Introduction to Psychology PS124
Seminar #1
LISA A. TOBLER, M.S.
Reading Assignment
 Read Chapter 1: “Introducing Psychology”
 Text: Introduction to Psychology by Charles Stangor
 Read the Fact or Fiction PDF
 Use this list to select a statement to evaluate for accuracy for your
discussion question assignment.
 Read the Final Project Information PDF
Instructor Contact Information
 Instructor:
Lisa Tobler
 Kaplan Email Address:
ltobler@kaplan.edu
 AIM Instant Messenger Name: LisaTobler
AOL Instant Messenger: If you are not an AIM
Member you can download the free service by
visiting the following site:http://www.aim.aol.com/
Phone Contact Information
 My cell phone number is 949-525-6141.
 I am available for office hours via my telephone on
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from
7 AM- 8 AM, Pacific Standard Time.
 Please make sure you know the time difference so
that you do not call me at 4 AM. =o)
Flex Seminar
 Please note that you are in a course that has flexible
seminars. There will be 4 seminars offered weekly and
you can choose to attend the seminar that best fits your
schedule. In addition to today’s seminar, the other
seminar day/times are as follows:
Seminar: Other Sections,
Professors, Days, & Times
PS124-09
Lisa Tobler
Monday
7:00pm ET
PS124-03
Kathryn Hartnett
Monday
8:00pm ET
PS124-04
Michelle Simpkins
Thursday
8:00pm ET
Introductions
 Let’s start with a brief (city, state) introduction so we
can get an idea where each of us lives.
 I live in sunny Southern California. I am a Native
Northern Californian, but I have lived in Arizona, New
Jersey and Nebraska.
Seminar “Rules”
 Be nice to one another!
 Stay on topic, please!
 Please use ????? at the beginning when asking a
question in order to draw my attention to your
question. For example, “????? Do we have to
participate in the Weekly Seminars?”
Technical Information
 Having technical problems? Call Tech Support or Student
Services.
 Contact information is on the Course Homepage.
 For all other course-related concerns, e-mail me:
ltobler@kaplan.edu or lisa.a.tobler@gmail.com
 I am also available for AIM appointments upon request:
My AIM ID is LisaTobler.
Syllabus
 The course syllabus covers all of Kaplan’s and my course
policies and expectations.
 Read the syllabus thoroughly.
 I grade from the rubrics in the syllabus. If you are missing
a portion covered on a rubric, you will lose points. Review
the rubrics carefully.
Questions?
 Are there any questions?
Conditional Admission
 Students earning a minimum grade of 65% will be
allowed to continue in their educational program.
 Students whose grades fall below 65% will be dropped
from KU and will have to wait one year before reapplying
to the university.
 Late work cannot be accepted for Unit 5.
 Late work for Units 1-4 MUST be completed before the
end of Unit 5.
Late Assignment Guidelines
Discussions and Seminar Option 2
 Late work for Units 1-4 MUST be completed before the
end of Unit 5.
 Late work for Units 5-8 MUST be completed before the
end of Unit 9.
Projects
 Late Unit 4 projects will not be accepted after Unit 7.
 Late Unit 7 projects must be submitted by the end of Unit
8.
 Late Unit 9 projects must be submitted by the Saturday of
Unit 10.
Course Materials
 Software: Microsoft Word is required for all Kaplan
courses.
 Text: Introduction to Psychology by Charles Stangor
 Other: Relevant library articles and Internet sources for
references.
 **Please Note: Wikipedia is not considered a credible
source for academic work.
Projects
 Follow the directions
 The #1 reason students lose points on projects is because they do
not follow the directions.
 Pay attention to submission dates.
 There is a 10% per week late penalty for all late submissions.
 The page requirements refer to the actual essay. The title
and references pages do not count toward the minimum
page requirements.

If you do not meet the minimum page requirements, you will lose a
lot of points. For a 3-page minimum with 1-page missing, you will
automatically lose 33% of the points before I grade for content.
Projects Continued
 Follow proper grammatical rules.
 Complete your projects early so that you can take
advantage of the Writing Center if needed.
 Use spell check! It is easy to do and so it is silly for you to
lose points for not checking for misspelled words.
 Projects are worth a LOT of points.
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Units 4 and 7 Projects are worth 100 points each.
Unit 9 Project is worth 290 points.
Questions?
 Are there any questions?
Discussion Board
 Keep responses on topic.
 Responses must make at least one informed reference to
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course materials or another academic source.
Responses need to be clearly written.
Responses need to be at least 200 words in length.
You need to cite your sources for DQ responses.
Respond early in the week.
Discussion Board Participation
 Participation is part of your DB grade.
 8 points of your DB score is based upon your participation.
 A minimum of 2 participation posts must be completed for
each DB question.
 Participation posts must be substantive in nature. “I agree” or
“Great work” does not count.
 Participation posts must be a minimum of 75 words to be
considered substantive.
 Participation points cannot be earned once the unit discussion
ends.
Questions?
 Are there any questions about DB requirements?
Syllabus
 Do you have any concerns about any of the topics or
projects?
 Do you understand the objectives of the course?
 Are there any questions about when assignments are
due?
 What are the expectations for the discussion questions?
**Please see the announcement for the guidelines**
Seminar
 Seminar Etiquette:
 I expect each of you to be respectful toward myself and one another.
 Arrive on time. I recommend logging in about 10 minutes before
seminar starts so that should you have log-in problems, you will not
be late.
 Do not leave early.
 Seminar Option 2:
 If you cannot attend a live seminar, then complete Option 2. Do not
do both.
 Seminar Grading:
 Seminar is worth 10 points
 Your grade is based upon participation, arriving on time and staying
the entire hour.
Seminar Continued
 I expect my students to post at least 15 on topic
participation responses during each seminar in order to
earn full credit.
 I recommend typing questions ahead of time so that you
can copy and paste them into the seminar. This will save
you time and allow you to focus on the topics we are
covering.
Quizzes
 Quizzes are worth 10 or 20 points and are based on the
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reading and learning activities that you complete each
week.
The quizzes contain questions worth 1 point each.
You have 1 hour to complete the quizzes.
The quizzes are open book and open note, so you may
use your reading materials, notes and other resources to
answer the questions.
I STRONGLY encourage you to take advantage of using the
prep materials, your book and notes to complete your
quizzes!
Grades
 All grading is expected to be back to students by the
Sunday after the week has ended.
 If you submit late work, please send me an e-mail to
advise me of the Unit and the assignment that you
completed late.
Questions??
 Do you have any further questions? Now is your time
to ask away…