Class attendance and participation

Class attendance and active engagement in our hybrid course is required.  Please arrive to class on time, stay for the entire duration of our class session, and come ready to learn and participate.  Austin Community College has a “No Walk” policy.  That means that unless the campus is closed due to emergency/weather/holiday, we will always have class at our scheduled time.  You are allowed to miss TWO classes for any reason without penalty; after those two absences, your grade will be lowered for class absences.  Please arrive to class on time and make a point to not schedule appointments during our class time as your participation grade will be lowered for tardiness and leaving class early.  Participation/attendance grades cannot be made-up or supplemented by extra credit.  If you have an emergency that will affect your course attendance, please contact Dr. Williams ASAP.

Class attendance/participation will be taken EVERY class period via participation slips that have two questions about the course lecture.  You are expected to answer both of the questions to the best of your ability as these questions may likely be asked again on your exams.  Please pick up your slips at the front of the class prior to the start of the lecture and turn them into the bucket before leaving class.  However, if you are late to class, please wait until after the lecture to pick up your slip so as to not disrupt the flow of the lecture.

Lectures

All lectures will be given via PowerPoint.  All narrated lectures will be recorded via Zoom or PowerPoint and posted with the non-narrated PowerPoint slides so that students can take notes while listening and viewing the lecture.  Dr. Williams will post the lecture notes on our course page and students will be able to:

• Print PDF copies of slides to bring to class to take notes and/or
• Take notes on their computer/tablet during class on the slides. 

It is highly suggested that you print the slides if you plan to take handwritten notes OR take notes in the note section of the PowerPoint during the lecture; you will not have time to copy down the content of the slides and listen to the additional content.

Course Assignments

All assignments that are turned in for a grade will be due at 11:59 pm on the due date assigned via the drop box on Blackboard. 

DMP = Developmental Milestones Project

Exams

There will be two online exams in this course.  Each of the exams are worth 50 points and will consist of multiple choice, true/false, matching, fill-in-the blank, and short answer questions.  Exams are open book/open note, and you will have 45 minutes to complete each exam.  No makeup exams will be offered; do not miss the 48 hour window on Blackboard to take the exam. 

Exams will cover material from the lecture, the course textbook, the supplemental readings and videos, and any videos shown in class.

Assessment criteria

Grading scale

The following grading scale will apply to all graded work, as well as to each student’s final grade in the course.

Required course textbook

Human Development

Proper Citation:

Portland State University. Human Development Teaching and Learning Group, "Human

         Development" (2021). PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources. 35.

         https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/pdxopen/35

https://pdx.pressbooks.pub/humandevelopment/

Human Development is an open educational resource (OER).  OERs are free, openly licensed, and accessible resources that are available for use for educational, research, assessment, and learning purposes.  These resources are often regularly updated and allow students to learn course material without a significant financial burden that is often associated with higher education. 

You should read, understand, and remember much of the information, even if it is not all covered in the lecture.  Most importantly, you are expected and required to have read the assigned readings before coming to class.

Required supplemental readings/videos

Supplemental readings and videos will be provided via Blackboard as assigned.  Like our course text, you are expected and required to have read the assigned readings and viewed the assigned videos.  These supplemental materials are assigned to help cement concepts that are often the most confusing subjects in this course.  You will be graded on the both the supplemental and textbook materials.

Topics

Note: Schedule changes may occur during the semester due to unforeseen events.  Any changes will be announced in class and/or posted as a Blackboard Announcement.

All readings/videos should be read/watched before class to foster classroom discussion.

(N) = Narrated Lecture

* Any student that does not attend the course on 10.22.2025 and take the Syllabus/Blackboard Quiz by 10.24.2025 will have an instructor-initiated withdrawal from the course on 10.27.2025.

Program Outcomes

• Understand psychological concepts and be able to recognize them in real-world contexts.
• Acquire a basic understanding of major perspectives in the field.
• Gain an awareness of the breadth of the academic discipline of psychology.
• Understand the various research methods psychologists use and critically evaluate evidence.

Course Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to achieve the following learning outcomes as mapped to the related program outcomes.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the theories, methods, and research-based findings that are pertinent to human growth and development through the lifespan.
• Name and describe the major stages of human growth and development and the milestones that occur during those stages.
• Describe the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes that occur in individuals as they grow and develop.
• Identify and understand the contributions of each major developmental theorist.
• Summarize the nature versus nurture debate and evaluate the extant literature as it relates to human growth and development.
• Identify the risk factors of developing psychological disorders at each developmental stage.
• Apply the principles of human growth and development to one’s life experiences.

Individual development and educational assessment (IDEA) course objectives

Keep in mind that although specific objectives are notated as “Important” and “Essential” for the course as a whole, each of these objectives will be important or essential for specific lectures.