Blackboard Site:  Portions of this course are on Blackboard.  All announcements, quizzes, discussion forums and your grades are on your course Blackboard site so it is necessary for you to use it routinely. To access Blackboard course site, go to http://learn.vccs.edu/ and follow the directions from there. Help with this can be obtained at http://tac.nvcc.edu/blackboard . If you do not have a computer at home, you may use one in the library or in any of the computer labs on campus. There is an open computer lab CT 105.

Lecture Materials required
Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, 11th Edition.  Tortora and Grabowski
Microbiology, An Introduction, 9th Edition.  Tortora, Funke, and Case

Lab Materials Required
Laboratory Manual for Anatomy and Physiology, Allen and Harper
Health Science I and II Laboratory Supplement (2005 edition) Department of Biology
A small (no larger than 1”) loose-leaf notebook
Each lab group is required to purchase a fetal pig.  Each group will be assigned either a male or female pig so that both sexes will be available in the lab. Gloves will be needed to handle dissections

Attendance is expected by me and by the college. If you do not attend class (including labs) for 4 consecutive sessions and have not contacted me, then I will withdraw you if this occurs before the last day to withdraw without grade penalty.  After that date, I will assign a final grade based on the work you have completed in the class.  I will not contact you.
Tardiness is not expected, but sometimes unavoidable. Please do your best to be on time, and if you need to be late, then please exercise common courtesy when you do enter. (Refer to learning statement below)
Student Considerations: If there are any students in this class who have special needs because of learning or any other kind of disability, please feel free to come and discuss your situation with me. Sometimes special accommodations can be extended only to students who have documented disabilities.
Please Read and heed this Learning Environment Statement. This is a statement of expectations developed by the Annandale Campus Council for all Members of the campus community, but it can be applied in my courses at MEC.

• That all backgrounds and cultures be respected
• That a free and civil exchange of ideas takes place, so everyone in a class feels welcome to participate
• That all members of the class arrive on time and leave the class only on breaks (or in cases of emergency)
• That distractions be kept to a minimum
• That Cell phones and other electronic devices are to be turned off in the class, labs and the library.
• That students remain seated during class
• That students refrain from talking while another student or the instructor has the floor
• That each student submit his or her own work
• That consideration be given to classes in adjoining rooms
• That the members of each class and the instructor leave the classroom in good condition

My policy on cell phones. Turn them off!  If I hear one ring you will be ‘required’ to bring in cookies for the class at the following class meeting.J  Please do not leave class during lecture to answer a cell phone that is vibrating.  This behavior is equally disturbing to me and to the rest of the class, and will not be tolerated.

Academic Integrity. Any cheating will be rewarded by a failing grade for the course. Cheating can extend to plagiarism, copying, improper collaboration, etc. Please familiarize yourself with the NVCC Student Handbook, page 63, Section VI: Academic Dishonesty. You can find an on line version of the handbook at http//:nvcc.edu or by clicking on the external links button of your Blackboard site.

Evacuation Procedures: In case of emergency please follow the emergency procedure as discussed on the first day of class and as posted in this classroom. We are to have a meeting point outside should an evacuation become necessary, and that will be the bench by the bus stop that is across the main access road and in front of the lake.  Please do go there so that I can be sure everyone has evacuated the building. 

Lecture Requirements:  There are 4 non-cumulative lecture exams, 11 non-cumulative quizzes and 7 discussion forums, together worth 66% of your total grade. Exams are given in class and are untimed.  However it is necessary to finish them within the class time. They will be of mixed formats and you will need to obtain a Scantron® form of the type that allows both objective (fill in the circles) and essay answers on the same form.

 Quizzes are taken on Blackboard on your honor.  Quizzes can be taken only once and once you open the quiz you must take the quiz, and finish it within 30 minutes. The computer will not allow you a second try or more time.  You may not print any part of the quiz or the feedback sheet.  This is an honor code violation.  Quizzes are taken between the end of class on Wednesday and the beginning of class the following week.  Quizzes may not be taken or retaken after that date.

There are seven forums in which, as a class, you will investigate and discuss a microbial disease of each system that we study. For each system you will find a forum for a microbial disease, a fungal disease and a viral disease.  You are required to submit to one (not all three) of these for each system.
  Each Forum is worth 30 points. You may start a new disease relevant to a particular system or add to submissions of another student.    Be sure you add something new-please, no duplications!

Label your submission by the name of the disease and the topic discussed.  Aspects discussed might include etiology (the infectious agent), infection routes, population at risk, pathogenesis (how disease is caused), symptoms, disease outcomes, epidemiology, and treatments of several sorts—pharmacological, palliative, different therapies, and so on.  You may discuss no more than two aspects of a disease.  A discussion of the biology of the infectious agent is also always appropriate.  Due Dates for the forums will be announced in class.

