NOTE: If possible, please limit phone usage to informing messages you want to leave me or concerning information or immediate needs that can be answered during "office time." Use e-mail when explanations or replies are requested during "non-office times."  

Textbook (required): Charlesworth, E.A. and Nathan, R.G. Stress Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Wellness.  Ballantine Books, 1984.  ISBN 0-345-32734-9

Virtual Classroom:  http://blackboard.uc.edu 

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Course Description

This project-based course is designed to help students examine the entire field of stress management:  stress theories concerning etiology, personality, and disease; stress patterns in work and other environments; and the physical and mental responses associated with stress. In addition, students will be evaluating personal stressors and be introduced to specific intervention strategies such as time management, exercise, relaxation training, diet management, and cognitive restructuring.  Using the overall knowledge mentioned above, as well as knowledge about the intervention strategies, each student will be designing, practicing, and evaluating their personalized stress management strategy.

This course may differ from many courses you may have taken in that the emphasis is, not only on content, but also on process, i.e. how the subject is approached. In this course you will focus on active learning and on development of critical thinking and communication skills. The assignments are geared to develop these skill areas.

Course Objectives

Students will:

Attendance/Contact Policy

Attendance in this class is as important as it would be if you were attending on campus. You should be logging in to Blackboard at least 5 days out of every week. You must contact Dr. G. once a week by either submitting an assignment OR directly by email. Failure turn in assignments or contact Dr. G. by email for a period of two weeks  will result in a "W" (withdrawal) if a withdrawal slip is signed before the deadline or an "F" if after the deadline or if no withdrawal slip at all, regardless of reason. 

Note that technical difficulties do not excuse the student from the responsibility of participation and other assigned work!  You are responsible for maintaining your access to the internet and email.  Points will be deducted on a daily basis for not setting up a usable email account and maintaining it.

Assignment Policy

1. You may turn in any assignment earlier than the due date. ANY ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED LATE WILL RESULT IN A point deduction. Most assignments will have additional points deducted if more than two days late. (See "Assignments Checklist" in Blackboard)... Assignments will not be accepted for credit and will be removed ONE WEEK after due dates.

Unfortunately, since you are doing a lot of research on the subject, your work must be turned in on time. If you are two assignments behind, it is suggested that you withdraw from the course with a "W," regardless of excuse.  Failure to do so may result in a final grade of "F."

2. Since Assignments may be submitted earlier than the deadline, technical difficulties do not excuse you from the responsibility of submitting them on time. As in most online courses, technical difficulties do not excuse one from the responsibility of participation and other assigned work.

3. Some assignments will be completed on the Discussion Board and others through the Digital Drop Box. See the directions for each in "Blackboard." . If there is a mistake in uploading to Drop Box or I can't read your submission, I will notify you by email and you must resubmit within ONE DAY from my sending the email, letting me know by email that you have resubmitted.  If you do this, it will not be counted as late unless done repeatedly.

4. LATE ASSIGNMENTS are those submitted after midnight or noon of the specific due date. 

5. Your assignments will be typed using the word processing program Microsoft Word (*.doc) OR saved in Rich Text Format (*.rft). If you do not have this program, you can obtain it by purchasing MS Office at the U.C. Bookstore. In a special arrangement with Micosoft, you will obtain a software program that could cost you hundreds of dollars for only $7.50!

6. Put your name and the assignment in the upper-left hand corner of each page of the written assignment (e.g. Bill Smith ASC).

7. RETENTION OF WORK: All tests, assignments, exercises, reports, etc. will be kept by your professor. You will receive notification of the quality of work on most of the assignments. You have WITHIN ONE WEEK of the class's receiving the grade to review each assignment.

8. Assignment Revisions:  Revisions or rewriting of the the whole assignment or parts of it may be required by Dr. G..  The most common instances include:

a. If the original submission is done extremely poorly. 

b. If major sections of the assignment were omitted.

If a revision is required, Dr. G. will post "revise" in the Grade Post in the place of a grade for that assignment.  In this case, you revision will be graded on the "+2 day late" scale and MUST be resubmitted within 2 days of the posted notification.

9. "Extra" points:  These may be earned in two ways:  

a. Doing much better than expected on "Required" assignments.  In this case, your work was far superior to the class in general. 

b. Doing the limited amount of "Choice" assignments (see "Assignments Checklist"). Before "Choice" assignments will count, you must complete all "Required" assignments to Dr. G.'s satisfaction.  This does not mean that you can't submit a "choice" assignment before completing all of the "required" ones.

Grading Policy

1. I grade all assignments at once after the deadline, even if I received them early. It is more efficient to do so.

2. To access your grades in Blackboard, click "User Tools" "Check Grade" link. NOTE: NEVER look at the percentage--it is usually wrong. Go by the total points. On the "Class Calendar/Weekly Grade Scale" (link is under "Assignment Assistance") look in the right-hand column and you will see a weekly grade scale, based on points earned by the end of that week.

3. ASSIGNMENTS: 

There is a "Grading Criteria" link on each assignment page.  I will post the Grading Criteria codes pertaining to your assignment on the Grade Post. The Grading Criteria codes will remain posted on the Grade Post for 1 week after grading those assignments submitted on time.

Discussion Board Postings

An additional part of your responsibility is to post to the Discussion Board and comment thoughtfully on your classmates' postings beginning the first week of classes.  PLEASE NOTE that you must have postings for the week submitted by the deadline posted on the Class Calendar. Any postings after this time will not be counted.  Additionally, your response(s) must be spread out over the week.  Please do not wait until the deadline and post and respond on the same day.  With most Discussion Boards you will be required to both POST your work AND RESPOND/REPLY to another student's posting.

