Announcements Fall 2002

• Location: Koons Hall rm. 301
• Date: Thursday 12/12
• Time: 3pm

• Final exam is Monday, Dec. 16, at 3:30 p.m.
• Sections 01-07 (Mon, Tues, Wed a.m. labs), take exam in Schenker (SCHN) 55
• Sections 08-13 (Wed. p.m., Thurs., Fri. labs), take exam in TLS 154, our regular classroom.
• Those with permission to take untimed exam go to TLS 309 (lab room) at 3:30 p.m. -- you will have up to two hours. This option is available to students working with CSD who have provided documentation prior to the exam.
• Bring two sharpened #2 pencils with functional erasers. You will need to fill in "bubble sheets". UConn does not supply us with pencils, and rooms do not have sharpeners. If you forget your pencil, you'll have to go find one or borrow one.
• Bring your student ID. Present it when handing in your answer sheet.
• Note: the last lecture (based on material in text chapter 49) only covered pages 1063-1069, 1073-1075, and the part on movement and locomotion, pp. 1075-1086. Only this material will be inlcluded in the final exam, not all of Chater 49.

What happens if you miss a lab during fetal pig work?

• In this portion of the course where lab activity involves weekly work on your pig, there is no way to provide a paper or internet-based makeup activity. Due to some drops, we now have a free seat in quite a few lab sections (not all). If you miss a lab, you should talk to Prof. Conover and ask for a lab pass to attend a different lab section in the same week. She has an up-to-date list of vacant seats and can assign you to a different lab section.
• As a last resort, If you cannot attend a different lab in the week that you missed lab, there will be three Saturday morning makeup opportunities in our regular lab room, as follows:
  1. Saturday Nov. 2, 3 - 5 p.m. (Robynn)
  2. Saturday Nov. 16, 10 a.m. - noon (Nes)
  3. Saturday Nov. 23, 10 a.m. - noon (Derek)
  We can't unlock the building front doors on weekends. The TA will try to be at the East side front door facing N. Eagleville Rd., closest to the cemetery, exactly at the designated time in order to let you in. If you arrive earlier or later and find the door locked, walk around the building and check all doors -- there's usually at least one door left open, especially in the back of the building.

Quiz 8

• WebCT Quiz 8 will be available from Tuesday Oct. 29 at 8 a.m. until Wednesday Oct. 30 at 8 a.m. (with the usual caveat that WebCT may be unavailable between 4 and 7 a.m. every day for maintainance and backup).
• Coverage of Quiz 8 will be text chapters 40 and 41.

Optional Survey available this week instead of WebCT Quiz

• There will be no regular WebCT quiz this week.
• Instead of the quiz, there will be an optional survey. If you complete the survey by answering all questions, you can earn up to 100 points, which will replace your lowest quiz grade. It will take time before the last of the 20 points can be awarded, since each survey must be hand graded.
• The survey will be available until 8 a.m. next Tuesday, Oct. 29.

Exam 2 follow up.

• Grading is still in progress. We expect to post grades by tomorrow, along with an advisory chart showing you how we would have awarded course grades if this were the only grade to determine your course grade.
• Students who missed the exam should fill out the makeup petition and get it to Prof. Terry as soon as possible. The makeup for exam 2 is next Monday, Oct. 28, at 4:30 p.m. in TLS 79.

Update on Online Quizzes

• I've reviewed performance on online quizzes so far. I found a few questions in quizzes 4, 5, and 6, on which grades were poor, where I thought alternate answers deserved partial (in one case full) credit. I have revised grading for these questions and updated all grades, so a few of you will see an extra 5 or 10 points in one or more of these quizzes.
• We were not planning on giving an online quiz on the first Tuesday after Prof. Conover starts lecturing. However some of you need a chance to boost your grades, so we will offer you the chance to complete an optional survey during that week that will count for a quiz grade. The survey will contain 40 questions to help us learn more useful information about how the course is working for you (e.g., how often do you visit the course website, what kind of computer connection do you use, etc.). Each of these questions will be worth 2 points, so completing all 40 will earn you 80 points. There will be an additional 4 questions asking for 1-2 paragraph written responses. For each intelligible answer we will award 5 points, so you could earn 100 points by completing the survey. If you take the survey, your "grade" will replace the lowest of your quiz grades -- think of it as counting the best 12 out of 15 grades instead of 12 out of 14.

