A web-based course is a program of faculty-assisted self study and community
learning. The instructor and the teaching assistants for the course will guide
you through your self study and facilitate discussion and interaction among
the students. As part of the course, you will be required to read, study and
take exams on scientific concepts based on material from your textbook. You
will also be required to submit topical essays and the results of simple experiments,
and participate in on-line exercises and class discussions. As is appropriate for
any three-credit university class, you should expect to spend at least 12 hours
a week working on the material for this class.
Goal:
In this course we will use the human body as a model system for examining life
processes. In particular, we will consider:
the scientific method and critical thinking,
how humans fit into the natural world, and
the underlying mechanisms of human disorders and diseases.
Structure:
The course is divided into six conceptual units:
Science and the Characteristics of Life
Bones, Nerves, Muscles and Movement
Respiration, Circulation and the Blood
Hormones and Reproduction
Cell Division and Genetics
Human Evolution and Ecology
Coursework:
For each unit, you will:
Read and study assigned sections from several chapters in the textbook
Complete web tutorial and concept review exercises at the website for the textbook
Participate in an on-line discussion of a current issue in biology and/or research, write and submit an opinion essay on a current issue in biology
Complete a short experiment on your own and submit your results
Take an on-line test on the material covered in that unit
Instructor:Alice
Gibb, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Northern
Arizona University
Instructor Contact Information: You can reach
me by phone (928-523-1524) or by electronic mail (Blackboard Mail). Virtual conversations can be scheduled (by appointment) and conducted
using the Blackboard Chat function.
Teaching Assistant: During the first week of class, I will send out a Mail message identifying the Teaching Assitant (TA) for the semester and outlining his/her responsibilities.
Technical Support: Problems with Blackboard, your
connection to NAU's servers, your web browser, browser plug-ins, etc. should
be directed to the
NAU Student Technology Center: Phone: 523-9294 or (toll-free) 1-888-520-7215. The instructor
and Teaching Assistant are not qualified to help you with these questions
Please familiarize yourself with NAU's academic
policies before the beginning of the course.
Assignments:
(Due dates for various assignments can be found in the "Calendar" for the class)
Introductory Unit
To help orient students to the class, I have created an Introductory Quiz. To study for the quiz, you should read the syllabus and the material on academic policies, plagiarism, grading, and citation formatting (through the various links that are provided within the syllabus).
After you become familiar with this material, you can take the Introductory Quiz (select Assessments from the menu) to assses your knowlege level. You may take the quiz as many times as you wish before it closes during the third week of class. At this time, your final score for this assessment will be recorded in the grade book. Reading the required material and taking the Introductory Quiz constitute your Introductory Assignment.
Class Discussion
There will be 3 class discussions during the class. Discussion assignments/topics can be found within the Discussion module of the class.
The discussion will be made available on a specific date, and you
will have a minimum of one week after that date in which to participate by
posting questions and comments about the topic.
You will be assigned to a specific discussion group within the Vista/Blackboard Discussions
page that will include yourself and between 6 and 10 other class members.
Your participation in these discussions will be evaluated by the instructor
and/or the Teaching Assistant on the quality and nature of the postings.
Points will
be awarded for insightful, thoughtful or consensus-building comments.
Points
will be awarded if your comments demonstrate that you have been reading
relevant sources beyond the textbook.
Points will be awarded if you respond thoughtfully and constructively to the postings of other students.
Points will be subtracted for inappropriate
postings (for example, mounting a personal attack on another individual in
the class based on his/her opinion).
Participation in each discussion is worth a maximum of 50 points; you must
participate in all 3 required discussions for a total of 150 points.
Experiments
You will be required conduct 6 experiments on your own. These experiments
will be simple in nature, but may require you to take measurements from yourself,
human volunteers, or the world around you. You will analyze the results of
these experiments on your own.
You will be given a set of questions to answer for each experiment and these
questions must be answered in complete sentences. You must submit these assignments as Microsoft Word (.doc) or Rich
Text Files (.rtf) using the Assignments
function by a given date. Please note: Microsoft Works files cannot be accepted
(we don’t have the software to read these files); if you are using Microsoft
Works, use the Save As option to create a Rich Text Format (.rtf) file.
You must submit the answers to these questions as Microsoft Word (.doc)
or Rich Text Files (.rtf) using the Assignments
page by the due date.
Your answers to each of the 6 experiments are worth 50 points. You will receive
300 points for all 6 experiments.
Essays
There will be 3 assigned essays during the class. Essay assignments will be given within the class Modules/Units.
In these essays, you are asked to state and justify your opinion. This opinion
should be supported by concepts and principles you have learned during your background
reading, although you may also take ethical issues into account. Facts or ideas gained through background reading should be cited appropriately.
