Student Support and Calendar Information PRAC 6640
Student Support and Calendar Information PRAC 6640
Course Assignments
Assignments: The Assignments provide you with the opportunity to apply the skills and
knowledge gained through the Learning Resources and at your practicum site. See
specific weeks for detailed descriptions of the Assignments. In grading some of the
required Assignments, your Instructor will be using rubrics located in the Course
Information area.
Note: The course Assignments will require that you completely and accurately
demonstrate critical thinking via assimilation and synthesis of ideas when using credible
outside and course-specific resources (i.e., video, required readings, textbook), when
comparing different points of view, highlighting similarities, differences, and
connections, and/or when lending support to your Assignment responses.
This Practicum course contains several different types of Assignments:
Self-Assessment and Journal
A student self-assessment and a reflective journal occur at the beginning and end of the
course as a means to consider strengths, opportunities for improvement, guiding goals,
and growth.
Clinical Hour and Patient Logs
Students are required to keep a log of the time spent related to their practicum
experience and enter every patient they see each day. Students can access their logs
from the Welcome Page in their Meditrek account. Students will track time individually
for each patient they work with. Students are required to continuously input their hours
throughout the term. Logs are reviewed and evaluated by Instructors each week to track
student progress. Failure to keep clinical hour and patient logs current may hinder
success in the class. Please print and keep your completed patient log at the end
of your clinical experiences for future use as a component of your portfolio.
Focused SOAP Notes and Patient Case Presentations
In the Focused SOAP Note and Patient Case Presentation Assignments, students
complete documentation on a patient from their practicum. They record themselves
presenting an analysis of the case. Videos should be created in Kaltura, support for
which may be found in the Blackboard classroom.
Grading Criteria and Total Components of a Grade
Course grades will be based on participation (postings) and completion of assignments
listed below.
Letter grades will be assigned as follows:
90%–100% = A
80%–89% = B
70%–79% = C
< 70% = F
Note: Please see below the policy on Incomplete (I) grades.
Assignment Total
Points
Percentage
(Weighted)
Practicum Site Information Form
Self-Assessment
Practicum Experience Plan
Journal
310 10%
Weeks 1–10 Clinical Hour and Patient Logs (x 10) 100 10%
Focused SOAP Notes and Patient Case Presentations (x
3) 300 30%
Midterm Evaluation
Final Clinical Evaluation 200 50%
Total 910 100%
Practicum Site Information Form and Clinical Hour and Patient Logs are 10 points each.
All other assessments are 100 points each.
Incomplete Grade Policy
Per university policy, Incomplete grades can be granted only to students who have
already met the minimum criteria for active weekly participation in a course (including
weekly postings in online courses) and have completed at least 80% of other
coursework. Incompletes can be awarded when, because of extenuating circumstances,
a student has not met additional course requirements, including but not limited to written
assignments, group projects, and research papers, as applicable. All Incomplete grades
are awarded at the discretion of the Course Faculty.
Students who are eligible for an Incomplete must contact the Course Faculty to request
the grade as soon as possible. Students who do not meet the criteria listed above will
not be allowed to earn an Incomplete. If the Incomplete is approved, the Faculty
Member will work with the student to outline the due date(s) for remaining work. Under
no circumstances will the new due dates extend beyond 50 days from the last day of the
term. Faculty will then have 10 days to assess the work and post the permanent grade
before the university-allotted Incomplete time limit of 60 days expires. All Incomplete
grades not resolved within the time allotted will convert to permanent grades of F.
Instructor Feedback Schedule
The Instructor will log in to the course during the week to monitor the Discussion area in
those weeks when a Discussion is assigned. Feedback will be provided via the My
Grades area, the Discussion area, and/or the Announcements page.
