Introduction
to Oceanography (Online Course)
Click on any of the links below to “jump” to the desired section of the syllabus.
In this
course, we will survey a wide variety of phenomena and ideas from the discipline
of oceanography. Our goals are both to
learn about the ocean and how oceanographers study it. In particular, we want to address the
questions: Why is the ocean important? How does the ocean affect our lives? While attempting to answer these questions, we will find that what happens in the ocean often depends on what is going on at its boundaries (in the atmosphere and the Earth), the life forms inside it, and far off objects like the Sun and the Moon. The ocean can have a profound affect on all of these as well. At the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of natural processes (e.g., how coastlines change, the extent and variety of life forms on our planet), and be better armed to engage in today's scientific debates (e.g., global warming and climate change). Specifically, students should be able to: · describe and explain complex ocean systems to their family and friends · back
up their claims with evidence, examples, and pictures To return to the table of contents, click here.
In a learner-centered teaching environment like online classes, the learner actively pursues knowledge and actually plays a role in determining what is to be learned. For example, suppose that you have a problem in the real world (at work or at home, e.g., a leaky roof, determining how to improve efficiency in your office), and need to find solution on your own. In the same way, you need to take charge of your own learning in this classroom; it is good practice for life. I am not here to tell you all the answers, but to help you find them on your own, to help you understand what you are reading, and to help you reason carefully. To do this, I need your help: help me help you by asking questions. In a traditional class, you would be expected to spend at least 12 hours per week on the class (3.16 hours of lecture, 3.16 hours of lab, and 6 or more hours studying outside the class), and you will probably need to spend at least this much time on this class. Many people think online classes take more time than traditional lecture classes. Online courses typically require students to have excellent time management skills to succeed; procrastinators suffer greatly. What you are doing with your time will differ from a traditional class. Instead of passively listening to me in a classroom and desperately trying copy down what I am saying, you will spend your class time actively searching out information, recording it, and discussing its implications. Asking you to spend time and energy on learning is not laziness on my part; instead of lecturing, I will spend my class time in the discussion forums and giving people feedback. In fact, I believe that I spend far more time on my online courses than on my traditional courses. In this class, you will practice the following skills to enhance your abilities as a learner-centered learner: · Reading Comprehension · Synthesizing/Summarizing Information · Using Evidence/Observations to Support a Conclusion Activities and assignments have been designed to promote these skills, so these are the skills that you should try and demonstrate when doing assignments and other assessments. For more information about what you should expect from an online course and what skills and software you will need, see the “Student Handbook for Online Courses” posted on El Camino College’s Distance Education webpage (http://www.elcamino.edu/library/distance-ed/). In addition to the software on their list, you will also need a “drawing” program. The free “Paint” program provided with Microsoft Windows is adequate. If you prefer to draw pictures by hand, you will need access to a color printer and a scanner. To return to the table of contents, click here.
Each week during the semester, new course topics will begin on Monday at 6 a.m. As soon as you can, read the course outline. First, skim the new study guide questions for the topic(s) beginning this week and go to “Assignments, Tests, and Surveys” to find out which study guide and lab questions you have been assigned to answer at the end of the week. Once you have finished one or more of the reading assignments for the week, begin answering the study guide questions and begin working on the lab for the week. Post your thoughts in the discussion forums: · ask questions about the reading assignment, lab, and study guides · propose answers to the study guide questions · propose answers to other students’ questions or your instructor’s questions ·
share important or
interesting information with your fellow students Check back daily so that we can have real conversations – you could learn things that will save you lots of time and effort. When you have completed most of a study guide, try answering questions on the corresponding material in the quiz to see how well you understood the material. You can take quizzes as many times as you like until the due date. Their purpose is to give you immediate feedback on your understanding of the material and to insure that students keep up with the coursework by doing some work each week. Examine the answers that you got wrong (or right!), and ask questions in the discussion forums. The questions on the study guides are good examples of the questions and concepts that will appear on the exams as well. If possible, print out the lab and come to class on Friday to do the lab; your instructor will help you. If you are doing the lab at home, begin working on the lab early in the week so that you have plenty of time to ask questions if you get “stuck.” At the end of the week (by Sunday), answer the study guide and lab questions that you were assigned in “Assignments, Tests, and Surveys.” Then, post about your goals and progress towards meeting them in the “Learning Group” discussion forum. All work is due on Sunday, but will be accepted as “on time” until Monday at 6 a.m. Do not waste time on these tasks: try to figure out where your questions lie, and ask questions if you cannot find the information that you seek or if you do not know how to get started. (Expect to be reading and writing regularly in this class; this will not be a class in which you can just “cram” before an exam and expect to succeed.)
