Course Syllabus

PSY4832: Sport and Exercise Psychology BLENDED

Summer 2013

Instructor: Tonya Nascimento

Class Meetings: Tuesdays 12-3:20 p.m.

e-mail: tnascimento@uwf.edu
Bldg: 11 Room: 121

In the case of e-mail messages, students can anticipate I will respond within 48 hours, Monday through
Friday. I will typically not respond to e-mail messages over a weekend or other university holiday period.
Please indicate Sport Psych or PSY4832 in the subject line, followed by the topic of your concern.
Office Hours: by appointment
Departmental Website: School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences
TEXT (required): Weinberg, R., & Gould, D. (2011). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology (5th
Edition). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Press.
Note: You MUST purchase the text to succeed in this course.
Course Description: Course Overview/Learning Objectives:
This course will introduce students interested in various fields such as psychology, exercise science,
physical education, sports medicine, coaching, athletic training or fitness instruction, to a relatively new
body of knowledge that is the interface between psychology and sport. It will cover topics that range
from performance enhancement for teams and athletes, motivation and personality of athletes, and
youth participation in sports, to social-psychological dimensions of competition such as violence and
drug use in sport. Strategies designed to maximize performance in any psychomotor activity will be
emphasized and it is hoped that experiential application of principles learned in this course will enhance
both personal and sport/exercise performances in daily life. To this end, students will be charged with
developing exercise or sport performance goals and reporting on progress at the end of the semester.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

define and describe the field of sports psychology

describe what sport psychologists and consultants typically do, and the training they receive
define and explain sport psychology concepts
identify productive patterns of thought and behavior that enhance sport and exercise
performance
identify maladaptive patterns of thought and behavior that interfere with sport and exercise
performance
describe and understand psychological, interpersonal, and social influences/theories of sport
and exercise behavior
describe and understand the impact exercise has on physical and psychological health and wellbeing
design and execute personal and specific exercise or sport-related goals and track progress in
reaching these goals during the semester (self-growth project)
apply at least three performance enhancement techniques to improve some aspect of physical
or emotional well-being (part of self-growth project)

Blended Course Procedures:

This is a blended course, which means half of the work will be done outside the class and half of the
work face to face. This is how we can meet in class on Tuesdays only rather than the usual Tues AND
Thurs 3.5 hour classes. This will require consistent and diligent work online in order to keep up with
class material. For your success and learning, it is critical to meet all deadlines as we progress through
the course. The class runs from Tuesday through Monday, which means that all assignments will be due
by midnight on Mondays. However, you will need to pace yourself over the week to be successful. For
example, you must post and respond to others posts on the discussion boards, and that will require
early visits to the discussion forum. There will also be narrated ppts and reading material that simply
cannot be done last minute. Expect to spend 5-8 hours per week online. I highly recommend scheduling
online/study time into your weekly schedule and sticking to it.
We only meet face-to-face 6 times before the final exam. You are required to attend all in-class
meetings.
Attendance and Participation Policy
Attendance at all in-class meetings is mandatory. The attendance and participation grade is worth a
hefty 18% of your final grade, and includes your efforts and contributions in class as well as your ability
to maintain focus (not get distracted by the internet or your cell phone). I strongly recommend you
attend and participate in class, but in the event this is not possible, you may make-up the absence
(excused or unexcused does not matter) ONCE during the term. In order to make-up the absence,
complete the above assignment and submit to the dropbox labeled "make-up assignments" before the
following class.
Resources for Success in the Course:
1. UWF Student Handbook: The Student Handbook is available in the Division of Student Affairs and
contains information vital to success in the academic environment, with a listing of resources and
policies that affect you as a student. You are advised to obtain and read the handbook with special
emphasis on the sections involving academic conduct and classroom behavior.
2. CAS Student Resources: The College of Arts and Sciences Student Resources page contains a
comprehensive list of the services available on campus to support your success as a student. It includes
a list of computer labs, tutoring services, and other resources.
3. Teachers First Toolbox Study Guides and Strategies: The Study Guides and Strategies website has a
huge store of resources for students to support development of study skills, note-taking skills, taking
tests, preparing for tests, writing skills, learning strategies, research skills, project management, and
more.
Grading Policies
Academic Integrity:
Academic integrity is the foundation for achievement in higher education. Each student is encouraged to
access the plagiarism tutorial offered by the university library. This tutorial provides an excellent
overview of proper citation and quotation of the work of others, as well as examples of proper and
improper citations and quotations, and strategies to avoid plagiarism. You are REQUIRED to complete

