Index of University Press Releases

Feb. 4, 2008

Kelly presents in Atlanta

Anne Kelly

MITCHELL – Anne Kelly, associate professor of psychology at Dakota Wesleyan University, presented her poster, “Integrating Web Resources into an Online Experimental Psychology Course” at the 20th Southeastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology (SETOP) held in Atlanta on Feb. 29 and March 1.

Kelly is on sabbatical this semester in Atlanta researching the psychology of art with a focus on representations of women and children in Impressionist paintings.

SETOP was hosted by the Kennesaw State University Department of Psychology and Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The purpose of Kelly’s project was to integrate Web resources into online discussion questions in order to promote new learning experiences and critical thinking and to facilitate interaction among students. Her work was funded by a Title III mini-grant.

"The chance to learn about teaching styles and strategies that professors at other institutions use is always beneficial and helps me integrate new methods into my courses,” said Kelly. “It is reassuring to see that our teaching at DWU really is cutting-edge."

Kelly had located online experiments, articles, and essays for subdisciplines in psychology that are topics of study in experimental psychology, such as psychophysics, attention, memory, and social psychology. She developed discussion questions that required students to understand and apply the scientific method and evaluate the research in ways that facilitate critical thinking, such as discussing the validity of selected variables and alternative ways to investigate the topic as well as solving more complex problem-based learning assignments.

The subdisciplines studied in experimental psychology are similar to those studied in general psychology, developmental psychology and social psychology, so assignments can be modified to fit other courses.

Many of the conference sessions Kelly attended at SETOP related directly to integrating technology into courses, such as “How to Dance with the Digital Natives: The Technology-Enhanced Psychology Professor,” “Effective Activities and Demonstrations for Teaching Research Methods,” “Energizing Your Students: Using Technology-Based Methods to Engage Students,” and “Standardization of Online and On-Ground Courses: A Fair and Balanced Look at Academic Freedom and Other Issues.”