Course Requirements

Course Requirements

First Week The first week entails starting-up activities. Lab manual and textbook must be purchased. An email account must be set up and an email sent. A browser needs to be downloaded to the home computer, preferably Netscape Communicator 7.0 or Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. Messages are posted to the bulletin board.

Explorations Students conduct one Exploration per week, as described in the laboratory manual. Some equipment needed for the Explorations is provided in kits purchased by the student at the MCC bookstore. Other readily available equipment must be provided by the student. Some Explorations may require mailing results to the instructor.(See Calendar accessed through Bio 100 course homepage for sequence of Explorations and deadlines.)

Modules Except for the first week of getting acquainted activities, students must conduct one Module per week, as prescribed on the course calendar. This may entail readings in the textbook, activities on a CD-ROM, online readings and/or questions, and/or other internet activities.

Quizzes Completion of a unit requires submission of the quiz on the biology concepts presented. The quiz is taken online and submitted to the instructor via the Internet. The quizzes count approximately 22 percent of the course grade.
Online Discussions
Because there is no face-to-face interaction between students enrolled in the course, online bulletin boards have been created. This enables students to respond to topics addressed in the units, pose and respond to questions of fellow students and the instructor and to share observations from readings,etc. Each student is expected to participate in a substantive manner each week as directed during the course. The instructor's evaluation of the quality of this participation will count for approximately 10 percent of the course grade.

Examinations
Each student will be given two opportunities to display his/her accumulating understanding of biology concepts. A midterm and a comprehensive final examination will be completed in person (proctored). For students who live in the greater Phoenix area, they will come to the Mesa Community College Southern and Dobson campus to take these two-hour exams on one of the dates/times indicated by the course calendar. For students who do not live in the greater Phoenix area, they will work with their instructor to identify a suitable proctor. The proctor will be identified by the student and selected upon consent of the instructor. Suitable proctors can be found among faculty or testing center staff at colleges or universities. The exam is administered to the student by the proctor and then mailed to the instructor. The midterm will count for approximately 25 percent of the course grade.

The final examination will count for approximately 35 percent of the course grade.

Assignments Weekly assignments are submitted to the instructor. These are described in the Module Menu for each week. These include tasks such as graphing data from experiments performed at home, chromosome drawings, emails with answers to a question posed by the instructor, etc. Assignments count approximately 8 percent of the course grade.

First Week	The first week entails starting-up activities. Lab manual and textbook must be purchased. An email account must be set up and an email sent. A browser needs to be downloaded to the home computer, preferably Netscape Communicator 7.0 or Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. Messages are posted to the bulletin board.
Explorations	Students conduct one Exploration per week, as described in the laboratory manual. Some equipment needed for the Explorations is provided in kits purchased by the student at the MCC bookstore. Other readily available equipment must be provided by the student. Some Explorations may require mailing results to the instructor.(See Calendar accessed through Bio 100 course homepage for sequence of Explorations and deadlines.)
Modules	Except for the first week of getting acquainted activities, students must conduct one Module per week, as prescribed on the course calendar. This may entail readings in the textbook, activities on a CD-ROM, online readings and/or questions, and/or other internet activities.
Quizzes	Completion of a unit requires submission of the quiz on the biology concepts presented. The quiz is taken online and submitted to the instructor via the Internet. The quizzes count approximately 22 percent of the course grade.
Online Discussions	Because there is no face-to-face interaction between students enrolled in the course, online bulletin boards have been created. This enables students to respond to topics addressed in the units, pose and respond to questions of fellow students and the instructor and to share observations from readings,etc. Each student is expected to participate in a substantive manner each week as directed during the course. The instructor's evaluation of the quality of this participation will count for approximately 10 percent of the course grade.
Examinations	Each student will be given two opportunities to display his/her accumulating understanding of biology concepts. A midterm and a comprehensive final examination will be completed in person (proctored). For students who live in the greater Phoenix area, they will come to the Mesa Community College Southern and Dobson campus to take these two-hour exams on one of the dates/times indicated by the course calendar. For students who do not live in the greater Phoenix area, they will work with their instructor to identify a suitable proctor. The proctor will be identified by the student and selected upon consent of the instructor. Suitable proctors can be found among faculty or testing center staff at colleges or universities. The exam is administered to the student by the proctor and then mailed to the instructor. The midterm will count for approximately 25 percent of the course grade. The final examination will count for approximately 35 percent of the course grade.
Assignments	Weekly assignments are submitted to the instructor. These are described in the Module Menu for each week. These include tasks such as graphing data from experiments performed at home, chromosome drawings, emails with answers to a question posed by the instructor, etc. Assignments count approximately 8 percent of the course grade.