The New Semester

It's going to be a busy semester! I have four classes on campus and two online courses. My two online courses are taught by the same instructor, and both classes promise to be difficult. One of the courses is the Psychology of Aging, and the other is multi-cultural aging (one of the required core classes for my minor). I have to write a big paper for the second class, but both classes are mostly studying the textbooks and web pages, as well as watching videos.

I have Social Psychology on M/W/F. My professor in this class seems like a great lady, who livens up her lectures with lots of YouTube videos and supplemental information. So far we are examining a lot of different studies about how people interact with and affect one another. I feel like I've learned a lot, but it's overwhelming trying to keep all the different studies straight in my head.

Also on M/W, I have Developmental Psychology. As the course name implies, the area of study is how people grow and age over time. This course is fascinating, but really hard. The instructor is a grad student, which isn't what I signed up for. However, the professor is apparently dealing with some health challenges and was unable to teach this semester. The current instructor is interesting and engaging, though, so that helps. I'm not too crazy with the way she has formatted the course, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

My first class on T/Th is Cognition. In this class, we look at what happens in our brains when we think and experience the world. I love the material so far. The professor is very strict. Our whole grade rests on three tests, so that makes me nervous. The professor is very entertaining, but a bit hard to follow because he jumps around so much and is easily distracted by environmental sounds and his own thoughts. I'm learning to follow him a bit better and I think I'll really like the class.

My second class on T/Th is Applied Behavior Analysis. This class looks at methods for changing behavior. I like the instructor very much. She has a wonderful Scottish accent that's fun to listen to, and she's a great lecturer. Half of the class is group discussion and interaction, which I really like since it helps cement the ideas into our brains. Since I've covered much of the first six chapters in Learning and Memory and my Psychological Research Methods class, I'm not expecting to have too much trouble with this course.

That's my update for this semester! I am thankful that I only have one more semester after this to complete my bachelors. Phew! I'm trying hard to maintain a 4.0 GPA to make it easier to get into grad school, get grants and other financial aid.