COVID-19 mitigation is a rapidly evolving situation that has most certainly changed how all of us approach the rest of this semester. We understand that this can be confusing, but want to assure you that SMPs are still happening and that we have a plan for bringing them to a successful conclusion. A list of common questions about that process is provided below. We will certainly add to this as new questions filter in from all of you or if new information is communicated to us by campus, so check back here regularly.

Have a question right now that we do not address below? Email your SMP mentor or check your specific SMP syllabus. Unless you hear otherwise from your mentor, your specific SMP syllabus is still active and governing your SMP experience and grading for the remainder of the year.

I still had experiments I planned to do. What now?

The labs are shut down in the interest of coronavirus mitigation, which is an event out of your control. Therefore, the story of your SMP needs to be fashioned out of whatever data you have right now. Consult with your faculty mentor about the specific plan for your project.

But I am still on campus. I can't do experiments for my project or help out a friend?

No. The labs are closed per the campus decisions to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus. In addition, faculty are being asked to remain off campus and working without Jenn or Angie or any faculty around is far less safe, even when you follow the buddy system. There will many online surveys posted on Sona-Systems throughout now and April 29, please consider participating for extra credit in a course or just for the experience of helping out fellow students!

I have personal items that I left in a research space (e.g., behavioral neuroscience lab, Human Observation Suite, computer testing room, or a student project room) expecting to come back. Can I come get those?

Right now, no. As per the message from the president, students will be contacted about when they can return to campus to get belongings. You would need to pick up any personal items then.

I have keys to a research space. What do I do with them?

Please contact your mentor to arrange to arrange return of the key.

I still have literature I need to search and review. Am I stuck, too?

No. Whether you need more literature for your SMP lab report or you are doing a literature review SMP, you still have full access to the resources on campus. The trick is that you need to log in to those resources through the SMCM library site to access them at home. To get to our online resources, click this link. The next step depends on what resource you need.

PsycINFO - To get to PsycINFO, click on the "Databases" link on the library site. Click on "P" and the sixteenth link should be PsycINFO. Click that link. The site should ask you for your long form student ID number (the long one under the bar code) and your last name. After you enter these, it will take you to PSYC Info with full rights as if you were on campus.

PsycArticles - To get to PsycArticles, click on the "Databases" link on the library site. Click on "P" and the fourteenth link should be PsycINFO Scholar. Click that link. The site should ask you for your long form student ID number (the long one under the bar code) and your last name. After you enter these, it will take you to PSYC Info with full rights as if you were on campus.

What about papers that we do not have eJournal access too? Can I still get those?

No. Based upon the most recent communications, the library is closed indefinitely. Inter-library loan requests are not expected to go through given similar closures at the other libraries we would contact. You can request physical items from the library by emailing ask@smcm.libanswers.com. You are not allowed to return those materials until the library re-opens, so it is probably not advisable to check out any books if you do not expect to be at SMCM after May.

Will I be penalized for not having the handful of experiments I planned to do after break in my SMP?

All faculty in the department agree that we will not penalize you for losing that one last experiment for your SMP that you planned to perform after break. Once again, your lack of laboratory access is out of your control and we care deeply about seeing you all be successful. However, please be aware that if you are missing lots of experiments due to poor planning and poor time management during the year while you did have access to the lab, that may impact your SMP grade. Consult with your faculty mentor and your SMP syllabus if you are not sure where you stand thus far grade wise.

How will I submit my final SMP files to the Registrar and complete the two SMP exit surveys?

To submit your SMP to the Registrar this semester (which should be done on May 1 but no later than May 15), use this Google Form. This form will prompt you with a few questions and how to upload your project. If you are not able to upload your project, please let Nick Tulley (nbtulley@smcm.edu) know. He will try to work out another way to get your project submitted. Please submit your SMP in the following format: coursenumberIDnumber (ANTH493123456). This allows us to be able to identify this file to you.

After you submit the form, you will get a message that has a link to a survey, here. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out this survey.

The Department of Psychology has its own End-of-Project Survey for PsycSMP Students, which you can access here and should complete sometime between when you present and May 12.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Nick Tulley or Angie Draheim. Also, if you run into any errors submitting your SMP to the Registrar, please let Nick or Angie know as soon as possible so they can correct the issue.

How will I satisfy the requirement of publicly presenting my SMP?

The Department of Psychology will be conducting poster presentations and oral presentations online via Blackboard Collaborate (using Google Chrome or Firefox) with all course rooms set up by Angie Draheim. Consult with your mentor about whether your presentation should take the form of a poster or oral presentation. Also keep an eye out for an email from Angie Draheim in the vicinity of April 14 regarding your timeslot.

For oral presentations, you will present at a specified time in the afternoon on Monday, May 4, 2020. You should plan on speaking for 20 minutes and having 5 minutes for Q&A. Student presenters must access the virtual course room via the SP2020 Virtual Presentations link on the PsycSMP Blackboard Site (not the web link for guests) in order enable the student to share their slide shows (PPT or Google Slides) directly from their computers at the designated time. Mentors should also access via Blackboard. We intend to record these presentations live; the video files will be added to the site at a later date. The videos will not be made public unless we have both the you and your faculty mentor's permission to make it so.

