Welcome
Welcome to the OCE 2001 On-line syllabus. This page is intended to serve as a reference for all administrative issues regarding this course and is accesible from the navigation tabs found at the top of the ANGEL LMS screen. Please refer to this and the other administrative pages (faq's, calendar, etc.) whenever an administrative question arises and before contacting the instructor directly. (back to top)
Course Title: Introduction to Oceanography
Course ID: OCE2001
Course Number: 1538
Course Term (Session): Fall 2012 (0460)
Course Dates: 8/20/12 - 12/14/12
Course Term Format: Regular (16 weeks)
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Important Dates (make sure you remember these dates)
Mid-Term Exam: 10/12/12 - 10/14/12
Last Day to Withdraw with a grade of "W": 10/25/12
• after that if you withdraw or are withdrawn your grade will be a "WF"
• Financial Aid Recipients: If you totally withdraw from the College anytime on or before the dates of your Session, you may incur repayment of Federal Financial Aid funds.
Final Exam availability dates: 12/7/12 - 12/9/12
Final Deadline for all submissions: 12/10/12 (Monday) - anything submitted after this deadline will not be graded or included in your final grade determination without prior approval - no exceptions.
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Instructor Information
Name: Ethan Goddard
Primary email: goddarde@spcollege.edu
Instructor Web Page: http://it.spjc.edu/course_info/inquiry.cfm?number=273
Because I teach entirely through eCampus I do not have office hours. During the course term students should contact me via the ANGLE email tool. (back to top)
eCampus Administration Contacts
Dean: Dr. John Vaughan
Office Location: UP 337 - Seminole Campus
Office Number: 727-394-6995
Email: vaughan.john@spcollege.edu
Academic Chair: Dr. Nicholas Grimaudo
Office Location: UP 337 - Seminole Campus
Office Number: 727-394-6024
Email: grimaudo.nicholas@spcollege.edu
ECampus Web Page Link: http://www.spcollege.edu/ecampus/
Technology Requirements
Each student is expected to have reliable access to the internet and should plan to log into the course at least every other day. A computer with an internet connection, web browser, text editor and PDF viewing software (such as Preview (Mac) or Adobe Reader (Windows & Mac) - click here to download) is required. Reasonable familiarity with web-browsing, email and text-editing is also required. Contact the instructor with specific software, hardware or computer skill questions.
Each student must be able to generate text documents on a computer and cut and paste content into defined fields within the ANGEL LMS (it's much less complicated than it sounds). It is each student's responsibility to assure that her work can be read and graded by the instructor. (back to top)
Course Objective & Format
This course is designed to give you a general understanding of the science of oceanography and will include material on the four main divisions within the field: marine geology, physical oceanography, chemical oceanography and marine biology.
This on-line survey course will cover material rapidly. It is expected that all students will maintain currency with the content modules, including the assigned text chapters and section projects.
Success within the on-line context of this course is highly dependent on the student's ability to self-direct her learning experience. It is imperative that each student keep pace with the content and utilize the discussion and email tools to communicate within the learning community. Students should plan to spend at least 9 hours per week on this course - the same amount of time that they would spend attending and working on a face-to-face regular-term lecture-based course.The on-line format can be time consuming and is highly dependent on each students' commitment to self-directed learning. Please do not register for this course if you are unwilling to commit to the same time-expectations as a regular lecture-based course where attendance is mandatory. Students who fail to meet the official eCampus attendance requirement will be automatically dropped from the course (see Attendance & Participation Requirements section below).
The format of this course is based on Content Modules (CMs). There are nine modules which roughly correlate to the concurrent textbook chapters. Students are encouraged to work through the content modules at a pace faster than one content module every 10 days. Every content module ends with a quiz that has a firm deadline. Every content module has an assigned recommended completion date - these are not deadlines but are there to define a recomended pace to help each student succesfully complete the course. Each content module will culminate in a Content Module Quiz (CMQ). Some CM's will also contain Content Module Assignments (CMAs) and Section Projects. These are explained in detail below but it is important to note that exams and section projects have firm deadlines - they must be submitted by their due date to avoid the 20% late-penalty.
