Unit 01: How to Think Critically about Life

Unit 1: How to Think Critically about Life

NOTE: Prior to beginning any of the Assignments, you MUST have completed the Pre-Course Essay, the link for which was sent to your WSU student email on 08/12/2021 by Joel Suss (Subject: PSY 311: 2021 Fall – Pre-Course Essay). If you have not yet completed the Pre-Course Essay, DO NOT begin this Unit’s Assignments. Instead, first complete the Pre-Course Essay.

Unit 1: Assignment #1 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Monday August 16):

Read through all of the instructions for Assignment #1 before you do anything else. This will give you an overview of what you need to do. That will help you plan your time.
Read How to Email a Professor.
1. To appreciate the value of students proofreading the email they send to their professors, see this Tweet (actual Twitter version) by a University of Illinois professor (reporting an email he received from a student — and a followup with a happy ending about proofreading!).
2. Related, but not required, to appreciate the statistical reason to not ask for a grade bump, watch Andrews’ (2020) lecture video “When Continuous Measurements Become Discrete.” [a transcript of the video is available in PDF and Word].
Second, and definitely required, read closely (and thoroughly) the Course Syllabus.
Log onto Blackboard and open the PSY 311 course.
1. On the vertical menu (left hand side of page), click on “Units”.
2. Click on Unit 1.
3. Click on “Assignment #1: Course Contract – First Half here”.
4. Open the assignment (which is a Blackboard Test) and read the instructions. Reading, understanding, and following instructions is crucial for your success in this course.
5. Complete the test by filling in the blanks with the information you learned from the Course Syllabus. Use the exact language from the syllabus—do NOT paraphrase.
6. You need to get all of the answers correct. If you do not get all the answers correct, you’ll need to take the test again.
7. Email Joel (joel.suss@wichita.edu) and tell him how many blanks there were in total and how many you filled correctly each time you attempted the test. Title the subject of your email message, PSY 311: Course Contract.
Joel will reply to your PSY 311: Course Contract email message. In his reply email message he will tell you how to complete the last part of Unit 1: Assignment #1, which you must complete.

Unit 1: Assignment #2 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Wednesday August 18):

From the Course Syllabus, learn how to take advantage of the Flexibility Accommodation that is built into this course.
From the Course How To:
1. Learn “How to Access the Course Website” (and learn that you should NOT try to access the course through Blackboard or through MyWSU);
Read Gernsbacher’s (2014) article, “Why Internet-Based Education?” (PDF or web).
- Of the five fundamental principles of learning on which Internet-based higher education capitalizes, identify the one principle that resonates the most to you.
From the Course How To:
1. Learn “How To Make a New Discussion Board Post.”
  - Learn that if you compose your post elsewhere and copy/paste it into the text box, you might see that there are extra blank lines (meaning more than one blank line) between your paragraphs. You need to delete those extra blank lines before you click “Submit.”
  - Learn why it’s important to break each of your Discussion Board posts into multiple paragraphs. Learn that a good rule of thumb is no more than three or four sentences per paragraph.
  - Learn that you should check to make sure that your Discussion Board post appears on the Discussion Board. Learn that it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that ALL of your posts appear on the Discussion Board.
2. Learn “How To Edit Your Discussion Board Post.”
  - Learn that most assignments will be graded shortly after you submit them, even if before the deadline.
  - Learn that it’s best to read over your assignments BEFORE you post them and make any edits or corrections BEFORE you post.
  - Learn that if you submit only part of an assignment, that part is what will be graded, even if before the deadline.
Go to the Unit 1: Assignment #2 and #4 Discussion Board on the Blackboard course site and make a new Discussion Board post of at least 200 words. In your post, tell us
1. First, your preferred first name.
2. Second, a mnemonic to remember your first name (to create a name mnemonic, you’ll need to read this handout, or an alternative text-only Word version can be downloaded here).
3. Third, which specific two hours on which specific six days a week you are planning to work on our course during the coming semester (e.g., 10 am–12 pm on Mondays, 11 am–1 pm on Tuesdays, and so forth for six specific days).
4. Fourth, why you chose those specific two hours on those specific six days to work on the course during the coming semester.
5. Fifth, which one of the five fundamental principles of learning (on which Internet-based higher education capitalizes) resonates the most to you – and why.
Note that Discussion Boards/Assignments will only be make available on Blackboard starting two weeks before the due date. That’s to curb students from blowing through the entire course in a short period of time. It is designed to keep members of the class somewhat together. Check out the Course Calendar.
Finally, note that the discussion board on Blackboard is for two assignments (#2 and #4). Therefore, there are six points available (three points for Assignment #2 and three points for Assignment #4). So after Assignment #2 is graded, you will see a score out of six—even thought you only completed the first of the two assignments. The maximum number of points you can have at that stage is three, and your grade would show a maximum of “3.00/6.00.” Then, when Unit 1: Assignment #4 is graded, the points for that assignment will get added to your grade for Assignment #2. The maximum grade at that point—after you completed both Assignments #2 and Assignment #4—is “6.00/6.00.”