Grading standards for the Forum submissions are as follows:
27 to 30 points:  One full page of high-quality writing in your own words with clear articulation of details relative to not more than two of the aspects listed above for discussion.  You must clearly demonstrate an understanding of the aspects of the disease chosen to the normal Anatomy and Physiology as they are discussed in LECTURE.  You must refer to both class notes and topics in your Anatomy and Physiology Text (not your Microbiology text, although you may certainly use this for a reference.) All grammar and spelling is correct.  All of your sources are fully and correctly cited.

24 to 27 points:  One-half to three quarters page of high-quality writing in your own words that is relevant to not more than two of the aspects listed above for discussion.  You must demonstrate the relevance of your aspect and disease to normal anatomy and physiology as discussed in the lecture or Anatomy and Physiology Text.  All grammar and spelling is correct.  All sources are fully and correctly cited.

21 to 24 points:  Average work of any length that covers one or two of the aspects of the disease that may articulate the same material as your microbiology text with only weak attempts at relating the topic to normal anatomy and physiology.  Use of ‘quotes’ is extensive.  All grammar and spelling is correct.  All sources are fully and correctly cited.

18 to 21 points:  Average work that covers one or two aspects of the disease but does not or only weakly relates them to the particular topics that have been covered in the lecture material. All grammar and spelling is correct.  All sources and fully and correctly cited.

Fewer than 18 points. Low quality writing that may or may not present any aspects of the disease, or that deals with more than two aspects of the disease.   Attempts to relate the disease to the lecture material is non existent and/or the work appears to be done quickly with little thought.  Most grammar and spelling is correct.  All sources are fully and correctly cited.

Automatic Zero:  The following will result in an automatic zero:  Copying and Pasting from a source into the forum without quotation marks, verbatim copying from a source without quotation marks, URL links that cannot be followed to the source, not citing sources or the forum is submitted after midnight of the due date.  An automatic zero will also be awarded in certain cases to students who duplicate topics of others.

Lab Requirements.  The most important requirement of the lab is to keep safety as your first priority at all times.

LAB SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.  If you do not meet these requirements you will not be allowed to stay in the lab.  If you are late for lab, you will not be allowed to stay in lab.  Safety directions are given at the beginning.

You must provide and wear a lab coat.  Many students don’t have them, so it is fine for Annandale students to wear a long-sleeved old shirt instead.  It must cover your clothing.  You must also provide a bag of some kind (a plastic bag from the grocery store is perfect) to keep transport it in and out of the lab.  The purpose of the lab coat is to prevent contaminants from leaving the lab on your clothing and being transported to your home and families.  Put the lab coat in a grocery bag to take it home where you should wash it in Chlorine bleach.  Transport it back to the lab in a clean grocery bag. 

MEC students are required to purchase a disposable lab coat in the MEC bookstore.  This will be left in the MEC lab and destroyed at the end of the semester.  It is not to be transported out of the lab.

You must wear closed toed shoes to the lab.  Clogs are OK, but most sneakers are not—they are often made of a mesh material. 

You must not wear contact lenses when we are dissecting.  The fumes from the preservative can find its way between your contacts and your cornea, permanently damaging your cornea.  You must wear glasses.

You must tie your hair back if it is long.  No eating or drinking is allowed in the lab.

Lab Requirements:  Exams, attendance and a lab notebook are worth 34% of your total grade for the course.
Exams: There are 3 non-cumulative lab exams.  See the course schedule. Missed Lab exams are not possible to make up. If you have a legitimate (in my judgment) and documented excuse then you will be assigned a zero for that exam, and will be eligible to take the same exam during the summer semester.  Your final grade will be changed accordingly.

Attendance:  Attendance is required at lab sessions and 5 points are awarded for it.  If you do not stay for the entire lab, you will be graded accordingly.

Lab Notebook: you are required to maintain a lab notebook .Your lab notebook will contain lab work that I assign as the course progresses.  It must be completed and handed in at the beginning of each lab exam.  Assignments from the lab book will be included, and these will need to be neatly removed from the lab book, punched and inserted into your lab notebook.  Drawings will be assigned, and these also must be inserted into your lab notebook.  The notebook must be in the order in which the work was assigned. .  DO NOT USE THE SAME NOTEBOOK AS YOUR CLASS NOTES. DO NOT HAND IN THE LAB MANUAL ITSELF. I WILL NOT ACCEPT LATE LAB BOOKS, Failure to follow these directions will result in a 5 point deduction from your score. If the book is in complete disarray it will not be graded at all; you will receive a zero. 

Course Grading.  There is a total of 1,245 points available for this course (lecture and lab).  Letter grades will be assigned according to the following:
A: 1,120 points or more    B:   996 points to 1120 points.  C:  871 points to 995 points.  D:  747 Points to 870 Points.  F:  Fewer than 747 points.  A grade of I (incomplete) will not be assigned.