Exam #2 Important Information

• Exam #2 is next Friday, Oct. 18, from 9:00 - 9:50 a.m.
• Sections 01-07 (Mon, Tues, Wed a.m. labs), take exam in Schenker (SCHN) 55, behind UConn Coop.
  View location of SCHN 55 on campus map; look for label "SCHN" between Monteith (MONT) and UConn Coop (COOP)
• Sections 08-13 (Wed. p.m., Thurs., Fri. labs), take exam in TLS 154, our regular classroom.
• Those with permission to take untimed exam go to TLS 309 (lab room) at 8:00 a.m. -- you will have until 9:45 a.m. This option is available to all students working with CSD who have provided documentation prior to the exam.
• Bring two sharpened #2 pencils with functional erasers. You will need to fill in "bubble sheets". UConn does not supply us with pencils, and rooms do not have sharpeners. If you forget your pencil, you'll have to go find one or borrow one.
• Bring your student ID. Present it when handing in your answer sheet.
• We have only 50 minutes for the exam, large classes meet before and after in both rooms, so please be punctual. Latecomers will be have less time. Once the first student has completed the exam, latecomers will not be allowed to take the exam.
• We will use spaced seating, vacant seats on either side of you. Please cooperate with exam proctors to sit as directed.
• Hats and other headgear with brims covering your eyes are not allowed during exams. If you wear a hat, please turn the brim facing backwards or remove it.
• Exam format will be multiple-choice, 45 questions. You should have ~ 1 minute/question. Some questions will take you only 5-10 seconds. Most of you will be able to get through the exam in about 30 minutes, so don't panic!
• What's covered on the exam? Everything since Exam #1, starting with cell junctions, walls, and extracellular materials, and going up to DNA replication, RNA transcription, protein synthesis and the genetic code. The exam is not cumulative; however certain information that is built on earlier information is assumed -- e.g. you should remember what ribosomes and mitochondria do.
• You will be able to keep your exams, so feel free to make marks for your use, and check your exam against an answer key afterwards. Only answer sheets get turned in and graded.
• If something unexpected happens to prevent you from being at the exam, download and fill out the petition for a makeup. Don't waste your time e-mailing me or phoning me -- all I can tell you in either case is to fill out the petition for a makeup. Attach all revelant documentation, and get this form to me as soon as possible! Note that the makeup date and time are already scheduled for all exams -- see syllabus.
• We ran into a small problem with the last exam -- too many people showed up in TLS 154 compared to the seats available. We did not have quite enough seats, and we almost did not have enough exams. This was due in part to several students who showed up in TLS 154 despite being assigned to SCHN 55. In order to prevent this from happening again, I have new sign up sheets. If you wish to switch exam rooms, you must sign up on new sheets (the assignments from exam #1 are not valid for exam #2), and we will only allow switches where we can balance the number of transfers in the two different rooms.

Preparing for Exam #2; SI and Prof. Terry Q&A session

1. If you've read the assigned reading, taken the online quizzes, and looked at Campbell website activities, you should be already well prepared. Your main task this week should be to find your "weak spots" and work on them.
2. Review your past online quizzes. Every Wed. morning, after online quizzes are completed, I change the quiz settings so you can see the correct answers to all questions. Go back and review your quizzes, find out what you got wrong, and figure out why.
3. The most effective way to prepare for an exam is to take plenty of practice questions. There are several sources: the instructor's questions at the end of each chapter, sample questions for each chapter at the Campbell website, the end of each chapter in your text, and the CD-ROM that accompanies the text.
4. Supplemental Instruction (SI) will meet on Wed, 5:30 p.m., Koons Hall 311. There will be no meeting on Monday since this is a holiday.
5. Prof. Terry will be available Wed. afternoon, Oct. 16, from 3-4 p.m. in TLS 154 to answer questions. I refrain from calling this a "review session" -- it is unreasonable to think I could review in 1 hour what I have spent 10 hours lecturing about, and I will not attempt this. I will answer questions that students bring. This is the only time I can get our classroom that fits my schedule. If this doesn't fit your schedule, don't worry, there are plenty of other ways to study as listed above.

A few lab seats are available for makeup opportunities -- see instructor about availability. If this does not work for you, continue using makeup petition.

