COURSE SCHEDULE AVAILABLE HERE

Professor Susan Carol Losh  307K Stone Building (EPLS Suite) 850-644-8778 850-644-4592 (EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY &  LEARNING SYSTEMS) slosh@fsu.edu

FSU Stone Building

Fall 2007 Monday  3:35-6:00 P.M.   332 Stone Building CLICK HERE for Building Location

Course Reference Number = 00879
CLICK HERE  for online registration

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IMMEDIATELY IF YOU REQUIRE ANY ASSISTANCE WITH DISABILITIES.
 
 

  Did you think human development stopped at age 3? At age 15 when you "got your identity"?
Perhaps (whenever) with your "midlife crisis"?

And "old age"? Nothin' left for it but dementia? 

Did you know?

• Babies really can grow over an inch in just one day.
• Most American divorced people remarry.
• Although most people in the U.S. have two children--or less--a network of step-siblings and half-siblings creates new forms of family and socialization that can influence development.
• About 50% of American adults take some form of course--through an educational institution, a workshop, a work seminar--every single year. We keep on growing long after our formal school years end.
• We change careers too.
• Most older Americans don't live in institutional housing (e.g., assisted living) and most live near a close relative.
• In some cultures, we revere the elderly, in some we literally leave the elderly by the wayside, and in some we simply ignore the elderly.

This complex area incorporates physical, psychological, and social components. We will focus most intensively on the psychological and social dimensions. However, although we aren't biologists here, it's impossible to ignore the impact of physical development and aging so those issues will be touched upon. The research in this area is varied. Please be patient as you encounter six separate terms for the same concept such as social learning, or you puzzle out "chicken and egg problems" in "nature" and "nuture".
 
 

WHAT'S YOUR MAJOR?

Students enter the Lifespan Development course from diverse backgrounds. Many of our students are School Psychology majors. They may (at this point) picture themselves working in the elementary or secondary school systems, perhaps administering tests, coordinating individual education plans (IEPs), or working with parents. Career counsellors can work with all age groups, as do mental health counsellors.

Others are Learning and Cogniton majors, who might believe that learning is most influential among children and youth. We also have majors from Early Childhood, Special Education, Psychology, Sociology (and other social sciences), and the Human Sciences.

Regardless of major, I want you to discover that learning and development last a lifetime, and that at least some of the choices that are made for the quite young may impact youth during adolescence or early adulthood. "School" lasts longer than you might think, and adults often retool and retrain, so "school psychology" really extends to adults of all ages at community colleges, four year colleges, and universities, as well as on the job.

Aspects of the perspectives we will examine this semester "fade in" and "fade out". Forming and maintaining an identity, for example, is critical during times of rapid or dramatic physical change--but also at role disjunctures, such as entering college, forming a family, or undergoing divorce or widowhood. We can approximately pinpoint lifestages for some of these transitions, recognizing that these can change over time (age at first marriage in the United States, for example, rose by five years for men and women over the past 40 years) and by culture; Irish and Philippino adults, for example, once married far later than mainland Americans. Modeling approaches to social learning can evolve over an entire lifetime

My roles as Instructor are to facilitate and to coordinate the "big picture." For each major course section, I will discuss basic perspectives, postulated major processes, and particularly noteworthy empirical findings. After that, it's up to us, our discussions and short assignments, to make the material come alive.
 

• To become familiar with major and sometimes conflicting conceptual perspectives  in behavioral and social dimensions of human lifespan development, including:

• Theories of psychological development and identity, and how these vary across the lifespan
• Basic learning theories
• Perspectives on role learning and internalization
• Issues of (very basic) physical, psychological, and social development from infancy through adulthood

WE’RE ONLINE!

Our course is WEB assisted through the CourseInfo/Blackboard and (the old) WEB-MC  systems at FSU. You must be registered for EDP5068-01 to access our Blackboard site. To access our course on Blackboard, here is what to do. Go online to:

Enter your FSU ID username (USERNAME ONLY!) and password to log in. For example, I would enter "slosh" ONLY and omit the the rest. Then click on “Life-Span Dev” to enter our site.

If you DON'T have an FSU ID account, you will need one immediately and not just for this course. Go to the FSU Guide to Computing Resources website (address below). Follow the links to register online for your garnet account at FSU.

The WEB-MC entry portal of our site is:

I suggest that you bookmark this page. You can navigate most of our materials either through this portal or through Blackboard.

I will use WEB-assist for several course features:

• All lectures will be available online in Blackboard and in Web-MC, and linked with course topics. Please use the 2007 DEP 5068 websites if you use Web-MC. Objectives will be posted for each section of the course as the semester progresses.
• The Blackboard site will include links to resources.
• Class presentations will be posted to our Blackboard site.
• Web sites that you have found pertinent to YOUR discipline will be posted in Blackboard.
• Announcements on the Blackboard main page will alert you to any changes in the syllabus, course deadlines, or class meetings.
• More detail will be posted on each course assignment. Information will be updated throughout the semester.

FALL 2007: Here's how I can be reached:
 

307K Stone Building 850-644-8778 Voice mail available 850-644-4592 Educational Psychology & Learning Systems   slosh@fsu.edu

FSU Stone Building CLICK HERE for Campus Map Location  Office Hours: Monday 12 -1 and  Wednesday 2:30-4:00 P.M. Please see me about other times. NOTE: If I have a conflict, I will announce that in class and on our Blackboard website.

