James P. Towey DUE 9551942 Mercy College FY1995 $ 30,871 Dobbs Ferry, NY 105221134 ILI - Instrumentation Project: Psychology Title: Mobile Psychology Lab for Mercy College's Bronx Majors in Psychology, Sociology, and Behavioral Science ILI funds are needed for a computerized, Mobile Psychology Laboratory at Mercy's Bronx Campus to serve Psychology Majors (29% of all majors at this campus) as well as Sociology Majors and Behavioral Science Majors (respectively, 1% and 13%). The Bronx location is Mercy's largest and fastest growing branch campus. It serves primarily minority (72%) and female (70%) undergraduates, who must typically balance schoolwork with part-time (37%) or full-time jobs (37%) and their family responsibilities. The proposed instructional lab will help provide more coherent and better integrated teaching and learning experiences than is currently available for these targeted majors during their required introductory statistics course and their required course in scientific methods. The computer-based instruction provided by the proposed Mobile Psychology Laboratory will include a modified Electronic Instructional Theater component as well as a modified Distance Learning component. The latter will permit students to engage in computer conferencing outside of class using Mercy's dial-up Bulletin Board System, which is accessible around the clock. The proposed hardware and software will also facilitate teaching and learning of the major stages of the research process (hypothesis formation, scientific testing, statistical analyses, tentative conclusions). The proposed computer technology will be used to enhance their communication skills, e.g., when students write up their research reports and make oral presentations of their findin gs. Wide dissemination of project results is planned.
