Lecture Instructor: Rick Gillis  Office: 3014 Cowley Hall Office Phone: (608)-785-8253  

 

OFFICE HOURS: Although my Office Hours in 3014 Cowley Hall are listed on the schedule below in green, please feel free to visit me any time I am in my office (which is usually when I am not in class, as indicated by the yellow shading)

 

Class Period	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
07:45―08:40	325 CH
08:50―09:45	325 CH	Office	Office	Office	Office
09:55―10:50	151 CH		151 CH		151 CH
11:00―11:55		Office	Office	Office	Office
12:05―13:00	325 CH
13:10―14:05	325 CH	CH 156		CH 156
14:15―15:10	325 CH	Office	Office	Office	Office
15:20-16:15	325 CH

 

I can usually be reached by phone (608-785-8253) or visited during the hours I am not in class, but if this becomes a problem, I can always be reached by e-mail at: rgillis@uwlax.edu. 

 

CLASS ROOMS: Lectures meet in 156 Cowley Hall; labs meet in 325 Cowley Hall.

 

Course Materials: As part of the special course fee you have paid, you will be provided with a set of Course Lecture Outline Notes (which includes a series of appendices), a Laboratory Manual and a CD-ROM  (Zoo Disc) that contains just about all of the questions (except for some questions to the function of some structures) along with their answers, their correct spelling, whether they need to be underlined or not, capitalized, etc. found on the Animal Biology Lab Practical Exams!   

 

 

Optional Material: Animal Diversity by Hickman and Roberts.  Although you may wish to use this text as a reference, there will be no reading assignments nor will any test material be taken from it.

 

Special Note to Teacher Education Students: Activities in this course can potentially be used for portfolio development!

D2L On-Line Practice Exams: After we have finished the material for each lecture and laboratory exam, you can go to the course D2L website and take a practice exam over the same material.  Each practice lecture exam will cover the same material as the actual lecture exam and have the same number of multiple-choice questions. Each of the laboratory practice exams will cover the same material as the actual lab exams and consist of 30 fill-in-the blank questions. After taking the exam, you will be shown your score as well as any questions you might have missed and the answers you provided.

Suggestion: Although you can certainly use your notes while taking these practice exams, the actual exams are “closed-book/closed-notes”, so the best advice is to study for each exam and then take it to see where you are with respect to the material you need to know for the exam!

Method of Evaluation: Course grades will be determined by points received on multiple-choice exams as well as laboratory quizzes. Questions for the lecture tests will be taken only from the material presented in lecture, and questions for lab quizzes will only be taken from material present in lab.

 The dates of all in-lab quizzes and lecture exams can be found on the attached schedule or at: http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/Gillis/Bio-210-Spring/Bio-210-Schedule-Spring.htm

 The breakdown of points will be as follows:

Exercise or Test	Points
Lecture Exams (3)	240
Comprehensive Final Exam	120
D2L On-Line Lab Pre-Lab Quizzes (10)*	45
D2L On-Line Post Lab Quizzes (10)*	45
Phylogenetic Tree Lab Exercise	10
Lab Practical Exams (3)	90
Lab Microscope Quiz (1)	10
Total points =	560

*One (the lowest) on-line pre-lab and post-lab quiz scores will be dropped.

The course grade distribution will be as follows:

 A: 90-100%   AB: 87-89%   B: 80-86%   BC: 77-79%   C: 70-76%    D: 60-69%    F: 0-59%

Note: Any of the lecture exams (including the final exam) may be taken prior to the date and time for which they are scheduled for any reason. With reasonable justification (such as illness, participation in an athletic event, the scheduling of an unreasonable number of exams and assignments on the same day or two, etc.), students may take lecture exams at a later date. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the student to find a time to take the exam during which the instructor is free and available.

Please also note also that there is no provision for making up missed laboratory practical exams! If you miss a scheduled lab exam (for a documented reason), check with the lecture instructor immediately to see if you can take it at a later scheduled time! 

 If this is not possible, the score you receive on the next lab practical will be counted twice. If you miss the last lab practical for a documented reason, the lower of your previous two lab practical scores will be counted twice. But remember, if you miss a lab practical for an undocumented reason (i.e., you over-slept, forgot the exact time, arrived after the quiz had begun, your alarm clock didn’t work, etc.) you will receive a zero for that exam!  

Class Attendance: Attendance at all lectures is a normal and expected component of this (or any other) course at UW-L! You are responsible for any important announcements, changes to the exam schedule, assignment due dates, etc. made in lecture.

 

Thus, if you fail to take a lecture exam before or during its scheduled hour because the date of the exam was changed and a new date was announced in class, this does not constitute “reasonable justification” for having missed the exam and you will receive a score of zero for that exam!

 

Also, please note that attendance in lab is mandatory! Each unexcused lab absence will result in the loss of the 10 points as the students are required to have their lab instructors sign off on lab work that must be completed during each lab!

 

Required Writing Assignment: As part of the writing-across-the-major program, all students in this course are required to complete a writing assignment. Accordingly, up to 15 points of extra credit may be awarded for completing this assignment, but remember, if the writing assignment is not turned in personally to your lecture instructor by the time and date specified in the course syllabus,  15 points will be subtracted from your total number of course points!

Note: Instructions for completing the writing assignment can be found in this handout as well as at: http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/Gillis/Bio-210-Spring/Bio-210-Writing-Assignment-Spring.htm

CODE NUMBERS: In keeping with UW-L requirements for maintaining confidentiality in the grade reporting process, all lecture and lab exam scores will be posted  by a three-digit Code Number on the following website: http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/faculty/Gillis/Bio-210-Spring/Bio-210-Scores-Spring.htm

To obtain a Code Number, visit your instructor in his office at your earliest convenience, but no later than the time and date the required writing assignment is due. This is the only way of obtaining this number (which is also be used for obtaining your species and identifying your extra credit writing assignment)!

Important Note: If you do not come into your instructor’s office to get the Code Number and be checked off as having done so, you will not be able to be able to submit a writing assignment, which will lead to an automatic deduction of 15 points from your total course points!

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: Any student with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, or hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the instructor and the Disability Resource Services Office (165 Murphy Library) at the beginning of the semester.  Students who are currently using Disability Resource Services will have a copy of a contract that verifies they are qualified students with disabilities who have documentation on file in the Disability Resource Service Office.  Such accommodations are not a special privilege; they are your legally mandated right!