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Lecture Grading Fall 2022 Semester (August
22, 2022) |
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LINKS
TO IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Coronavirus Information Security |
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Links
to Syllabus Sections |
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Report any broken links/errors to Dr. Cooper (crcooper01@ysu.edu) |
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General Information A student’s final grade for the
lecture portion of this course will be based upon the total number of points earned. Students shall have the opportunity to earn
a minimum of 800 points. There are a few
“built-in” opportunities to earn bonus points (see below). However, a student’s final course grade is based
upon an absolute scale, i.e., there is no curving of this scale. Also, students need to note that almost all
examinations, quizzes, and other graded activities (e.g., SmartBook assignments)
shall be administered via the CONNECT
learning platform. The pertinent details are provided below. There is a separate grade for
the laboratory component of this course.
Please see the Laboratory Syllabus
for details. IMPORTANT
NOTICE: A theme noted repeatedly throughout this syllabus should be etched
upon the mind of each student enrolled in this course. The deadlines for scheduled assignments
are firm – there shall be no extensions! Students are
strongly encouraged to refer to the Lecture Schedule on a regular
basis to be aware of assignment deadlines. Lecture Grade Components Examinations. Dates for examinations have been established
(see Lecture
Schedule). These dates are subject
to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Five examinations will be given
throughout the semester. Although each
examination may have a few bonus point questions included, the official point
values for each is as follows: Examinations I through IV, 100 points each; Examination
V, 120 points. Collectively,
all five examinations are worth 520 points towards a student’s course grade, though there
is the possibility to earn more points due to any bonus questions that may be
included in an examination. Please take note of the following
regarding examinations: ·
All examinations shall be administered electronically. Therefore, students must possess an appropriate
laptop computer/tablet to take this course. ·
All examinations are scheduled to be taken in
class unless extenuating circumstances occur.
If an examination is taken remotely (off-campus), the student is solely
responsible for any interruptions (i.e., glitches, freezes, lost connections,
etc.) due to an unstable internet connection or any other reason. Though each instance will be considered on a
case-by-case basis, Dr. Cooper is not likely to be sympathetic to adverse events
taking place off campus during an examination, a quiz, etc. ·
All examinations shall be electronically proctored
using the program Protorio. As such, the Chrome browser is required
to take examinations. NOTE: for Proctorio
support, go to https://proctorio.com/support. ·
Examinations I through IV shall begin promptly
at the scheduled lecture time on the dates assigned. For these examinations, students will have 50
minutes to complete each. Students should
expect to take 5 minutes of this time to properly sign-in for the examination
being administered, which shall include at a minimum presentation of your identification. NOTE: Students must possess their YSU
ID to take any proctored examination/quiz. The ID will need to be recorded by Proctorio. ·
Examination V shall be administered in WBSH
3022 and will begin promptly at 8:00 AM on Friday, December 16th, and
end no later than 10:00 AM. Students must
begin Examination V before 8:15 AM. Scores
earned by students beginning after this time shall not be recorded. Also, students should expect to take 5 minutes
of this time to properly sign-in for Examination V. ·
EXAMINATIONS WILL NOT BE TAKEN EARLY BY ANY
STUDENT FOR ANY REASON. Do
not plan any trips or holiday vacation to take place until after the dates of
these examinations. ·
At the time this syllabus was created, it
was not clear if the YSU Bookstore included the Proctorio monitoring service in
the First Day Ready program for this course.
If not, students will have to pay for the Proctorio service ($15.00) using
a credit card. However, once paid, the
proctoring service will be included in your CONNECT subscription for the entire
semester. ·
When taking an examination, each student shall
not have the same version. Examinations
shall be mainly comprised of multiple-choice questions, true/false statements,
and matching problems. However, fill-in-the-blank
type questions (YES, spelling does count!) and short essay questions may
be used as well. These examinations will
focus solely on material covered since the previous examination, yet current material
often builds upon that previously covered in the course. ·
Examination V is not comprehensive and covers
only recent material as noted in the Lecture Schedule. ·
Make-up examinations will be given ONLY
at Dr. Cooper’s discretion upon either verification of an “excused absence” (see
Attendance) or
an extenuating circumstance that is convincingly acceptable to Dr. Cooper. Make-up examinations may take any form, including
the use of oral or essay questions. ·
Except for extreme extenuating
circumstances (and vacations do not count!), it is unacceptable
for a student to request to take an examination at a time other than scheduled. Having a second examination, or even a third
examination, the day before, the day after, on the same day of the scheduled microbiology
examination is not even remotely a rational or valid reason to request a change
in the microbiology examination date. (Out
of curiosity, did you ask your other instructor to change the date of their examination?). ·
My policy is that I do not the release completed
examinations for students to review. If
a student wishes, per their request, I can review the examination and provide
a general evaluation of what issues may have presented difficulty. SPECIAL
NOTICE: Due to the online educational environment we are experiencing,
many instructors of other courses often blithely give broad deadlines to their
students for completing an examination, task, quiz, etc. In the past, these time frames have included
on occasion the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM period, as well
as established times that sections of BIOL 3702L meet. To be unequivocally clear, students enrolled
in BIOL 3702 and an accompanying BIOL 3702L section must wholly reserve the times
for which they have officially enrolled in this course to attend to required activities,
e.g., scheduled examinations. If
an instructor of another course assigns an activity that conflicts with the time
of a required BIOL 3702 lecture/laboratory activity, the student should immediately
notify both that instructor and Dr. Cooper. CONNECT SmartBook Exercises. For each chapter covered, students should complete
an assigned SmartBook exercise via CONNECT.