To return to the table of contents, click here.
Are You Ready for Online Learning? Online students in this class need the following characteristics, abilities, and resources: · self-motivated · willing to ask questions · excellent reading comprehension · write well ·
have the time to take the class: at least 12
hours per week, and at least ½ hour per day ·
daily access to a computer with a reliable,
fast internet connection · know (or would like to learn) how to: - read and send email, including attaching files - use word processing software like MS Word - modify images (e.g., copy, cut, paste, compress, crop) - use drawing programs and features (like Paint and the MS Word drawing toolbar) - save files in .doc and .rtf formats To return to the table of contents, click here. Read
the following statements about your abilities, intentions, and resources. I will be self-motivated. In other words, I can make myself concentrate upon and do the assigned work on time. I do not need someone else to supervise me and tell me what to do. I will ask questions promptly when I am confused. For example, I will read my assignments well before the due dates and ask questions if I do not understand the instructions. I have good reading comprehension. In other words, I like to read, and I learn
a lot from reading books and web pages.
In general, I understand what I read, and when I do not, I am a good writer. I like to communicate in writing on the computer, and I use complete sentences, and good spelling and grammar. I can explain things to people step-by-step in writing. I will be polite and courteous to my instructor and fellow students. For example, I will use appropriate language in my postings and assignments. All my feedback will be constructive criticism which helps others improve, and does not mock their work or humiliate them. If I come to class to do the lab, I will
arrive on time (at 8 a.m.), and I understand that I may not join a
group that has already started lab.
During this time, I will focus on my lab work. I understand that plagiarism (“copying”) is presenting someone else’s work as my own work. Altering a few words here and there does not make the work my own, nor does eliminating, adding, or switching the order of a few sentences or clauses. It is still copying. I will not plagiarize anyone else’s work or let anyone else take a test for me, and I understand that if I do so, I will receive an “F” on the assessment and potentially in the class. I have the time to take this class. I can spend at least 12 hours per week and
at least ½ hour per day on the class, so I can read and participate in the
discussion forums a little each day. I have access to a computer with a reliable, fast internet connection (56 kbps+, e.g., DSL or cable) every day. I know (or will learn) how to: send and receive
email (including attachments), use a word processing program like MS Word,
modify images (e.g., copy, cut, paste, compress, crop), To return to the table of contents, click here. The following tables show how grades will be assigned and the relative value of each category:
Grades will not be “curved.” (i.e., I do not have a fixed number of A’s, B’s, etc. in mind), but I reserve the right to adjust the percentages needed for an A, a B, a C, etc. I believe that students should not compete with one another for the best grades, but learn from and help one another. I will be pleased if the entire class achieves A’s. To return to the table of contents, click here.
For each course topic, you will be assigned a list of questions on a “study guide.” Your task will be to find the answers to these questions, and answer the corresponding questions on the quiz to check your work. The purpose of quizzes is to give you immediate feedback, and to make sure that you keep up with the coursework by doing some work each week. The computer will randomly choose questions for each student. You can take each quiz as many times as you would like, so you can take it again and again to improve your score. However, you will not be given “the answers,” so if you are scoring poorly, you must ask questions in the forums. (You should practice the skill of figuring out where you have made a mistake.) Students are welcome to work collaboratively to find the answers to the questions on the study guides. Feel free to post and exchange information about them. This is not cheating; it is forming a study group, a good study habit whether you are in a traditional or online class. In my experience, students not only help one another, but they also give one another misleading or incorrect information, so wise students will always ask. “Where did you read that?” and then go and read it for themselves. I may not notice misinformation in the forums, so do not expect me to correct every bit of it. To return to the table of contents, click here. Students are expected to regularly review the discussion forums and post about the course material (the ocean and oceanography). “Regularly” means several times per week; the discussion forums are very ineffective if everyone waits until the weekend. Students’ participation in the discussion forums will be assessed as part of their weekly assignment to answer questions from the study guide(s) and labs: students who sought help in the discussion forums early in the week and engaged in a conversation about the questions over the course of the week will be evaluated more leniently because they have demonstrated a serious attempt to answer the questions and I will have better insights into their understanding. For detailed advice about posting in the forums, refer to the Discussion FAQ. When posting in the forums,
post information that will help
your reader respond to your question. For example, if you ask about a particular
question on a lab or study guide: post the question and where the question
comes from, including both the question number. If you propose an answer to a question,
tell us where you got your information from – e.g., the name of the reading
assignment and the page number. If you
do not provide this information, your instructor or a student may ask you to
post this information before responding to your question. Note that this will delay getting an answer
to your question. If you do not
provide this information, your instructor may also spend time editing your
post to make it more readable and usable.