You must submit the essays
using the SafeAssignDropbox (within the class shell) by a given
date.
It is strongly recommended that you submit draft assignments to SafeAssign so that you can view the "SA (Safe Assign) Report" for your assignment. Draft assignment links will be provided through the Safe Assign Dropbox. These drafts will not be graded; they are intended for you to use in previewing your SA Report.
Significance of the SA Report
High SA Scores scores for "% matching" in the report should be avoided as they indicate that a student has either (A) relied too heavily on the words of others to make your point or (B) that he/she has unintentionally plagairized the words and ideas of others.
There is no absolute number to determine what is too high a score for % matching in the SA Report, but you may want to consider revising any essay that is awarded an SA Report score with >25% matching.
An essay that receives a high matching score is likely to be awarded a low grade because points will be subracted for lack of originality, improper citation use, plagiairsm (see below), or some combination thereof.
Draft assignments should be used by a student to recieve an SA Report for his/her assignment before submission, so that he/she can revise the assignment before final submission. Draft assignments will not be graded and no feedback will be given on these assignments by the instructor or TA unless requested by the student in advance of submission.
Each essay should directly address the question posed for that assignment
and be approximately 500 words long (with a maximum of 650 words), excluding
the reference list.
This rubric will be used by the Teaching Assistant and/or the Instructor when grading all essays submitted for the class.
Each essay is worth a maximum of 100 points; thus all 3 essays together
are worth 300 points.
Exams
There will be 6 unit tests, one for each conceptual unit we will cover in
the class. Assigned readings and study questions that encompass the material
for these exams are found within the Learning Modules/Units.
Each exam will consist of 30 multiple choice questions covering material
from the assigned sections of the text. There will be an exam (scheduled during exam week) on the material from
Unit 6, but this exam is NOT CUMULATIVE.
You will have a 24 hour window during which you can log-on to Vista and
complete each exam. The exam must be completed by midnight on the exam date.
Once you begin the exam, you will be given 75 minutes in which to complete
it. If you take more than 75 minutes to complete the exam it will not be accepted.
On question will be displayed at a time during the exam, and you may not revisit a question during the exam.
You may use your textbook or notes when taking the exam. However,
you may not share your answers with another student. Both discussing
the class tests material with another student during the test and/or sharing
information about the test with a student who has not yet taken it constitute
academic
dishonesty.
You will receive your grade immediately upon submitting the exam.
You will receive 180 points for all 6 exams combined.
Point Distribution:
Unit Assignments (6 Content Units total)
Number per unit
Points per assignment
Points
% of Grade
Introductory Unit (Reading and Entry Quiz)
N/A
40
4
Discussions
every other unit
50
150
15
Experiments
1
50
300
30
Essays
every other unit
100
300
30
Exams
1
30
180
18
Bonus: Awarded if all Assignments Completed on Time
N/A
30
3
Total:
1000
100
Grades:
Final grades in the class will be calculated on a straight scale out of
a total of 1000 points
For example, 900 points out of 1000 points possible is 90% or an "A"
You may track your grades in the class using the "My
Grades" page
Final grades will be calculated and posted to Vista/Backboard and Louie by the first Wednesday after exam
week
Extra Credit:
There will be one opportunity for extra credit in this class. If >90% of the students participating in the class complete the course evaluation before or at the beginning of finals week, then all students taking the class will be awarded 12 extra credit points during the final grading process.
Plagiarism:
In past terms, students in this class have often unintentionally plagiarized their source material because they do not understand these principles:
A student must provide a give a reference for any information that is not common knowledge; this includes specific information that is known by the student, but is not known by the general population.
Phrases and sentences from the source material can only be included in an essay or discussion posting if a student uses them as direct quotes and gives appropriate attribution (provides citations). However, extensive use of direct quotes is discouraged as the assignments in the class are best completed by (a) reading source material to obtain facts (scientific knowledge) and (b) using these facts (with attribution) to support the opinion presented in the paper.
A better way to cite the source material is to completely reword the idea or concept and to give the author(s) credit for that idea.
You are responsible for reading and understanding the following resources about plagiarism:
You should cite your source material using the APA citation style. Information on this format and links to other webpages with even more information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APA_style. Poins will be deducted from an assignment if the appropriate citation format is not employed.
Additional academic policies:
Late work will only be accepted under exceptional circumstances and with
prior permission of the instructor.
Tests must be taken on the assigned dates.
All work for this course must be entirely the work of the person who submits
it. See NAU's guidelines for academic dishonesty
(Student
Handbook, Appendix G, Academic dishonesty) for a discussion of possible consequences of academic dishonesty.
*This syllabus is subject to minor changes and revisions.
or the NAU bookstore, or you can buy an electronic version of the textbook through www.coursesmart.com. 