Welcome First Year Students
Student Guide
Staying ‘on Track’
Staying ‘In the Know’
Practice Activity
Instructions
Prof’s Contact Info Tips
Office Hours Tips
Course Website Tips
Class Location and Time Tips
Course Overview
Teaching Assistant Tips
Required Text Tips
Evaluation Tips
In-Class Exams Tips
Research Project Tips
Final Exam Tips
Readings Schedule Tips
Course Outline Top Ten Takeaways
Appendix: Course Outline
Many students show up for class on the first day, collect a copy of the course outline, stick it in their binder, and then never look at it again. However, course outlines are great resources and should be consulted throughout the duration of the course. Course outlines not only contain information about the structure of the course and its requirements, but also a number of important clues about what your instructor expects you to learn during the course, and how you will be expected to demonstrate that knowledge. Because they contain such valuable and necessary information, it is important to keep your course outlines in a safe place so they can be easily retrieved throughout the semester.
topThe information contained in a course outline provides an excellent overview of how a course will flow throughout the semester. Frequently referring to your course outline can help you succeed academically by keeping you "on track".
Course outlines list due dates for assignments, tests, and exams. At the beginning of the semester it can be beneficial to record all of the important dates (assignment dates, test dates) from each course outline into a time planner or calendar. You can choose a paper-based calendar/planner or one that is digitally accessed though a computer (e.g., U of G Gryph Mail Calendar, Google Calendar). Digital calendars have numerous benefits including reminders, cut and paste editing, easy to read digital text, as well as multiple views (daily, weekly, and monthly).
Setting up a calendar will allow you to view all of your due dates from all of your courses in one spot. This perspective is extremely useful in predicting how the semester will flow with regards to workload and studying. Using your calendar, you will easily be able to identify those times when you have many due dates or exams in close proximity. Understanding how the due dates relate to one another can help you start the semester in an efficient manner. You can begin the semester by planning ahead and allocating sufficient time for readings, studying and completing assignments. Setting up a time plan and following through on it will help keep your workload more balanced and manageable throughout the semester. This will help prevent feelings of being overwhelmed when many projects are due at the same time.
topCourse outlines are full of useful information that can answer a lot of questions and help foster academic success. Examining the information in the course outline throughout the term will help keep you 'in the know'.
Having a good grasp of the information found in the course outline will keep you aware of all aspects of the course and prevent any surprises throughout the semester. One way to become familiar with the information in the course outline is to review it on a weekly basis. Try to review the evaluation section before assignments, tests, and exams to double check dates and make sure you are satisfying all assessment requirements. You do not want to lose marks because you forgot to complete certain project requirements or you were unaware that a particular topic was to be studied for an exam.
Frequently, professors will list a number of course objectives/outcomes in their course outlines. These objectives can be very useful for students to 'see the big picture', as students often have difficulty determining what content is important or why certain content is included. The objectives/outcomes describe the core knowledge and skills that the instructor believes students should be able to demonstrate upon completion of the course. Review the objectives to determine if you feel comfortable with the core concepts of the course as they are presented. If you have difficulty with the content relating to an objective after it has been presented, seek help while it is still fresh in your mind. It is also beneficial to review the entire timetable section of the course outline on a weekly basis. This will keep you aware of current readings and it will help refresh the content and sequencing of content in the course. Reviewing class topics will help you conceptualize how the course subject matter fits together and it will aid you with recall when studying for tests and exams.
topThis activity will get you to start thinking of your course outlines as valuable resources. It will also get you to practise the skills necessary to utilize your course outlines effectively. A sample introductory Psychology Course Outline is used for the activity.
Record the name and contact information for your professor in your planner. Most students don’t carry around their course outlines throughout the semester, but they do carry their planner every day. If you have recorded your professor’s contact information, you will be able to contact them easily when you have a question about your course.
Record your professor's email address into your contacts / address book in your email application (i.e. Outlook, Gryph Mail, Gmail). Emails can then be sent more quickly as you won't have to look up the addresses. To stay organized, create an "Instructors" folder in your email application for all your professor addresses.
Ensure to communicate with your professors in the manner that they specify. For example, some professors may require you to correspond through the Desire2Learn course website while others may request that your only send emails using your uoguelph account.
topMake use of office hours. These times are set aside by your prof to answer questions outside of class time. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of your professors will be more than happy to talk to you and answer your questions about your courses. In fact, many profs complain that no one ever comes to talk to them!
