Course Related Information | Psychology Resources

All faculty must provide both the Office of the Chair and Undergraduate office with their contact information including address, phone and email. Each faculty member has a mailbox in the information center located on the ground floor of the Behavioural Sciences Building. Terri Cawley supervises this room.

Links below contain general information to be use as a guide, always contact Undergraduate Office directly for specific advice on undergraduate students or any undergraduate course related matter.

COURSE OUTLINES

All course directors must complete a course outline for each course, please use this course outline template. Once completed please email to Jennifer Malisani, Administrative Assistant Psychology Undergraduate Office.

Any questions about course outlines should be directed to Psychology Undergraduate Office.

CLASSROOMS & CAMPUS SERVICES

Classrooms come in a variety of shapes and sizes, Campus Services and Business Operations is responsible overall for maintenance, and operation of all physical facilities (buildings, grounds, mail services, bookstore, c u stodial services, parking, printing services, security services ) for the University, click here for a comprehensive list.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

1. What procedures to follow regarding cheating and plagiarism.

2. A handout describing academic honesty that can be given/sent to students.

3. The senate policy on academic honesty.

4. Consider using Text Matching Software Service (Turnitin.com) as an educational not punitive measure. Turnitin.com is an Internet-based service that scans submitted works for similarity to material that may have been copied from public web sites, etc., including essays and assignments submitted previously to Turnitin.com.

Contract cheating. What is it? How is it Detected? What can course directors do?

Academic Integrity Web Site - IMPORTANT**

Please note that this Academic Integrity web site is no longer being maintained;

Academic Integrity for Students has been replaced with the SPARK Academic Integrity module.

Academic Integrity for Faculty/TAs is now found on the Teaching Commons Academic Integrity web site.

Information on the updated Academic Integrity quiz (resource for use by instructors) is available at our SPARK Resources page.
- Promising practices:how faculty members can encourage academic integrity in tests/exams and deter against cheating and/or plagiarism.
Above document Promising practices by Dr Susan Murtha is intended to assist instructors, but does not substitute for knowing and following the senate policy.

TEXT BOOK ORDERS

Pat Armour is the Senior Text Buyer at the bookstore and looks after Psychology orders: ext. 20945. Your faculty secretary can place your text book orders for you, or you can do them yourself either online at http://bookstore.yorku.ca, or by phone or email with Pat
NOTE: Orders for fall courses need to be in no later that July if at all possible. Winter orders should be placed no later than October.

To know how many texts to order, the Department of Psychology Supplemental Calendar has information about the planned size of each course, or you can ask your secretary or any of the staff in the undergraduate office for this information.

COURSE KITS

Patricia Lynch is the Copyright Clearance Coordinator and can be reached at: ext. 40706, email pmlynch@yorku.ca. She can be consulted if you wish to create a course kit of readings. You will need to submit clean 8.5 X 11 photocopies of any original materials; include an information sheet, which outlines any detailed instructions and the sequence of the requested materials; and provide the complete bibliographic information including the ISBN/ISSN, work title, publisher/publishing date, author(s)/editor(s), and page range(s) that is needed to clear the copyright. Course Kit Order Forms are available from the Copyright Clearance Centre and can be obtained when submitting Course Kit materials.

COPYING AND COPYRIGHT AT YORK UNIVERSITY

In order to copy published materials, specific permission or a licence from the copyright owner is required or, faculty, staff and students may copy or post in compliance with York University’s Fair Dealing Guidelines. It is your responsibility as a course director to follow York university copyright guidelines.

To assist with understanding of the fair dealing guidelines visit the Copyright and You website. It offers a comprehensive resource for University community members to help them understand their roles and responsibilities and how the fair dealing guidelines work with respect to copyright requirements.

Whenever faculty have any questions or concerns about copyright contact Patricia Lynch, copyright officer.

Copyright and your Course Web site
The Copyright Clearance Centre, York U. Bookstore provides assistance with all your online copyright inquiries. Feel free to contact them at ext. 40049, email: ckits@yorku.ca or online.
Please note that all electronic content or files of literary or artistic works other than your own need to be cleared for copyright before being uploaded to your course Web sites(s). Ensure that you review the copyright information and guidelines.

