Although the summer section of Cognitive Psychology had 90 students, each student was assigned to one of four different groups, providing the subjective experience of being enrolled in a much smaller online course (20-25 people).
The ANGEL course site was custom designed to correspond to the textbook cover. In addition, the design visually illustrated the organization of the course by highlighting the three units into which the course was divided: Acquiring Knowledge, Organizing Knowledge, and Using Knowledge.
Babcock’s primary goal was to show students that what they learn about mental processes in Cognitive Psychology can be applied to most of their daily experiences—in other words, learning course content does not just lead to a “good grade,” but to a better understanding of how each of us thinks and interacts with the world.
To that end, each chapter of the course was structured to begin with the student’s current understanding of the topic, pique their curiosity on the topic (Focusing Activities), present new information (textbook reading and ANGEL lecture), and end with the opportunity to reflect and apply the new information back to real-life experiences (Open Topic Blog and Discussion Question).
The ANGEL course site was custom designed to correspond to the textbook cover. In addition, the design visually illustrated the organization of the course by highlighting the three units into which the course was divided: Acquiring Knowledge, Organizing Knowledge, and Using Knowledge.
Focusing activities were designed to “hook” students on the upcoming chapter material by engaging students in a fun activity that highlighted an aspect of the upcoming chapter. After completing the activity, students were asked to use their existing knowledge and experience to reflect upon the type of cognitive processes that were likely involved in the activity.
Thirty custom-made interactive activities and applications were used to create learning checks, demonstrations of concepts, and simulation experiments as part of the ANGEL lectures.
Videos were also used to supplement and animate written materials from the text and lecture. Videos originated from multiple sources, and were used to recap key points, illustrate complex concepts better suited to visual representation, show instances in which the cognitive concepts are applied, and/or provide supplemental instruction on some difficult concepts.
Various pre-existing online resources developed for instructional psychology use were incorporated into class resources, activities and assignments. These included a collection of online cognitive psychology experiments provided as part of the cost of purchasing the textbook.
Evidence of Effectiveness:
In general, student comments were positive, and indicated that many of the goals of the course had been met. Students appreciated the interactive activities included in the lectures, and responded positively to attempts to link the course materials to real-life experiences, thereby personalizing the experience.
Elizabeth Babcock, Graduate Student, Psychology, Lead instructor
Lia Field, Graduate Student, Psychology, Teaching Assistant
Cathleen McGreal, Psychology Online Coordinator, Psychology
Tory Sawyer, Virtual University Design and Technology, eProducer
Sean Leahy, Virtual University Design and Technology, eProducer
Heidi Chen, Virtual University Design and Technology, eProducer
JoAnn Render, Virtual University Design and Technology, Flash Developer
