Contemporary Issues in Biology Online Course

Syllabus for BIOL 1003

Instructors: Visit the About the Instructor page for information about the instructor of your section.

Course Texts:

The required text for this course is Biology: Science for Life, 3rd edition, by Colleen Belk and Virginia Borden (2010, Pearson Education; ISBN 0-321-55959-2). Unfortunately, the first edition of this book will not work, because of extensive changes for subsequent editions; there are fewer changes between the 2nd and 3rd editions (but chapter 10 is completely redone). Beginning with week 2, we will cover one chapter per week, and online reading quizzes will relate directly to the text. Most other assignments will also use concepts from the book.

Course Announcements:

It is your responsibility to keep up with course announcements, reminders, and deadlines. Visit the Announcements page to learn about the many different ways you can receive your course updates.

Orientation:

All students in online courses must complete the College of Arts and Sciences Online Course Orientation by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday of the first week of classes. You can find it as a separate course in Desire2Learn.
Week 1 of this course will consist of a course-specific orientation. Click here for course orientation activities.

Grading:

Course grades will be based on online reading quizzes and various writing assignments. There are no midterm or final exams for the course, so it is IMPERATIVE that you keep up with the material each week. To find out more, visit the Weekly Schedule, course Grading Policies, and/or Types of Assignments.
This course follows the university code concerning Academic Misconduct. Academic misconduct includes cheating, plagiarism, falsification of records, intimidation, and any other action that may improperly affect the evaluation of your performance. If you are not sure if what you are doing constitutes academic misconduct, please ask! Email your instructor with your questions about this.
Some assignments are self-graded; see the course Honor Code for more information.
You are responsible for completing all assignments by the deadlines (this includes the gradebook declaration, if applicable). Computer problems are not an acceptable excuse for late or incomplete work. I WILL NOT ACCEPT LATE WORK. [If you feel you have a documented medical emergency, contact your instructor as soon as possible!]
You are responsible for ensuring that all grades you receive in this course are correct. All grades will be posted on the Desire to Learn (D2L) site. Report any problems to your instructor immediately. Any requests to change a grade/regrade an assignment must be made within 2 weeks of the assignment grade being posted on D2L or before the last day of classes - whichever comes first.

What time is it?

All times on this website are given as Central Time -- that is, the time in good old Oklahoma, USA.

What day is it?

Find information about add/drop dates by clicking on this semester's calendar at OU's Academic Calendars page.

Working ahead:

This entire website will be available all semester, but Desire2Learn discussions, quizzes, and gradebook declarations will only be available two weeks ahead of the due date.

Email:

College policy requires online students to use their OU email accounts. All official university correspondence is sent to your OU email account; you are responsible for the information sent there.