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Welcome to the Orientation Video for Biology 177: The Biology of Sex. I am Rachel Hudish,
the content manager of the course and videographer for Eberly College of Science. We will begin
by walking through the different sites for this course. Our journey starts in ANGEL Course
Management System, where we log in and go to the Folder 2011/12 S1, Wd where BIOL 177,
section 001: BIOLOGY OF SEX should appear. If it does not appear under your list - look
under “My Courses” and select “Find a Course” to search for BIOL 177. It should
be visible to students on the first day of classes within Angel. Once you are in the
ANGEL site, go into the Lessons tab and follow the Biology 177 Course Content Site Link,
which we will take us to our course content site, where all of the readings, assignments,
course calendar, and syllabus are housed.
Most of your time will be spent within the course content site, hosted in a platform
called Drupal. This site ensures that you have access to all of the course content 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. Since exams, quizzes, discussion boards, and assignment drop-boxes
are all housed in ANGEL, it is important to note that ANGEL shuts down for maintenance
between the hours of 4 AM and 6 AM Eastern Time every day! The biology 177 course site
allows you to access your homework assignments, readings, and other pertinent information
at any time. With that said, let’s go on a little tour of the course site.
When you enter the site, you will be directed to the course description page, please read
through this page. If you ever need to come back to it just click the “Biology 177:
The Biology of Sex” link in the header of the site. Below the header is a drop-down
menu bar containing the menus for important vocabulary, integrity, resources, office hours,
the academic calendar, Angel, and the help tab.
Let’s go through these one by one. First is the important vocabulary section which
contains a flashcard section. These flashcards allow you to use them as a flashcard, a learn
pattern, and scatter where your match the word to its meaning.
Next we move to the integrity module. This section houses the essential information for
the quizzes and drop-boxes within the “Lesson 0: Orientation” folder in Angel. It is very
important for you to understand academic integrity as by taking this course is a contract that
you will abide by the Penn State and Eberly College of Science academic integrity policies
in place. All of the quizzes for this section have been linked to the gradebook and should
show up under your milestones until you complete the activity. Please make sure that these
activities are completed by the end of the second week of classes.
The third tab called Resources has three menus. A section with scientific writing guidelines
from Dr. Farrell. A section on the Penn State libraries which will allow you to register
for access to valuable resources. And finally, a link to the Writing Styles Guide for answers
on how to properly cite resources and structure research papers.
In the Office Hours tab there is a link to Dr. Farrell’s online office hours in adobe
connect, which will be held Mondays from 4 pm to 5 pm Eastern time and Wednesdays 11
AM to Noon Eastern time. These office hours will be recorded to capture great explanations
to assist everyone in learning key topics. However, if you attend office hours to discuss
exam and quiz answers or matters of a personal nature (such as grades), the office hours
will not be recorded.
The Academic Calendar tab is a great self-regulation tool and is run through Google Calendar. It
includes office hour dates, due dates of assignments and quizzes, and due dates of exams. I have
posted the assignment details under the event description. Also, links to Dr. Farrell’s
office hours are in the location section of the office hour events. To add the calendar
to your calendar there are two ways to do that. For most, adding the calendar works
by going under “other calendars” typing in “ecos.biology177@gmail.com” where it
says “Add a friend’s calendar” and then just adjust the settings to make sure you
can view it and receive notifications. You can also add it to your Google or iCal calendars
by right clicking the link in the course site and then right clicking the arrow by “other
calendars” and choose “add by URL,” then just paste in the link and check the
settings. Once it is on your calendar, you can set up personal reminders to either email
you or pop up and how many times it reminds you.
Beside the Academic Calendar tab is a link to the ANGEL site.
Under the “HELP!” tab there are details of who you should contact in certain situations.
Please read through the orientation and syllabus sections. Under the syllabus section there
is a copy of the syllabus and course section for download. Pay careful attention to the
technology requirements section to make sure all your softwares are up to date.
Right now when you enter the course, you will only see the “Start here” menu, the tabs
in the menu bar, and “The Origin of Sex” under the Lessons section. It is very important
to master each section before moving on. A new section will be released Sundays at Midnight
Eastern Time. Please pay very close attention to weeks 5 and 6 because you will have two
sections to work through those two weeks as well as an exam. Week 5 you will have lessons
5 and 6 and week 6 you will have lessons 7 and 8 and exam 1. Quizzes are all timed between
20 and 30 minutes, depending on how many questions there are so be diligent and proficient with
the material before you take the quizzes and exams as there will not be enough time to
search for the answers.
After you have read through the integrity menu, orientation and syllabus sections, and
watched this video, please continue to ANGEL CMS to the “Lesson 0: Orientation” folder
to complete all the activities within that lesson.
Remember to be proactive with your learning and if you experience any problems contact
your instructor early! Good luck and hope you enjoy Biology 177!