Precautions to prevent "Out of time" messages

1. It is possible that your browser is loading an older version of the quiz. To prevent this, clear the cache. In Internet Explorer, open the "Edit -- Preferences" window. Under "Web Browser", select the "Advanced" screen. In the "Cache" area, select "Empty Now". Close the Preferences window and refresh the screen with the browser "Refresh" button.
2. You must click the "save answer" for each question you answer. If you receive a "Time is up. Please submit your quiz now" message, you can still continue the quiz, but note that the instructor will have to decide whether to count your grade. If you experience a problem, finish the quiz, ignore "Time is up" messages, and e-mail the instructor to explain what happened so can allow your grade to count.
3. You must click the "Finish" button after you have completed your quiz. If you do not click the "Finish" button, but close the quiz window instead, or close your browser, or break your internet connection, WebCT will still regard you as taking a quiz and the clock will continue counting time. If you come back to WebCT hours later, you can't start a new quiz until you click "Finish" for the older one. This single factor is likely to account for the majority of user problems.

ATP (Alpha Theta Pi) still looking for interested students!

• Alpha Theta Pi is the undergraduate coed biology fraternity. Prof. Terry is the faculty advisor
• ATP changed the meeting times to Sunday night at 7pm in the Student Union room 242. For anyone interested, there is still time to join. Come to the next meeting on Sunday, Oct. 6th @ 7pm in the Student Union. Last opportunity to join this fall semester.

Meeting in Cambridge, MA, on Saturday, October 5, 2002 for students of color

Grades for Exam 1 are posted

Exam #1 this Friday, Sept. 20

• Bring two sharpened #2 pencils with functional erasers. You will need to fill in "bubble sheets". UConn does not supply us with pencils, and rooms do not have sharpeners. If you forget your pencil, you'll have to go find one or borrow one.
• Bring your student ID. Present it when handing in your answer sheet.
• Sections 01-07 (Mon, Tues, Wed a.m. labs), take exam in Schenker (SCHN) 55, behind UConn Coop.
  View photograph of SCHN 55 lecture hall
  View location of SCHN 55 on campus map; look for label "SCHN" between Monteith (MONT) and UConn Coop (COOP)
• Sections 08-13 (Wed. p.m., Thurs., Fri. labs), take exam in TLS 154, our regular classroom.
• Those with permission to take untimed exam go to TLS 309 (lab room) at 8:00 a.m. -- you will have until 9:45 a.m. This option is available to all students working with CSD who have provided documentation prior to the exam. This option is also available to non-native English speakers for whom English language is still a challenge and who need dictionary, and to those with a medical or other qualified handicap. You must sign up with Dr. Terry ahead of time if you wish this option.
• We have only 50 minutes for the exam, large classes meet before and after in both rooms, so please be punctual. Latecomers will be have less time. Once the first student has completed the exam, latecomers will not be allowed to take the exam.
• We will use spaced seating, vacant seats on either side of you. Please cooperate with exam proctors to sit as directed.
• Hats and other headgear with brims covering your eyes are not allowed during exams. If you wear a hat, please turn the brim facing backwards or remove it.
• Exam format will be multiple-choice, 45 questions. You should have ~ 1 minute/question. Some questions will take you only 5-10 seconds. Most of you will be able to get through the exam in about 30 minutes, so don't panic!
• What's covered on the exam? Everything we've gone over in class so far. I begin by making a list of topics, right from the lecture notes -- elements, isotopes, covalent bonds, weak bonds, etc. Then I write the number of questions I think is appropriate -- typically one for a short topic, 2 or more for longer topics. These numbers are guidelines, not fixed absolutes, but I try to write or otherwise assemble questions that cover all my topics. Sometimes I think of a question that spans several ideas. Some questions involve diagrams. Some questions come directly or with slight modification from questions on study guides or practice quizzes. Some are written de novo as I assemble the exam. Writing an exam is a creative process, there are no fixed rules. My goal, always, is to probe your understanding, see if you have learned the concepts and can apply them.
• You will be able to keep your exams, so feel free to make marks for your use, and check your exam against an answer key afterwards. Only answer sheets get turned in and graded.
• If something unexpected happens to prevent you from being at the exam, download and fill out the petition for a makeup. Don't waste your time e-mailing me or phoning me -- all I can tell you in either case is to fill out the petition for a makeup. Attach all revelant documentation, and get this form to me as soon as possible! Note that the makeup date and time are already scheduled for all exams -- see syllabus.
• If you need to take the exam in the other room, you must sign up before or after class this Monday or Wednesday. We have to know how many exams to bring to each room.