Try to make use of office hours well in advance of exams, when your professors will be much less busy and you're likely to get greater individual attention.
When you visit a professor during office hours, it helps if you bring along a clearly-defined question or problem. Don't save up all your questions until the last week of classes.
Make a separate note of the professor's office hours, and include the location of the professor's office location in the note, since those two pieces of information are found in two different places on the course outline. Put this information on a page in your time planner with the office hours of all your professors and TAs.
topMost University of Guelph courses have their own website, accessed through Desire2Learn. These sites often contain important information, including course resources such as lecture notes or PowerPoint slides, sample quizzes, and often your grades for assignments or tests.
Make a note in your time planner at the beginning of each week to remind yourself that you need to visit the site to check the announcements and to print out the lecture notes for that week.
Bookmark the course login page in your web browser for easier access.
topTo find the locations of buildings such as War Memorial Hall and to see photos of what the buildings look like, use the Campus Map Locator.
If you're planning on using your laptop in most classes, check out the classroom first. War Memorial is an older building with few electrical outlets and small flip-up desktops, so you may want to keep your laptop at home.
Note the classroom location. Because the class is in War Memorial Hall you’ll need to arrive a little early to get a good seat (War Memorial Hall is a rather long lecture theatre, and acoustics can be a little poor if the instructor is quiet and doesn't use a microphone).
Note the days of the week that this course occurs. Because this course is on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you won't miss any lectures due to statutory holidays (Thanksgiving). If your classes fall on a religious holiday, notify your professor early in the semester that you will miss class.
Make note of any exceptions to the regular schedule. Record these exceptions in your time planner.
The course overview gives you a short description of the topics to be covered in the course. Look at the Readings Schedule to find out when each topic will be discussed in class.
An interactive lecture means that you should be be prepared to ask, discuss, and answer questions in class. You will need to get ready ahead of time by completing the assigned readings and formulating any questions that you'd like to discuss in class.
The professor wants you to know that this course will require a substantial amount of time and mental energy, perhaps more than in some other courses. Make sure you plan some additional study time each week for this course in order to be successful.
topContact information for your TAs is very important. This is doubly true in this particular course, where the TAs are solely responsible for the team research project. Chances are you'll have at least one question about the project during the semester, and TAs can be a little tougher to get a hold of if they don't attend lectures.
Make a note of the TA to whom you were assigned. Record the TA's contact info in your time planner beside the contact info for the course professor. Include the email address of the TA with your contacts in your email application (e.g. Outlook, Gryph, Gmail).
topNote that 2 textbooks are required for the course. Because they are both required you are going to need both of them. Sometimes texts are listed in course outlines as "Recommended". You do not need to buy recommended texts and may be better off borrowing them from the library reserve desk, or from a friend who bought them if you're looking to save money.
Two bookstores are found on campus, the University Bookstore and Co-op Bookstore. Both carry new and (when available) used textbooks. Shop early for used textbooks since they cost less and are in high demand. Online bookstores (Amazon and Chapters) are another alternative. You may have to wait longer to receive your texts, but you may find cheaper prices.
You could ask the prof if an earlier edition of the text would be acceptable as few changes are sometimes made from one edition to the next. Older editions are often much cheaper, but you may have to hunt for chapters that have been rearranged and renamed. Check thecannon.ca, an online community where Guelph students can buy and sell used textbooks.
Ask the instructor where she/he recommends you purchase the required textbooks. Sometimes the instructor can give you some tips on best pricing and stock.
Ask if the text is going to be placed on reserve. Books that are placed on reserve are kept at the reserve desk in the library, where they can be signed out for a period of 2 hours, and can't leave the library. If you're short of textbook money, this system can be your wallet's best friend.
topNotice that exams represent increasingly higher percentages of your final mark in the course, while the first exam represents the smallest portion of your evaluation in the whole course.
Note that you can do fairly poorly on the first exam without crushing your chances for a good mark in this course. By making the weighting of the exams uneven, your prof is hinting that she views the earlier exams as practice for the final.
Many entering students don't do as well as they'd hoped on their first midterms or assignments. If you don't do as well as you'd like, treat the midterm or assignment as a learning experience and adjust your study strategies.
Note that the weighting of the exams also reflects the relative quantities of material covered by each. Whereas the first exam (which is worth 15%) covers only 3 weeks of material, the second exam (which is worth 25%) covers about six weeks, and the final exam covers the whole course. If the exams are of equal length, the first exam will have to focus on a higher level of detail, as it covers less material. Conversely, the second exam covers more ground, so you'll have to know less about more.