the Academic Integrity Module on eLearning. This must be done by the end of the second week of
classes.
Any instance of violating academic integrity (cheating, plagiarism, etc.) will result in an automatic grade
of 0" for that test, as the minimum penalty and will be handled according to the university policy on
Academic Misconduct. Depending on the seriousness of the violation, that process may result in
additional penalties such as a failing grade for the course, or even suspension or expulsion from the
university.
Academic Responsibility:
What you learn and the grade you earn in this class are in your hands. Please refer to the university
policy on class attendance in the UWF Catalog. Attendance at class is your responsibility, but you are
expected to attend each class.
You will also be expected to refrain from any behavior that disrupts or interferes with the class, and to
refrain from any behavior or expression that might be deemed offensive by a member of the class. To
assure an atmosphere conducive to learning that maintains the dignity of and respect for all parties
involved, students will be expected to adhere to the university statement on expectations for academic
conduct and classroom behavior, as published in the Student Code of conduct, posted by the Office of
Student Rights and Responsibilities.
Students with Special Needs:
Students with special needs who require specific course-related accommodations should contact the
Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC), (850) 474-2387. DSS will provide the student with a letter for
the instructor that will specify any recommended accommodations.
Course Withdrawal:
The deadline for withdrawing from a course with an automatic grade of "W" can be found on the
university academic calendar. Students should review the university policy on course withdrawal.
Withdrawal from a course after the posted deadline requires approval of the students academic
advisor, course instructor, department chairperson, and the Academic Appeals committee. Requests for
late withdrawals may be approved only under unusual circumstances, which must be documented, such
as a death in the immediate family, serious illness of the student or an immediate family member, call to
military service or National Guard duty.

Quizzes and Exams

You will have 5 in-class quizzes on material covered in class and through your individual work online.
These quizzes will be 5-10 questions long, administered at the start of each class. You must arrive on
time to take the quiz. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped. You will also have one in-class cumulative
final exam.
There are no make-up quizzes or exams.

Self-growth Project
Students are to choose a specific goal that either applies to their particular sport or exercise
performance or another area of their lives they would like to improve. Goal(s) must be established that
are realistic but that will serve to push you beyond your current level of participation in your physical
activity or current level of functioning in your life area. At least three mental skills and technique(s) that
you read about and we covered in the modules or in class about how to reach optimal performance
should be used. You will work on this project over the course the semester, tracking your progress and
creating graphs of your behavioral efforts. You will also be completing worksheets that are designed to
help you apply the course concepts/topics to attainment of your self-growth goal. The finished product
that you will submit to the dropbox on eLearning is 1) the worksheet packet and 2) a paper chronicling
your goal and efforts toward attaining it. Specifically, the paper should be 4-5 pages double-spaced, 12
point Times New Roman font, with 1 margins (i.e. follow APA formatting) and cover: 1) a brief
summary of your goal, 2) behaviors you did to reach your goal, 3) incorporation of mental skills and
adjustments made over the course of the semester, 4) how you kept track of your progress (e.g., selfmonitoring charts or graphs), 5) reflection on the process, including why you think your selfinterventions worked or not, and 6) a concluding paragraph or two that more generally addresses how
your ideas about sport psychology have changed over the course of the semester, the most important
thing you learned, and how you will use sport psychology principles in the future.
Specifically, to succeed at the self-growth project, you need to:
1. Identify your goal(s) and the behaviors you choose to accomplish them (e.g., I want to lose 5 lbs
by the end of the semester, and I will jog 4x per week to reach this goal). Your goals should be
SMART and include performance and progress goals.
2. Identify ways to measure and keep track of your goals and behaviors to reach them.
3. For the first week of class, establish baseline measures of your goal(s) and chosen behaviors.
4. Begin your modification program soon after establishing your baseline level of current activity;
note techniques you utilize during the semester to keep to your goals and behaviors, and
adjustments you needed to make. I recommend keeping a journal where you note mental skills
(e.g., self-talk) along with the progress data and how you made adjustments to your goal (i.e.
the A of SMART) as needed.
5. Graph your results (e.g., using Excel; please consult a librarian, YouTube, or a friend for help in
using Excel) over time and turn these records in along with a written summary of your selfimprovement project at the end of the semester.
6. Turn in your project with the self-growth worksheets from class. There will be a dropbox on our
e-Learning site where you will submit the essay and the worksheets file.

