| MCB 300 Microbiology |
School
of Molecular & Cellular Biology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
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Information
and List of Lectures, Quizzes, and Exams | Course Policies | Handouts | Website Passwords | Quizzes | Exams | Course Grades | Final Exam | Instructors
Textbook The textbook used for the course will be the following: Microbiology: Diversity, Disease, and the Environment (Wiley) by Abigail A. Salyers and Dixie D. Whitt. Most of the lectures will follow this book rather closely. In fact, this book was written for MCB300. All students are assumed to understand the "Student Code 2008-2009, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign." The code is available online at: http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/policy/code/index.html. We expect you to conduct yourselves in a responsible manner with due regard for the respect and rights of others. We do not tolerate any cheating, fabrication, plagiarism and other infractions of academic integrity (as stated in Part 4 on Academic Integrity) and such actions will be dealt with as described in the "Student Code". Lecture handouts will be posted on the Website prior to each class. The handouts correspond to the slides presented during the class lectures. Please print them out and bring them to class to assist with your notetaking. Sometimes the handout posted will cover more than one lecture, so you will have to bring that handout to several class periods. For the first week of class only, we will make copies of the lecture handouts for you and distribute them in class. After the first week, you will be responsible for printing your own handouts. Course Website (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/mcb/300/) The Website will be used for announcements, lecture slide handouts, quiz answer keys (short answer questions only), practice exams, exam answer keys, review questions, grades and various forms. To access material on the Website use the following login and password below: login: mcb300 Examination Policies Quizzes are scheduled to be taken individually using the LON-CAPA system (see LON-CAPA Information). On the day of the Quiz (see schedule), the quiz will be open at 11:00 am and close at 8:00 pm that same day. Please note that you must access the questions well enough in advance to complete them by the specified time. Students may use any computer to access and complete the quiz, and are not limited to those computers in the MCB Learning Center. Each quiz (worth 5 points total) will be composed of multiple choice and short answer questions. The material covered by each quiz will be announced in class, but usually covers material since the last quiz. Students will be allowed a maximum of 15 minutes to complete the quiz. There are 11 scheduled quizzes during the course, but the lowest quiz score will be dropped. A missed quiz will be scored as "0". The quiz results are not factored directly into your grade. Instead, we keep a separate record of the results. When it is time to determine your final grade, your quiz results act like extra credit. If you get 70% or more of the total possible points for all the quizzes combined, 3 points will be added to your final numerical score (based on the three exam results). If you get 60% or more (but less than 70%) of the total possible points for all the quizzes combined, 2 points will be added. If you get 50% or more (but less than 60%) of the total possible points for all the quizzes combined, 1 point will be added. If you get less than 50% of the total possible points for all the quizzes combined, no points will be added. Thus, the quizzes can only help you. There will be no makeup for quizzes you miss!! You have ONE WEEK from the day your quiz score is posted to ask for a regrade. Open the Regrade Request Form from the website (under the Forms section), fill it out and email it or give it to Prof. Ikeda (jikeda@illinois.edu) as an attachment. After this date, there will be no further modification of the quiz results. There will be three examinations, worth 100 points each. These examinations will be given during the normal class time (see below for tentative dates) and at a location to be announced. Some or all of the class may be assigned to take the exam in another classroom to alleviate crowding (exam rooms will be announced in class and posted on the MCB 300 Website). Exams I and II will consist of 30 multiple choice questions (each question worth 3 points) and short answer questions (worth 10 points total) for a total of 100 points. Exam III will consist of all multiple choice questions (33 multiple choice questions worth 3 points each plus a free point making a total of 100 points possible). There will be NO makeup examinations given during the semester. The makeup will be taking the appropriate section of the Final Exam. You have ONE WEEK from the day your graded tests are returned to the class, to ask for a regrade. Follow the procedure described above for regrading quizzes. After this date, there will be no further modification of the exam results. Tentative Examination Dates At the end of the semester, your three examination scores will be totaled to obtain your final numerical score. At this point, your quiz score will be factored into your tentative final grade as described above (i.e., 0, 1, 2 or 3 points will be added to your total numerical score depending on how well you did on the quizzes). A letter grade will be assigned on the basis of the following grade scale (the scale is determined based on 300 points):