In this case, you will lose points since you did not do your work
properly which resulted in your instructor doing your work for you. When answering questions, act as if you were explaining the information to someone who has not taken the class. For example, explain the meaning of the technical language that you use (do not try to impress me with big words), rather than simply quoting a sentence from the textbook or other source. In addition, describe evidence (e.g., your sources) or observations which support your conclusions, and explain how they support your conclusions. I strongly encourage students to attach sketches (pictures) to their posts (“a picture is worth a thousand words”), but always remember to explain what is happening in your picture; a picture alone is not enough. Participating in a discussion does not simply mean “answering a question.” For example, you might comment on or correct other student’s answers. You might ask them to clarify something that they said or expand upon it. You might also tell them that you interpreted things differently, and explain your own reasoning. You could summarize the group’s answer to a question. Your instructor will be active in the forums, and may ask additional questions that you can answer as well. I reserve the right to edit or delete unsatisfactory student posts (e.g., a post that does not highlight the differences between text of a question and the students’ answer or that does not identify the study guide or lab and the question number in the subject line). I may charge a student a fee (in points) for my services, or delete their work and tell them to re-do it; if this makes the work “late,” then the student may receive a late penalty. To return to the table of contents, click here. The study
guides list the potential exam topics and questions, and contain
useful reading assignments in your textbook.
( Since the exams are “take-home” and therefore “open book,” the exams may be longer and the questions on the exam may be more challenging than those found on the in-class exams I give to the students in my traditional classes. An exam “opens” in AT&S at 6 a.m. on Friday and closes 72 hours later on Monday at 6 a.m. (Exception: The last exam is “open” from Tuesday to Noon on Friday.) Put aside several hours when you will not be distracted to take the exam. Once begun, the exam cannot be paused, so do not begin it until you are ready. Once begun, the exam will stay open for a limited period of time, so make sure that you are ready before you take it. Do not end the exam until you are finished. Make sure that you have a reliable internet connection (a reliable internet connection is a requirement for this course – or you can come to class to take the exams), because if I have to “reset” the exam, your score will be penalized. The online exams will NOT resemble the quizzes: they will NOT contain primarily multiple choice and short-answer questions. Instead, exams consist of short essay questions that ask you to apply the ideas and concepts we have studied. When answering short essay questions, write as if you were trying to explain the concepts to a friend or family member who has NOT taken the class: Carefully explain your reasoning, and use evidence, examples, and pictures to support your claims. These questions may also require you to make or edit maps electronically (e.g., using MS Paint). During the take-home exam, you may use whatever resources you like: the discussion forums, the textbook, the internet, talking to other students, etc. However, all your answers need to be your own; in other words, you need to do your own work and you must put your answers in your own words. The biggest problem that I have with the take-home exams is plagiarism (“copying”): students frequently copy directly from the textbook or internet resources, or copy and then slightly modify the text (drop, add, and/or change a few words; changing the order of the words and/or clauses; and so on). The penalties are quite severe; see the section on plagiarism in the syllabus for details. The Last
Exam: During the last week of the semester, there will be an exam which covers the last few weeks of the course; in other words, it will not be a “comprehensive” exam. Unlike the other exams, the last exam “opens” in AT&S at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and closes 78 hours later on Friday at Noon. Since the semester ends on Friday and I need to turn in final grades at the beginning of the next week, I cannot give students the weekend to work on the exam because I need time to evaluate their work before the deadline for turning in grades.
To return to the table of contents, click here.