COURSE INFORMATION

University regulations require that students have graded work, worth at least 15% of their final grade for a half year course and 30% of the final grade for a full year course, returned to them before the withdrawal deadline. View York calendar for dates.
All 4000 level courses must include at least a 20% written component.
Courses involving research with human participants must follow Ethics procedures, which involve the submission of an ethics protocol to the department ethics committee. Do not neglect to do this. Zehra Bandhu is the administrative assistant for the ethics committee. Please submit your material to her. Ethics Procedures for PSYC 4000 and 4001
Classes can only be cancelled by the administration. If you must be absent from a scheduled class, you have to make arrangements for a suitable replacement and notify the Chair’s office (Ann or Sandra).
In designing their courses, all instructors must conform to the APA code of ethics around teaching, specifically section 7.04 which states: "students shall not be required to disclose personal information in course- or program-related activities, either orally or in writing, regarding sexual history, history of abuse and neglect, psychological treatment, and relationships with parents, peers, and spouses or significant others" (dept meeting July 3, 2008).
A.O.D.A (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act). this Act is intended to help Ontario become 'barrier free' for people with disabilities.Under the Act, faculty members are providing 'customer service' to our 'customers', the students,training is required by law and all faculty must complete it. Training is available on line . Here is a brief summary document of training modules. For general AODA enquiries, please contact aodainfo@yorku.ca. If you have any difficulty accessing the eLearning course, or you have any other questions about AODA training, please contact aodalrn@yorku.ca.

COURSE WEBSITES:

Many instructors at York make use of websites to provide students with access to a variety of learning resources for their class(es). Some of these course websites are integrated "learning management systems" (LMS) with the most common one in use being "Moodle".

How to link to the library's e-resources. A new guide has been put together that explains how to link to the library's e-resources. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Adam Taves. Electronic resources that are licensed by York University Libraries can be linked to in Moodle or other course web sites and do not need to be placed on library reserves.

**** Please note copyright law does not permit downloaded files (PDFs etc.) to be loaded directly into Moodle or other course web sites. For more information on copyright please consult York’s Copyright & You web site.****

EXAMS

York exam policies

Alternate Examination Instruction/Procedures

When posting student marks:

Do not use names or complete student numbers to identify the students. You can use a sub-set of the student number -- the last five digits work well, especially if you sort by these last 5 digits, so that students will not spot the “first A” surname in the class, etc
Make sure all grades and marks are listed as 'unofficial'
It is highly recommended that you post your marks on your course web pages or send them round by email. It is so hokey, old fashioned, untidy and inconvenient to post them on doors.

To schedule an additional or larger room for your term tests, CONTACT UNDERGRADUATE OFFICE, early requests are the most successful. Sometimes an extra room will not be available, and you will need to do something, such as using multiple forms of the test, to prevent students who per force will be sitting very close together in the regular classroom from copying from one another.
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course may be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms (i.e., I1, I2, S1 and S2 classes).
A final test or examination worth more than 20% must be held during the official Exam period.
The Final Exam schedule is determined by the Registrar's Office. Please respond promptly to requests from the Undergraduate Office for information about your plans with regard to Final Examinations.
Multiple Choice Test score forms (scantrons) are used for multiple choice exam questions,scantron forms along with Examination Sign-In Sheets sheets if not using class list print out and a non TA inviglator attendance sheets are obtained when picking up your exams. A Test Score Cover Sheet is required when submitting scantron forms to be scored by Printing Services – 163A Central Square 416-736-2100 Ext.55527/33666
- Turnaround time for test scoring is THREE to FIVE working days.
- Test Score Weight form for deleting question(s) and/or modifying weight system if required.
- Test Score Cover Sheet filled out electronically (handwriting will not be accepted) and drop off package at 163A Central Square from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. after hours service drop off package at 010B Central Square – mail slot
- Tests scanned more than twice will be subject to a charge of $10.00 per test.
Original package (Scantron sheets) must be picked up within 30 days of processing or it will be disposed.

Missed Midterm(s).Faculty of Health Missed Test Documentation form

Recommended Best Practice for Missed Midterm (s)

EVALUATIONS

Towards the end of a course it is usual for course directors to have course evaluated by the students. Course evaluations are now online. Here are the instructions. You can view the evaluations of your own courses here . A note addressing some concerns is posted here.

DETAILS RELATED TO THE END OF A COURSE

Final grades are entered on the web through this link which also includes a tutorial on how to use the system. In addition to entering your grades on the web you have to prepare and submit to the undergraduate office a complete course record, listing scores/grades in each component of the course, the final grade, and a description of the formula for calculation of the final grade. This is the responsibility of the course director and cannot be delegated to teaching assistants.

UPDATE: (March 25th 2011) Grade Distribution and Grade Anomaly Exercise form . U.P.D memo reguarding GD and GA exercise. If you have any questions or concerns please contact U.P.D.

