• Your initial post is due by Thursday, 12/5. Once you submit your post, you will be able to see and respond to your classmates’ posts. You have several options for your initial post. Choose one of the following four options:
  • Find a non-academic article (e.g., blog post, news article, etc.) or other media (e.g., podcast, documentary, television show) that relates to course material. 1. Provide a link to the item, 2. Provide a brief description of the item, and 3. Explain how it relates to course material.
  • Find an empirical article that relates to course material. You can find these articles through the databases accessible via the Cardinal Stritch library website (https://library.stritch.edu/Find/Articles-and-Databases?subject=15 (Links to an external site.)). I recommend PsychARTICLES or Web of Science. You can also search for articles via Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/ (Links to an external site.)). This article can be any type of academic article – experiment, review of literature, meta-analysis, etc. Try to find something on a topic that you find interesting and want to learn more about. 1. Provide the reference for the article, 2. Provide a brief description of the article, and 3. Explain how it relates to course material.
  • Did something happen in your everyday life that helps demonstrate a concept from class? 1. Provide a brief description of what happened and 2. Thoroughly explain how it relates to course material.
  • Find a “Journal Prompt: Understanding Yourself” from the textbook (from Chapters 9-11 & 14). 1. Include the Journal Prompt and the page number and 2. Fully answer all aspects of the prompt.
    • For any of the above options, feel free to also pose questions for your classmates to answer.
• Your responses to classmates are due by Wednesday, 12/11. You must have at least two substantive responses. To count as being substantive, comments must expand upon the theme under discussion, reflect original thinking, and should demonstrate an understanding of the relevant course material. Although statements of agreement/disagreement and interest are encouraged, they will not be considered as substantive contributions. For example, any part of a posting similar to “I agree, that is a good idea” or a restatement of another post does not count as content—certainly feel free to post these types of statements (or use the “thumbs up” function) but do not rely on that as one of your required postings (in order to earn full credit).
• Ideally, you should be returning to the discussion thread throughout the Unit, so your posts should not all occur on the same day. Similarly, if a student responds to your initial post with a follow-up question of new idea, it is expected that you will respond, as appropriate.

Information from the syllabus:

• Students are expected to contribute meaningfully to online class discussion on Canvas. Active participation will help you to apply course material to everyday experiences, better understand concepts, encourage you to discover answers to questions that perplex you (or to discover the questions in the first place), and should facilitate learning among classmates through exposure to different views.
• Each unit of the course has a corresponding Discussion Board, which will “open” on the first day of the unit. For each Discussion Board, submit at least one initial post that applies course material (from that unit) to the “real world” and at least two responses to your classmates. The Discussion Boards will remain open until the night before the exam, but the initial post must be submitted at least one week prior to the exam to allow time for your peers to read and respond to your post.
• Please see the rubric for more grading details.