You have three minor and one major assignments. This year, we are under state mandate from The Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAP) to certify school psychologists and others on Accomplished Practices, Indicators, and Tasks. Our two tasks for FEAP are (1) to identify strategies in the use of technologies (accomplished through Blackboard, presentations, Internet and other in-class uses); and (2) applying learning theories to help link new knowledge to earlier knowledge.

See the links for more information to be posted. The project and presentation links will be updated during the semester to provide more detail and format specifications. Please complete readings according to the timetable in this syllabus and be prepared with assignments by their due date.
 

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE I DO NOT ACCEPT EMAIL ATTACHMENTS (e.g., WORD documents) PLEASE DO NOT SLIDE PAPERS UNDER MY DOOR OR THE EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY & LEARNING SYSTEMS SUITE DOOR! There have been too many problems with viruses. In a typical week, I receive well over two dozen virus and hacking attempts--often from fsu email addresses. This is especially true for University computers, which have proven to be hotbeds of infection.  Please DO NOT slide papers under my office door.They may or may not be placed on my desk--where I may not be able to find them! (No one who has ever seen my desk would do such a thing.) Here are some alternatives if you absolutely cannot hand your progressive paper milestone deadlines in to me in person: My office mailbox in 307 Stone Building FAX to the EPLS Office (850) 644-8776. Be sure to put my name and DEP 5068 on the Cover Sheet and include the total number of pages Mail (USE FIVE DAYS ADVANCE NOTICE!)  to Dr. Susan Carol Losh, Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, FSU, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4453 Include as text in an email.  In all these alternatives, I must receive your assignment by the stated due  dates.

During the semester, I may ask for a copy of your work on disk. For example, I receive copies of all presentations on disk so that I can upload them into Blackboard for all students.
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There will be three short projects: analysis of an interaction video; a learning theories reflective paper, and an application of development reflective paper. Please check the projects url, either through Blackboard or this page as the projects url is updated with more information. Projects are designed to address the FEAC competencies/accomplishments. Each counts 15 percent toward your total grade.
 

PRESENTATION/POSTER SESSION

You will have the choice of two different mediums to present a research project of your choice (55 percent). The first possibility is a discussion/presentation (about 20 minutes): You will lead class discussion on your project topic. We will have facilities for Power Point but you will also need to distribute a very short handout summary. Discussion/presentations begin on November 19.

The second choice is a poster session, possibly two. You will present a poster board (similar to poster sessions at conventions) approximately 3 X 5 feet and we will tour the posters and discuss them with their creators. Please provide all the poster materials!

I will need to know your choice, presentation or poster by October 22.

The topic choice is up to you as long as it is related to course materials. Here are some examples from 2006:

• Pets and the aging process.
• Gender and career development.
• Gender and interest in science in the elementary grades.
• Learned helplessness.
• Literacy skills among hearing impaired children.
• Bullying

I use plus and minus grading, throughout and for final grades.

Participation in class discussion and class attendance are a definite consideration, especially when a student is "between grades." I don't take formal attendance after the first couple of weeks, but we are a small enough group that your absence will be obvious.

Adherence to principles of essay organization, and the conventions of spelling and grammar for all assignments is expected and understood.

The presentation project MUST relate to LifeSpan Development in some way. One reason for the project "milestone" deadlines is to ensure that your topic is "on track" for this course.

MORE PRELIMINARY INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRESENTATION/POSTER SESSION.
 

APPROXIMATE DATE	TOPIC	OBJECTIVES
August 27- September 10	Basic Orientation: General Controversies and Issues, Methods Introduction	WEB site navigation and course outline (FEAP) What are some major theoretical orientations in lifespan development? What are some of the juxtaposed controversies? Which methods are most commonly used ?
September 3	Labor Day Holiday	University closed
September 17- October 8	Infancy Early Childhood	First overall exposure to developmental and basic learning theories What are key physical, psychological, and social developments in the early years? What role does language play? And Freud closed his eyes to...what?
October 15-29	Middle Childhood Adolescence	Setting the stage Earlier Maturation and its possible consequences Physical and cognitive clashes
October 22	Analysis of interaction video
November 5-19	Early Adulthood Revisiting the Controversies: Midlife	Love and work: did Freud say it all? Is there really a midlife crisis?
November 12	Veteran's Day	University closed
November 22-25	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY	University closed
November 26	Learning theories application; reflective paper
November 26-	Late Adulthood	Integrity versus Despair, and a little help from Social Security
DECEMBER 3	Our last day of class
DECEMBER 7	Applying developmental stages to your area;  reflective paper

BB: Denise Boyd and Helen Bee (2006). Lifespan Development, FOURTH EDITION). Pearson. PAPER. ISBN = 0-205-43967-5.

CRAIN: William Crain (2005). Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications.  FIFTH EDITION. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. PAPER. ISBN = 0-013-184991-3.

When books go to a new edition, they often offer new topics and discard or rearrange the prior topics. Even when the chapter descriptive titles remain the same, new research is added. Please explore the outlets of your choice to obtain the CURRENT editions.

All three books should be available at the Bill's Bookstore (Bill's II on West Tennessee near the Stone Building). There also should be copies at the FSU Bookstore.
 
 

COURSE SCHEDULE AVAILABLE HERE

Under construction as the semester progresses.