The course is substantially self-paced. It is each students responsibility to complete and submit all assignments by the last day of the course. Exams and section projects have firm deadlines however quizzes can be taken at each students convenience.
The pace of this course should not be taken lightly. Students who are unwilling to commit to this accelerated pace should withdraw. (back to top)
Textbook Information
It is important that all students acquire the textbook before or soon after the term begins. Financial Aid processes sometimes make it challenging to acquire the text prior to the term however students are strongly urged to acquire it as soon as possible, especially for summer and express term courses. This course moves quickly and any delay in acquiring the text will significantly impact a students ability to succesfully complete the course.
All students must maintain regular access to the required text in this course. The text, Oceanography - An Invitation to Marine Science by Tom Garrison, has undergone several revisions in the past few years. The current edition (7e) is available at the St. Petersburg College bookstore and from many other retail and on-line vendors. It is recommended but not required that each student have the most current edition of the text. Below are descriptions and price comparison links to the various versions of the text that are commonly available and that are acceptable for use in this course.
The textbook will cost approximately $70 or more (the list price is $204.25) depending on where you buy it and whether it is used or new. Used textbooks are perfectly acceptable for this course. The 4th, 5th and 6th editions are perfectly acceptable though some of the important figures and graphics are on different pages than in the 7th edition. Details for important figures in each content module are given for 4e - 7e in each content module.
Garrison - Oceanography - An Invitation to Marine Science.
The current edition (7e) is available from the St. Petersburg College Bookstore (store and on-line) for $153.95 (new).
Please note that the SPC Bookstore may have more than one version available and they may look different. You only need one text for this class - as long as it has "Oceanography" in the title and is written by Tom Garrison it will be fine.
7e Hardcover: List Price $201.95 - ISBN 9780495391937 - click to find the best on-line price for this version
7e Electronic: The electronic version provides access to electronic version (PDF w/ Digital Rights Management) of the complete text for 180 days is available from CourseSmart (Garrison - Oceanography) for $96.99 (180 day subscription).
Older editions of the text are perfectly suitable for this course
6e Hardcover: List $135.95 - ISBN 9780495112860 - click to find the best on-line price for this version
6e Looseleaf: List $76.95 - ISBN 9780495113447 - click to find the best on-line price for this version
5e - ISBN 9780534408879 - click to find the best on-line price for this version
4e - ISBN 9780534375577 - click to find the best on-line price for this version
Alternative options:
BookRenter.com: Garrison, Introduction to Oceanography, 7e
Students may also wish to search for the text on the St Petersburg College BookSwap which is intended to facilitate students-to-student book trading.
All students will be expected to maintain regular access to the text. The text can be purchased at the St. Petersburg College Bookstore, on-line at the St. Petersburg College Online Bookstore, or from any re-seller of this text. It is each students responsibility to acquire the textbook by the end of the first week of the course. If you chose to purchase the text from an "unofficial" source please make every effort to confirm availability and shipping time - it seems that each term there are one or two students who, in an attempt to save costs, order the text from a vendor who has a very long shipping time and the students don't receive their text until the third or fourth week, whch is not a good thing in this course. Contact the instructor via the email tool with questions about using other editions of the text or if you are having problems acquiring it promptly. (back to top)
Attendance Requirements
The college-wide attendance policy is included in the Syllabus Addendum. The policy notes that each instructor is to exercise professional judgment and define “active participation” in class (and therefore “attendance”), and publish that definition in each syllabus.
The official eCampus attendance policy requires online instructors to verify that students are in attendance at least once each week during the first two weeks of class. Students classified as “No Show” for both of the first two weeks will be administratively withdrawn.
Immediately following the 60% point of the term, each instructor will verify which students are actively participating in class as defined in the course syllabus. Students classified as not meeting the criteria for active class participation will be administratively withdrawn with a “WF”. Students will be able to withdraw themselves at any time during the term. However, requests submitted after the 60% deadline will result in a “WF”. Students and instructors will automatically receive an e-mail notification to their SPC email whenever a withdrawal occurs.
