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PSYC 121: Methods & Statistics in Psychology Research (Sarah Strand)

Psychology | Goal Setting | Concept Maps

Reflection on Instructional Change:

The main practice that I incorporated into my course was the setting of goals that follow the DAPPS Formula. DAPPS stands for Dated, Achievable, Personal, Positive, and Specific. In the first week of the course, I asked students to read the syllabus, examine the learning objectives of the course, and review the suggested weekly schedule. Then, I conveyed the rationale for writing good quality goals and described the characteristics of DAPPS goals. I provided class time for them to write three goals that will help them achieve the learning objectives the course. Last, I asked them to post their goals in a Canvas discussion board so that they could both give and receive feedback about their goals from their peers before I graded the assignment. I also included concept mapping during the first week of the semester. I asked students to sketch out a diagram of what they think of when they think about statistics and methods in Psychology.

My main goal was to teach students to set goals they were likely to achieve. I selected this goal because the misconception that students’ only want achieve an “A” in my courses really resonated with me. It sets up an expectation (in me) that students stop caring about the content and are only motivated by grades. This helped me show them how to shift from grade-focused to process-focused. The Concept Maps were also an effective strategy to remind students of what they have already learned (since Psyc 121 is the third course in a 3-course sequence) and also what the starting point of the class should be. The semester is not over yet, so it's not clear to me yet how this specific change impacted the study plans of students.

The demonstration videos in the ACUE course were the most influential in terms of learning about new active learning strategies and how best to implement them. It helped me learn when I could see the techniques in action while simultaneously hearing about the rationale for the technique (as opposed to the ACUE Observe and Analyze videos). Then, the downloadable reference PDFs about those different strategies were the resources I continued to turn to when I needed to remind myself what I had learned and how best to incorporate that into my class.

With respect to teaching students how to set goals, this was a transformative learning strategy because I have been burned out trying to motivate students to care about the subject matter of a particular course. When I considered that students may not know how to set short-term goals (reading assigned pages regularly) to be able to achieve their goals (passing the course or getting an "A"), that was definitely an “Ah-ha!” moment.

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
At the beginning of the second class period of the semester, I described what a DAPPS goal was and why they are useful in achieving goals.	This is an example of what one of my students submitted. They earned a perfect score, hitting all 5 DAPPS characteristics for each of their three goals.
One of the learning objectives of my course focuses on developing critical thinking skills through practicing the scientific process. The goal setting and concept mapping activity helped students achieve this learning outcome.

Changes in Course Syllabus and Schedules:

My Pre- and Post-Syllabus is the same syllabus.

**Faculty Bio**
	I have a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience and an M.S. in Animal Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I have been a lecturer at Sac State since Fall 2011, teaching both upper and lower division courses. I received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching in the 2021-22 academic year and spent my sabbatical being a guest lecturer at the University of Oulu in Finland and the University of Skövde in Sweden.

**Program Sponsors**
	This work was supported by: US Department of Education Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions Project Degree with a Purpose P031S210061 US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution STEM Project STEM4Equity: P031C210012 National Science Foundation Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEMZone 1832335 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of Education or the National Science Foundation.