus that's not in the syllabus)

This is meant to give a bit more detail about what you can expect than is listed in the syllabus. Read it first, then this will make more sense.

Based on my experience of teaching all-online courses, I've found that the discussion board (in Blackboard) is a good, flexible container for posting assignments. There are others (wikis, blogs, the assignment tool). But I want you to be able to reflect on what each other is doing and saying. Also, I figure it's better to have students learn how to navigate one "container."

This is also why the course has what I think of as a 'soft' opening. The first assignment is an introduction so we can get to know each other a bit. If you compare the learning objectives on the first page of the syllabus, hopefully it's obvious how they map onto the topics of the assignments. I hope it is a helpful and logical progression. Here's a bit more detail on that point.

Objective 1 (5 points)
Evaluate your current interests and skills. You'll do this in Assignment 2, which is described in the second day's folder.

Objective 2 (7 points each assignment)
Evaluate your attitudes about the world of work. This is the crux of Assignment 3, which involves listening to excerpts from 4 TED talks about different aspects of work environments. I think it's useful to back up to this level, and yes, think about what you want to do in your job, but also where you might like to do it.

An example from my own 10-year tour of the private sector. My company developed software that helps health professionals make evidence-based diagnostic decisions. I was on the 'content' side of things (I did not  actually write code). Much of the work was highly solitary; many of my colleagues were reference librarians. We all had an office--that was nice. Eventually I got a window--even better. But if you were the sort of person who really thrives on a lot of interaction with your colleagues, this was probably not going to be your cup of tea.

Objective 3 (8 points each assignment)
Learn about the opportunities in the Department of Psychological Science. Having taught for quite a while (not mention having been a student for a good while also!) I am sure of a few things.  Here's one: if you figure out how to get the most out of your education, that not only will, well, make you educated, it will also demonstrate to influential others that you posses that skill. Now, in fact, much of this 'figuring-it-out' thing is counter-intuitive. Especially if you are the first generation of  your family to go to college. Also, opportunities vary, depending on the nature of the field and of the institution.

For this reason, in Assignments 4 and 5, you'll have a chance to take a sort of guided tour of the Department's web pages. You'll learn about our research-active, tenure-track faculty and the opportunities you have to work with them. Also, I'll give you some tips on how to make an initial contact with faculty to start a relationship on the right foot. You'll also learn about some very unique opportunities to engage in internships with an applied-psychology bend to them. Finally, you'll learn about how we provide advising support of every sort (and there's more than one type of advising!)

Objective 4 (9 points each assignment)
Learn about career-building resources at UVM. In Assignments 6 and 7, we'll have a chance to get familiar with several kinds of expert support that's outside of the department. So, for example, in some of these "Careers in.." courses, students write a resume and cover letter. While I have my ideas about what those should entail, I am going to have some humility and acknowledge that there are support teams on campus who can give you current, really expert coaching. In addition, you can consult with them, equipped with what you learned about yourself in this course. They will LOVE that, and I think you'll find that--again--their knowledge is much broader than mine. I think that this is especially important when we consider that very few students who major in psychological science go on to graduate school to become researchers. Finally--and I say this all the time--much of the cost of your UVM education is to provide these services, along with things like our libraries and the great staff  you'll find there. You're paying for it: use it!

Objective 5 (Assignments 8 and 9, 9 points; Assignment 10, 13 points)
Understand how training in psychological science can prepare you for a range of career opportunities. When I was first thinking about this course, I thought, hmm...I'll just do a tour of the different types of psychologists. And the textbooks that are intended for courses like that do just that. I think that's not quite the right thing. First, that assumes that everybody will go to graduate school and get a PhD, which is rare. It's not rare, though, because, somehow, it's the pinnacle. It's rare (in part) because being a researcher really requires a rare temperament. There are lots of important things for smart people to do that don't necessarily involve getting a PhD. Now don't worry: we will still take that tour. But I've identified some truly fantastic resources (web pages, podcasts) that have, I think, a better and broader view. So in Assignments 8, 9, and 10, we'll take this journey, but it will be tailored to the interests you already have, or you have identified in earlier parts of the course.

Objective 6 (Assignment 11, 16 points)
Apply what you have learned in this course to the development of a 4-year plan for your success. And here, we bring it all together. Many of you may already be aware of UVM's Four Year Plan. You'll complete your own, but you'll apply what you've learned to (hopefully) make some more specific predictions about what lies ahead, between you and graduation (recognizing that for some of you, that's next May!) But in addition, you'll extend that plan beyond graduation, and begin to lay down a framework for the next steps in your academic and professional journey.

General tips for success with these assignments

  1. Use the Firefox web browser, which is the one most highly compatible with Blackboard.
  2. Log in to Blackboard via the link, bb.uvm.edu.
  3. Carefully read the assignment and make sure you understand it before you start your work.
  4. Compose  your work in a web processor like Microsoft Word to minimize the chance that you will lose your work. It is very risky to attempt to compose directly in Blackboard.
  5. Allow plenty of time for the assignments.
  6. Review what you wrote for clarity, grammar, and spelling. Also, check and make sure that you followed the assignment instructions.
  7. For full credit, pay attention to any specifications for expected length, topics covered, and so forth.
  8. Save your work, then copy-paste into Blackboard by the assignment deadline. NOTE: This is probably not necessary (or practical) when you are responding to other student's initial postings.
  9. After you complete each assignment, check it off on the syllabus' schedule.
  10. Remember that the discussion forums are set up with moderation. This means that after you submit your work, it will not be visible to the rest of the class. After the deadline, all submissions are moderated (or made visible) so that you can go back and see what your colleagues wrote. Keep that in mind as you compose your assignments, and use your own judgement about disclosing details of your life and situation.
  11. Finally, take a look at the course-menu item, Our Common Ground. This is an important and powerful statement of UVM's values as a learning community, and I think it gives very practical guidance for how we regard one another. It can be distilled into a single word: respect.

Links to the assignments


For your convenience, the deadlines listed below are for Step 1: your initial posting in the forum.

Assignment 1: Introductions (Deadline 1)
 Step 1
 Step 2
Assignment 2: Interest Inventory (Deadline 2)
 Step 1
 Step 2
Assignment 3: TED Talks on Work (Deadline 2)
 Step 1
 Step 2
Assignment 4
 Step 1
 Step 2
Assignment 5
 Step 1
 Step 2