Active Participation
Students are expected to attend and participate in all classes. Participation involves engagement in all
class activities and discussion. The content of the lessons will be necessary to complete the
assignments of the class and do well on exams. In general, the students who receive higher grades are
those who attend class consistently, complete all assigned reading, ask questions, and put significant
effort into their projects and writing assignments.
For full credit, you must:
Attend every class.
Speak up and become involved in each class.

Put full effort into participation and completion of in-class activities. Most classes will
have a graded in-class activity that will be completed in groups.
Conduct yourself professionally (e.g. laptops & phones off and put away, professional
email, arrive on time, do not pack up before the end)
It is expected that you respect the instructor and your peers by refraining from talking
or texting during class. You may be asked to temporarily relinquish any computer or
handheld devices you are using that interfere with class processes. Unless absolutely
necessary (e.g., bathroom), you are expected to remain in class for its entirety.
Act in a way respectful of your peers learning. No distracting behavior.

Online Discussions
There will be three assigned online discussions. The individual instructions for each one can be found in
the content of the particular module. Students will be graded on the quality of their initial post as well
as required reply posts. In order to facilitate student responses, students are strongly encouraged to
post early in the week.
In-class Presentations
There will be two brief in-class presentations. One will require a graph of goal progress toward the selfgrowth project and an explanation of one mental skill. The second will require a brochure or flyer
pertaining to exercise adherence, designed based on a particular adherence theory or model. Both
these presentations will be less than 5 minutes in length.
Extra Credit
Psychology Research Pool (PRP) Participation: This course is included in the Psychology Research
Pool (PRP) at UWF. This means that you will have the opportunity to earn ArgoPoints for credit in this
class by participating in research activities. These activities are designed to enhance your understanding
regarding the use of current psychological research. ArgoPoints are research participation credits that
will be translated extra credit at the end of the semester.
Spring 2013 Deadline for Reading Psychological Research for ArgoPoints!
Friday, June 7th at 5:00 p.m.
Spring 2013 Deadline for Participating in a Research Study for ArgoPoints!
Friday, June 14th at 5:00 p.m.
There are 2 options for earning ArgoPoints through the PRP:
Option 1: Participating in research studies. You can earn ArgoPoints by being a participant in a
research study through the PRP. You can find a list of current studies on the PRP webpage at
http://www.uwf.edu/spbs/prp/studies. You may also check the departmental bulletin board located
on the 1st floor of the Psychology building (Building 41). You can then select a study that you find
interesting and read the sign-up instructions. You will earn 1 ArgoPoint for every half hour of
participation. These points are rounded up to the next hour. (If the study takes 45 minutes, you will
receive 2 ArgoPoints.) Studies that require you to attend labs or multiple sessions will offer additional
ArgoPoints. The PRP website clearly states the number of ArgoPoints that each specific study is worth.

Each ArgoPoint is worth .5 points added to your final grade in this course. You can earn up to 3
points (or 6 total ArgoPoints) for this course from the PRP.
You must participate by Friday, June 14th at 5:00 p.m., to earn ArgoPoints by participating in
research studies.