Labs and “Alternate Site Activities” (ASAs) You may come to El Camino College on Friday mornings to do the labs in-person or do “online labs,” whichever you prefer. Sometimes, instead of a lab, we will meet at the coast for an “alternate site activity” (ASA). If you cannot or do not wish to attend an ASA, you can do the “Online ASA” instead. I usually advise students to do the labs and attend the ASAs in person, if they can. I think that you get more out of “hands on” work, it is more fun to work with others, and it is easier for me to help students in person. In addition, students who do “online labs” need more advanced computer skills (e.g., making drawings). Also: everyone who attends an ASA gets “full credit” and does not need to turn in their notes to be graded! NOTE: ASAs that you attend are the only “labs” that are not turned in to be evaluated by your instructor. See the course outline for the due dates of
each lab and “Online ASA.” Labs and
online ASA are due on Sundays, but late penalties will not be applied until
Monday morning at 6 a.m. when I arrive at work. You may submit a handwritten copy of the
lab or electronic file containing your answers to the lab questions,
whichever you prefer. Submit
electronic files in “assignments, tasks, and surveys.” If I am not available when you come to
campus, you can slip your handwritten lab under my office door – Natural
Science 217 – or give it to one of the staff in the Natural Sciences Division
Office (located in the corner of the building closest to the intersection of
Manhattan Beach Blvd. and Alternate
Site Activities: We will visit the ocean several times as a part of this class; these visits are called “alternate site activities” (ASA). All students must fill out an Alternate Site Activity Waiver, and turn it in to their instructor prior to the first ASA. ASA dates, times, and locations are noted on the course outline and in the lecture notes, and students are expected to plan accordingly (i.e., if you do not have your own car, find someone who can give you a ride). Students must provide their own transportation to and from the ASA sites; according to El Camino College guidelines, instructors cannot take students in their vehicles. Come to ASAs “rain or shine”; bring rain gear (e.g., coats, umbrellas), because we will see and do whatever we can in the rain. Adequate class time will be provided for students to get to and from ASA sites so that they will not be late for their other classes or responsibilities. Instead of attending an ASA, you may do the equivalent “Online ASA” at home. Doing Labs at ECC: Please, please, please: come prepared to work on the lab. At the very least, print out the lab, and bring it to class. Do the appropriate reading assignment for the lab. Otherwise, you will work slowly and may not be able to finish the lab in the allotted time. In general, students work in pairs on the labs, though there are some exceptions. However, the entire group must work on the same questions together. (In other words, students may not split up the questions between them, and then simply copy the answers from one another: this is not working together, it is plagiarism.) If your group is not working on the questions together, then your instructor will split it up. Students who are not working on the lab during lab time will not be allowed to join (or re-join) a group; they must work on their own. Do not take out any materials (e.g., notes for other classes, a cell phone) which make it appear that you are not doing your lab. Therefore, students who arrive late must work on their own when they come to class. Students who leave the classroom for an extended period of time during lab time must work on their own when they return. (Your instructor is the judge of what constitutes an “extended” period of time; approximately 10 minutes is allowable.) Your instructor will move around the room to answer questions and give feedback about your answers during lab time. Take advantage of this opportunity: do not waste lab time struggling with the lab activities; ask questions! This is the best way to insure that you will get full credit on your labs.
Online Labs: To do a lab or ASA “online,” download both the lab file and the assignment file. The assignment file contains instructions for doing the lab “online” and pictures of the samples and activities that you will need to complete the lab. The lab file contains the questions that you need to answer. If instructions in the lab file and assignment file contradict one another, follow the instructions in the assignment file (since it contains the instructions for doing the lab “online”). To do an ASA “online,” download the ASA file (which is the lab file – ASAs are “labs”), the slides file(s), and the audio file(s). Look at the slides showing photographs from the ASA as you listen to the audio lecture, and use the pictures and lecture to answer the questions in the lab file. Add your last and first names to the name of the lab file (e.g., 03A_Lab_Noyes_Jim.doc) and write your name and the date into the beginning of the lab file in the spaces provided. Highlight all your answers using color or in some other way so that it is easy for anyone reading your lab to differentiate between the questions and the answers. If you do not follow these instructions, you will be penalized. You should get started on each lab before we do the lab in class on Friday so that I have time to respond to your questions. Submit the lab file in Etudes via “assignments, tests, and surveys” by the due date. Submit the lab as a MS Word file (*.doc or *.docx), a rich-text-format file (*.rtf), or adobe acrobat file (*.pdf). If you wrote in the answers by hand, you may take photographs of each page of your lab and upload them as JPEG files (*.jpg). Make sure that the pictures clear and easy to read, and are right-side up, or I will ask you to “try again” and your work will be “late.” If you prefer, you may write in the answers by hand, and submit the handwritten lab file instead of submitting the electronic lab file. In this case you will need come to campus to turn in your work on or before the Friday preceding the Sunday when it is due, at least if you want avoid any late penalties. If I am not available when you come to campus, you can slip your handwritten lab under my office door – Natural Science 217 – or give it to one of the staff in the Natural Sciences Division Office (located in the corner of the building closest to the intersection of Manhattan Beach Blvd. and Crenshaw Blvd – i.e., the corner with the McDonald’s); they will put your lab in my mailbox. NOTE: Campus buildings are normally locked on Sundays and Saturdays, and no one is available to take your work. If you prefer to turn in a lab in person, you may want to turn it in on Friday, perhaps when you come to class to do the next lab. Otherwise, you will have to come in very early on Monday morning to avoid a “late penalty.” To return to
the table of contents, click here.
