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| BIO326 : Syllabus | ||||
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| BIO326 : Syllabus | ||||
| BIO 326 | Ecology | Fall 1999 |
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| Instructor: | William S. Gaud |
| Office Hours: | Tuesday 2:00-3:00 PM (for e-mails or phone calls) |
| Class Room: | None. This is a class taught entirely on the World Wide Web. |
This course is intended to provide you with a solid introduction to ecology. At the end of the course, you should be able to:
The course is organized into five sections, each of which will be covered in three weeks. Each lesson will provide a guide for the study of ecology.
In each section, material will be presented along with various assignments. At the end of each section, there will be a test that can be taken on the web. These tests will be comprehensive over material from earlier sections.
PREREQUISITES
One year of college introductory biology. At Northern Arizona University, the prerequisites are BIO 184 (Plant Biology) and BIO 190 (Animal Biology) or BIO 181/182 (Biology for Majors).
REQUIRED READINGS
Required text: The Economy of Nature, by Robert E. Ricklefs. 1997. Fourth Edition. The book will be an essential reference for theory, example, and explanation.
For the readings on each part of the course, there is a guide in outline form, called the "on-line lesson." This guide identifies those subjects in the readings that you should learn well enough to be able to explain to someone else.
For instance in the first on-line lesson dealing with environmental factors, you should be able to explain what biosphere, ecosystem, community, and population are from the point of view of an ecologist and how they are different from one another.
A good way to check your learning is to have someone else ask you to explain what the items in the on-line lessons mean.
EVALUATION METHODS and DEADLINES
Auditors are expected to complete at least 75% of the assignments.
Students are expected to learn the material and stay on schedule. All activities (i.e., review questions, exercises, tests, web activities, and other assignments) are due by the due date indicated. Work sent after this date will receive a grade of zero.
| The grading scale is: | |
B: 80 - 89 C: 70 - 79 D: 60 - 69 F: < 60 |
NOTE: Tests will be available only for approximately 2 days. There is no restriction on the use of your notes and the readings in taking the tests. However, you must complete the tests on your own within the time period they are available. |
Cheating is dishonest and unethical. Students found cheating will be subject to University discipline, but at the minimum will leave this course with an F.
Remember, each assignment must be your own work. Even though you may talk to others and discuss a topic with others, you are required to complete the assignment itself on your own. Do not compare completed assignments with each other until after all of you have submitted them. Assignments that are so similar as to leave the instructor no doubt that you collaborated with each other will be considered cheating. It is not worth the risk to compare results before you submit them.
An original author deserves credit for the work the author did. To fail to properly acknowledge another's work and, thus, represent that work as your own is plagiarism. That is why you must cite the reference(s) you use in preparing your assignments. Be sure to give proper credit to the sources of information you use in writing your assignments.
NAU POLICIES
Policies on Safe Working and Learning Environment, Students with Disabilities, Institutional Review Board, Academic Integrity, and Insurance.
STUDENT PROFILE/AGREEMENT
Before continuing in this course, read the Class page and complete the Student Profile/Agreement. Students who do not read the Syllabus, Class page, send in the completed Student Profile/Agreement, and send in the completed activities for Topic 1 (Environmental Factors) by September 3 will be administratively dropped from the class.
Copyright 1998
Northern Arizona University