Evaluation of comments is on four levels, depending on the type of Discussion Board assignment:

1. Student's immediate posting. It is obvious that there is more chance to be original if yours is one of the first postings. Should reflect personal involvement in the topic when appropriate.

2. Ideas:

• 100-90%--Exceptionally  creative/original/insightful, well-developed ideas based on some type of research or reading that is stated with relevant and accurate data/information to back up the response, when appropriate; evidence of synthesis and generalization of the material within the comments.
• 89-80%.-- Well-developed ideas with relevant and accurate data/ information to back up the response , when appropriate
• 79-60%.-- Developing ideas with data/information to back up the response, when appropriate
• 59-01%.--Poorly developed ideas 
• 0 %--No response or tasteless/inappropriate response

3. Level of involvement:

• Top level-- responds thoughtfully to classmates' postings with correct number of responses when directed.

• Mid level-- responds to classmates' postings 

• Low or no level--does not respond or responds inappropriately to classmates' postings

4. I will be looking for IN-DEPTH THINKING OR ON THE DISCUSSION BOARD. Simply stating that you agree with another student does NOT constitute "in-depth thinking"!

For given Discussion Boards at end of term, I may look at the responses from other students that each student's comments generate. If the original comment was not very thought provoking, other students are not likely to react to it.

U.C. Code of Conduct

Students are expected to follow the mandates of the University of Cincinnati Code of Conduct. You may view this information online at the following site: http://www.uc.edu/conduct.html 

Grading Scale

The Grade Scale is posted on the Class Calendar/ Weekly Grade Scale

Note:  You must complete all of the written work, tests, and all of the Stress Management Program sections (SMP all sections) to be eligible to receive an "A" or "B" regardless of the total number of points earned.  To receive a "C" the same requirements are as above (for "A" & "B")---the exception you can miss only one discussion board and one test. All work must be completed by the announced deadline day during final exam week or the grade will be calculated on the basis of the points earned up to that time. No "IP"s (incompletes) are generally given.

Grade Scale**: A =  Must complete all of the tests, Stress Management Program sections, and other assignments with an average between 90% or above. /  B =  Must complete all of the tests, Stress Management Program sections, and other assignments with an average between 80% and 89%.. /  C = Must complete all as in "A" and "B" requirements, with the exception of one of the tests and one discussion board with an average between 70% and 79%. /  D =  Work on the the tests, Stress Management Program sections, and other assignments must average between 60% and 69%. /  F = Work on the tests, Stress Management Program sections, and other assignments average below 60%.           **Pluses (+) and minuses (-) will be assigned.

Incomplete Policy

"IP" (incomplete) grades will NOT generally be given. You will receive a grade based on the total points earned by your class's final exam day deadline. Anyone withdrawing from any class must complete and turn in an official University for to receive a "W." Remember that you're dealing with computers and must officially withdraw from a class. You should be aware of the "UW" grade, which represents and "unofficial withdrawal." This grade must be given to a student who stops coming to class but does not fill out the official withdrawal for from the College Registrar's Office. The "UW" grade is equal to an "F" in calculating your grade point average.

IMPORTANT:  It is unfortunate if emergencies arise; however, you may be given an "F" for a course grade or withdraw from the class if missing 2 1/2 to 3 weeks total  throughout the quarter with or without contact regardless of reason. Three weeks absence means you have missed 30% of all classes. 

Overview of Written Assignments 

The following assignments is a complete list of assignments and due dates. Those not visible in Blackboard will be accessible periodically AT LEAST two weeks before due date:

The Weekly Schedule can be found under "Assignments" bar; "AA (Assignments Assistance"; "Class Calendar / Weekly Grade Scale" link.

SCHEDULING CHANGES: Your professor reserves the right to make changes in scheduling, grading, or assignments in the event of special circumstances. These changes will be announced on the "Announcement" page in Blackboard.

• It is expected that students will check their email at least five times a week for possible announcements regarding the class.

• It is expected that when students post to Blackboard, that they will also check the Announcements area.

• When emailing Dr. G., please make sure you sign your name to the message as I cannot always tell from individuals' email addresses who is writing.

• While I check my own email at least once a day, twice on weekdays, a situation may arise where this is not possible. Do not wait until the last day before an assignment is due to contact me if you have questions!

• Emails are considered private documents between the sender and the receiver. Permission from the sender is required before forwarding to another.

• You are responsible for keeping your email address current and accessible. Some "free" email programs such as "hotmail", require you to "use it or lose it" after a set period of time.  You generally are expected in such programs to keep the inbox and/or storage from becoming too filled.  I will post all email addresses in which the mail is "undeliverable."  Repeated announcements to the same email address may result in point deductions for each instance.
• I send emails through Blackboard (Bb). You can tell if the email is sent only to you by the "Subject" line.  All "Subject" boxes will have the section number, the date, and the subject (e.g. 707 12/3 SMP1 ).  If the message is sent only to you, it will have " 707 12/3 Bill S.)" in the Subject box.

Emailing Policy

If you are sending a general email, in the "Subject Box" of the email, include the time the class meets/section number and your name (Example: 707 PQ Bill Wagoner) also put your name at the end of the message. (The PQ stands for Psychology Question and you will receive an automatic reply saying that I received your email.) In the rare cases that you will be required to submit your Assignments by email, in the "Subject Box" of the email, put the time the class meets, the letters PQ, and the assignment title (Example: 707 PQ SMP1).  Also put your name at the end of the message.