Submitting Labs and Other Assignments Submit completed labs and other assignments using the “assignments, tests, & surveys” feature in Etudes. Note: You may only press the submit button once. In other words, you must attach all of the files before you press the submit button. Make sure that your electronic files
contain all of the following, or your work may be downgraded since I will
have to do it for you. ·
Only
submit *.doc or *.rtf files. ·
Put the
name of the assignment and your name in the name of the file. ·
Put
your name and the date inside the file at the beginning of the file. Submit a MS Word (.doc) for MS Office 2003 or rich-text format (.rtf) document with the following name: AssignmentName_LastName_FirstName.FileNameExtension For example, the first lab should be 01B_Lab_Noyes_Jim.doc, and the second lab should be 03A_Lab_Noyes_Jim.doc. Make sure that you put your name, the date, and the title of the assignment at the beginning of the each file that you submit.
Failure to follow any of the instructions given above will result in penalties, since your instructor will have to waste his time doing it for you, searching for your file among many others, or converting your file into a readable format. Specifically: · Wrong File Name: -5% penalty · No Name Inside the File: -5% penalty ·
Wrong
Type of File Submitted (not *.doc or *.rtf): The assignment must be
re-submitted. The re-submitted
assignment will be treated as “late.” · Maps/Pictures: If maps/pictures are not in the file or submitted with the file, then assignment must be re-submitted. The re-submitted assignment or lab will be treated as “late.” To return to the table of contents, click here. Requesting Feedback: I would be happy to help you
find the answers to the study guide questions and give you feedback on your
labs before you turn them in. (I encourage you to ask in the discussion forums; other
people probably have the same question.)
However, you have to help me answer your questions quickly and
efficiently. I will not answer
questions like “is my lab good enough?” or “how is my assignment?” These are questions about grading, and I
will only grade your work once.
Instead, I want you to ask about specific
questions about specific parts of labs and assignments. For example: ·
“Question 3 of the
map skills lab says….I don’t understand what
question 3 is asking for, because…Does it want me to…?” ·
“Question 6 of the
ocean currents study guide says…..I think the answer to question 6 might be…” ·
“Question 4 on the
take-home exam says…Have I provided enough information about…?” Make sure that you include any relevant information including the text of the question that you are trying
to answer, where the question comes from, etc. If you do not ask
specific questions or provide me with the information necessary to answer
your question quickly, then I will ask you to re-phrase your question or
provide me with the information, which will delay my answer to your
question. In other words, do not ask
questions which require me or anyone else to do a lot of extra work (e.g.,
digging up information that you could have pasted into the discussion post or
email in 2 seconds). To return to the table of contents, click here. Extra Credit and “Make-Up” Exams & Labs While there may be a few opportunities to receive a few extra credit points here and there, there are no extra credit assignments in this class. Instead, students are expected to “make up” the work that they were suppose to do originally. The only regular opportunity for extra credit is helping me improve the course materials: if you are the first person to identify an incorrect or inconsistent date or instruction, broken link, spelling error, missing word in a sentence, etc. in up-to-date materials, then I typically award 1 point of extra credit for your efforts. Send me a private message and clearly identify the location of the error and describe the error (document, page number, copy of the sentence, description of the error). If there are multiple related errors in my materials, you will only receive 1 point of extra credit; for example, if I misspell a word 16 times or a single error causes 16 links to become “broken,” you will only receive 1 point of extra credit. At most, you can receive 10 points of extra credit for helping to improve the course materials. Students who miss an exam deadline should take the exam as soon as possible, because the longer they wait, the more their grade will be reduced. Contact me ASAP via private message or email so that I know that you took the exam late and that it is now available for me to evaluate. (Etudes does not reliably alert me that there is late work to be graded, so if you wish your late work to be evaluated in a timely manner, please contact me.) The only excuse that I will accept for missing an exam, lab, etc. is a verifiable medical problem; in this