Virtual Child Paper

 Assignment Objective Students will write a thoughtful and analytic paper detailing significant developmental topics about your experience of raising a “virtual child.” This should be done by associating and incorporating material from our class discussions, lectures and issues discussed in your textbook, as well as any additional resources which you may discover on your own. (assignment instructions are continued on next page) 6 MyVirtualChild Paper (continued): Paper Format  APA Style (American Psychological Association)  Length: 3-4 full pages, plus a cover page and reference page.  Sources: Textbook, MyPsychLab, Class Notes Instructions and Suggestions 1. Predictions: BEFORE YOU BEGIN, briefly write about any expected results, and hopes that you have for your child’s development. By the time your child is 18 years old, how will you know that you have been successful as a parent? 2. Answer journal questions in eCampus. These questions will relate specifically to your experiences as you raise your virtual child (not your own personal experiences!). These journal entries will become an essential foundation for writing your paper. (50pts) 3. Be sure to include the following in your paper:  Introduction: Briefly describe your child: Name, Sex, Race/Ethnicity and any other sociocultural influences and any predictions (from above).  Describe your virtual child’s experience in each developmental stage. Include physical, cognitive, social and personality milestones your child experienced. What was your child’s temperament? Were there any life events that influenced your parenting experience? What parenting style did you mostly use? What were your proud moments? What did you struggle with?  Pregnancy/Prenatal Growth (conception to birth)  Labor & Delivery  Infancy (birth to 18 months)  Toddlerhood (18 months to 3 years)  Early Childhood / Preschool (3 to 6 years)  Middle Childhood (6 to 12 years)  Adolescence (12 to 18 years)  Summary: Reflect on your child’s life in relation to your predictions. How were things similar or different from what you expected? Grading Criteria  80 pts. – Fulfillment of the assignment objective described above.  20 pts. – Clearly written APA Style paper, including an introduction, an organized flow of ideas, a conclusion, appropriate grammar, and spelling. Please remember that we have a Writing Center to assist with all of this.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Virtual Child Paper