The field trips provide an opportunity to view birds in the field. Each week's field trip report must be posted on the discussion web before midnight on Sunday.
The concept-check quiz is your opportunity to determine if you have learned the essential concepts of each week's module. The electronic quiz will consist of up to 20 questions covering the material in the week's readings. You will have 60 minutes to answer the 20 quiz questions.
You can access the week's quiz by clicking on the Concept-check Quiz link on each week's page. You must complete all of the quiz questions at the same time. You can't do part now and part later. You can only submit the quiz once so don't start the quiz until you are ready to complete it.
Each week's quiz must be completed by midnight on Sunday of that week. You may take the quiz any time during the week as long as you are finished before midnight on Sunday.
The discussion web is the tool that is used to facilitate discussion between the class members. You must participate in each week's discussion to receive credit for this portion of the class.
Before you go to the discussion web, review your field trip notes and your bird sightings. Each week you will post a description of your field trip location and activities as well as a list of your sightings. You may want to draft your comments in a word processing program and then paste them on to the discussion site.
In addition to posting your field trip results, read the contributions of your classmates. Your responses to your classmates should includes questions, suggestions or comments based on their discussion postings.
Your discussion grade is based upon making contributions to the discussions. You are not expected to submit a little "essay" on a specific topic. Your contribution of new information or additional information to an existing topic enhances the discussion. Posting a single item that starts a new thread or adding comments to one existing thread will receive an average grade. Actively participating in the discussion by posting two or more items will enhance your grade and your learning.
You may add to the discussion web anytime during the week. Visit the discussion web frequently to share your thought with your classmates. The weekly discussion closes at midnight on Sunday (the same deadline for submitting weekly field trip reports and quizzes). Contributions made after the week's discussion web closes will not be included in that week's discussion grade.
You must have an active email account throughout this course. Email is the tool that is used to interact with the instructor and your classmates. Graded projects are returned to you via email.
Use WebCT to email the course instructors before the first Sunday of the quarter. They will acknowledge receipt of your message by sending you an "I got it!!" message.
The instructors are not responsible for emails that you do not receive due to technical problems with your email system or for information contained in an email that you do not read in a timely manner.
Quizzes must be completed by midnight on the specific posted due date. Quizzes received after the midnight deadline will not be accepted by the computer. The quiz score for a missed quiz will be recorded as a zero for that week. If you are ill or have some other extenuating circumstances notify the instruction via email before midnight on Sunday to avoid losing the week's quiz points.
Each week will contain a Learning Experiences Chart (with an accompanying printable form) which will summarize all the requirements for that week. You should print a copy of the Learning Experiences Chart to keep track of all of the requirements and to ensure that you have completed them all.
There will be practicums to test your knowledge of the bird species that are featured each week. Each practicum will focus on the birds from two weeks, i.e. practicum #1 will cover the featured birds for week 1 and week 2. Check the Learning Experiences Charts for a list of each week's featured birds.
The practicum will consist of 10 - 20 pictures shown one at a time. You will have one minute to type the name of the species or answer the question in the space provided. (Correct spelling is essential to get credit for your answers.) We STRONGLY suggest that you study the species BEFORE you take the practicum.
The required texts are:
Handbook of Bird Biology by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Princeton University Press. New Jersey. 2004
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America by David Allen Sibley. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 2003
or
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America by David Allen Sibley. New York. 2003
Recommended texts are:
Manual of Ornithology by Noble S. Proctor & Patrick J. Lynch. Yale University Press. New Haven, Connecticut. 1993
Sibley's Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 2002
The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior by David Allen Sibley. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 2001
Course readings include materials from the following sources:
The course textbooks
Weekly online text and special topics written by Ellie Cauldwell and Pete Lortz
Web sites (see links on weekly pages)
Reading assignments are listed on the weekly topics page which can be accessed from the Course Schedule. There are reading assignments from the course texts each week but not all weeks have online text and/or special topics.
Weekly quiz questions will be taken from the week's readings in the course textbooks, the week's online text and special topics. The recommended web sites will provide additional information related to the week's topics and field trip.
The student time commitment for a five credit science class is approximately fifteen (15) hours per week. An on-campus course would have five hours of lecture and ten hours of home study. Since this online class doesn't have an on-campus component there are more required readings in an online class.
To successfully complete an online course, effective time management is essential. Schedule regular times to complete the course readings and concept-check quiz and to write your field trip reports. Students frequently underestimate the amount of time required to complete an assignment and then miss the midnight Sunday deadline due to lack of preplanning.
We will use Web CT for the concept-check quizzes, the practicums, and the discussion and email. In addition, you can use Web CT to check your grades for the quizzes and the practicums.
You will need a username and a password for Web CT. These will be assigned at the beginning of the quarter. Your username will be the first letter of your first name and all the letters of your last name.
Your password is the last 6 numbers of your student ID number (assigned by the school).
The weekly Learning Experiences chart is designed to help you plan your study time. You may find it helpful to print the weekly Learning Experiences chart. You can mark off each task as you finish it to insure that you have finished all of the preparation necessary to successfully complete the week's assignments. Begin with the Week One Learning Experiences chart
The Course Progress Chart will also help you record your progress in this course.