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Psychology: What To Expect From Courses In Fall 2020

The Department of Psychology is a consistent leader in teaching courses that are interesting, engaging, and challenging. We work hard every year to maintain high expectations for our faculty and students. This Fall, we will continue our commitment to providing our students excellent instruction, relevant courses, and opportunities to conduct research. Our courses will use a range of approaches, both online and in person, to maximize learning opportunities and help students feel both safe but engaged in the learning process.

Specifically, Introduction to Psychology (PSY 100) will be offered in both hybrid and online formats in the Fall 2020 term. The course will cover the same content than when it is offered in an in-seat format. Labs will also continue to be part of the course and will be taught either synchronously via Zoom or through a series of online activities developed and implemented by two of the course instructors in partnership with Hayden-McNeil Publishing. The online labs have been developed especially for UK students and have been successfully used in our courses since 2016. Independently of course format, students will have access to recorded lectures when they need them.

Each PSY 100 instructor has been teaching the course for several years (one of them for 32 years!) and they also have at least 7 years of experience teaching online courses at UK. Instructors, as well as teaching assistants, will be available for remote office hours several times a week and students will also have the support of peer tutors from the psychology department tutoring program and/or from the University’s Supplemental Instruction program.

For our other courses, the details will differ from instructor to instructor. All of the instructors have been working hard over the summer to make sure the class is as effective as any class we have taught in the past. Some classes will be offered synchronously, closely replicating the traditional classroom environment. Other instructors plan to offer recorded lectures online, but meet in person during classroom hours to discuss lectures and engage in small group activities. For all of our instructors, they are planning on working with students to make sure students feel safe with all activities and find the class to be informative and educational as they move through the Psychology curriculum.

As we always do, Psychology Peer Tutors will be available Monday through Thursday from 3:00-6:00pm. These tutoring hours are available for students to drop in, no appointment needed. In the Fall, these Peer Tutoring hours will be offered on Zoom and the zoom details will be listed on the Psychology Department website, in Canvas, and on the syllabi (https://uky.zoom.us/j/96947252559).