Your Rights & Responsibilities as a Research Participant. The website will provide you
with information about what you will be asked to do as a part of each study. During the
course of participation, you reserve the right to discontinue your participation at any
time without penalty. Should you choose to participate in research, you have a
responsibility to show up at your scheduled time and to follow the directions of the
researcher to the best of your ability. If you have to cancel an appointment, please do so
as early as possible. Each student who fails to attend a scheduled appointment takes the
place of a student that could have attended.
At the time of research participation, you must indicate that you want the ArgoPoints
you earn to be applied to this specific course. This decision may not be changed at a
later date. You cannot use this same experiment for more than one course. Please
note that I will not keep track of the ArgoPoints that you apply to this course. I will not
receive this information until the end of the semester. You are responsible for knowing
how many ArgoPoints you have applied to each specific course that offers ArgoPoints.
Occasionally, you will be given the option of completing a study for ArgoPoints OR for
the opportunity to be selected in a drawing for some sort of incentive (e.g., giftcard,
movie tickets). You cannot choose both options. You must do the study either for the
ArgoPoint or for the incentive, but you will not receive credit for a study in which you
chose to enter a drawing.
For more about your rights and responsibilities, as well as to learn more about the
responsibilities of the researcher, please consult the PRP student website that can be
found online at http://www.uwf.edu/spbs/prp.

Option 2: Reading Psychological Research. You can also earn ArgoPoints by reading and summarizing
empirical journal articles. You can find a list of approved papers on the PRP website at
http://www.uwf.edu/spbs/prp/alternative. To earn credit, you must read one of the articles and write
a brief paper about the article. Guidelines for the paper may also be found on the PRP website. The
guidelines require you to describe the purpose of the study and focus on the role of the participants in
the study. After you a research articles and submitted a paper for the article, you will receive one (1)
ArgoPoint. All articles must be turned in by Friday, June 7th at 5:00 p.m. Be sure that you avoid
plagiarism when writing your papers. If it is determined that you have plagiarized (either intentionally
or unintentionally), you will receive no credit for the assignment. In addition, you will be considered as
violating the Student Code of Conduct. You may access the current Student Code of Conduct at
http://www.uwf.edu/judicialaffairs. This site also houses the new Academic Misconduct Policy that
went into effect on August 27, 2007. Each student is encouraged to access the plagiarism tutorial
offered by the library online at http://library.uwf.edu/tutorials/writing_skills/avoiding_plagiarism.cfm so
that they may obtain a complete understanding of what constitutes plagiarism.
You may choose to earn ArgoPoints by completing only Option 1, only Option 2, or any
combination of both options 1 and 2. Toward the end of the semester after the participation deadline, I
will receive a list of the number of ArgoPoints that you have earned for this specific course. This list will
not include the specific studies or writing assignments that you completed to earn the ArgoPoints. It is

your responsibility to keep track of that information. After receiving this list, I will apply the credit to
your grade.
There will be no PRP studies available for ArgoPoints after the participation deadline. If you
want to participate in the PRP, be sure to do so before the deadline. Again, the participation deadline
for participating in research studies is 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 14th at 5:00 p.m. You may participate
in a research study after this deadline, but you may not earn ArgoPoints at that time. Some studies may
offer another small incentive for participation after this deadline, but it will not be ArgoPoints. You may
not carryover ArgoPoints to a new semester. For additional information about the guidelines for
earning ArgoPoints, you are strongly encouraged to review the information on the PRP student website
before participating in a research study or completing an article review. It is your responsibility to be
aware of the ArgoPoint guidelines. If you have any questions about the guidelines, please contact the
PRP coordinator at spbsprp@uwf.edu.
Grading Scale
Graded items and point/percentage:
Graded Item

Percentage

Final Exam
5 in-class quizzes x 5% each
(lowest quiz score dropped)
Self-growth Project
Active Participation

