Life-Span Developmental Psychology
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Specialization: College Teaching
In addition to the basic teaching training that all students receive, recommended activities for the college teaching specialization include some combination of the following:
- Designing and teaching an undergraduate class in one’s specialty area
- Serving on undergraduate honor’s thesis committees
- One-on-one supervision of undergraduate research or teaching assistants
- Publishing and presenting research on student learning/instruction;
- Participating in instructional design and co-authoring classroom course guides
- Serving as the graduate student representative to the Undergraduate Training Committee
- Serving as the pre-psychology major academic advisor for undergraduate students
- Teaching a class on applying to graduate school
- Engaging in some combination of these activities provides specialized teaching expertise above and beyond the teaching training all graduate student instructors receive.
The depth of teaching opportunities available to our graduate students goes beyond that of many institutions. As a result of these many opportunities, students often complete the program with direct teaching experience in as many as three or four courses. Students have highly developed teaching skills and knowledge, placing them at an advantage in their search for an academic position involving teaching.
Designing and teaching a class
Advanced graduate students may design a course in their specialty area. Unlike other programs where students design a course to teach in the future, in our program students teach their course to undergraduate students. Given that basic teaching skills are already in place, students are granted greater autonomy in preparing lectures, exams and setting course policies. A faculty supervisor is, however, available as needed to offer advice or assistance. Recent undergraduate courses developed and taught by graduate instructors include: health psychology, positive psychology, child maltreatment, and controversial issues in psychology.
In addition to providing students an opportunity to design and teach their own course, faculty also involve interested students in course development. For example, each summer the college provides course development grants (often supplemented by departmental funds) to fund course revisions and new course development. Faculty members have been successful in obtaining these funds and have involved graduate students in many of their course development endeavors. Recent examples include revision of introductory courses in psychology, human development, and social psychology, and development of materials to be used in all courses to educate students about plagiarism and the proper use of sources.
Publishing and presenting research
Our method of training teachers emphasizes assessment of instruction. Faculty and students often collaborate on research on teaching. These collaborations yield published articles and poster and paper presentations at national conferences. A list of representative publications and presentations appears below. An asterisk* indicates WVU graduate student co-authors.
Anhalt, K., * Morris, T.L., Scotti, J.R., & Cohen, S.H. (2003). Student perspectives on training in gay, lesbian, and bisexual issues: A survey of behavioral clinical psychology programs. Cognitive and Behavior Practice, 10, 255-263.
Bartlett, R.M.,* & Strough, J. (2003). Multimedia versus traditional course instruction in undergraduate introductory social psychology. Teaching of Psychology,4, 335-338.
Bartlett, R.M.*, Cheng, S.*, & Strough, J. (2000, August). Multimedia versus traditional course instruction and student performance and course ratings in undergraduate introductory social psychology. Poster presented at the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Cohen, S. & Goedereis, E.* (2007, October). Evolution of WVU’s Psychology as a profession course. Goedereis, E. & Cohen, S. (Chairs), Psychology as Profession at WVU: Evolution and Impact. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Beginnings & Endings: Best Practices for Introducing and Bringing Closure to the Undergraduate Psychology Major, APA, Teaching of Psychology Division 2, Atlanta, GA.
Cohen, S. H., Futoran, D. L.,* Thorn, C. A., & Karraker, K. H. (2000, August). Integrating the psychology major with a web site. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Goedereis, E.* & Cohen, S. (Chairs). (2007, October). Psychology as Profession at WVU: Evolution and Impact. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Beginnings & Endings: Best Practices for Introducing and Bringing Closure to the Undergraduate Psychology Major, APA, Teaching of Psychology Division 2, Atlanta, GA.
Goedereis, E.,* Cohen, S., Macera, M.,* & Margrett, J. (2007, October). Impact of WVU’s psychology as a profession course. Goedereis, E. &Cohen, S. (Chairs), Psychology as Profession at WVU: Evolution and Impact. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Beginnings & Endings: Best Practices for Introducing and Bringing Closure to the Undergraduate Psychology Major, APA, Teaching of Psychology Division 2, Atlanta, GA.
Goedereis, E. A.* & Patrick, J.H. (2007, April). Does general knowledge of development predict knowledge about aging? Poster presented at the ECAS Dean’s Research Day, Morgantown, WV.
Gorham, J., Cohen, S.H., & Morris, T.L. (1999). Fashion in the classroom III: Effects of instructor attire and immediacy in natural classroom interactions. Communication Quarterly, 47(3), 281-299.
Heffner, M.* & Cohen, S.H. (2006). Psychology as a profession: An effective career exploration and orientation course for undergraduate psychology majors. The Career Development Quarterly, 54, 367-371.
Heffner, M.* & Cohen, S.H. (2005). Evaluating student use of web-based material. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 32, 74-81.
Karraker, K. (1995, March). Teaching a course on psychology as a profession. In M. Lloyd (Chair), Majoring in the future: Courses on careers and professionalism. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Savannah, GA.
Karraker, K. (1995, June). Home visits with infants and parents: Enhancing students' understanding of infant individuality. Poster presented at the American Psychological Society Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, New York, NY.
Patrick, J.H. Goedereis, E.A.*, Tomczewski, D.* & Stahl, S.* (2008, February). Problem-focused learning: Low-tech and high-tech strategies. Symposium presented to the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). Baltimore, MD.
Course Guides
Selected students are invited by faculty members to co-author course guides used in the teaching of undergraduate courses. As coauthors, graduate students develop in-class activities and out-of-class assignments for use in undergraduate courses and contribute to course design. Below is a list of representative course guides published by WVU faculty with student co-authors. An asterisk indicates the WVU graduate student coauthor.
Patrick, J. H. & Goedereis, E.* (2007). Course Guide for Psychology 241: Human Development. Tapestry Press.
Patrick, J. H. & Karpinski, A.* (2006). Course Guide for Psychology 241: Human Development. Tapestry Press.
Strough, J., & Long, J.B.* (2007). Course guide for social psychology 2007-2008. Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press.
Strough, J. & Meha, C.M.* (2006). Course guide for social psychology 2006-2007. Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press.
Strough, J., & Snyder, K.L.* (2005). Course guide for social psychology. Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press.
Strough, J., & Snyder, K.L* (2004). Course guide for social psychology. Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press.