Deferred Standing Guidelines for Course Directors (UPDATED April 19th 2011)

Deferred examinations.

You can allow students who, in your opinion, have legitimate reasons (e.g., illness) to defer their final examination and/or final paper. There is a form available at the registrar's office website or in the undergraduate office for you and the student to fill out. You are responsible for being here to administer the deferred exam at the agreed upon time. If you are unwilling to grant this informal deferral, students can petition formally through the registrar’s office.

Student problems and petitions after final grades are sent out.

If students can reach you, many problems can be easily resolved. The undergraduate office has a simple form for grade changes. If a dispute cannot be settled informally, an official grade appeal will be instigated and you will have to supply the relevant information. Students can obtain an appeal form from Judy Manners. Because of this, final exams are not returned to the students and they must be available to the Department for up to a year following the end of a course. If you are going away and will not be available after the courses are over, please be sure that the undergraduate office knows how to contact you and where to find your final exams and/or papers.

FOURTH YEAR PROJECTS

Honours students are encouraged to do research projects in their fourth years. These usually involve working in a faculty member's lab. Some handouts and links to other online sources of information that cover a range of topics specifically oriented towards students completing an independent thesis project or going on to graduate school are provided here. The topics include how to obtain ethics approval, how to get statistical help, where to go for possible funding for undergraduate theses, how to create a poster, and how to write a thesis using APA style.

Useful guidelines for grading thesis as a second reader.

CLASS LISTS & IMPORTANT DATES

The undergraduate office will distribute class lists some number of weeks after the course starts. If you want a class list before then, you can obtain one yourself electronically from here.You will need a Passport York account to access this application.

TA GUIDELINES

The Graduate student TAs belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and are covered by rules of employment regarding hours and the number of students they can work with in a classroom setting. The TA administrator will appoint graduate students as TA(s) for your course if you have not made your own arrangement. A personal meeting between you and your TA should be held, at which time you can discuss responsibilities, teaching philosophy, etc.

Every course director must arrange to meet with each teaching assistant and fill out the TA work load form. Copies of the form are to be distributed as follows, original to teaching assistant, copy to Assistant to the Chair, course director and CUPE 3903

TAs typically do some, but rarely all, of the following:

Attend class
Hold office hours
Discuss or review material covered in the lectures or text
Show and discuss films
Design and/or present demonstrations
Invigilate tests
Mark tests
Keep class records

They play an important role in maintaining contact with students, reducing the impersonality of large classes. (NOTE: course directors are, according to union regulations, expected to do the marking for the first 50 students. This does not mean that you literally must do this marking, but you should be ready to participate with your teaching assistant in marking, and you should not assume that marking is exclusively up to the TA.)

Whatever their duties, TAs cannot be required to put in more than 135 hours/half course, or 270 hours/full course. This amounts to about 10 hours/week for the term of their contract. If they go over their limit part way through the course, they can quit with their duties considered completed. For this reason, you will be asked to discuss with your TAs the nature of their duties and the time required to perform them, and to arrange their workload accordingly. CUPE insists that Workload forms be completed and returned to the Chair's office early in the term. They have taken to auditing their copies of these forms -- so the Department needs them.

NOTE: You are responsible for the students' grades. Please do not let your TA take on this responsibility.

IF STUDENTS HAVE PROBLEMS

The writing center Some students need assistance with writing, interpreting assignments, organizing research notes, or just getting started at writing, learning proper documentation styles, and learning to edit their own work,the writing centre can assist these students, workshops are also offered, please refer students to the centre's website.

Sexual Assault is a serious concern. We are committed to educating the York community about the resources and supports available to assist survivors as well as raising awareness about the issue. Visit sexual assault website

Counselling & Disability Services (CDS), through its professional staff, strives to provide a range of essential psychological services to the York University Community in order to optimize the quality of the scholarly and communal life of the university. The primary aim of CDS is to help students realize, develop, and fulfill their personal potential in order to maximally benefit from their university experience. Achieving this aim requires that a range of programs as well as individual and group counselling are available to all students enrolled at the university. CDS also acts as a resource to faculty and staff of the university.

PROPOSING A NEW COURSE

The process for proposing a new course is to provide the details on a course proposal form and submit this to the undergraduate studies committee. This committee will shepherd the proposal through the various stages required for it to be approved and added to the calendar.

Promising practices:how faculty members can encourage academic integrity in tests/exams and deter against cheating and/or plagiarism.