Holyoke Community College

Edu. 104 ~ Online

 Child Development and Behavior

 

Instructor:        Tricia Kiefer

 

E-mail:              tkiefer@hcc.edu

 

Office:               Donahue 253

 

Phone:               552-2450                                        

 

Office Hours:   BY appointment

 

Course:             Edu. 104: Child Development and Behavior

 

Credits:             3

 

Prerequisites:   English 101 eligible

 

Required Text: Puckett et. al.  The Young Child.  5/e  Pearson

                           ISBN 13: 978-0-13-514776-4

                           Access Code: None Needed

 

Course Description:

 

Provides an understanding of the characteristics and developmental stages of young children. Students will explore the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual growth of children from the prenatal state to eight years of age. Provides insight into the feelings and behavior of young children through observations and participation in group activities.

 

Course Objectives:

 

1. Identify typical child growth and developmental patterns from prenatal stage to age eight in each developmental domain (social, cognitive and physical). (NAEYC 1a.)

 

2. Understand various theoretical perspectives to child growth and behavior and the applications. (NAEYC 1a.)

 

3.      Use knowledge of how young children differ in their development and approaches to learning to support the development and learning of all children. (NAEYC 1b)

 

4.      Recognize the dynamic, reciprocal, multiple influences within diverse societal contexts and educational environments (programs) in which children develop and its impact on development.  (NAEYC 1b)

 

5. Research current topics related to child growth and development. (NAEYC 1a.)

Course Requirements:

 

1. Assignments: There will be 4 assignments addressing material from the chapters. These may include written assignments, web-based assignments, observations, computer modules, and other formats. The assignment details and due dates are listed under Assignments and on the Calendar. All assignments should be sent to me through the assignment section in Word.doc by the due date. Be sure you put your name in the body of your assignment. The ability to submit your assignment will be disabled after the due date. DO NOT wait until the last minute to submit your work. Late assignments are not accepted.

 

2. Chapter Quizzes: There is a required quiz after every chapter. Each quiz is automatically graded, and the grades submitted to me. The quizzes are timed. You can take each quiz up to 2 times, and the average of your quizzes will be your quiz grade. If you are happy with the grade of your first attempt, you do not need to take the quiz a second time. You must however wait 24 hours between attempts. If you do not complete a quiz on time, it will be averaged in as a zero. You will be informed if your responses are correct or incorrect. The correct responses will be available after the deadline for your review.

 

3. Exams: There are 4 multiple choice exams which are timed. You only get 1 attempt. The correct responses will be made available after the availability period for the exam has ended.

 

Grading:

Assignments	40 %
Quizzes	20 %
Exams	40 %

 

Course Schedule:

Please refer to the individual sections (quizzes/exams & assignments) for availability and due dates.

Course Procedures, Policies and Guidelines:

Class Policies:
All students are expected to participate and complete assignments on time. Students are encouraged to discuss ideas presented and to ask questions as they may come up. Students are expected to treat each other with courtesy and to respect differing opinions.

 

Academic Integrity:

It is expected that all the work you submit is your own. Plagiarism, collaboration on written work including quizzes and exams is not permitted. Please review the college Student Discipline Policy.

 

Withdrawal from Class:

Sometimes it is necessary for a student to withdraw from an online course. If that should become necessary, students can complete a withdrawal form located at http://webtide.hccdl.org - Star 3. Students who fail to withdraw from a course may receive a punitive grade.

A grade of “AW” will be given if a student does not participate in the course for more than 7 days. Participation includes posting in the discussion section, completing a quiz or exam, or submitting an assignment. This is not calculated into the GPA.

 

Guidelines for Online Courses

 

Communication: All correspondences should be made through the course.

 

Assignments: Your assignments must be sent to me in through the assignment section. Please don't put your assignment into the body of an email. Assignments MUST be in a word.doc format or rich text format.

 

Grading Assignments: Once I have graded your assignment, I will send it back to you with comments, in the assignment section. Open the file to read the comments. I would recommend that you keep the files I send back until the course is completed.

 

Quizzes: Quiz grades should automatically appear on the course grade page. You may take the quiz up to two times. You need to wait 24 hours between attempts. If you take it more than once, the grades will be averaged. You will be notified which responses you have incorrect so you can attempt again. However, the correct responses will not be provided until after the deadline.

 

Discussion Forum: The expectation is that you will log on to the discussion several times a week and participate actively. It is really important that you stay within the discussion thread or it will get very confusing. When you are responding to a comment, hit the REPLY button. Do not start another thread. However, feel free to begin a new thread if a different topic comes to mind or you would like to share something relevant to the course.

The discussion forum is a great way to talk about course related current events, personal experience, or concepts from the text with your classmates.

If you have a question that is directed specifically to me, and not to the rest of the group, email me privately through the course. Don't use the discussion forum to communicate with me directly about topics that are not relevant for the entire class.

 

Expectations in terms of written work: The expectation is that you will exercise critical thinking skills, make connections between the theories and concepts discussed in the text and your own life experiences, and that you will not simply pull words out of the text to answer the questions. I would like to see you apply the theories and concepts to your own life whenever possible, explaining concepts in your own words, and demonstrating a clear understanding of the concepts.

As you are writing your homework assignments, presume that your audience is uninformed. That is, don’t leave important details out because “you know I know’ the material. Write as if you are explaining the material to someone who is completely unfamiliar with the material.

If you quote directly from the text or outside resources, be sure you cite them properly. Use proper APA format when referencing sources.

I will make comments on your work and return it to you with a numerical grade.

 

Communication by email: All email should be sent through private mail in the course. I will be checking email 3-4 times a week. It would be wise not to wait until the last minute to ask questions about an assignment since I might not see the email until the day assignment is due.

 

Technical Problems: If you are having technical problems, feel free to notify me, but please contact the DL Help Desk for assistance. I am not able to solve your technical problems. If you haven’t done the suggested browser upgrade, you’d be wise to do it ASAP. When you contact the DL Help Desk, please give them as much information as possible, particularly your name, the course you’re in, your email address/phone number, and the specific problem you are encountering.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. The easiest way is via email, but if you would like to meet with me face to face, I would be happy to make arrangements to do that.