THE SPECIFIC ATTENDANCE CRITERIA FOR THIS COURSE IS
Week 1: Each student must complete the Week 1 Attendance Requirement Assignment (located in the /Lessons tab) by the specified deadline. Please refer to that assignment link for full details. It should take each student no more than 2 minutes to complete the requirement.
Week 2: Similar to Week 1, each student must complete the Week 2 Attendance Requirement Assignment (located in the /Lessons tab) by the specified deadline. Please refer to that assignment link for full details. It should take each student no more than 2 minutes to complete the requirement.
60% Attendance: Each student must complete and submit SP-1, SP-2, and the Mid-term Exam by the 60% point of the term (which is the same as the last day to withdraw with a grade of "W"). Failure to submit these three required assignments by this point (without prior approval from the instructor) will result in automatic withdrawal from the course.
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Participation Requirements
It is expected that all course participants take an active roll in their own learning and that they actively participate within the course community. Some of the section projects will be interactive in nature and will be partially be graded on participation.
The online instructional environment has very distinct advantages over traditional classroom learning environments in regard to accessibility, diversity and resource availability. It suffers, however, from a lack of face-to-face interaction and physical community. Because of this, it is imperative that course participants make every effort to communicate often and respectfully so that the learning goals of every member of this community are realized. (back to top)
Assessment & Evaluation
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated as follows:
•open-book Content Module Quizzes (8 total): 20%
•open-source Section Projects (4 total): 40%
•open-source Mid-Term: 20%
•online closed-book Final Exam: 20%
An explanation of how final course grades are assigned in this course is available on the Grading Protocol page located in the Course Resources folder under the Course Content tab. It is important to note that final grades will be determined by comparing individual final weighted point totals against the statistical distribution of final weighted point totals for the entire class. In other words - this course is graded on a "curve". A complete explanation can be found in the above mentioned /Lessons/Course Resources directory. Please read this explanation prior to contacting the instructor about individual or final course grades. (back to top)
Content Module Quizzes (CMQs)
Each Content Module will be concluded with a short quiz. These quizzes will be timed and will be based on material from the text, on-line content modules and linked internet resources.
The quizzes will be challenging insofar as to require reasonable understanding of the content module material but not so hard as to require more than a few hours of material review. The quizzes are "open-book" and it is allowable to refer to the text during a quiz but keep in mind that they are timed and require preparation before you take the quiz. (back to top)
Section Projects
Each section covered (Marine Geology, Chemical Oceanography, Physical Oceanography, and Marine Biology) will have an in-depth Section Project due upon the completion of the section modules. Specific instructions will be given for each project. Section projects requiring submission must be created using your word processing program or text editor and entered into pre-defined fields within each section project folder. (back to top)
Mid-Term
The Mid-Term exam will be available on-line for three days at the mid-point of the course term. All students are required to complete the mid-term and submit it by the deadline. (back to top)
Late Submissions
Any assignment that is submitted after the due date has passed will be subject to a 20% penalty. Failure to submit an assignment will result in a zero for that assignment which will be factored into your final grade consistent with the guidelines set forth in the assessment portion of this syllabus. Assignments will not be accepted, under any circumstances, after the last day of class. (back to top)
Final Exam
The final exam will be available online during the official SPC eCampus Final Exam period. The exam is unprotoctered and can be taken from home. Collaboration with any other person (aside from studying together) on the final exam is absolutely prohibited. All students must complete the two-hour exam in order to receive a final grade in the course. (back to top)
Final Grades
Final grades for this course are determined using a modified bell curve procedure that ensures that students are not unfairly punished by unreasonably difficult exam questions or other strucutural problems associated with the course. Put another way, grades are not assigned on a strict numerical scale. A complete description of the grading procedure used in this course is available in /Lessons/Course Resources. Please read it before contacting the instructor with grade related questions. (back to top)
Incomplete Grades and Proceedure
The official SPC eCampus policy regarding incomplete grades is:
Incomplete grades are determined by the instructor. An Incomplete grade (“I”), received at the end of any term becomes an “F” if not completed by the succeeding fall or spring term.
