This course is designed to acquaint new students with the online and ground-based course delivery systems and college policies and procedures including its Virtual Campus by Moodle. This course is delivered with online asynchronous discussion forums and PowerPoint presentations. With asynchronous learning, students learn at their own pace. To access this course, click on its title. This will open the online classroom.

This course is an investigation of learning and behavior that has been an integral part of psychology since the late nineteenth century. It provides important insights into ways in which long-lasting changes in behavior occur as a result of particular types of experience. This course will also focus on animal learning and the use of comparative psychology and the experimental analysis of behavior to predict and control humane behavior. It will address paradigms of classical and instrumental conditioning as well as the biological bases of learning including the identification of the factors that contribute to behavior problems and improving behavior. This is an online course.

Prerequisites: None

This course focuses on the domestic cat including behavioral development, the mother/kitten relationship, individuality, social life, signaling, group-living, density, spatial organization and reproductive tactics, predatory behavior, domestication and history, and the human-cat relationship. In addition, normal feline behavior, aggression, elimination disorders, fears, anxiety, stereotypes, behavioral pharmacology, prevention, and treatment of behavior problems will be covered. The student will learn to create assessment forms, take a behavioral history from the human family, and use methodical observations in order to formulate a clear and concise l diagnostic impression of the problem. Using this, the student will develop a living plan for the family members and the companion animal. This is an online course.

This course sequence affords Master’s degree students the opportunity to integrate their program of study into an in-depth exploration of an interest area that includes the completion of an original research study. Students complete the Master’s thesis independently, with the guidance of a thesis supervisory committee chairperson and committee members. Students will complete a prospectus, proposal, institutional review board (IRB) application, thesis paper, and oral defense. Submission and defense of the thesis represents the completion of the final requirement for the degree being sought. Registering for three semesters in the course sequence for a total of nine credits is required. All graduate level theses must be defended. A thesis defense, also known as an oral defense, is completed via a recorded teleconference with the student’s thesis committee members (examinee and the examiners) and is a type of final examination for a master’s candidate. Grading for the thesis sequence is as follows: 1) Accepted / pass with no corrections. 2) Must be revised, 3) Must be revised extensively and undergo the evaluation and defense process again from the beginning with the same examiners, 4) Unacceptable - the thesis is unacceptable and the candidate must withdraw from the program. This verdict is given only when the thesis requires major revisions and when the thesis defense makes it clear that the candidate is incapable of making such major revisions. Students will follow a thesis timeline contained in the school’s Thesis Manual, will report progress, and communicate with the thesis chairperson and other students in an online classroom on a weekly basis. This is an online course and a research project.

Prerequisites:
Completion of all required coursework unless waived by the department chairperson.

This course sequence affords Master’s degree students the opportunity to integrate their program of study into an in-depth exploration of an interest area that includes the completion of an original research study. Students complete the Master’s thesis independently, with the guidance of a thesis supervisory committee chairperson and committee members. Students will complete a prospectus, proposal, institutional review board (IRB) application, thesis paper, and oral defense. Submission and defense of the thesis represents the completion of the final requirement for the degree being sought. Registering for three semesters in the course sequence for a total of nine credits is required. All graduate level theses must be defended. A thesis defense, also known as an oral defense, is completed via a recorded teleconference with the student’s thesis committee members (examinee and the examiners) and is a type of final examination for a master’s candidate. Grading for the thesis sequence is as follows: 1) Accepted / pass with no corrections. 2) Must be revised, 3) Must be revised extensively and undergo the evaluation and defense process again from the beginning with the same examiners, 4) Unacceptable - the thesis is unacceptable and the candidate must withdraw from the program. This verdict is given only when the thesis requires major revisions and when the thesis defense makes it clear that the candidate is incapable of making such major revisions. Students will follow a thesis timeline contained in the school’s Thesis Manual, will report progress, and communicate with the thesis chairperson and other students in an online classroom on a weekly basis. This is an online course and a research project.

Prerequisites:
Completion of all required coursework unless waived by the department chairperson.

This course sequence affords Master’s degree students the opportunity to integrate their program of study into an in-depth exploration of an interest area that includes the completion of an original research study. Students complete the Master’s thesis independently, with the guidance of a thesis supervisory committee chairperson and committee members. Students will complete a prospectus, proposal, institutional review board (IRB) application, thesis paper, and oral defense. Submission and defense of the thesis represents the completion of the final requirement for the degree being sought. Registering for three semesters in the course sequence for a total of nine credits is required. All graduate level theses must be defended. A thesis defense, also known as an oral defense, is completed via a recorded teleconference with the student’s thesis committee members (examinee and the examiners) and is a type of final examination for a master’s candidate. Grading for the thesis sequence is as follows: 1) Accepted / pass with no corrections. 2) Must be revised, 3) Must be revised extensively and undergo the evaluation and defense process again from the beginning with the same examiners, 4) Unacceptable - the thesis is unacceptable and the candidate must withdraw from the program. This verdict is given only when the thesis requires major revisions and when the thesis defense makes it clear that the candidate is incapable of making such major revisions. Students will follow a thesis timeline contained in the school’s Thesis Manual, will report progress, and communicate with the thesis chairperson and other students in an online classroom on a weekly basis. This is an online course and a research project.

Prerequisites:
Completion of all required coursework unless waived by the department chairperson.