You can expect your assignment grades to be posted within 10 calendar days of a due
date. Instructor feedback and explanation is provided whenever full credit is not
achieved. Depending on the nature of the feedback, Instructor responses may be
posted to the Discussion area or included in the My Grades area. The goal of your
Instructor is to act as a learning facilitator rather than a lecturer. Please feel free to ask
your Instructor if you would like some personal feedback on a particular assignment
posting or any time you have any questions regarding your assignments or your grade.
Course Procedures
You are encouraged to post course-related questions to the Contact the Instructor area
as they may be of interest to all; however, if your question is urgent, it is often best to
email the Instructor. If your emailed question is thought to be of benefit to all, it may be
responded to by the Instructor via email to all or posted as an announcement.
Instructor feedback on content and writing issues that is thought to be of benefit to the
entire class may be posted to the Contact the Instructor area; however, most personal
critique will be done privately in the Grade Center. Be sure to check the Grade Center
for comments every week even if you received full credit.
Please feel free to use the Class Café to initiate and participate in conversations not
directly related to the course. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know other
students better. The Instructor will browse the Class Café occasionally but generally will
not respond to conversations posted there unless students have specific questions for
him or her.
Check the email account you use for official Walden University business on a regular
basis. The expectation is that you are checking this email account daily during the
week. If you experience difficulty sending or receiving Walden email, please contact the
Student Support Team right away. Contact information for the Student Support Team is
located in the Student Support area.
Review all materials in the Course Information area, as well as the materials contained
under each of the weekly buttons.
Preferred Methods for Delivering Assignments
1. Clinical Hour and Patient Logs, as well as the Midterm and Final Clinical Evaluations,
are completed in Meditrek. The link to Meditrek is provided in the classroom.
2. Assignments are submitted to the SafeAssign link and named according to the week in
which the Assignment is submitted. Directions for naming each Application Assignment
are included in each week’s Assignment area. Please be sure that all written Application
Assignments are saved and submitted as a “.doc” file.
3. All email correspondence must contain in the subject line “PRAC 6665-XX-NAME” (XX
is the section number) followed by a brief description of the subject. This subject line
convention ensures that your email will be easily identified and responded to in a timely
manner. It is required that the email contain a signature that matches the official name
used in the course.
Late Assignment Policy
Students are expected to submit assignments by the due dates noted in the course. In
extenuating circumstances, such as illness, the student must contact the Instructor as
soon as possible to discuss the situation. In those circumstances, Faculty will determine
the appropriate course of action for the student. Depending on the situation, these
actions may include recommendations to drop the course (if within the university
drop/withdrawal period), acceptance of some or all of the overdue assignments with or
without penalties, or failure to accept assignments.
Assignments submitted late without prior agreement of the Instructor, outside of an
emergency absence, or in violation of agreements for late submission, will receive a
grade reduction for the assignment amounting up to 20%. After 5 days, the assignment
will not be graded. Students should be aware that late assignments may not receive the
same level of written feedback as do assignments submitted on time.
Keeping Your Coursework
You will have access to the course and your coursework from the course start date until
60 days after the course ends. After this time, you will no longer be able to access the
course or related materials. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you retain
copies of your completed assignments and any documents you wish to keep. The
university is not responsible for lost or missing coursework.
Course Evaluation
At or near the end of the course, you will receive an email inviting you to submit an
online evaluation of the course and instruction. All submitted course evaluations are
confidential, and only aggregate data and comments will be shared with the Instructor
and Program Director. Your feedback is vitally important to Walden University in its
efforts to continuously improve programs.
Students With Disabilities
Students in this course who have a disability that might prevent them from fully
demonstrating their abilities should contact the director of Disability
Services at disability@mail.waldenu.edu or at 1-800-925-3368, ext. 312-1205 and +1-
612-925-3368 or https://www.waldenu.edu/contact for international toll-free numbers as
soon as possible to initiate disability verification and discuss accommodations that may
be necessary to ensure full participation in the successful completion of course
requirements.