Unit 1: Assignment #3 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Thursday August 19):

To learn how to separate opinion from evidence:
1. Read Philosophy Professor Stokes’ (2017) article, “No, You’re Not Entitled to Your Opinion” (web version).
  - Make sure you understand the distinction Professor Stokes’ draws between two common uses of the term “my opinion.”
  - I have added some clarifying notes to the Word doc, in red font.
2. Read Brown’s (2016) article, “Actually, You’re Not Entitled to Your Opinion” (web version).
  - Again, make sure you understand the distinction Professor Stokes draws between two categories of opinions.
3. Read Rathi’s (2016) article, “A Philosophy Professor Explains Why You’re Not Entitled to Your Opinion” (web version).
  - Make sure you understand why the article concludes that “everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but only as long as they are able to reasonably argue for it with evidence” (and that you understand which of the two common uses of “opinion” this statement refers to).
4. Read former U.S. Senator and Sociology Professor Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s (no date) quote (web version).
5. Read Rouner’s (2015) article, “No, It’s Not Your Opinion” (web version).
6. Read the excerpt from Braithwaite’s (2005) article, “Seven Fallacies of Thought and Reason” (original, full PDF).
  - At this point, you should have a good understanding of the difference between the two common uses of the term “my opinion” (one is a preference or taste and the other is a judgment based on fact, evidence, or expertise).
From the Course How To:
1. Learn “How To Embed a URL into a Discussion Board Post.”
2. Learn “How To Embed a YouTube or Vimeo into a Discussion Board Post.”
Find three situations on the Internet (that no other student in your section has yet posted) in which someone has claimed that something is their opinion. For each of the three situations and based on all the reading you’ve done, identify each situation as either the first or second use of “opinion.”
Go to the Unit 1: Assignment #3 Discussion Board and make a new Discussion Board post of at least 200 words. In your post:
1. Describe each of the three situations you identified (it would be best to describe each situation in separate paragraphs).
2. For each situation,
  - explain which of the two uses of “opinion” the situation exemplifies;
  - explain why you think the situation is either the first or second use of “opinion”;
  - explain whether the person, in this situation, would be justified in saying that they are “entitled to that opinion”; and
  - explain why you deem the person to be justified or unjustified in being “entitled to that opinion.”
3. For each situation, embed in your post either the URL to that situation (using the technique you learned from Course How To, so that your link shows up as actual text, rather than just a URL or the word, Link) or, if a video, a link to the video.

Unit 1: Assignment #4 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Friday August 20):

From the Course How To, learn “How To Make a Reply to a Discussion Board Post.”
From the Course Syllabus, review “What’s the best way to respond to another student’s Discussion Board post?” Remember that your responses to other students should always include at least two of the four recommended components.
Go to the Unit 1: Assignment #2 and #4 Discussion Board and read your Instructor’s and TAs’ posts and then read ALL the other students’ posts. Then, make a response (a reply) to three other students’ posts.
1. Each of your three responses must be at least 200 words.
2. One response must be to a student who chose the same fundamental learning principle as you did; another response must be to a student who chose a different learning principle than you did; your third response can be to a student who chose either the same or a different principle than you.
If you are working ahead—as suggested in the syllabus—take special note: The instructions for this assignment say to read ALL the other students’ posts. You can only do this after the due date for Unit 1: Assignment #2 has passed. So you can still continue working ahead on other assignments (e.g., watching videos, reading articles, teaching other people, writing, searching for information). But for assignments that require you to read all other students’ posts—like this one—you’ll have to make a note to backtrack so that you can fulfill all of the requirements.

Unit 1: Assignment #5 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Saturday August 21):

Watch Professor Gernsbacher’s lecture video, “Four Cognitive Biases.” (A transcript of the video is available in PDF and Word.)
Teach the four Cognitive Biases to three separate people (e.g., friends, family members, roommates, and the like). None of the three people can be students taking this online section of PSY 311.
1. You can teach each person via email, phone, text, Facebook, Skype, in person, or any other communication medium. But you must teach all four Cognitive Biases to three separate people at three separate times.
2. When you are teaching the four Cognitive Biases to three different people, be sure to provide examples of each bias.
3. To make sure that each of the three people learned the four Cognitive Biases, ask each person to tell you another example (one that you did not tell them) of each of the four Cognitive Biases.
Go to the Unit 1: Assignment #5 Discussion Board and make a new Discussion Board post of at least 200 words in which you
1. First, identify the medium (text message, email, Zoom, Facebook, phone call, in-person, etc) you used to teach each of the three persons about the four Cognitive Biases;
2. Second, state each of the three persons’ initials (e.g., MG) and their approximate age; and
3. Third, report the examples (12 total) that each of the three persons told you of each of the four Cognitive Biases.

