Contemporary Issues in Biology Online Course

Week 1 -- Orientation -- Index of Assignments

Greetings!

Hello everybody, and welcome to Contemporary Issues in Biology. Take a look at this short video to start, then read on to see the several orientation activities that will help you be successful in this class this semester. If you have questions at any point, please feel free to email your instructor.

Building a Solid Foundation Week 1!

Each of the orientation activities listed below reinforces the College of Arts and Sciences orientation (which you are required to complete), adds orientation to some of the additional tools we will use in this class, or helps build the foundation for our class community. It may seem as if there is a lot to do, but most of the activities shouldn't take you very long to complete. Here is a summary of this week's activities; more specific instructions appear below.

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Orientation. The online orientation will be available as a separate course on Desire2Learn (follow these instructions for self-registering). CAS should send you a confirmation email within 48 hours of the time you complete the orientation; please forward that email to the instructor. If you never receive the CAS email, please contact CAS directly. You must have all components of the CAS orientation completed by 5:00 pm on Friday, January 16, or you risk being dropped from the course.
Course-specific orientation activities (complete by 11:00 pm on Sunday, January 18, or you risk being dropped from the course).
- Reinforcing the College Orientation
  - OU Email
  - Academic Integrity (Plagiarism Quiz)
- Specific course readiness requirements
  - Log on and look around Desire2Learn
  - MasteringBiology Introduction
  - Course Contract and Goals
- Community-building activities
  - Class Survey
  - Childhood memory
  - Starting Assumptions

Due dates?

The deadline for the College of Arts and Sciences Online Course Orientation is absolute. For the course-specific orientation activities, you can pace yourself during the first week of class, so long as you finish all activities by our course deadline. Remember, you must also declare these assignments under "Declarations" in D2L. Please be aware that the specific due dates/times listed for each assignment will be strictly enforced.

Required activities: Be sure to click on the links below (especially links to each individual assignment) for more information.

Due Date	Points	Activity	Est. Time
Please complete as soon as possible (must complete by 5 p.m. Friday, January 16th)	--	REQUIRED BY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES College of Arts & Sciences Online Course Orientation; available as a separate course at Desire2Learn (follow these instructions for self-registering for the orientation course). When you are done, forward your Confirmation Email to your BIOL 1003 instructor.	1-2 hours
Websites available continuously	--	Get acquainted with this course: Make sure you are familiar with the Features of this Course Website. See especially the following pages: Syllabus How to Receive Course Announcements Types of Assignments Grading Policies Honor Code Help and FAQs You might also visit the Weekly Schedule and click on a few weeks' worth of assignments to see what sort of work you will be doing this semester. Then, log on to the Desire2Learn (D2L) site for Contemporary Issues in Biology and take a look around. The content on D2L includes gradebook declarations, a survey, a dropbox, and discussion boards. When you want details about assignments, come back to the course homepage, not D2L. Finally, consider enhancing your profile on D2L by adding a profile picture, your favorites, and other information (go to our "Roster" for the class, then click on the person icon next to your name). This will help others in the class get to know you.	15 -30 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	2	Email Confirmation use your OU email to retrieve and respond to instructor's email gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn	15 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	3	Class Survey answer the Survey questions at Desire2Learn gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn	15 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	3	Plagiarism quiz read materials on academic integrity take quizzes at the Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism website until you get a perfect score gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn	45 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	4	Discussion Board Activities post an "introductory statement" about yourself at the discussion board in Desire2Learn, and ... tell the class what you like to be called gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn	30 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	3	MasteringBiology Setup Register as a new user and connect to our class at MasteringBiology^® Do the Introduction to MasteringBiology homework in that system	30 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	6	Childhood Memory post your story at our D2L Discussion Board reply to at least two other students' Childhood Memories gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn quizzes	30-45 min.
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	5	Starting Assumptions post your assumptions at Desire2Learn reply to at least two other students' postings at Desire2Learn gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn	30 min
Sunday, January 18 at 11 p.m.	4	Course Contract and Goals fill out the online form gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn	30 min.
TOTAL POINTS	30
*All course-specific orientation activities must be complete by Sunday, January 18th at 11 p.m., or you risk being dropped from the course.*

[A big THANK YOU to Dr. Laura Gibbs for generously allowing this course to copy or modify many of her course orientation activities.]

Contemporary Issues in Biology -- BIOL 1003
Mariëlle H. Hoefnagels, Ph.D. © 2004-2015.
biology1003 at OU dot edu (at = @, dot =.)
Last Updated August 5, 2014 11:02 PM