Personal Calendar or Planner (Paper or Electronic)

Student Handbook

I'm usually in the lab on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings. If you can catch me, day or night, I'll be more than happy to chat (I actually get paid to do what I'd do for free--talk). 

OBJECTIVES:  This course is intended to facilitate your entry into the University community and the life of a college student.  All of the class activities are designed to achieve these objectives.  For the most part, activities and assignments have been selected in terms of what research in higher education has shown will help to accomplish these objectives.

None of the course assignments are intended to be busy work; we all have better things to do.  You will have an opportunity to provide both formal and informal feedback regarding the course and, believe me, your input is important to me.  This is my second time teaching this seminar and I'm a big fan of evolution; help shape the future.

CLASS ATTENDANCE/PARTICIPATION: Normally I don't require class attendance, but a seminar format is different. Twenty-five percent of the course grade is based upon attendance/participation.  Attendance is essential for a successful course experience and students are expected to attend all classes.  Unexpected emergencies can occur and, normally, up to two absences may be approved by the instructor with adequate cause.  Send me a personal email to explain all absences that you wish to have approved.  Please, DO NOT post your reasons for absences on the public class discussion board.  Any absences beyond two may require dropping the course or receiving a deficient grade, as three absences constitute approximately 20% of the entire set of class meetings. All unexcused absences will reduce the final course grade by one full letter grade for each unexcused absence (e.g., from C+ to D+ for one absence; from C+ to F for two absences).  Class participation is not defined by talking a lot (I'll take care of that).  The quality of participation, including effectively relating to other class members is important.  Note:  Regular use of the Blackboard web site is considered part of class participation.  The grading system for class participation will be that described below under GRADING.

IN THE NEWS: Weekly, you should find a link to a news story on the web that relates to some aspect of Neuroscience.  There will be threads on the Discussion Forum for your link postings.  Please include a very brief (2-3 sentence) description of each link.  Creating and reading these postings will be considered part of class participation and we will discuss a few each week.  Postings should be made before noon each Friday. Don't wait until the last minute!  

Every student should read every posting.  Angel allows for easy checking of compliance with this requirement.  Failure to remain current on the postings will result in a 1.0 overal course grade reduction.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:  Appropriate collaboration is encouraged, but plagiarism or cheating will not be tolerated and will result in an automatic F for the course. You should consult the University's Academic Code of Honesty as soon as possible.  The code will be covered as part of the Seminar.

PAPERS:  All graded papers (listed as PA in the course schedule below) are to be two pages (plus, or minus, 3 lines) of TEXT (titles and Latin Phrases - see below - don't count), double spaced, 12 point font, with 1 inch margins.  There may be ungraded papers that are shorter. Deadlines for papers are listed in the Calendar of Events below.  Papers must be word processed in Word (or converted to Word) and submitted ONLY in word-processed form via the Digital Drop Box in Blackboard.  They will be evaluated for both content and form.  The latter includes grammar, spelling, sentence structure, organization, and appearance.

Latin Phrases:  To expand your vocabulary, you should include a total of 10 unique items from the Latin Phrases pages across the first 3 papers (a total of 10, not a total of 30 phrases).  Make these phrases bold in the text and list them below the body of the paper (the phrases listed below the body of the paper will not count toward the length of the paper).  For every missing phrase, there will be a 1.0 grade reduction on the third paper and you will be required to re-write that paper to include the missing phrases.

The system for assigning final course grades is found in the table below.  Students must complete/pass all assignments.  Failure to complete/pass any assignment will reduce your overall seminar grade by 1.0.  Failure to complete an assignment on time will reduce your overall course grade by .1 for each class day that you are late, until a maximum penalty of 1.0 is reached.   

By October 3rd, students must attend one University event/lecture or join a club/organization and submit a very brief review of your experience on the Discussion Board.  I'll announce eligible events as they come up.  You are also free to pick your own, but check with me to see if it will meet this requirement.  (PJ-1)