case, I will waive the “late penalty” if the work is done within a week of the due date. (I may be willing to grant longer extensions; please ask.) If you know that you are going to be unable to take an exam during the assigned time period, please arrange to take the exam early to avoid the late penalty. Students who miss a quiz deadline should take the quiz as soon as possible, because the longer they wait, the more their grade will be reduced; their score is “zero” if they do not take the quiz within 2 weeks of the due date. Contact me ASAP via private message or email so that I can give you “special access” to the quiz. The only excuse that I will accept for missing an exam, lab, etc. is a verifiable medical problem; in this case, I will waive the “late penalty” if the work is done within a week of the due date. (I may be willing to grant longer extensions; please ask.) Notice that there is a difference between the make-up policy for exams and quizzes: Etudes will allow you to take an exam late, but you must request special permission to take a quiz late. The reason there is a difference is that Etudes automatically grades the quizzes, does not automatically penalize late work, and takes students’ “best” quiz as their score. So, I must make students request “special access” to take a quiz late, because I cannot allow students to “improve” their quiz scores after the due date, and I have to apply all quiz late penalties manually. You may
“make-up” up to 10 points of participation credit for labs and ASAs by doing
the Cabrillo Aquarium ASA (14F) found at the end of your lecture notes. (We will not do this ASA as a class.) You must take a picture of
yourself in front of a recognizable part of the aquarium (e.g., the whale
statue) to prove that you were there.
To receive credit, make an appointment to show your instructor the
picture, and so that your instructor can review the completed ASA and ask you
questions about the aquarium. To return to the table of contents, click here.
Submit
late work via the “assignments, tests, and surveys” feature of Etudes. After
submitting your work, contact me via private message or email so that I know that
you turned in work late and that it is now available for me to evaluate. Etudes does not
reliably alert me that there is late work to be graded, so if you wish your
late work to be evaluated in a timely manner, please contact me. Work which is late or incomplete (e.g., missing information like a name, section, or date) will be penalized, in part because it makes extra work for your instructor. Late work is penalized, because students who turn in work late have had more time to work on and prepare for the assignment than other students; if late work was not penalized, it would be unfair to students who rushed to finish their work on time or turned in their work on time but incomplete. For most assignments, the late penalty is: · maximum score of 90% if your work is turned in within 3 hours of the due date, · maximum score of 85% if your work is turned in within 24 hours (1 day) of the due date, · maximum score of 80% if your work is turned in within 48 hours (2 days) of the due date, · maximum score of 75% if your work is turned in within 72 hours (3 days) of the due date, · maximum score of 70% if your work is turned in within 96 hours (4 days) of the due date , · maximum score of 60% if your work is turned in within 1 week of the due date, and · maximum score of 50% if your work is turned in within 2 weeks of the due date; · after 2 weeks, late work will not be accepted. Note that it may be difficult or impossible to turn work in during some time periods (e.g., your physical lab during the weekend), but late penalties will still apply because the author will have “extra time” to complete their work. These penalties also apply to exams. The only difference is that even after 2 weeks, you can still take an exam late. The penalty is 50%. (See the section on “make-up” exams for details.) The penalty is the maximum score that you can receive. In other words, if your work is not turned in by the due date, it cannot receive better than an “A─” (90%); if it is 48-hours late, it cannot receive better than a “B─” (80%); and so on. The minimum penalty is 1 point. So if a 4-point assignment is late or incomplete (e.g., missing your name), you cannot receive more than 3 points. If a 2-point assignment is late, you cannot receive more than 1 point. Week 15 is the last week to turn in late work (and make-up work like the Cabrillo Aquarium ASA); no late work will be accepted in week 16. (The Climate Change Lab and the make-up Online Sandy Shores ASA will be accepted because they are due in week 16.) All work for the class must be completed and turned in by Noon on the Friday of the last week of the semester. No work will be accepted after this time. To return to the table of contents, click here.
