General Biology - BSC1005
Term I, 2015 - 2016
Session 3: Ref# 525498
This is a fully-online course with no on-campus meetings. There are four proctored exams (see Proctored Exams below). Ask yourself: Are you prepared for the demands of independent learning? Is this delivery format for you? Please do not register for this class unless you are serious about completing this course.Session 3: Ref# 525498
Students for Session 3 need to complete a mandatory online orientation between September 5 and September 13 (Classes officially begin on Wednesday, September 9, but the course will open four days early in order to give you plenty of time to complete the orientation and first week activities). Please drop the class if orientation is not completed by September 13.
Faculty Introduction
Welcome to BSC1005 General Biology (non-majors); an online, Internet-based course. I will be your professor, Dr. Eileen Garcia, and I look forward to introducing you the study of life, individual organisms, their communities, and the systems, cells, and processes that make up living matter. I have been teaching Biological Sciences courses at Broward College for over 20 years. I am avid cyclist and ride several times a week for mental hygiene.
Course Description
This course is designed to give students an understanding of biological principles, while focusing on the nature and activities of living organisms. This course is primarily for non-science majors. If you are a pre-med, pre-vet, or biology major, then this course is not for you.
Methods of Instruction
This is a 3-credit hour course. Normally, a three-credit hour course would meet twice during the week (during a 16 week term) for a total of 3 hours per week or 48 hours per term. In this class, we will meet online. There is a mandatory online orientation that must be completed in the first three days of the semester (dates above). This includes an e-mail to the instructor, posting to a welcome discussion, and completing an online quiz based on the syllabus. See the syllabus for a detailed description of learning activities and online assignments. You have unlimited opportunities to complete the required orientation quiz, and must receive 100% to gain access to the course content and continue with the course. Students are responsible for regularly reviewing the syllabus and completing all the required assignments. There are reading assignments from the text, reviews of Power-Point presentations, chapter quizzes, and periodic discussion questions. There will be five major exams, all taken online.
General Learning Outcomes
- The student shall be able to clearly communicate in writing information derived from course related readings the major concepts and themes in the biological sciences.
- The students should be able to recognize the basic characteristics of life and describe the scientific process.
- The students should be able to explain the structure of atoms, chemical
bonding, properties of water, and the groups of organic molecules associated with life. - The students should be able to describe a theory of the origin of cells,
distinguish prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, list cell organelles and their
functions, describe membrane function, and detail the phases of mitosis and their significance. - The students should be able to explain the energy requirements of cells, the central role of ATP, the generation of ATP during cellular respiration, the production of food by photosynthesis, and the role of enzymes in controlling chemical processes in cells.
- The students should be able to understand the principles of heredity as first worked out by Gregor Mendel and extended by others both in regard to chromosome behavior and to the statistical ratios of traits among offspring.
- The student should be able to understand the chemical and physical structure of the gene and its operation in the synthesis of polypeptides.
- The students should be able to discuss various aspects of topics in biology (selected by the instructor) based on information from class, peer reviewed journals, mass media, text, and/or electronic resources.
Course Requirements
Students who are taking an online class for the first time should familiarize themselves with the student resources including a video online introduction.
Students must obtain a BC email address, for accessing the course and for emergency contact information. For assistance in locating yours go to http://www.broward.edu/academics/online/Pages/Get-Help.aspx . In the event that Desire2Learn goes down, students will be contacted in their BC e-mail only. This information will be covered during the online orientation session.
Computer Knowledge and Skills
Students in this course should be familiar with the following computer skills:
File Management - You should be familiar with finding and saving files on your computer.
The Internet - You should be familiar with connecting to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider or Network Connection.
Web Browser Software - You should be familiar with using web browser software to navigate the Internet and locate information.
E-mail - You should be familiar with sending and receiving e-mail messages.
Discussions - You should be familiar with posting and reading discussion messages in a threaded format.
Attachments - You should be familiar with sending e-mail messages with attached files.
Word Processing - You should be familiar with creating, editing, saving, and printing documents using Microsoft Word or creating documents with Microsoft Works but saving them as Word documents or in rich text format
Course Materials
Required Textbook:
Free on the internet at https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/
Title: Biology
Publisher: Boundless
Proctored Exam Policy
Four exams are required:
Tests are about 50 questions in length and may be multiple choice, true/false, short answer and matching. Diagrams may be included. The allotted time frame for each exam will be 1 hour and 15 minutes. There is an optional final exam that is not proctored, consisting of 100 questions. The time frame for the optional final exam is 2 hours. The optional final exam serves as a make-up exam for anyone who missed a previous exam. For those students who took all four exams, the final exam provides the opportunity to replace a low exam score. If a student takes all five exams, only the highest 4 scores are counted and the lowest score gets dropped.
How to Register for this Course
To register for this course please visit myBC website . Students must pay for the course before they will be able to log into the course. There may be a delay of up to 24 hours at the beginning of the term prior to login.
Information Contact
If you are interested in registering for BSC1005 as an online class, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at egarcia@broward.edu
How to Access this Course once you are Enrolled in this Course
Understand that only students who have registered and paid for the course will be permitted to login. There may be a delay of up to 20 minutes from when a student registers and pays before BCOnline login is activated. Students will login to the course beginning 8:00 AM the morning of the first day of the semester. Please follow the directions below.
Obtain BC e-mail user ID and PIN code before attempting to login to BCOnline. At BC email address site, click on "ID Lookup", then enter your Student# (or INTL Student ID#) and PIN code (2 digit birth month and 2 digit year). Write down your e-mail ID (not the @mail.broward.edu part), which is your BConline User Name (bsmith, gjones, etc.)
Your BConline User Name is the same as your BC e-mail ID.
Your BCOnline password is the same as your BC e-mail PIN code.
Links to help students get connected to e-learning course(s) at BC:
BC Online/e-Learning login page The direct link for login is https://bconline.broward.edu/
24/7 Helpdesk is Available if you need any technical assistance using or logging into BC Online
Phone number: 866-468-0009
You can also open your own ticket online and can keep track of your open help desk tickets at the BC Online Support Center.