The following conditions must be met before an instructor is permitted to extend the “I” grade:
1. Documented evidence of the reason(s)/circumstance(s) for granting the “I” and extension of time to complete the course(s).
2. Minimum completion of 80% of the coursework required for the class(es).
3. Evidence via attendance, test grades, required projects, term papers, clinical/cooperative experiences, etc. that the student is in good standing in the course.
4. Completion of a fully executed form with signatures of the student and instructor(s).
The student may not sign up for another section of the course during the applicable period of the incomplete grade.
Students and faculty members are reminded that failure to complete the “I” grade by the end of the succeeding fall or spring term will result in automatic conversion of the grade to an “F”.
A student will be permitted to complete the course in a manner determined by the instructor in order to have the incomplete grade changed. The time period allowed for such completion will be at the discretion of the instructor, but shall not exceed the length of one academic term.
If a student wishes to repeat the course, the incomplete grade will not be counted.
Requests for incomplete grades must conform the criteria listed above and must be submitted to the instructor prior to the final week of class. (back to top)
Academic Honesty & Plagiarism
Collaboration and discussion is encouraged in all course aspects other than the Module Completion quizzes, the Section Projects (except for the discussion and debate oriented activities) and the Final Exam. Indeed, collaboration often leads to increased understanding of the material being covered. The quizzes, projects and exams are to be treated as you would any other exam, in any other class. Academic dishonesty is a form of fraud and will not be tolerated.
It should, but will not, go without saying that plagiarism is a form of fraud and will not be tolerated. Useful information regarding plagiarism and advice on how to avoid it as well as commonly accepted citation guidelines for research writing are listed below. It is always the students responsibility to adhere to commonly accepted practives of attribution and citation - there are no excuses for plagiarism. A plagiarism and academic honesty agreement is contained within the first module quiz. Students who do not agree to the academic honesty statement will be withdrawn from the course.
All submitted work (section projects and mid-term) will be evaluated for plagiarized and unoriginal content using tunritin.com. Improperly referenced or unacknowledged content in any form will be considered plagiarism and will result in a severe grading penalty. It is each student's responsibility to assure that all unoriginal content is properly referenced.
The official eCampus Academic Honesty Policy states:
Students are expected to respect and uphold the standards of honesty in submitting written work to instructors. Though occurring in many forms, plagiarism in essence involves the presentation of another person’s work as if it were the work of the presenter. Any cheating or plagiarism will result in disciplinary action to be determined by the instructor based on the severity and nature of the offense. It is the student’s responsibility to review the online Student Conduct Code, Student Expectations, and Academic Honesty Policy, and comply with them. (back to top)
Special Needs
If you have any special needs or requirements pertaining to this course, please discuss them with the instructor early in the term. If you wish to receive accommodation as a student with a documented disability, please make an appointment with the Learning Specialist on the St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus (341-4758) or (email of web address inserted here). (back to top)
Community Decorum
A positive learning experience depends upon respect among all members of this classroom community. Disregard or disrespect for the process, the group or toward any individual will result in removal from the class and may result in you being dropped from the course. Respectful discourse in discussion and email areas is expected and anonymous posting will not be tolerated. (back to top)
A note regarding online sources of information (including Wikipedia)
All course exercises, quizzes, exams and projects can be succesfully completed using the information resources provided by the text and the instructor (articles, web resources, etc.). Use of alternative sources should be for supplemental purposes only. Submission of information obtained from sources not vetted by the instructor (including Wikipedia) is undertaken at your own risk. Essentially, you will be best served to avoid cutting and pasting information (which is plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and will get you a zero on the assignment or an F in the course) from any source. You would be surprised to know how easy it is to discern - be forewarned. (back to top)
Official eCampus syllabus addendum: http://www.spcollege.edu/central/asa/addendum.htm