20
20

3 Online discussions x 5% each

2 brief in-class presentations x 3.5%
each

15
7

20
18

100 %
Grading Scale:
A
AB+
B
B-

93 or higher
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82

C+
C
CD
F

77-79
73-76
70-72
60-69
Below 60

Course Calendar
The instructor may amend the syllabus throughout the term, with due notice to students, as classroom
and course needs change. Online work due every Monday at midnight
PSY4832 Summer Blended
Intro & Chs 1, 11 (read this before class starts)
Week 1:
In Class
Lecture
May 14
M1&2: Intro &
Worksheet #1 Goal Setting
Goal Setting, AGT
Workshop Goals
(Assign accountability partners for the discussion board 1)
Outside Class
Due by midnight,
May 20

Week 2:
May 21

M1: Intro
M2: Goal Setting,
AGT

Academic Integrity Module

Discussion Board 1: M2: Goal Setting Topic
Post goal & reply to accountability partner & EXCELLENT post

M3: Motivational
Theories

Narrated Slides: Operant Conditioning; study for quiz on AGT &

Operant Conditioning

In Class
M3: Motivational
Theories

Worksheet #2: application of motivational theories to self-growth

goal
Opening quiz 1 on AGT, Operant Conditioning
Video Case Study: Facing the Giants
Lecture with Target Activity: Attribution, SDT
(Think: Is self-esteem important? Why or why not?)
Study for quiz on SDT & Attribution

Outside Class
Due by midnight,
May 27
M4: SelfConfidence

Discussion Board 2: Read self-esteem articles & contribute to

discussion board; post your opinion & then reply as devils advocate
and EXCELLENT post
Narrated Slides: Self-confidence; complete Worksheet #3 on the
application of self-confidence to your self-growth goal

Week 3:
May 28

In Class
M4: SelfConfidence
M5: Arousal
Regulation
Outside Class
Due by midnight,
June 3
M5: Arousal
Regulation

Get baseline for self-growth goal

Opening quiz 2 on SDT & Attribution
Lecture: Summary of self-esteem, intro self-efficacy theory (hulahoop activity)
Lecture: Arousal Regulation
Lecture: Flow
Annotated Slides: Stress-management; complete Worksheet #4
The narrated slides and video on flow is included for those of you who
are interested. If you review the description and model in your text,
you will be prepared with this topic. There are so many narrated
slides for this week (in M6), that this is one you can skip if you are not
particularly interested or if you are short on time.

M6: PST
WARNING: This is
a LONG module!!!

Narrated Slides on PST: Complete worksheets #5, 6, 7

All worksheets are completed. Scan all to one pdf file and upload to
the dropbox as soon as possible so as not to miss the deadline in
week 6.
Study for quiz on PST

Week 4:
June 4

Week 5:
June 11

Week 6:
June 18

In Class
M6: PST
Outside Class
Due by midnight,
June 10
M7:
Communication,
Leadership, &
Group Processes
In Class
M7:
Communication,
Leadership, &
Group Processes
Outside Class
Due by midnight,
June 17
M8: Exercise
Psychology
In Class
M8: Exercise
Psychology
M9: Injuries, Eating
Disorders,
Addictions
Outside Class
Due by midnight,
June 24

Week 7:
June 25

Prepare presentation
Opening quiz 3 on psychological skills
Brief class presentation: graph of goal & explanation of 1 mental skill
Stations
Narrated slides on Leadership; study for quiz
Start writing self-growth paper

Opening quiz 4 on leadership

Lecture:
Jenga & self-talk/team roles activity; human knot
Pep talks (maybe)
Narrated slides on exercise psychology & adherence models
Design a brochure or flyer to share may do this in pairs or groups:
bring a hard copy to class

Opening quiz 5 on communication, team models

Share brochures, flyers
Lecture
Bigger, Faster, Stronger excerpt
Quick review of material for the final
Dropbox: Self-growth project due to dropbox; NO LATE submissions!
One dropbox for papers (with graphs included)
One dropbox for worksheets (all scanned as ONE document to pdf)

M9: Injuries, Eating

Disorders,
Addictions
M10: Course Wrapup

Discussion board 3: injuries, stress-injury model, visualization for ACL;

post & then reply to two others, one with an EXCELLENT post

In Class

FINAL EXAM

Survey
Study for final exam