Notice that there is a period of about 2 weeks of material which won't be covered by either of the first two exams, so you'll want to pay extra attention to this material for the final. You'll want to adjust your study strategies accordingly, matching the time spent on the material to the quantity of material, and matching both of those to the relative weighting of each exam.
Note that it's practically impossible to get any mark above a B in this course without doing well on the Research Project. Since the project is due near the end of the semester, you'll want to make sure that your group gets a fair bit of work done during the semester, rather than leaving things to the last minute when group members will each have their own priorities, and will be thinking about studying for their finals.
Mark the dates, times, and relative weightings of all exams and assignments in your time planner. Use these dates, along with the lecture schedule for the course, to develop a study schedule for the whole semester. Use the relative weightings to determine your priorities if you find that a number of your courses have tests or assignments at similar times.
topNote that all exams in the course are multiple choice. This means you might want to adjust your study strategies to take this into account. For example, you might want to pay extra close attention to definitions of key terms and concepts.
Note that "No marks are deducted for wrong answers." That means you can guess without penalty, which is good news. However, the key point to remember here is that demonstrating knowledge of course material is what gets you the marks. Being a good guesser will only get you so far on a multiple choice test.
Try to find old exams or ask the professor to give you sample questions so you can see whether they emphasize isolated facts or require you to integrate a number of broad concepts in order to answer correctly.
topNote that the research project is a group assignment. This means that you will be trying to coordinate your work with the work of several other students, while each of you follows different schedules with different priorities.
Record the class times that have been set aside for the group assignment in your time planner to stay on top of this project.
During the class time that was set aside for this research project, you might want to try to convince your group members to spend that time coordinating the individual pieces of the assignment, saving any independent work for free time outside of class.
topNote that the final exam is cumulative, unlike the first two exams. This means you should spend time reviewing your performance on the first two exams to ensure that you don't make the same mistakes twice.
Try to prepare study notes which span the entire course, bringing together material from the first two sections with the material from the last two weeks of the course.
topIn most course outlines, the Readings Schedule includes the lecture topics and the textbook readings that accompany them. You will need to pay close attention to this information if you want to stay on track throughout the semester.
Make a note of each textbook reading in your time planner, combining them with the dates of exams, to form a study schedule for the course which covers the entire semester. When you get the rest of your course outlines, combine the study schedules for all your courses into one master schedule for the semester.
When you refer to your Readings Schedule throughout the semester, glance over the entire schedule and not just the readings for one week. This will help provide an overview of the course and prompt you to think about how this week's topics are related to others.
topSheldene Simola, Ph.D.
MacKinnon 502
myprofessor@uoguelph.ca
You will be assigned one of the following Teaching Assistants:
Please direct all of your questions regarding the team research project to the TA to whom you have been assigned.
The course requires the following two texts:
The texts are bound and sold together in the University Bookstore.
| Type | Worth | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| In Class Exam #1 | 15% | Thursday October 5th in class |
| In Class Exam #2 | 25% | Thursday November 16th in class |
| Research Project | 20% | Due Thursday November 23rd in class |
| Final Exam | 40% | Thursday December 14th at 11:30 am |
Table 1: Evaluation Scheme with Mark Breakdowns and Due Dates
| WEEK of | TOPIC | Required or Optional Prep | Required or Optional Hand-In |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 11th | History of Psychology | Eccles Chapter 1 | |
| September 18th | Research Methods and Statistics | Eccles Chapter 2, Appendix A | |
| September 25th | Continued | ||
| October 2nd | Behavioural Neuroscience | Eccles Chapter 3 | First Exam |
| October 9th | Sensation and Perception | Eccles Chapter 5 | |
| October 16th | Consciousness | Eccles Chapter 6 | |
| October 23rd | Memory | Eccles Chapter 8 | |
| October 30th | Learning | Eccles Chapter 7 | |
| November 6th | Continued | ||
| November 13th | Thinking and Language | Eccles Chapter 9 | Second Exam Thursday November 16th |
| November 20th | Motivation | Eccles Chapter 11 | |
| November 27th | Emotion | Eccles Chapter 12 | Group Research Projects: due in class Thursday November 23rd |
Table 2: Weekly Timetable of Topics, Readings, Assignment Due Dates
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