Unit 1: Assignment #6 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Sunday August 22):

Read, then download and save to your own computer, the Course Journal Instructions (webpage); (Text-Only Word version).
1. For the current Unit (Unit 1), in addition to making a typical Unit entry in your own Course Journal, you must also make a Goals Setting entry. Thus, you will be making two Course Journal entries for Unit 1:
  1. a typical Course Journal entry, like the entries you will make for each of the 14 Units in this course, AND
  2. a Goals Setting Course Journal entry.
To find out which skills employers want you to acquire during college:
1. First, read Ward’s (2017) article, “Google Exec, Mark Cuban Agree that these College [Skills] Are the Most Robot-Resistant” (web version).
2. Second, read the excerpt from Coplin’s (2012) book, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College (scanned PDF version); (Text-Only PDF version).
3. Third, read Brooklyn College’s handout (summary) of Coplin’s (2012) book.
  - Identify three “What Employers Want” skills, as mentioned in Ward’s article or Coplin’s book excerpt (or the summary of Coplin’s book), that YOU want to develop further in this course.
To find out which skills are considered 21st Century Skills:
1. First, read through Kharbach’s (no date) infographic, “Learning and Thinking Skills of the 21st Century Students (PDF version); (Text-Only Word version)
2. Second, read through the Center for Teaching Quality’s (no date) infographic, “Paths to 21st Century Success”; (Text-Only Word version); (web version).
3. Third, assess yourself on the excerpt from the “21st Century Skills Self-Assessment.”
  - Identify three “21st Century Skills,” as mentioned in the Kharbach infographic, the Center for Teaching Quality’s Infographic, or the 21st Century Skills Self-Assessment that YOU want to develop further in this course.
To understand why during this course
1. we will emphasize using technology correctly (by learning how to embed URLs, videos, and images), read through the graph provided by the Pew Research Center (2016) on “The State of American Jobs” (web version) and
2. we will emphasize “following instructions” and “meeting deadlines,” read the excerpt from Collegiate Employment Research Institute’s (2007) report, “Moving Up or Moving Out of the Company? Factors that Influence the Firing of New College Hires” (full report).
To better understand how to succeed in this course:
1. Review from the Course Syllabus the section on “How Can I Do Well in this Course?”
2. Read “Why and How to Pay Attention to Details in this Course.”
  - Identify three “How to Succeed in This Course” strategies, as mentioned in either the Course Syllabus or “Why and How Pay Attention to Details in this Course” that YOU will follow so that you can succeed in this course.
In your Course Journal, make a Goals Setting entry. Your entry should express, in at least 200 words:
1. First, the three “What Employers Want” skills you want to develop further during this course;
2. Second, the three “21st Century Skills” you want to develop further during this course; and
3. Third, the three “How to Succeed in This Course” strategies you will follow to succeed in this course.
4. Fourth, take a screenshot or photo of your Goals Setting entry in your Course Journal.
  - Make sure your screenshot is of only your Goals Setting entry, not your entire screen. See here for what it should (and shouldn’t) look like.
  - If you do not know how to take a screenshot from your computer, this website will help you. It provides instructions for Mac, Windows, and other operating systems.
  - For Windows, the easiest way is to use the Snipping Tool.
In your Course Journal, also make a standard entry for Unit 1, expressing, in at least 200 words:
1. First, what you have learned in this Unit;
2. Second, why you have learned what you have learned in this Unit; and
3. Third, how you’ll apply what you have learned in this Unit to other courses and to your life.
4. You do not need to take a screenshot or photo of your standard Course Journal entry for Unit 1 (you do, as mentioned above, need to take a screenshot or photo of your Goals Setting entry).
5. You do not need to post your standard entry to a discussion board. Just keep it in your Course Journal for now. But be aware that you will be posting your entire Course Journal as part of Unit 14: Assignment #4. So make sure you keep it up to date and presentable!
From the Course How To, learn “How To Embed an Image into a Discussion Board Post.”
Go to the Unit 1: Assignment #6 Discussion Board and
1. embed the image that you made of your Goals Setting Course Journal entry.
2. Remember to size the image correctly (no wider than 500 pixels and no taller than 500 pixels, as explained in the Course How To) and be sure to embed the image, not “Attach” it.

Congratulations, you have finished Unit 1! Onward to Unit 2! Open-Access Active-Learning Research Methods Course by Morton Ann Gernsbacher, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The materials have been modified to add various ADA-compliant accessibility features, in some cases including alternative text-only versions. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.gernsbacherlab.org.