Lifespan Dev

1.5 Exercise. Understanding the Lifespan: Reflection Paper

Getting Started

The purpose of this Overview is to preview your reflection paper assignment to learn more about lifespan development—including your own—and to start the process of considering what you will do for your Odyssey Plan (see 1.6 Overview) and your capstone project.

As you may recall, a capstone project helps students bring their key learning and experience together in a culminating project. You will begin to brainstorm possibilities about your capstone project in the first six core courses in this program, but you will not start working on the implementation of your project until you get into the specializations in ‘Life Coaching and Positive Psychology’ or ‘Industrial and Organizational Psychology.' While you are not required to submit ideas for the capstone project yet, this workshop provides a great opportunity to think about ideas for your capstone project. Keep in mind the final products that won’t be due until the end of this program:

· A reflection journal summarizing student learning and growth throughout entire program

· A Ted style talk including a written script accompanying a 15- to 20-minute audio, video presentation, or multimedia presentation

· A written summary including research findings and an executive report highlighting design and implementation of Capstone project

Upon successful completion of this exercise, you will be able to:

· Connect design thinking with human development, well-being and flourishing.

Resources

· Video: Designing Your Life

· Article: How to Design Your Best Future

Background Information

The purpose of the reflection paper you will write is to evaluate lifespan development as it relates to positive psychology, along with your personal development, to include well-being and flourishing. This reflection will also help you gain insights for your Odyssey Plan and capstone project.

Upcoming deliverables:

· In Workshop Two, you will submit a draft of your questions you would like to reflect on for feedback from your instructor.

· In Workshop Four, you will submit a draft of your reflection paper.

· In Workshop Six, you will submit your final reflection paper.

Instructions

1. View the video  Designing Your Life  (25.20 min). You can also read the  Designing Your Life Transcript .

2. Read  How to Design Your Best Future .

3. Consider the following as you begin to plan the questions you will reflect on:

a. Which developmental theorist and or developmental domains will you focus on and why?

b. How will this help you learn about your own growth and development?

c. Is there a particular stage of development that you will focus on? If so, which one?

d. What would you like to reflect on about your own development, especially career development and capstone project ideas?

4. Think about this now, and plan to write your reflection questions to submit to your instructor by the end of Week Two. We want you to have plenty of time to write your draft of the reflection paper, which is due in Week Four.

1.2 Discussion. Introductions

Getting Started

How does the devotional, The Ordinary World, relate to the developmental phase of pre-birth to infancy? There could be many ways to look at how the ordinary world describes the entrance of a child into the world.

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

· Assess theories of human development and compare to assumptions of human development.

Resources

· eBook:  Developmental Theories Through the Life Cycle

· Video: The Ordinary World

· Video: The Nine Months That Made You: Pregnancy and Human Development (OPTIONAL)

· Website: Academic Writer

· Website: OCLS Evaluating Sources

Background Information

In this discussion, you will not only begin to learn about your peers; you will also reflect on aspects of human growth and development (with an emphasis on pre-birth to infancy) and how development in infancy relates to the devotional for this workshop.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. In the eBook,  Developmental Theories Through the Life Cycle , Chapters 1 and 2.

3. Watch the video  The Ordinary World Lifespan I  (1:01 min). You can also review The Ordinary World Lifespan I: Transcript .

4. Optionally, in the video  The Nine Months That Made You: Pregnancy and Human Development , watch the following segments:

a. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19 (approximately 16 min).

b. You can also review  The Nine Months That Made You Pregnancy and Human Development: Transcript

5. Navigate to the discussion topic and respond to the following prompts:

a. Introduce yourself.

b. Discuss the devotional as it relates to human growth and development, specifically focusing on time between pre-birth to 18 months of age.

c. Use the learning resources and devotional to support your answer.

6. Your initial post is due by the end of the fourth day of the workshop.

7. Read and respond to at least two of your classmates' postings, as well as follow-up instructor questions directed to you, by the end of the workshop.

8. All references and citations should be in APA format.

a. Review the website Academic Writer on how to cite sources and format a paper properly. Use the left navigation and go to Course Dashboard, IWU Resources and select Academic Writer.

b. You may also review the  OCLS Evaluating Sources  to see the criteria for credible Internet research websites.

i. If you are not already logged in to the IWU OCLS website, you will be prompted to log in when you access the link.

9. Your postings should also:

a. Be well developed by providing clear answers with evidence of critical thinking.

b. Add greater depth to the discussion by introducing new ideas.

c. Provide clarification to classmates' questions and provide insight into the discussion.

1.6 Exercise. Odyssey Plan

Getting Started

When you think of an odyssey, what comes to mind? As part of this course, you will work on your own Odyssey Plan. You will be given tools and resources to help you understand what an Odyssey Plan is and how to create one. You may not know what you want to do for your career, or you may be ready for a career change (after all, that may be why you are in this master’s program). There are so many choices and options for your path in psychology. These include, but are not limited to, positive psychology and life coaching or industrial and organizational psychology. How can you narrow your options? How can you decide what your options might be? Is there something you may not even be aware of that would be the perfect career for you? You will have time to explore your options as well as other aspects of your goals while working on your Odyssey Plan. You will learn how others used an Odyssey Plan to craft a new direction in their lives, as well.

