Environmental Biology

Fall 2003 Course Info

(1) Goals and Objectives
(2) Phone number and mailing address
(3) Required Texts
(4) Grading Policy
(5) Possible Points

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(6) Lab Exercises
(7) Taking Exams
(8) Lecture Exams
(9) Exam Dates
(10) Make-Up Exams
(11) Final Exam
(12) Final Exam Date
(13) Students with Disabilities
(14) Cheating Policy
(15) How To Get Into The Course After Your Have Registered 
(16) Technical Assistance

(1) Goals and Objectives 

To give students the background necessary to understand complex environmental issues that they may hear about in the media or may be asked to vote on.

EXPECTED LEARNER OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Discuss the complex environmental issues that are presented in the media.

2. Compare and contrast point and non-point source pollutants and why non-point source pollutants are more difficult to control.

3. Compare and contrast the environmental effects of economies in developing versus developed nations.

4. Use the scientific process to evaluate evidence of complex environmental problems.

5. Discuss the complications of national and international laws on environmental issues.

6. Discuss the current and past causes of extinction, and factors contributing to current causes of extinction.

7. Present logical arguments for and against the preservation of endangered species.

8. Compare the chemistries of air, water, and soil pollution problems.

9. Discuss U.S. freshwater supply problems, and different ways to get freshwater.

10. Discuss the laws related to mineral leasing.

11. Discuss factors that lead to soil loss and degradation.

12. Discuss the types and sources of hazardous waste.

13. Compare and contrast various ways of storing and processing hazardous waste.

14. Compare and contrast renewable versus non-renewable resources.

15. State the expected life of major non-renewable resources.

16. Compare and contrast various methods for the generation of electricity, and the costs and dangers associated with each.

17. State the current U.S. and world populations.

18. Discuss the affects of population growth, and ways to control population growth.

19. Discuss the relationships between population growth and other environmental problems.

 

GENERAL EDUCATION OUTCOMES

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the important aspects of chemistry and geology and how these basic scientific principles relate to the world around us.

 

(2) Phone number and mailing address 

Phone: (229) 430-6830 (departmental secretary) 



Fax:   00971-4-264-0854



Office:This is a web-based course



Mailing address: 

Dr. Jeffrey Hill
Dept. of Natural and Quantitative Sciences
P.O. Box 19282
Zayed University  
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

(3) Required Texts 

Text: Environmental Science (9th. ed.) By Miller.

Reading assignments in Miller can be seen under the course content icon.

(4) Grading Policy 

90%-100%= A
80%- 89% = B
70%- 79% = C
60%- 69% = D
59%- below = F

-Grades are based on the percentage of total points in the course obtained

(5) Possible Points 

        Lab exercises (10 each pts.)  120 pts.

        Exam 1                                 100 pts.

        Exam 2                                 100 pts.

        Exam 3                                 100 pts.

        Exam 4                                 100 pts.

        Final Exam                           100 pts.

          Total possible                    620 pts. 

(6) Lab Exercises 

Lab exercises: Students will be required to write 12 short papers (i.e., 3-5 pages typed). Papers must be well written and clearly thought out or they will not count. In addition to writing the paper, for most lab exercises the student will be required to attach copies of the articles that they based the paper on.  All 12 papers must be satisfactory done for the student to pass the course.  For specifics on the requirements of each lab exercise see the lab exercises assignment pages under the course content icon.  Lab exercises will be  E-mailed in. Please E-mail in papers in either Word or Word Perfect format. It is difficult to open E-mails in other formats.   The professor is not responsible for articles lost in the mail. It is the student's responsibility to make sure that all lab exercises arrive on time.  Make sure you save your lab exercises on a computer disk or in hard copy in case they are lost in the mail.  Make sure you put the exercise number and your name on your lab exercise.  Late articles will be penalized 30% of the points per week that they are late.

E-mail labs in using the e-mail in WEB-CT
(i.e., the e-mail in this course website)

Lab exercise due dates:

lab exercise 1: Science application - due week 3 -By Friday Sept. 12

lab exercise 2: Old growth controversy - due week 4 -By Friday Sept. 19

lab exercise 3: Endangered species controversy- due week 5 -By Friday Sept. 26

lab exercise 4: Global warming - due week 6 -By Friday Oct. 3

lab exercise 5: Air pollution problems - due week 7 -By Friday Oct. 10

lab exercise 6: Water supply problems - due week 8 -By Friday Oct. 17

lab exercise 7: Water pollution problems - due week 9 -By Friday Oct. 24

lab exercise 8: Mining pollution problems - due week 10 -By Friday Oct 31

lab exercise 9: Hazardous waste disposal - due week 11 -By Friday Nov. 7

lab exercise 10: Energy of the future - due week 12 -By Friday Nov. 14

lab exercise 11: Population growth - due week 13 -By Friday Nov. 21

lab exercise 12: Solutions to world problems - due week 15 -By Monday Dec. 1

Specific descriptions and requirements of each lab exercise can be seen under the course content icon.

(7) Taking Exams 

Taking exams: Students will take exams on-line. Students will be given 3-5 days on which they can take a given exam. The exact dates on which the exam may be taken for a given exam will be e-mailed by the professor 1-2 weeks before the exam. Exams will be timed and students will have a limited time to complete the exam from the time they open it.