If I judge you to have plagiarized an
assignment or cheated on a test, then at the very least you will get no
credit for the assignment or test. I reserve
the right to fail students who cheat and/or report them to the college. Plagiarism (“copying”) is presenting
someone else’s work as your own.
Altering a few words here and there does not make the work your own,
nor does eliminating, adding, or switching the order of a few sentences or
clauses. It is still copying. Make sure that you present the information
in your own words. You may use quotes
(“ ”) to indicate where you have used someone else’s
material, but do not let your answer become a string of quotes without any of
your own analysis. It does not matter if you copied from a
reading assignment, a textbook, the discussion forums, a website, a fellow
student, etc.; in other words, the source that you copied from is
irrelevant. Copying without
attribution is still stealing someone else’s work and claiming it is your
own, it is lying about your own efforts and understanding. If you plagiarize when you post in the
discussion forums, I will point out your plagiarism to the class, and your
work will serve as an example to other students. If you would be embarrassed by such a post
by your instructor, take care not to plagiarize in your posts: always put
ideas in your own words.
To return to the table of contents, click here.
If your question is about the
course material, I encourage you to ask in the discussion forums; other
people probably have the same question.
You are welcome to schedule a meeting for an online “chat” with
me. I will check the discussion forums
(especially the “questions” forum), my e-mail (tnoyes@elcamino.edu), and
phone messages (310-660-3593, ext. 3356) at least once per day on the
days when I teach (unless I am away for an
“alternate site activity”). Expect a
response on the following weekday. To return to the table of contents, click here. Technology Requirements & Problems According to the Student Handbook for Online Courses,
students are required to have at least the following resources: · Regular access to
the Internet · A Computer: a PC with
Windows and a Pentium processor · A recent version
of a web browser such as FireFox or Microsoft
Explorer · An Internet
Service Provider · An Email Address · Current Word
Processing Software as required by the instructor This class has the following
additional software requirements.
Students need to have and be able to use (or learn to use) the
following software programs: ·
a word processing
program that can read and save files in *.doc or *.rtf formats ·
a program that can view and edit image files (*.bmp,
*.jpg, *.gif). Oceanography is a
science that heavily uses maps, so students must have the ability to edit
maps. ·
a pdf file reader (like the free adobe acrobat reader ·
a program that can
play mp3 audio files (like Itunes or Windows Media
Player) · a program that can view avi
video files (like Windows Media Player I am afraid that El Camino College’s
tech support policy is somewhat primitive.
Here is a quote from the Student
Handbook for Online Courses: If for some reason you cannot access your course, email or call your instructor or the Distance Education Office. We will get in touch with our Information Technology Services department and find out what the problem is. In the future, we hope to have a “Technical Help Number” students can call, but until that time, we will contact ITS on your behalf. The Distance Education office is located in the east
wing, lower level, of the Schauerman Library, room
76. (It is near the library media
technology center.) You can contact
Distance Education at (310)
660-6453 or DistanceEd@elcamino.edu. Their webpage is at http://www.elcamino.edu/library/distance-ed/. For more information and
details, see the
Student
Handbook for Online Courses found at: To return to the table of contents, click here. Students will not be allowed to add this class after the add
deadline. As in a
traditional course, we need a way in online courses to assess
“attendance.” In this course, your “attendance” will be measured based
on performance of a few weekly tasks (e.g., submitting work, posting in the
forums). This is called “regular
effective contact.” As in a
traditional course, if you do not “attend” class, you may be dropped from the
course, and if you do not “attend” the first “day” of class, then you are
automatically dropped from the class as a “no show.” If
you do not “attend class,” I reserve the right to assume that you are no
longer in the class and to drop you.
ECC policy is to drop students after they miss 10% of a class (2 weeks
with no regular effective contact ), even if you
have a medical excuse. To avoid being
dropped, please contact me to tell me that you wish to remain in the
class. On the other hand, it is the
student's responsibility to initiate the procedure of dropping or withdrawing
from a course: do not expect me to do this for you in time for you to
have the best mark on your transcript; you may end up with an “F” in the
class instead of no grade or a “W.”
Although you do not need to inform me of your drop or withdrawal, I
would appreciate being informed and being given the chance to talk to you
before you withdraw from the class. I
would hate for a misunderstanding to cause you to drop the class
unnecessarily and lose time (and money). To return to the table of contents, click here.
