PSYC 311: Educational Psychology

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  PSYC 311
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in an Education  course for undergraduate or graduate students by Susan Sy at California State University, Fullerton. The open textbook provides an overview of educational psychology, with exercises, and case studies that accompany each chapter. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to customize materials to better fit the course, increase student engagement with learning materials, include more diverse resources, and save students money. Most students access the open textbook through the course Canvas page.

PSYC 311 Educational Psychology
Brief Description of course highlights:  Applying psychological research and theory to educational processes, including learning, motivation, individual differences, teaching methods and evaluation. Recommended for those interested in teaching careers. Prerequisite: PSYC 101
Student population:  Upper-level psychology majors who are fulfilling a department requirement.
Learning or student outcomes:  After taking Psyc 311, students should be able to: 

1. Identify examples of key theoretical concepts in Educational Psychology. 
2. Use course concepts to understand what effective teaching looks like. 
3. Analyze teaching strategies and approaches using Educational Psychology theories and research (i.e., explain why these strategies/approaches work or do not work). 
4. Provide recommendations for effective teaching strategies that will support learning among diverse student populations. 
5. Critically evaluate their own norms, values, and assumptions as they relate to effective teaching and learning.
   
   

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: A combination of library resources, online materials, and OER including Educational Psychology by Nicole Arduini-Van Hoose

Brief Description: The sections of the open textbook include embedded videos, images, and embedded exercises. The open textbook is supplemented with library resources to flesh out additional areas.

Please provide a link to the resource:   https://edpsych.pressbooks.sunycreate.cloud/

Authors:  Nicole Arduini-Van Hoose

Student access:  Resources are accessed from the course Canvas page via links to open materials and permalinks for library materials 

Provide the cost savings from a traditional textbook. 106.66 per student.

License: Textbook uses CC BY NC-SA, library materials are under traditional copyright and shared under fair use. 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to customize materials to better fit the course, increase student engagement with learning materials, include more diverse resources, and save students money.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? Consulted with librarians, and searched in open educational resource repositories, library resources and online.

Sharing Best Practices: I'm not sure it's a best practice, but keep a very open mind about where to find material. We are the experts in our fields. Sometimes simply searching for websites on a topic and then adapting that information (with appropriate references to the original site) may suffice. Sometimes we get locked into the way we were taught - one textbook for one class - and therefore think we need to find that one perfect textbook. The beauty of OER is that we can pull bits and pieces from multiple sources if we are willing to take the time to find them.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. The challenge was to find a collection of the exact material I wanted, which meant pulling from multiple sources and then adapting them accordingly.

Instructor Name - Susan Sy
I am a psychology professor at California State University, Fullerton.
Please provide a link to your university page.
https://psychology.fullerton.edu/faculty/

Please describe the courses you teach I teach PSYC 101, 301, 499, 598, 599

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  I am interested in the influence of family and culture on children's educational transitions. My current work examines the influence of parental involvement and parental support on children’s academic outcomes in elementary school.