(8) Lecture Exams 

Lecture Exams 1, 2, 3 and 4:  Exams will include mix and match, diagram labeling, multiple choice, and short answer essay questions.   Note, the answers to all questions on exam reviews can be found in the notes on the web. Exams will only cover material since the last exam.   

(9) Exam Dates 

Exam 1- must be taken by the 4th week of the semester.  -By Saturday Sept. 20



Exam 2- must be taken by the 7th week of the semester.  -By Saturday Oct. 11



Exam 3- must be taken by the 10th week of the semester.  -By Saturday Nov. 1



Exam 4- must be taken by the 14th week of the semester.  -By Saturday Nov. 22



If you have problems with the operation of an exam please contact James Schwind at Darton College 
(229) 430-6948 --
e-mail: schwindj@darton.edu

(10) Make-Up Exams 

Make-up Exams: Students will only be allowed to take a make-up exam by arranging it prior to the date of the exam (i.e., you must talk to me and get your name on the makeup exam list) or when they have a note from their doctor. If a student misses an exam without an appropriate reason, the exam score will be replaced by their score on the final (for the first exam missed) or a zero (for the second exam missed).

(11) Final Exam 

Final Exam: The final exam will consist of 100 multiple choice  questions. These questions will emphasize the material  presented since the last exam in the course, but will include questions from all the material presented in the course on the web. 

(12) Final Exam Date 

Date of final exam: The final exam must be taken during the last week (i.e., week 17) of the semester. -By Saturday, Dec. 6

(13) Students with Disabilities 

Students with Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability (physical, learning or psychological) that needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the Disability Services Office on campus at the beginning of the quarter.

(14) Cheating Policy 

Cheating policy: Any evidence of cheating on any exam will result  in a grade of "F" for the course.

(15) How To Get Into The Course After Your Have Registered 

A. Go into the Darton home page: http://www.darton.edu

B. Click on the  "WebCT icon"

C. Click on  "Login to my WebCT"

D. The system will ask you to input your user  name and password.

E. Your user name is your first name plus your last name, all lower case and no spaces (ex: johnsmith).  After you enter it  hit the "tab" key.

F. Your password is your last name. Hit the "enter" key after you   type in your password.

G. After you get in the course you should change your password.  To do this click the  "Change Password" icon on the course login page.

H. Go into "Biol 1110 Introduction to Environmental Biology Online"

I. Once your are in the course use the WebCT e-mail tool to e-mail me  information on how you can be contacted. Include your phone number and an e-mail address .

J. The first thing to do once you are in the course is to read all the course requirements under the Syllabus icon. This will inform you about the course requirements and policies.  It will also tell you the due dates for all the course assignments and exams. Print the syllabus.

K. You will find the lectures and exam reviews under the Course Contents icon.

There are two sets of lectures for the course that contain basically the same information.

The lecures number 2-9 are interactive with pictures and web links. The "Old" lectures (numbered 15-22) are text only and are not completly updated.

Interactive lectures
2. Introduction to Environmental Science = 24 pages
3. Ecology, Evolution and Endangered Speices = 26 pages
4. Air Quality and the Atmosphere = 38 pages
5. Water and Water Pollution = 31 pages
6. Minerals and Soils = 9 pages
7. Hazardous Waste Management = 36 pages
8. Energy Reserves and Options =39 pages
9. Human Population = 14 pages

All questions on the exam reviews can be answered from these pages (i.e., you are responsible for the information on the pages outlined above). All information and figures located on hover button pages (i.e., pages linked by highlighted text with sound files) or external web-links is there to support the information in the lectures and help students understand concepts, but will not included on tests.

Slow loading picture pages: If pictures are loading too slow you can leave a page by hitting the back arrow. The amount of web activity will affect the load time and some pictures linked by the hover buttons are quite large. The first page of each section has a slide show of pictures this can be skipped by hitting the "New Page 1" link below the section title.

Printing pages
Each page in lectures 2-9 is designed to print as a "perfect" page of text (i.e., all the text should fit on the page and it should not be cut off at the right margin).

Important: You should set your text size to smaller in your brower for printing. When the web is opened go under "View" at the top of page and go under Text size and then select "smaller".

Pages with lots of hover buttons (text highlighed in yellow) will take a while to compile and print. Watch the moving text title at the top of the page. It will stop moving until the page has compiled for printing. If you click to move to other pages before the page has finished compiling for printing it will not print properly (highlighed text will be black) and if too many operations (i.e., new page, page back, etc.) are hit while the page is compiling to print it may jam the web brower.

L. The Schedule of reading assignments in the book and the specific requirements for the lab exercises are also available under the Course Contents icon.

M. Using the E-mail icon you can E-mail all the other students in the class if you want to contact them. In the E-mail tool, just click the browse button next to the "send to:" box and pick a name off the recipient list.

N. Be sure to check the Discussion Forum icon periodically to for current information on the course.

O. If you need technical assistance with the web course contact the Web Help Desk at 229-430-6923 or by e-mail at webhelp@darton.edu. Or you may click the Web Help Icon on the course home page to submit a web help request form.

Technical Support

Darton College provides free technical support for online learners. If you experience technical difficulties with any WebCT course component or access to your course content contact the WebHelp Desk at Darton College for technical assistance. Submit a tech support request online at http://online.darton.edu/forms/webhelp.htm, email a request to webhelp@darton.edu, or contact the WebHelp Desk by phone at 430-6923 locally or 1-800-861-8318 for students at a distance. Questions concerning course content should be directed to your instructor.