back to top The Final Exam is composed of three sections, with each section corresponding to one of the three original examinations given during the course. Each section of the Final Exam will consist of 33 multiple choice questions worth 3 points each plus a free point making a total of 100 points possible. You can take one part, two parts, or all three parts of the Final Exam. You will have 3 hours to finish the Final Exam no matter how many parts you take. On each section you take, if your score is BETTER than your original score for that examination, the new score will REPLACE the original score. If it is WORSE, the ORIGINAL score will stand. Your grade will be recomputed at that point. In other words, taking a section of the Final Exam cannot hurt your grade. WARNING: The Final Exam date is dictated by University scheduling policy. This semester’s Final Exam date is 1:30-4:30 pm, Monday, December 15, 2008. You must take the exam on that date at the assigned time (everyone will start the Final Exam at 1:30 pm)! Studying for the Quizzes and Exams Suggestion #1. If it's in the handout and/or discussed in lecture, it's likely to be on the exam. If it's not in the handout or not discussed in lecture it will probably not be on the exam (unless we think you should be able to answer the question based on the lecture material we presented in class). Suggestion #2. Review questions pertaining to the lecture material will be posted on the Website. Pay attention to those questions to help you study. Suggestion #3. A sample exam will also be given to you before each exam to familiarize yourself with the style of the questions asked. You can use previous exams for study, but the material covered by past exams may not be similar to the material covered this semester. The ultimate authority is the CURRENT handout and lectures!!! So, use old exams with care. If there are any students present who may have special needs or require any type of accommodation (as determined by DRES or for religious reasons), please contact Prof. Ikeda immediately after class or by email. We would be happy to speak with you and make any necessary arrangements. It is important that you inform us of this decision as soon as possible. Students participating in the James Scholar Program may fulfill requirements for honors credit by completing an honor's project. Usually the project involves writing a paper on a topic related to microbiology that the instructors have chosen. A project may also involve a short presentation to the class. If you are interested please contact Prof. Ikeda by email or fill out the signup sheet at the end of the first class period. We will get back to you later about the projects in more detail. The MCB300 Website contains a direct link to the LON-CAPA website (http://www.lon-capa.uiuc.edu) and login page. Students accessing the LON-CAPA network for the completion of quizzes must first log into this site. Detailed Access Instructions can be found there and part of it is reproduced below: Welcome to LON-CAPA at UIUC! We will be using LON-CAPA, or Lecture Online Network with Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach, in your MCB course. The software was officially piloted in MCB during Spring 2005. The program itself is a combination of learning assessment tools with course management capabilities. You will be using LON-CAPA this semester to access and complete MCB300 quizzes. Access Instructions: In order to log into LON-CAPA you must have a username and a password. Your username is your UIUC NetID (the first part of your University email address). The password for LON-CAPA will have to be established by setting up an Active Directory (AD) password through CITES. To set up your Active Directory password visit the following site: http://www.ad.uiuc.edu/accounts.aspx. Click on the Change PASSWORD box to set up your password if you haven't already used Active Directory, then select the CITES Passwords box. You will then need to enter your NetID and NetID password. When setting the password be certain that ONLY the box for AD password is checked. Uncheck the other password boxes. Set up your Active Directory password (please make a note of it to avoid forgetting it later!). Also note that if you have used the AD password in previous semesters, like in other LON-CAPA courses or for WebCT, it is a good idea to change your password for security concerns. Once you have created an AD password go to the LON-CAPA website at: www.lon-capa.uiuc.edu. This log in page will ask you to enter your LON-CAPA username (your UIUC NetID) and password (CITES AD password you created). The domain, uiuc is already filled in for you. After successful login, you will get to a screen with your currently available courses and roles, for example student in MCB 300. Select the course you would like to access. Once you have logged in you can access any of the LON-CAPA content by selecting Main Menu. Inside the course, you can access your assignments (e.g., quizzes) by selecting Navigate Contents at the top of the screen or by clicking on the icon. Clicking on the folders will display the contents within. Once you have selected a problem in a folder you can move through the folder by clicking forward and backward on the arrow buttons at the top of the screen or by going back to Navigate Contents and clicking on each link. Browsers: LON-CAPA functions using all common and current web browsers, like Mozilla, Firefox, and Safari on PC and Macs, as long as JavaScript and cookies are enabled in your browser. Internet Explorer is not recommended as security boxes will pop up after each page loads. If you have problems seeing figures or getting content to load on your computers, try switching to a different web browser. Logging out: Make sure you always exit LON-CAPA by either clicking on the exit link at the top right of the screen or by clicking on the exit icon under Main Menu; do not simply close the web browser! If you share a computer or use a computer lab make sure when you are in LON-CAPA you see your name at the top right of the screen. Troubleshooting: The major cause of problems in using LON-CAPA is students being unable to login. There are two common reasons for this: a locked password or forgetting the password. If the Active Directory password has not been used in a while it is locked for security reasons. The solution to this is to go to the Active Directory website (see above) and click on the unlock ACCOUNT box. If you have forgotten your password click in the change PASSWORD box used when the account was first set up, or contact the CITES Help Desk at 244-7000, and specify you have forgotten your Active Directory password. As always when resetting the password make sure only the AD password box is checked. Do not contact the MCB office or the LON-CAPA Support Staff for questions about forgotten passwords! The AD passwords are handled by CITES exclusively. If you have any problems using LON-CAPA, contact Renee Alt (241 Burrill Hall, rlalt@illinois.edu, 243-4306). If your question is about a specific issue you encounter while in LON-CAPA, please use the internal communication function, and specify your name, course, section letter, and question (include assignment number, problem number, etc., if applicable).back to top Tentative lecture, quiz and examination schedule for the first third of the course.
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