Genetics

Fall 2009

Syllabus

***NOTE-THIS IS A TENTATIVE SCHEDULE, AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE PROFESSOR\'S DISCRETION!!!***

 ***TRANSFERRABILITY OF THIS COURSE IS DEPENDENT ON YOUR UNIVERSITY***

I. Instructor/Course Information                           

A. Jessica Jemison-Williams   

B. Phone - 325-574-7958

C. Email - jwilliams@wtc.edu, MAIN FORM OF COMMUNICATION

II. Basic Information for the Course

A. Course title -Biology 2416- Genetics

B.  Required Materials: Essentials of Genetics (textbook)

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Virtual labs

C. BIOLOGY LABS ONLINE

• This is an online class that uses Moodle as a platform for class information.
• You will need an enrollment key to get logged in to my specific course in Moodle. If you do not have this enrollment key, you cannot get logged in nor complete the coursework.

MOODLE ENROLLMENT KEY: biol2416

D. Prerequisites - No prerequisites.  This class is reading, and writing intensive.

E. Credit hours - 4 credit hours

F. Requirements for major areas of study -This class is designed to be taught as an on-line genetics course that covers, among other topics, the fundamental principles of living organisms, physical and chemical properties of DNA, organization/structure of DNA, function of DNA, evolutionary, population and conservation genetics. 

      This is an on-line based class, so you must have a firm knowledge of computers.   All assignments will be posted with ample time to complete the assignment.  This is a college level course, so you are expected to perform in a responsible and professional college manner.

G.  Course objectives-This course is designed to give the science major a firm understanding of basic principles of genetics such as DNA structure and replication, transcription, translation, sex chromosomes, sex linked traits as well as genetic mutations. The subject matter learned in this course will provide knowledge to use in other cell, or molecular or evolutionary biology science courses.

III. Grades and Grading

 A. Grades will be of four types in this course:

1) Major exams - 60%,

2) Critical thinking assignment-5%

3)  Lab work-30%

4)  Genetics writing assignments-5%

There will be five major exams (including the COMPREHENSIVE final) given during this course, and you are allowed to drop the lowest.  You are allowed one attempt at each exam. 

**THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DROP YOUR LOWEST EXAM GRADE!!!  THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY!!!

**IF YOU HAVE COMPUTER DIFFICULTY, OR A COMPUTER MALFUNCTION AND ARE NOT ABLE TO FINISH AN EXAM, YOU NEED TO CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE EXAM DUE DATE EXPIRES!!!

**THERE IS NO EXTRA CREDIT AVAILABLE!!!

ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE ALREADY POSTED ON OUR COURSE PAGE.  THIS IS A WORK AT YOUR OWN PACE COURSE.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

      THERE WILL BE FIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS TO BE COMPLETED THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER.  THESE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE WRITTEN FROM EXCERPTS READ IN YOUR BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM, AND EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES SUPPLEMENTS.  YOU WILL BE GIVEN READING ASSIGNMENTS FROM YOUR SUPPLEMENTS, AND YOU MUST WRITE A SYNOPSIS AND REVIEW OF THE READINGS.  THE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA UPLOAD INTO MOODLE  IN A WORD DOCUMENT, OR PDF.  EMAILING THE DOCUMENT TO ME WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!!

WRITING ASSIGNMENT 1: (BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM PGS 1-7,21-23) DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2: (BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM PGS 7-18) DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT 3: (BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM PGS 18-21, EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES PGS 1-10) DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT 4: (EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES PGS 10-21) DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT 5: (EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES PGS 21-32) DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

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CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT:

            YOU WILL BE GIVEN 1 CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION TO BE WRITTEN IN ESSAY FORMAT.  THE QUESTION WILL BE FROM MATERIAL COVERED FROM ONE OF THE CHAPTERS COVERED.  YOU MAY USE YOUR NOTES, THE TEXTBOOK, OR OUTSIDE SOURCES TO ANSWER THE QUESTION.  IT MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA EMAIL IN A WORD DOCUMENT, OR WRITTEN DIRECTLY INTO THE EMAIL IF WORD IS NOT ACCESSIBLE. 

            CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY: DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

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LAB ASSIGNMENTS:

            FOR THE LAB ASSIGNMENTS DUE EACH WEEK...

YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ACCESS CODE WITH YOUR BOOK BUNDLE.  WITH THAT ACCESS CODE YOU MUST REGISTER AT THE CORRESPONDING WEBSITES TO GAIN ACCESS TO THOSE LABS.

            THE ACCESS CODE WILL GIVE YOU ACCESS TO THESE LABS:

                        ORIENTATION

                        MICROSCOPY AND CELL STRUCTURE

                        HEREDITY

                        CELL DIVISION

IN ORDER TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE OTHER LABS:

YOU MUST GO TO THIS WEBSITE:               http://www.biologylabsonline.com

ONCE YOU HAVE GOTTEN TO THE WEBSITE YOU WILL NEED YOUR ACCESS CODE. 

YOU ALSO WILL NEED A USERNAME AND PASSWORD THAT IS MADE UP BY YOU IN ORDER TO LOG INTO THE WEBSITE TO COMPLETE THE LABS.

ALL LABS WILL BE DUE BY 12/6 AT 10 P.M.

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IV. Natural Sciences-Educational Objectives, Course Competencies, Learning Outcomes

These may seem somewhat confusing and overlapping but suffice it to say that this section deals with the esoteric and not so esoteric requirements of a good liberal arts education. In our course we pretty well restrict ourselves to the more tangible aspects and leave the esoteric ideas to other disciplines such as psychology, languages and the like.

The objective of the study of a natural sciences component of a core curriculum is to enable the student to understand, construct, and evaluate relationships in the natural sciences, and to enable the student to understand the basis for building and testing theories.

 Exemplary Educational Objectives

1. To understand and apply method and appropriate technology to the study of natural sciences.

2. To recognize scientific and quantitative methods and the differences between these approaches and other methods of inquiry and to communicate findings, analyses, and interpretation both orally and in writing.

3. To identify and recognize the differences among competing scientific theories.

4. To demonstrate knowledge of the major issues and problems facing modern science, including issues that touch upon ethics, values, and public policies.

5. To demonstrate knowledge of the interdependence of science and technology and their influence on, and contribution to, modern culture.

Intellectual Competencies - Below are a series of basic competencies that are essential to the learning process of any discipline. The ones that are especially pertinent to our study have been marked.

1. Reading __X__ 

2. Speaking ____

3. Critical Thinking __X__

4. Writing __X__

5. Listening ___

6. Computer Literacy __X__

Individual Development and Educational Assessment (IDEA) - An acronym that is used as one of the primary assessment tools for students to evaluate the course. There are several criteria in this instrument - again, some very esoteric and perhaps somewhat nebulous. However, for the natural sciences only two of these have any real direct bearing on learning for a first year science student. At the end of the semester you will be given a chance to evaluate the class and the instructor as to whether or not these two objectives were achieved. 

1. Essential Objectives- Gaining factual knowledge (terminology, methods, trends, and classifications.

2. Important Objectives - Learning fundamental principles, generalizations and theories.

Student Learning Outcomes - These are somewhat different from learning objectives in that they vary from discipline to discipline and even from course to course within a particular discipline. Outcomes not only state the desired learning outcome but, also the method of assessing the learning be it a test or other instrument. Basically these are some things you will do while in this course.

1. Students will demonstrate an ability to use the scientific method to interpret data and facts in virtual lab assignments.  Lab assignments will be assigned on a weekly basis.
2. Students will be given the opportunity for critical thinking and interpretation with a critical thinking essay/short answer question.  Students must explain the answer using literature found either in periodicals, or scientific journal articles, or by using the textbook as a reference. 
3. Students will write a review and synopsis of current issues in the world.  Issues reviewed will be about emerging infectious diseases, biological terrorism.  There will be a total of 5 writing assignments assigned.
4. Students will demonstrate their ability to interpret real data from genetic abnormalities found on their lab website, biology labs online.  Students will be making inferences based on background information given during the lab on the issues that have occurred to give the data being interpreted.