Preparing for Exam #1

1. If you've read the assigned reading, taken the online quizzes, and looked at Campbell website activities, you should be already well prepared. Your main task this week should be to find your "weak spots" and work on them.
2. Review your past online quizzes. Every Wed. morning, after online quizzes are completed, I change the quiz settings so you can see the correct answers to all questions. Go back and review your quizzes, find out what you got wrong, and figure out why.
3. The most effective way to prepare for an exam is to take plenty of practice questions. There are several sources: the instructor's questions at the end of each chapter, sample questions for each chapter at the Campbell website, the end of each chapter in your text, and the CD-ROM that accompanies the text.
4. Supplemental Instruction (SI) sessions meet this week, as every week, on Mon and Wed, 5:30 p.m., Koons Hall 311.
5. Prof. Terry will be available Wed. afternoon from 3-4 p.m. in TLS 154 to answer questions. I refrain from calling this a "review session" -- it is unreasonable to think I could review in 1 hour what I have spent 10 hours lecturing about, and I will not attempt this. I will answer questions that students bring. This is the only time I can get our classroom that fits my schedule. If this doesn't fit your schedule, don't worry, there are plenty of other ways to study as listed above.

What is ATP?

• If you think ATP is only a chemical used to provide cell energy, you're wrong!
• ATP also stands for Alpha Theta Pi, the undergraduate coed biology fraternity. Prof. Terry is the faculty advisor, and encourages interested students to check this organization out.
• ATP meets regulary on Mondays at 4 p.m. in SU 242. The members are all UConn students who share an interest in biology and are interested in getting to know others with similar interests. The fraternity has social functions and occasional field trips or other outings.
• If you're interested, the first meeting this fall is next Monday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m. in SU242. All are invited.

Another book for sale

Online Quiz update

1. Rather that averaging results of two quizzes if you take more than one, we will program the quiz to always give you the higher grade. This will also apply retroactively to the first quiz. This will be a considerable "break" for you all, so don't spoil it by complaining that you only took the first quiz once!
2. Students working with the Center for Students with Disabilities who need extra time will be allowed to take a version of each quiz that allows more time. These quizzes will be identified with the label -CSD and will be available only to listed students. E.g., you will see two versions of Quiz 2: one labeled simply "Quiz 2", the other labeled "Quiz 2-CSD". Students working with CSD who need extra time should take the latter. You must clear this with the instructor first, so that your name can be programmed into the list of eligible students.

• While you are taking a quiz, you can go back and change answers to any questions you have already answered. Until you click the "Finish" button, nothing is sent for grading.
• The web is fast, but it is not instantaneous. There is a finite time lag between your submitting a command and the information for a new web page arriving at your computer. Don't wait till the last few seconds of your 12 minutes and expect that WebCT can detect whether you completed within the alloted time or not. Always try to finish with at least 30 seconds to spare.
• Each quiz will most likely include some material that has not yet been lectured on. The goal of the quizzes is for you to keep up with the assigned reading, and each week will vary -- some weeks you will have covered most or all material in lecture before the quiz, some weeks you will have covered less.

Supplemental Instruction (SI)

Performance on Quiz 1 - update

• Many of you did well -- there were a substantial number of 100's, 90's, 80's. Over half the class did very well.
• I have reset the quiz viewing options as of this morning -- you can now see the instructor's response to each question you took. Go back and review your quiz or quizzes to see how you did.
• 54 of you did not even take the quiz once. I remind you that the average of 12 out of 14 quizzes counts for 15% of your course grade. Your grade for quiz 1 is a zero. Don't be foolish and ignore this important part of your coursework again -- if you do, it will pull your course grade down seriously.
• I remind you also that the material covered on each quiz is announced in our weekly study guide. Today you receive study guide 2. Use the study guide to orient your week's study and prepare you for next Tuesday's quiz, which covers Chapters 4 and 5.
• A final reminder -- once the 24 hour time window for a quiz is gone, it is gone. Rather than deal with countless pleas for exceptions, we allow dropping two grades automatically to account for whatever situations may have prevented you from taking quiz or doing as well as you wished.

One brand new Campbell Text for sale -- bookstore has ordered more.

Student Management Team Selected - Thanks to all who 24 volunteered!

Registration issues

• Katie Opalach
• Katie Johnson

Don't use the WebCT access code that came in your shrink-wrapped package!

WebCT help desk at UConn Library

Can I overenroll? Can I switch to a different lab section?