Tentative Syllabus

Tentative Syllabus: Spring 2009

This syllabus is subject to modification until the course begins.

Course Goals:
1. To understand the mechanisms of several human physiological systems
2. To see the relevance of physiology in "real life"
3. To learn techniques to study any new material

Adding and Dropping:
All adds and drops shall be done through WebReg. I will not sign any add, drop or P/NP cards. If you add after the first day of class, you cannot make up any missed participation work. You must drop by the end of Week 2 if you intend to drop at all. Students who decide they do not want to take the course but fail to drop it will receive an F.

Course Requirements:
1. You must participate during lecture. This requires you to be on time and prepared with your clicker and note-taking printouts. You must also be willing to participate in small group activities or demonstrations as led by the instructor.
2. To minimize distractions, NO personal electronics (including laptops) should be used in class. Devices used inappropriately may be confiscated for the lecture and you may be denied credit for the day's participation. Lectures may be audiotaped for personal use only; videotaping by students is not permitted. Please do not talk, eat, come late or leave early.
3. You must have internet access and a printer at home. You are expected to daily check your UCI email, take twice-weekly online quizzes, and have access to the class web pages. You will often have handouts to print and bring to class.
4. This course will abide by UCI's Academic Honesty policy, which does not allow cheating, dishonest conduct, plagiarism, or collusion (definitions). Academic dishonesty can result in a failing grade for the course, and a letter can be placed in your academic file. It is up to you to understand the definitions of academic dishonesty. Even unintentional infractions will result in a zero grade for an assignment.
5. There is no required textbook, but you should buy or borrow any bio-major type physiology text if you are good at reading textbooks. I recommend any edition of Silverthorn's Human Physiology.


Grading:
There will be clicker participation, class points, online quizzes, 2 midterms, and a comprehensive final exam in this course. These will be weighted as follows:

• PeerWise question-writing 9 points
• "Physiology in My Life" essay 9 points
• Clicker participation 12 points
• Online quizzes 20
• Midterm 1 50
• Midterm 2 50
• Final exam 100

• Total points: 250

PeerWise Question Writing:
Three times during the quarter you will create a multiple choice exam question, plus comment on the questions of other students. This is done using the online PeerWise interface.

"Physiology in My Life" Essay:
You will be asked to choose a topic of interest to you and write a short essay in three parts to be submitted at times during the quarter.

Clicker Participation:
In order to receive the clicker points, you must register your clicker here and use it at least 10 times during the quarter.
1 point: registering by end of Week 2
11 points: clicking in 10 times by the end of the quarter
5 points: clicking in 6-9 times
It is YOUR responsibility to get your clicker to work. Ask for help if you need it. Clickers are available for purchase at the UCI Bookstore. You are welcome to borrow a friend's clicker for the entire quarter, but you must register it to yourself. You may NOT click in for someone else, or ask someone else to click in for you. If you are spotted with two clickers, both will be taken from you and not returned, and you and the other clicker owner will lose 10 points from the course. See academic dishonesty, above.
Clickers are a tool for learning, not an attendance mechanism. If you forget yours, you don't need to tell me about it.


Online Quizzes:
Online quizzes will be posted the night before each lecture on material from the previous lecture. Once you begin a quiz, you will have a limited amount of time to complete it. You must get at least half the questions correct to get credit for the quiz, and you must get credit for at least one quiz for 7 weeks to get the full 20 points. You may work together to take the quizzes (have study-and-quiz groups!) but you must each log in to take the quiz individually.
Points for online quizzes
7 or more weeks of at least one quiz 50% right = 20 points
5-6 weeks = 10 points
Less than 5 weeks = 0 points

Exams:
All three exams will be multiple choice, and the second two will be cumulative.

Final Grades
Final grades will be awarded based upon a straight scale as shown here:
A+ ≥ 96.5 > A ≥ 93.5 > A- ≥ 90 B+ ≥ 86.5 > B ≥ 83.5 > B- ≥ 80 C+ ≥ 76.5 > C ≥ 73.5 > C- ≥ 70 > D ≥ 60 > F


Making up Missed Work:
You may not make up any participation work. If you lose your clicker, you will need to replace it, re-register it, and inform me that you have done so. You don't need to participate every day or take every quiz, so that should cover any minor sickness or emergency. Longer absences will require you to withdraw from the course.

Student athletes are welcome in this course. I will make adjustments for class participation points and exam times if you must miss for your sport. BUT BE CAREFUL! I do not post lecture notes for the course. You MUST have someone who goes to class and can TEACH YOU WHAT YOU MISSED. Your grade will suffer if you don't arrange to have someone take notes for you and promise to explain the material.

The ONLY reasons for which a make-up midterm or final exam will be considered are a personal medical emergency (a doctor's note clearly outlining the your situation, along with your name and the date of the emergency will be required for verification) or a death in the immediate family (a note from the funeral home or doctor will be required). If your emergency prevents you from taking a makeup within 48 hours of the exam, you will receive an incomplete in the course.

Make-up exams will NOT be considered for a minor illness, religious holiday, car breakdown, family emergency, major freeway snarl or other occurrences of daily life. If you miss an exam for any reason that does not qualify for a make-up, you will get a zero on that exam.


Contacting Dr. Williams:
My office hours are after class and by appointment. Please email me to arrange an alternate meeting time, or ask simple questions about physiology, or let me know about problems with the course material. I like getting student email, since it's the only way I hear from some of you. But please use the following email format:

• Use your UCI email
• Add "Bio 9G" to the subject of your email
• Start with "Dear Dr. Williams," and end with your full name and student ID
• Use professional language and punctuation
• Do not email to tell me you missed class or lost your clicker (see above)
• Do not email to ask me something you could look up yourself
• NEVER email to beg for a better grade or extra credit. The answer is always "no."