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PSY2001/L01/01^ Thu Oct 10 10:05:00 BST 2024

Overview of Student Engagement and Opportunities

Personal Engagement:

  • Opportunities for face-to-face interaction during official meetings like Board of Studies and Student Engagement Committee (SEC) meetings foster personal engagement between faculty and students, enhancing collaboration and communication.

SSA Awards:

  • Recognition of student representatives is vital for motivating involvement; a prominent example includes a student winning the accolade for best representative at the university, showcasing engagement and leadership.

  • The SSA awards contribute to the NCR Plus awards, which provide official accreditation for extracurricular activities, validating student involvement and achievements.

  • To apply for NCR Plus accreditation, students need to demonstrate a minimum involvement of 30 hours in relevant activities, significantly enhancing their CVs and LinkedIn profiles, making them more competitive in the job market.

Leadership and Representative Roles

Available Roles:

  • Various positions are open for students seeking leadership or representation opportunities, each tailored for different interests and skill sets:

    • Chair/Secretary: For those interested in management and organization who enjoy overseeing meetings and maintaining records.

    • Course Representative: Responsible for collecting and aggregating stage feedback from students to communicate to faculty effectively.

    • Specialty Roles:

      • Quality/Environmental Sustainability Rep: Focuses on advocating for sustainability initiatives within the psychology course curriculum.

      • Psychology Society Representative (Psych SoC Rep): Facilitates interaction between the Student Association (SSA) and Psychology Society, organizing social events and fostering community.

      • Social Media/Marketing Roles: Tasked with promoting the SSA online through various platforms like TikTok, engaging on social media, and executing design efforts to enhance visibility.

      • Event Manager: Oversees planning and execution of pop-up events aimed at gathering student feedback on various topics.

      • Survey Manager/Data Analyst: Responsible for conducting surveys to collect student opinions for informed decision-making processes.

Highlights from Previous Year

Improvements Made:

  • Introduction of a "How to Contact Me" section in course modules alleviated confusion over lecturer communication preferences, ensuring students know how to reach out effectively.

  • Resources and strategies shared for reducing exam study stress based on feedback from lecturers enhanced student preparation and well-being.

  • Increased support for Stage 1 students was a vital response to feedback regarding overwhelming reading workloads, providing tailored assistance.

  • Notable improvements in addressing timetable clashes for placement students were communicated to faculty, leading to better scheduling.

  • Temperature controls were improved in lecture environments following student feedback about cold conditions, creating a more conducive learning environment.

Feedback Responses and Future Actions

Feedback Collection:

  • Recognized the paramount importance of gathering student feedback, which played a crucial role in the redesign of new courses; Stage 1 feedback led to specific new module adjustments aimed at improving student experiences in upcoming academic years.

Interest Sign-up Process:

  • Students can express their interest in leadership roles by scanning a QR code or through the Canvas learning management system; detailed outlines of roles are provided to guide their choices.

  • Inclusion of new role suggestions is actively welcomed to expand avenues for student engagement and participation.

Application and Voting Process

Role Application:

  • Interested students are required to submit a presentation slide as part of the application process for leadership roles; however, presenting the slide is not mandatory.

  • Voting will occur following presentations to fairly establish positions and ensure democratic selection of representatives.

Encouraging Involvement

Alternative Involvement:

  • Students who prefer not to engage directly in committee roles are encouraged to communicate regularly with their representatives regarding various issues they face.

  • Contacts and information regarding representatives will be shared through platforms like Instagram and Canvas to facilitate easier communication and interaction.

Executive Functions in Developmental Psychology

Introduction to Cognitive Development:

  • Shifted focus from traditional theories like Piaget towards an emphasis on Executive Functions (EFs) in cognitive development, encompassing several crucial abilities:

    • Inhibition: The capacity to control attention and manage impulse responses effectively.

    • Working Memory: The ability to hold and process multiple pieces of information simultaneously, crucial for learning.

    • Cognitive Flexibility: The skill to switch between tasks and adapt to new information or changing demands seamlessly.

Measuring Executive Functions:

  • Various techniques, including behavioral tasks and neuroimaging methods (such as MRI and EEG), are employed to assess Executive Functions comprehensively.

  • Recognition of developmental trajectories highlights how cognitive functions evolve from childhood into adulthood, indicating changing cognitive capabilities over time.

Practical Tasks and Activities

Inhibition Tasks:

  • An example task where children must select the correct response about the direction of fish helps test their inhibition skills, using both congruent (matching) and incongruent (non-matching) trials to measure their performance.

Working Memory Tasks:

  • Engage students in complex span tasks designed to require retention, manipulation, and processing of multiple pieces of information simultaneously.

Cognitive Flexibility Tasks:

  • Dimensional Change Card Sorting Tasks: Used to assess children’s adaptability and ability to conform to new sorting rules, demonstrating cognitive flexibility.

Neuroscientific Perspectives

Brain Development:

  • Focused analysis on the prefrontal cortex and its critical link to executive functions, noting that this area continues to develop into early adulthood.

  • Emphasized the influence of lived experiences and the connectivity of neurons in shaping brain structure and cognitive function.

Conclusion of the Lecture

  • Distinctions between qualitative vs quantitative changes in cognitive development and brain function over time were discussed, highlighting various research methodologies that can capture these transformations.

  • Underlined the significance of classroom experiences and the applicability of learned concepts in understanding and predicting real-world behaviors, bridging theoretical knowledge with practical implications.