Course Journal Instructions

PSY 311: Research Methods

Purpose

The purpose of your keeping a Course Journal is for you to document

  1. your goals at the outset of the course;
  2. what you have learned in each Unit of this course;
  3. why you have learned what you have learned in each Unit of this course;
  4. how you’ll apply what you have learned in each Unit of this course to your other courses and to your life; and
  5. how well you achieved your course goals at the conclusion of the course.

Because this course does not have a cumulative final, your Course Journal will serve the purpose of consolidating and documenting your learning from the first day until the last day, across the entire term.

Medium

You may use any medium you want to use for recording your Course Journal: handwriting on parchment paper; a blog or Tumblr; video or audio recording on your phone; typing into a Word or Google doc – truly, you can use almost any medium or even combination of media, if that’s what you want.

The only requirement related to medium is that you’ll need to be able to link to, attach, or otherwise upload to a Discussion Board post your Course Journal twice during the term. For example, if you are using handwriting on parchment, you will need to scan the pages into a PDF. As another example, if you’re using video or audio, you will need to upload the video or audio to a video or audio hosting site.

Frequency

You must make at least one Unit entry, the equivalent of at least 200 words, during each of the course’s 14 Units. You must also make one Goal Setting entry (during the first Unit) and one Goal Assessing entry (during the last Unit). Therefore, your completed Course Journal will contain at least 14 Unit entries and 2 Goal entries, all of which must be at least 200 words. You are certainly welcome to include more entries than the required 14 plus 2.

Content

Begin each Unit entry with a summary of WHAT you have learned in that Unit. Then, explain WHY you have learned what you learned in that Unit (meaning, explain the advantages of learning what you learned). Lastly, discuss HOW you will apply what you have learned in that Unit to your everyday life and to other courses you are currently taking and, if relevant, to courses you plan to take in the future.