Students are required to keep up-to-date on class readings and assignments, and to be active team members. If students miss a class, they miss whatever their team did. The team process is critical to learning, and the content of each session will be reflected on the midterm and final exams. Most teams, in real life and here, will forgive a single absence for which students have a really good reason, and be less forgiving of multiple or casual absences. More than one absence and/or tardiness will affect the course grade (two points per absence and one point for lateness). Attendance is taken at the beginning of class and it is expected that all students will be present at the start of class. Brooklyn College abides to the state law regarding non-attendance because of religious beliefs. If you are unable to attend class in any occasion for religious reasons, please notify me in advance to make the necessary arrangements.
Midterm & Final Class Participation Self-Assessment: Twice during the semester, at the midpoint and at the end, students assess their level of class participation using the following Class Participation Rubric. Students evaluate their own level of participation and award points out of 10 using the criteria described below. This will be completed on Blackboard in the Assignments link.
Ultimately, it is the instructor’s evaluation that is used for grade purposes; but the self-assessment is an integral component that potentially maximizes the level of participation and performance outcomes.
Midterm Class Participation Self-Assessment due on Sunday, March 23
Final Class Participation Self-Assessment due on Sunday, May 18
Class Participation Evaluation |
Points |
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Consistently raises or facilitates discussion with peers and the instructor during whole-class discussions (in every class meeting). Engages in integrative and higher order thinking in relation to the readings (e.g., integrates two or more pieces of information in the readings, integrates experience with readings, poses hypotheticals for the group based on readings). |
9-10 |
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Respectful attention to others’ contributions; periodically (at least every other class meeting) shares comments on at least one topic discussed in readings and demonstrates understanding and relevance to classroom discussion. |
7-8 |
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Consistently present in class; attends and responds to others’ contributions at personal level of experience, but does not participate in classroom discussions. |
5-6 |
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Consistently present in class; makes no contribution to discussion; unresponsive to or argumentative with others. |
Less than 5 |
Whenever there is an assigned reading, there will be a quiz, or RAT (readiness assurance test) at the beginning of each class session. The quiz will first be taken individually (iRAT) and then the same quiz together by each team (tRAT). Each RAT has 5 multiple-choice questions on the major concepts of the assigned readings. The lowest RAT score will be dropped. In addition, there will be a cumulative final exam (taken as an iRAT and tRAT), consisting of 25 multiple-choice questions.
If you are having difficulty retaining what you are reading, view the video on the SQ4R method. Note-taking is critical for a deeper processing of the material.
The homework exercises provide practice using FBA tools and implementing behavioral constructs, and they help prepare students for the FBA-BIP Report. Submit your homework on Blackboard via the Homework Exercises link.
Each student will evaluate the contributions of all the other team members by completing a midterm peer evaluation using a google form link on Blackboard. The results will be disseminated anonymously to all team members by the instructor. The purpose of this evaluation is to give feedback to each team member to maximize team accountability.
Midterm Class Peer Evaluation due on Sunday, March 23. Note that you will submit 1 form per teammate.
At the end of the term, it is necessary for all members of this class to assess the contributions that each member of the team made to the work of the team. This contribution should presumably reflect your judgment of such things as: 1) Preparation (Were they prepared when they came to class?); 2) Contribution (Did they contribute productively to group discussion and work?); 3) Respect of others' ideas (Did they encourage others to contribute their ideas?); and 4) Flexibility (Were they flexible when disagreements occurred?). It is important that you raise the evaluation of people who truly worked hard for the good of the group and lower the evaluation of those you perceived not to be working as hard on group tasks. Students will submit their final peer evaluation via a google form link on Blackboard.
Final Peer Evaluation due on Sunday, May 18
Consider a behavior that you are exhibiting and that you wish to decrease, particularly a behavior that is interfering with your optimal academic performance this semester. You are to consider the function of such a behavior and then develop a BIP. Hopefully, you will implement it in the coming months. For the purposes of this assignment, complete the following sections:
Please see the corresponding rubric for this paper.
DUE: SUNDAY, March 9 ON BLACKBOARD
This assignment is designed to provide evidence that students have acquired the foundational knowledge needed to conduct functional behavioral assessments and implement function-based behavior intervention plans. This course will provide students the knowledge and skills needed to implement FBA-BIP activities in both practicum and internship where they will provide evidence that students: (a) understand and can apply behavioral theory in school settings, collect and analyze behavioral data, design theoretically sound and evidence-based behavior intervention plans, implement a behavior intervention plan to fidelity, and evaluate the effectiveness of this plan.
Functional Behavior Assessment is an information-gathering process by which information about a student is collected from multiple sources to determine the function of a student’s behavior and its relationship to the environment. In this course each student will write an FBA-BIP report using a simulation case – a real student who was assessed in a local public school. Each student will have their own simulation case. This project is divided into two parts: FBA and BIP. Each section is described below.
Part 1: FBA. Students will go through the process of conducting an FBA using the case’s indirect and direct data. The data collected during this phase includes (but is not limited to): A description of the reason for referral, background and demographic information, operational definitions of behavior, antecedents and triggers of the interfering behaviors, consequences, as well as reinforcers. Direct data consist of structured observation(s) of the target child within the classroom setting. All the data should then be combined to create a hypothesis statement that reports the suspected function of the behavior in question. Students then test their hypothesis by conducting a functional analysis (i.e., a structural and/or consequence analysis). This will be discussed in class. Based on the function of the target behavior, students will recommend intervention goals.
Part 2: BIP. Based on the results of the FBA and functional analysis, students will analyze the data obtained from the function-based behavior intervention plan (BIP) that incorporates an individually tailored reinforcement plan for both the replacement and desired behaviors, antecedent (trigger) prevention strategies, as well as strategies that minimizes reinforcement of the problem behavior. Students will analyze the progress monitoring data from the intervention phase. Students will analyze the outcomes of the BIP by comparing the baseline and intervention data using visual analysis procedures. Students will also determine the effect size of the BIP by determining the PND value (percentage of non-overlapping data) and/or PEM score (percentage of intervention data points exceeding baseline median). This will be discussed and demonstrated in class. In their report, students will also describe the procedures used to enhance treatment integrity. Furthermore, they will prepare a parent handout with recommendations, behavioral strategies, and recommended readings based on the FBA-BIP.
The results of the FBA and BIP will be presented in a written report; students are to use the report template located on the course website. A draft of the FBA portion of the report will be submitted for feedback by the due date.
The FBA-BIP report will have the following sections:
Please see the corresponding rubric for this paper to see a complete description of grading criteria for each of these sections.
FBA REPORT DRAFT due Friday, April 11.
FBA-BIP REPORT due Sunday, May 11.
Students, in pairs, will be assigned one of the behavior interventions from Burns, Riley-Tillman, and Rathvon (2017). Using a slide presentation, each student will present the intervention and facilitate a brief activity with the class. Each presentation is limited to 15 minutes. Several of the interventions describe the use of a particular form which can be used during the presentation, as needed.
Refer to the rubric form when preparing for the presentation.
