When do students attend classes at the Gwinnett campus? Classes on campus run on five Friday-Saturday sessions each semester. You’ll start your first class at 3:30 on Friday, end at 7:00pm, and then continue that class from 8:30 to 10:15am on Saturday. Then, the second class will run from 10:30am to 4:30pm on Saturday with a 45-minute lunch break to enjoy a catered lunch with students and instructors. These were the dates for our weekend class sessions in 2015-16: Summer 2015 - May 15-16; June 5-6; June 26-27; July 10-11; July 24-25Fall 2015 - Aug 21-22; Sept 11-12; Oct 9-10; Nov 6-7; Dec 4-5Spring 2016 - Jan 15-16; Feb 5-6; Feb 26-27; Mar 25-26; April 22-23 Please note that there are typically 4-week breaks between each semester. What do students do during the time between the on-campus sessions? Read, work on assignments, and remain active on the university’s e-learning classroom (ELC). Our instructors utilize the ELC to maintain student engagement between sessions. This can be in the form of discussion boards, online quizzes, asynchronous instructional videos, and group collaboration. What resources are available on the Gwinnett Campus? Please see the Gwinnett Campus website for detailed information: gwinnett.uga.edu. In many cases, resources, personnel, and administrative support are more accessible and available on the Gwinnett Campus (versus the Athens Campus) because you are not competing with 30,000 undergraduate students for them. Students can also apply each semester for a $300 Leadership and Professional Development grant that can go toward conference travel or professional development, such as certifications. What is the typical format for the classroom sessions? It depends on the course. The introductory and research methods courses tend to be lecture-style with intermittent group discussion or exercises, whereas the specific content courses, such as Leadership or Diversity & Teams, are seminar-style with student-led discussions and brainstorming or case analysis activities. Some courses also split up into smaller sessions to focus on specific skill development. How are grades typically determined? It varies by course but can include any of the following: class participation, online discussion participation, quizzes, exams, thought papers, article/literature reviews, case response papers, executive summaries, proposals, and presentations. Many courses also have a capstone project assigned to small groups. Being able to work in a group is critical to success as an I-O Psychologist and is a common component of most graduate programs in I-O Psychology or Business. How long will it take me to finish the program? Nearly all students will complete the program in two years. The course schedule is designed for each cohort to take classes at the same times on Friday and Saturday. Students complete two courses per semester for six consecutive semesters. This includes the Summer semester. Your anticipated graduation date is at the end of the Summer semester of your second year in the program. Can I start in the Spring or Summer semesters? No. This is a cohort program. Students begin in a cohort each Fall and progress through coursework together. Are students required to complete a thesis or comprehensive exam in order to graduate? Besides the required coursework, students are required to successfully complete a capstone white paper under the guidance of an assigned IOMP faculty member. This is typically completed during the second year in the program. The assigned advisor must ultimately approve the paper prior to the established deadline at the end of the second summer semester in order for the student to receive the degree. A white paper is more appropriate for students who intend to be practitioners than the traditional thesis paper as it requires students to effectively and efficiently translate expert knowledge of the research evidence in I-O Psychology into best practice guidance for organizations. I’m working full-time in a busy job and am worried that I won’t have time to focus on the coursework in this program. How much time will I need to dedicate to class each week? The program is designed to accommodate the scheduling needs and workloads of working professionals. Our instructors are flexible on assignment due dates and just ask that students notify them when additional time is needed. That being said, master’s degree coursework is naturally more challenging than undergraduate coursework. There tends to be a bit more reading, and with only five classroom sessions each semester, the courses move quickly. You should expect to dedicate 10 hours a week, on average, to coursework (not including classroom time). Am I the right fit for this program? You will be a good fit if you: are comfortable with collaborative learning, are comfortable with distance learning and working in dispersed project teams, are self-disciplined and organized in handling the coursework between classroom sessions, have an analytical mind, enjoy reading and acquiring knowledge about a new field of study, have an interest in using the scientific method to address strategic talent needs at work, enjoy gathering and analyzing data to deliver evidence-based solutions, and have access to an organization where you can apply your learning, What student support services are available to me as a UGA graduate student? You will have access to all of the services and resources available to any graduate student at The University of Georgia. You can find more details here: http://grad.uga.edu/. While many of the services are provided on our Athens campus, the Gwinnett campus does have its own library, writing center, and student affairs office. You can find more information on the Gwinnett facility here: http://gwinnett.uga.edu/