• Remember to review the oral presentation guidelines.
• See past examples of SMP PPTs here
• See "10 Ways to Ensure a Poor Grade on Your Oral Presentation
• By Monday, May 4th at 6:00 am you MUST submit the final digital copy of your slides via the PSYCSMP Oral Presentation Submission Form. On presentation day you will present from your own computer and control the display of your slideshow from your own copy of the files, but this submission will serve as your final copy for departmental records.
• Presenters are required to enter their individual virtual course rooms at least 10 minutes prior to their scheduled timeslot to allow for setting up their PPT/Google Slides screen sharing. You will have access to get in up to 60 minutes ahead of time if you so desire.
  • NOTE: If for some reason we experience known technical difficulties with Collaborate on May 4, oral presentations will be moved to May 6 (same time/same access links) and you will be alerted of the change via email by 11:00 am. We will also post a note on the PsycSMP Portal Google site

For poster presentations, you will present at a specified time (55 minute block) in the morning on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Student presenters must access the virtual course room via the SP2020 Virtual Presentations link on the PsycSMP Blackboard Site (not the web link for guests) to enable the student to display the poster image via Psychology SMP Portal page directly from their computers.

• Remember to view the poster guidelines and use one of our poster templates.
• Angie Draheim is available to help review your poster April 20-24 & 27-28.
  • By April 22, all poster presenters should use Angie's Online Appointment Scheduler (you may need to advance to the week of April 20) to schedule a Zoom Poster Review meeting to discuss poster layout and aesthetics. At the time of the scheduled meeting your PPT file should be completed (and shared with Angie during the meeting or emailed to her beforehand) as if you were printing/posting live that day.
  • There are more times available than there are people printing/reviewing so everyone will definitely be accommodated but you should act fast to get the slots you want! If absolutely none of the times listed work for you, please let Angie know and she will see what she can do.
  • Please be prepared to keep your appointments!
  • By Friday, May 1 at midnight you MUST submit the final digital copy of your poster in two different formats (PDF and JPG) via the PsycSMP Poster Submission Form. On presentation day you will present from your own computer and control the display of your poster from your own copy of the files, but this submission will serve as your final copy for display on your individual page on the the PsycSMP Portal Google site and departmental records (so make sure you really proofread it and submit the version you want people to read). You should share screen of your individual page on the SMP Portal Google Site; it will have the image displayed at 100% which will be readable to viewers and they can refer to without having to zoom in too much though it does require scrolling. If you click on the image there, it will Zoom out to share the overall feel/look of your poster. We do not recommend sharing the PDF version of file as it compresses too much.
  • Be sure to look at your jpg file before you submit it! In some cases, saving to jpg from pdf might make your tables blurry if your copy and pasted them in rather than recreating them. I've found that exporting the pdf as a jpg gets around this issue.
  • It may be helpful if tell folks who you invite via direct message to please open your individual Google Portal Page in separate window from the one they have the Blackboard Collaborate session open in (e.g., send YOUR subpage's, URL, https://sites.google.com/a/smcm.edu/spring-2020-psychology-smp-portal/home/posters/paul-tyler). That way they can hear your spiel and look at the poster most clearly, and then return to the Blackboard Collaborate window to ask questions via chat or the raise hand feature. If you send it in chat, apparently new people who come in after it's posted can't see it. Really, they shouldn't find this 100% necessary to do. The instructions are listed on the primary page for posters as a reminder though.
  • Presenters are required to enter their individual virtual course rooms 10 minutes prior to their scheduled timeslot to allow for setting up their screen for application (SMP Portal page in web browser) and JPG file sharing. You will have access to get in up to 60 minutes ahead of time if you so desire.
  • NOTE: If for some reason we experience known technical difficulties with Collaborate on May 5, posters presentations will be moved to May 6 (same time/same access links) and you will be alerted of the change via email by 9:00 am. We will also post a note on the PsycSMP Portal Google site.

Share Screen: Recommended: Share Application Window (PPT for oral presentations, your individual sub-page on the SMP Google site for posters):

How do I share news about my presentation with friends and family?

You can certainly share the link with your family and friends, making your presentation "public". However, we would like to try and avoid any virtual session "bombing" as best we can. You may send word of your presentation by sharing your individual PsycSMP Portal page or the schedule page as both contain the guest access link for your specific session but do so via private message. Do NOT post the link to social media. It is important to explain that audience members should remain muted during the oral presentations and follow the protocol for asking questions as it is listed on the "Viewing Psychology SMPs" page.

What about viewing SMP presentations from other departments or programs?

The Department of Psychology cannot comment on what other campus departments or programs plan to do about their SMP presentations. The protocols described here were developed by us for you students working with us. If we hear other departments have similar plans, we will let you know. Otherwise, simply check with your friends in those other programs.

Chemistry and Biochemistry SMPs

Biology SMPs TBA