The dates that these exercises are opened and closed have been scheduled
(see the table below and Lecture Schedule). All exercises will be open over a broad range
of days. The SmartBook exercise begin at
8:00 AM on the stated date and will close at 10:00 AM on the stated date, EXCEPT
for the last several exercises which are due by 8:00 AM on the day Examination
V is to be taken. SmartBook Exercises can never
be “made up” regardless of reason. The deadlines for the SmartBook
Exercises are firm – there shall be no extensions! In essence, students should view these
exercises as both homework and a means to review the contents of each chapter. A wise student will take these exercises seriously
and not view them as a chore to check off.
Take note that each exercise will incur a significant amount of time to
complete. Therefore, plan accordingly. Collectively, the exercises are worth 180 points
towards a student’s course grade. Partially
completed exercises earn partial credit.
Non-submission of an exercise for any reasons will result in a score of
“0” for that assignment. SmartBook
Assignments on CONNECT
*The time
required for each of these assignments is subject to change and shall undoubtedly
vary from person-to-person depending upon the understanding and commitment of
the individual. Quizzes. Dates for eighteen (18) quizzes
have been established (see Lecture Schedule). The dates for when these quizzes are
opened and closed have been scheduled over a broad range of days. The quizzes will begin at 8:00 AM on the stated
date and will close at 10:00 AM on the stated date, EXCEPT for
the last several quizzes which are due by 8:00 AM on the day Examination V is
to be taken. These quizzes are
worth 5 points each. The deadlines for the lecture
quizzes are firm – there shall be no extensions! Overall, this grade component is worth
90 points towards a student’s total course score, though there is the possibility
to earn more points due to bonus questions.
Again, each student in each lecture session may not have the same version
of the quiz. · Each quiz
shall be mainly composed of multiple-choice questions, true/false statements,
and matching problems. However, fill-in-the-blank type questions (YES,
spelling does count!) and short essay questions may be used as well. · Each quiz
is timed – typically students shall have 5-7 minutes to complete a quiz. · Quizzes
will focus solely on material assigned for that chapter. · Quizzes
can never be “made up” regardless of reason. Assessment Quiz 2. Students shall take this quiz in
class at the end of the semester and is intended to assess a student’s cumulative
knowledge in microbiology that was gained throughout the semester. There will be no extensions or “make ups” granted. This assessment is worth 10 bonus points of
the course grade Bonus Points. There is no inherent right for “bonus
points”. Bonus points are only
a courtesy that may be extended to students. Please take note of the following: · The availability
of “bonus points” is wholly at Dr. Cooper’s discretion. Usually, examinations and the occasional quiz
include one or more bonus points. · Bonus point
opportunities are never able to be “made up”.
If a student misses them by being tardy, absent, or otherwise, the opportunity
is gone. · Known “bonus
point” opportunities include the following: o Assessment
Quiz 1. Students cannot study for this quiz which are
intended to assess a student’s current knowledge in microbiology. There will be no extensions or “make ups” granted
if a quiz is not submitted by the stated deadline. This assessment is worth 10 bonus points, or
1.25% of the course grade, collectively. o Proctorio
Practice Quizzes 1 and 2.
These quizzes are worth 5 bonus points each, or 1.25% of the
course grade collectively. The quizzes
are intended for students to become comfortable with the Proctorio proctoring
program. Quiz 1 will be taken in class. There is no make-up for this quiz. Quiz 2 is to be conducted by the student on
their own and has been scheduled with a specific deadline (Lecture Schedule). This is a firm deadline with no possible extensions. o Syllabus Acknowledgement. Submission
of this element by the stated deadlines will earn a student one (1) bonus point
each. Determination of Final Course Grade The following grading scale will
be used to determine a student’s final grade in the lecture portion of this course: ·
Grade of A = 720 or more total points earned ·
Grade of B = 640 – 719 total points earned ·
Grade of C = 560 – 639 total points earned ·
Grade of D = 480 – 559 total points earned ·
Grade of F = 479 or less total points earned This grading scale is absolute! For example, a grade of “B” will be given to
a student who earns 719 points. NO EXCEPTIONS! My reasoning is simple – at a minimum,
every student in this course has the opportunity to earn
3% or more of the total course points as bonus points. Students should realize the following: a
good grade is not an entitlement; it is an earned honor. Report any broken links/errors to Dr. Cooper (crcooper01@ysu.edu) |
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Youngstown State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, age, religion or veteran/military status in its programs or activities. Please visit the EIT Home Page for contact information for persons designated to handle questions about this policy. It is possible that portions of this web page are not wholly in accord with the American with Disabilities Act. If this is the case, a student currently enrolled in this course should contact Dr. Cooper (crcooper01@ysu.edu; 330.941.1361) and compliant material shall be provided as soon as practical. © 2022 Chester R. Cooper, Jr. |
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