PSYC 2553 Lifespan Developmental Psychology Syllabus W01 Summer 2026

Plagiarism, is defined in section 16.2 of the Code of Conduct: “Representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own. Plagiarism includes claiming credit for assignments completed by someone else.” All instances of intentional plagiarism on any major assignment for this course will lead to the immediate failure of the course with no opportunity for the student to withdraw. The instance of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Student Development. If the student has a second instance of plagiarism reported to the Dean of Student Development, the student may be suspended from the institution.

Academic Integrity: Students are expected to submit honest, original work. Examples of cheating include copying another’s work (including an AI bot), using another’s work without appropriate references, having another person take an exam or provide answers for an exam, or submitting your own work that has already been used in another class. The college regards cheating as a very serious offense and may result in failure of the class and dismissal from the college.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI programs can serve as helpful tools in the learning process. However, they cannot be used as a substitute for writing. Acceptable uses of AI for this course include assistance with grammar, spelling, and writing mechanics. However, using AI to generate content for a paper, assignment, or discussion post is considered plagiarism and is not appropriate use. Such use will result in, at minimum, a zero for the assignment without opportunity for resubmission, and may result in failure of the course.

Any use of AI should be properly referenced in the References. This source can provide guidance: https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt 

Additionally, the chat input and output must be included in an Appendix.

Attendance: Regular attendance is expected in accordance with college policy. Attendance in an online course is measured by completing the assignments.

Makeup Exams: Students are given a three day period to take each exam, and they must be completed within this timeframe. Late exams that were not pre-arranged will receive half credit unless you have a documented emergency that prevented appropriate arrangements.

Late Assignments: All assignments are expected on the due date assigned. Should unusual circumstances arise that delay your work, you may turn in your assignment up to one week late with a deduction of a full letter grade for that assignment. After one week, the assignment may not be accepted unless unusual and unavoidable circumstances warrant an additional exemption. Only two assignments may be submitted late. Late discussion questions and exams are not accepted. All late assignments must be submitted prior to the week of finals; no late work will be accepted during finals week.

Writing style: All coursework must be typed and completed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: Seventh Edition (APA style). Abbreviations such as those used when texting (i.e., “u” instead of “you”) is NOT appropriate and work containing such abbreviations will not be graded. Instead, it would be returned to you for corrections and you will immediately lose one letter grade for that assignment. Once you have made corrections, you may turn in the assignment for grading. You will lose an additional letter grade for each week the assignment is late.

Contacting the instructor: E-mail is the best way to contact me. I usually check my e-mail several times a day and strive to get back to messages within 24 hours. However the response time is lengthened to 48-72 hours over the weekend. Please use your KCC email account to email me as any other account might be flagged as spam and not delivered.