Upon successful completion of this exercise, you will be able to:

· Connect design thinking with human development, well-being and flourishing.

Resources

· Video: Designing Your Life

· Video: Designing Your Best Life

· Article: An Exercise Stanford Professors Developed to Map Out How Your Life will Unfold Removes the Agony from Major Decisions

· Article: Using Design Thinking to Craft Your Career: An Introduction

· Article: How I Used Design Thinking to Reinvent My Career

Background Information

As promised, you will begin applying what you are learning about human growth and development to your own life right away in this course and as you complete the dyad philosophy of life, work and personal growth paper throughout these next two courses. You may be certain of what you plan to do as a career once you finish your master’s in psychology, or you may have begun this program with a vague notion or idea but have much uncertainty about your future plans. This course will help you not only think about various options but also think outside the box to consider things that perhaps you thought were too silly to even contemplate! Let’s begin your Odyssey Plan.

Upcoming deliverables:

· In Workshop Two, you will submit a draft of your Odyssey Plan for instructor feedback.

· In Workshop Six, you will submit the final version of your Odyssey Plan, having incorporated the feedback from your instructor and other insights you learn in the course.

Instructions

1. As you prepare to draft your Odyssey Plan that is due in Workshop Two, view the following resources:

a. Videos:

i. Designing Your Life  (3:17 min). You can also read the  Designing Your Life: Transcript

ii. Designing Your Best Life  (15:39 min). You can also read the  Designing Your Best Life: Transcript .

b. Articles:

i. An Exercise Stanford Professors Developed to Map Out How Your Life will Unfold Removes the Agony from Major Decisions

ii. Using Design Thinking to Craft Your Career: An Introduction

iii. How I Used Design Thinking to Reinvent My Career

2. Begin working on your Odyssey Plan. You may use the templates or worksheets provided in the articles or use a Word document.

3. Your Odyssey Plan should contain three different five-year plans:

a. Your current life continuing pretty much as it is

b. Your plan if your current trajectory was suddenly wiped out

c. Your plan that may seem crazy to others (and even to you), but if neither money nor image were a concern, that is what you might want to do with your life

4. Follow the rest of the instructions as mapped out in the articles as you work on completing your Odyssey Plan. Your plan should include:

a. Title of each plan

b. Rank of each plan

c. Questions you have

d. Resources you need

e. How much confidence you have in each plan

f. Reflective feedback on how coherent each plan is

g. You might have more fun doing or talking with your peers about your plans, so consider working with a peer on the plan.

1.4 Assignment. Supporting Expectant Parents

Getting Started

Psychologists often work in the service of families. Working with expectant parents can be exciting. While parenting is an on-the-job experience and many people are well-equipped to be parents, it can still be valuable to help expectant parents understand important—and perhaps unknown—aspects of growth and development they can expect to observe in their new child. If you are a parent, consider what you wish you had known about how children learn and grow and how you might have done some things differently to support your child’s growth. Even if you aren’t a parent, you likely interact or have interacted with children and wished you had a better understanding of their growth and development. You will get to apply knowledge gained about child growth and development in this assignment.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Assess theories of human development and compare to assumptions of human development.

· Explain two human development theorists to diverse expectant parents.

Resources

· Article: The Pursuit of Happiness

· Article: What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is It Not?

· Article: What Is Positive Psychology and Why Is It Important? Definition + Examples

· Video: The New Era of Positive Psychology

· eBook:  Developmental Theories Through the Life Cycle

· Video: The Nine Months That Made You: Pregnancy and Human Developmental (OPTIONAL)

Background Information

In this assignment, consider what you have learned about normal child growth and development—focusing on pre-birth to infancy—and write about the most important aspects of theories that you would want expectant parents to know about. How can you help expectant parents learn about child growth and development? How can you distill some of the most important theorists’ work to support expectant parents as they prepare for the birth of their child? Positive psychology is also a component you will want to include, and you will want to conduct some research on that topic. In sum, positive psychology is the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Read the following resources:

a. The Pursuit of Happiness

b. What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is It Not?

c. What Is Positive Psychology and Why Is It Important? Definition + Examples

3. Review the eBook:  Developmental Theories Through the Life Cycle .

4. Watch the video  The New Era of Positive Psychology  (23:42 min). You can also read  The New Era of Positive Psychology: Transcript .

5. Optionally, in the video  The Nine Months That Made You: Pregnancy and Human Development , watch the following segments:

a. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19 (approximately 16 min)

b. You can also read  The Nine Months That Made You Pregnancy and Human Development: Transcript .

6. Write about the most compelling aspects of two theorists that you would want diverse expectant parents to know about so they can be better prepared to help their child thrive. Ensure you address the following:

a. Focus on pre-birth to infancy (0 to 18 months of age).

b. Introduce positive psychology concepts, including well-being and flourishing, that you want the expectant parents to know about.

c. Provide an explanation or rationale about why you selected the aspects you did.

d. Use the learning resources to support your claims.

7. Your paper should be two to three pages long and use APA formatting.

8. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor using the Assignment submission page by the end of the workshop.