Personal information that students provide
will be used to contact the students only for class-related business. Students are not obligated to provide any
contact information if they do not wish to do so, but should recognize that
it may make it harder for me to reach them (e.g., if they do not speak clearly
when leaving their phone number on my voicemail). To return to the table of contents, click here. Course Prerequisites: None Recommended Preparation: eligibility for English 84 Course
Description: This introductory course in oceanography
presents the ocean in terms of its physical, chemical, and biological
environments. The topics include
studies of: formation and modification of various waves types; tidal behavior;
formation of water masses and ocean currents; beaches and the changing
shoreline; coral reefs; physical and chemical properties of ocean water;
marine environments; marine sediments; origin of sea floor and coastline
features; the spreading sea floor and drifting continents. To return to the table of contents, click here. ·
Students can
identify the salient features of the basic concepts of oceanography. (This includes the ability to recall the
definitions of the specialized vocabulary of oceanography.) · Students recognize and can accurately articulate how
the ocean affects humans’ lives · Students can identify the key elements of the
scientific method (hypotheses, tests, observations,
conclusions/interpretation of observations) in popular accounts of scientific
research in magazines, newspapers, etc. To return to the table of contents, click here. Students who pass this course will be able to: 1.
Use
the theory of plate tectonics to explain observed features of the Earth’s
surface including continents and ocean basins, earthquakes, fossil remains,
islands, mountains, oceanic ridges, trenches, and volcanoes. Also, they will be able to use observations
of the Earth to assess the validity of the theory of plate tectonics. 2.
Describe
the chemical and physical properties of water and seawater, and explain these
properties in terms of the behavior of atoms and molecules. Also, they will be able to explain how these
properties affect the behavior and movement of seawater. 3.
Describe
and explain how the ocean and atmosphere interact with one another,
especially how the ocean affects climate and the impact that global warming
will have on the ocean. 4.
Describe
the surface and deep circulation of the ocean, and explain the observed
motion of the ocean in terms of wind forcing, the Coriolis
effect, and density differences. 5.
Describe
the formation of waves (wind-generated, internal, and tsunami), and explain
how wave phenomena such as refraction, reflection, standing waves, and wave
dispersion affect their propagation and characteristics (e.g., wavelength,
height, period). Also, explain how and
why waves change as they shoal, and how coastal variations can produce
different breaking patterns. 6.
Explain
the observed daily and monthly cycles of the tides using the equilibrium and
dynamic theories 7.
Explain
the origin of coastal features such as sandy and rocky beaches, headlands,
coves, sea arches, sea stacks, wave-cut and marine terraces, barrier islands,
spits, and tombolos in terms of wave conditions,
tides, and changes in sea level. 8.
Explain
the origin, movement, modification, and deposition of marine sediments in
terms of the physical, chemical, and biological conditions affecting them. 9.
Describe
and explain the spatial and temporal distribution of ocean primary
productivity (algae growth) in terms of the availability of sunlight and
nutrients. Describe the flow of energy
and nutrients into, through, and out of marine food webs, and analyze how
human actions can disrupt food webs. 10. Describe special adaptations of marine
organisms, and explain how these adaptations promote their survival and
reproduction under the unique physical and chemical conditions found in the
ocean. 11. Interpret contour maps, and find locations,
measure distances, and take into account scaling factors on nautical charts.
(Map Skills) 12. Solve problems using dimensional analysis,
and calculate percentages, areas, and volumes. 13. Prepare and analyze graphs, including
time-series graphs, histograms, multivariate graphs, 14. Make and describe observations, propose
hypotheses and experiments to test hypotheses, To return to the table of contents, click here.
ECC Distance Education
Website: http://www.elcamino.edu/library/distance-ed/ Student Services Website: http://www.elcamino.edu/studentservices/ Library Website: http://www.elcamino.edu/library/index.asp To return to the table of contents, click here. El Camino College offers quality, comprehensive educational programs and services to ensure the educational success of students from our diverse community. Non-Discrimination
Policy The policy of the
El Camino Community College District is to provide an educational and employment environment in which no person shall be unlawfully denied full
and equal access to, the
benefits of, or be unlawfully subjected to, discrimination on the basis of ethnic group identification,
national origin, religion, age,
sex, race, color, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or retaliation in any
program or activity that is administered
by, funded directly by, or that receives any financial assistance from, the State Chancellor or
Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges. If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. To return to the table of contents, click here.
|