Stress Course Overview
This overview attempts to explain the various elements of the course, thus making the assignments more relevant.
hoping to provide the answer to the questions:
"What are is the purpose of this assignment?" / "Why are we doing this assignment?"
The main project for the course is designing and practicing a Stress Management Program (SMP). It is based on a problem-solving model that I used in counseling/psychotherapy sessions. This project is divided into four parts:
SMP1: Assessing your daily stressors.
SMP2: Researching two stress management techniques that might be useful in dealing with the stressors identified in SMP1.
SMP3: Setting up a design for the program, according to Charlesworth, Chapter 4, in which you list goals and possible obstacles for practicing a stress management program and solutions for overcoming those obstacles. Also, you will choose an appropriate technique to match your goals and rewrite the researched strategy for practicing the technique.
SMP4: After practicing the technique and measuring your progress, you are to evaluate it by answering specific questions about your practice and outcomes.
ALL OTHER ASSIGNMENTS will provide information that will be helpful for the Stress Management Project. These assignments include assignments that will contribute to your knowledge of stress theory; self-assessments that will provide you the opportunity to gain knowledge about your own personal stressors; and assignments that demonstrate that you can critically evaluate sources of stress information such as the internet.
For almost every assignment you will be asked to state the "Stress Management Assignment Objective" for that assignment. These are listed in under the "Assignments" bar, "Assignment Assistance," "Stress Management Assignment Objective" link. Blackboard and you choose the one or two that apply to the particular assignment. This assures me that you have an idea of how that particular assignment fits into the course overview.
Examples of the types of assignments listed above are in the table below:
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Self-Assessment (Knowledge about personal stressors and applying to Stress Management Program)
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Stress Information (Contributing to knowledge about stress and applying to Stress Management Program)
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Evaluation of Information (Determining quality sources of stress information and/or critical thinking about stress topics) |
| Tests based on textbook and other sources | Through various assignments and Discussion Boards. | |
| Class lectures/Videos (In-class only) | ||
| Assessing Stress Components --Stress identification (ASC) | Readings from textbook and Stress Readings and Resources link | |
| Discussion Boards | Discussion Boards | |
| Choice Assignments | Choice Assignments |
The "Choice Assignment" is a choice of one assignment that you may complete any time throughout the quarter for "extra" credit. You may only do ONE and you must complete all of the Required Assignments (the written ones to your professor's satisfaction) to get credit for the choice assignment.
"Discussion Boards" will enable you to demonstrate your ability for critical thinking by discussing readings, cartoons, stress assessments, etc. and integrating them with stress concepts and text material. You will also be required to comment on other students' postings.