Classroom Participation
In accordance with U.S. Department of Education guidance regarding class
participation, Walden University requires that all students submit at least one of their
required Week 1 assignments (which includes posting to the Discussion Board) within
each course(s) during the first 7 calendar days of class. For courses with two-week
units, posting to the Discussion Board by Day 7 meets this requirement. The first
calendar day of class is the official start date of the course as posted on your myWalden
academic page.
Assignments submitted prior to the official start date will not count toward your
participation.
Financial Aid cannot be released without class participation as defined above.
Students who are taking their first class with Walden and do not submit at least one
of their required Week 1 assignments (or at least one Discussion post) by the end of the
7th day will be administratively withdrawn from the university.
Students who have already taken and successfully completed at least one or more
class(es) with Walden, and who do not participate within the first 7 days, will be
dropped from that class.
If you have any questions about your assignments, or you are unable to complete your
assignments, please contact your Faculty Member.
Checklist
The module course checklist below outlines the assignments due for the course.
For full assignment details and directions, refer to each module of the course. All
assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time (MT) on the day assigned (which is
1:59 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) the next day). The time stamp in the classroom will reflect
Eastern Time (ET), regardless of your time zone. As long as your submission time
stamp is no later than 1:59 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), you have submitted on time.
To View the Calendar
To view the Course Calendar:
Course Calendar
To View a Printable Course Schedule
For full assignment details and directions, refer to each Module of the course.
Click on the PRAC 6665 Course Schedule (PDF) link to access the Course Schedule.
Document: PRAC 6665 Course Schedule (PDF)
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Course Materials
Please visit the University bookstore via your Walden student portal to ensure you are
obtaining the correct version of any course texts and/or materials noted in the following
section. When you receive your materials, make sure that all required items are
included.
Course Text
You should already have these texts from earlier coursework:
Carlat, D. J. (2017). The psychiatric interview (4th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Stern, T. A., Fava, M., Wilens, T. E., & Rosenbaum, J. F. (2016). Massachusetts
General Hospital psychopharmacology and neurotherapeutics. Elsevier.
Consult all other textbooks from prerequisite prior coursework as needed.
Other readings (journal articles, websites, book excerpts, etc.) are assigned throughout
the course and may be found within each Module.
Media
Assigned course media elements may be found in one or more modules of the course
and are available via a streaming media player or a hyperlink to the individual item.
Dedicated Support for Course Media
You may use the following e-mail address and toll-free number for any questions or
concerns you have about media in the course.
E-mail: mediasupport@waldenu.edu
Phone: 1-877-238-2963
Primary and Secondary Sources
Review the following information prior to selecting resources for assignments.
Primary: A primary source is an original document that is the first account of what
happened. A research report is primary, and you can tell because it includes materials
and methods demonstrating how the research was done. Some creative work is also
primary, such as poetry, novels, and interviews of people who experienced something
firsthand. In nursing, which is an evidence-based discipline, we strive to use primary
research that is published in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.
Scholarly, peer-reviewed journal: Scholarly journals publish papers by professional
authors and experts in the field using a peer-review process to review the work and
assure quality before publishing. The focus of a scholarly journal is to provide accurate
information for scholars and other researchers. The focus is on content rather than
advertising, a direct contrast to popular media. Scholarly journals publish both primary
and secondary papers, the former usually noted as original research and the latter as
reviews and commentaries. Letters to the editor may also be published but should be
recognized as opinion pieces.
Note: When selecting articles for course assignments, you are advised (unless you are
referencing seminal information) to focus on work published within the past 5 years.
Secondary: A secondary source is one step removed from the original source. This
work interprets and often compiles other work, and it includes review articles, textbooks,
fact sheets, and commentaries about a topic. It also includes news reports of original
research. Secondary work is more prone to error and bias than primary work because it
is being filtered through an additional person or persons. Review papers can be useful
to glean information about a topic and to find other sources from the reference list, but it
is the original, primary research that should be relied on most heavily in demonstrating
scholarship, depth, and validation of factual information.