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EVS 1001 INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Course Policies /Syllabus
SPRING 2016 ONLINE #3184
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Name: Kelli Stickrath
Office Hours: As posted on door
Office Location: LY 211
Email or myCourses email
Phone: 712-5835
Instructor Web Page: c.edu/course_info/inquiry.cfm?number=1474
ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT :
Academic Chair: Dr. Mark Italia
Office Location: LY 206, Tarpon Springs Campus
Office Number: 712-5459
Dean: Dr. John Chapin
Office Location: UP 337, Seminole Campus
Office Number: 394-6995
COURSE DESCRIPTION: EVS 1001 INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 3 credits This course applies the basic principles of ecology to relevant problems and topics related to the environmental interaction of humans with the earth. The course is designed to highlight current environmental concerns in modern society and to explore potential solutions exemplified by the presentation of specific case histories. This course will also cover sustainability definitions, assessment and actions from a multidisciplinary perspective to help learners create a personal definition that will inform their actions. The course will examine the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability. Sustainability principles, policies, and programs will be explored on the local, national and global level. This class will teach students how to understand the complex confluence of social systems, environmental economics and ecological literacy. 47 contact hours.
COURSE GOALS : (Major Learning Outcomes)
1. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the concept of sustainability and why environmental concerns have recently become so prominent.
2. The student will demonstrate knowledge of ecology and biodiversity, the concerns that face our biosphere and the steps needed to preserve our world’s biodiversity.
3. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the economic impacts associated with major environmental problems and the technologies that may help solve these problems.
4. The student will distinguish the environmental impacts of earth’s industrial and developing societies relating to the usage of food, fuel and other natural resources.
5. The student will demonstrate knowledge of world geography and international political concerns and steps governments are taking to move toward a sustainable society.
6. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the role the government, economic climate and media play in the public perception and the prevailing environmental ethic in our society.
7. The student will demonstrate an understanding of how the issues discussed in this course are connected to the decisions and choices one makes in his or her personal life.
8. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major environmental challenges facing modern societies and understand the choices and trade-offs these challenges pose.
9. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the technologies associated with major environmental problems and the technologies that may help solve these problems.
COURSE OBJECTIVES Stated in Performance Terms:
1. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the concept of sustainability and why environmental concerns have recently become so prominent by:
a. summarizing underlying causes of environmental problems.
b. describing a simple model of relationships among population, resource use, technology, environmental degradation, and pollution.
2. The student will demonstrate knowledge of ecology and biodiversity, the concerns that face our biosphere and the steps needed to preserve our world’s biodiversity by:
a. listing four spheres that interact to sustain life on Earth and comparing the flow of matter and the flow of energy through the biosphere.
b. describing how climate affects the distribution of plant life on Earth and comparing the climate in deserts, grasslands, and forests.
c. evaluating the significance of the ecological contributions of the oceans.
d. describing four variables that collectively determine population size.
e. distinguishing among the following roles played by species and giving one example of each: native species, nonnative species, indicator species, keystone species.
f. comparing past extinctions to present extinctions.
g. evaluating the reality of an extinction crisis.
h. listing and distinguishing among three general approaches to biodiversity protection.
i. assessing the usefulness of wildlife refuges, gene banks, botanical gardens, and zoos in protection of wildlife.
3. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the economic impacts associated with major environmental problems and the technologies that may help solve these problems by:
a. identifying the forms of wealth and stating which form of wealth is most important to conservation biologists.
b. distinguishing between old-growth forest and second-growth forest.
c. explaining reasons why forests are commercially and ecologically important..
d. distinguishing between economic growth and ecologically sustainable development.
e. discussing ways to move toward a more ecologically sustainable economy and summarizing views on how to make this shift.
4. The student will distinguish the environmental impacts of earth’s industrial and developing societies relating to the usage of food, fuel and other natural resources by:
a. defining and describing at least seven characteristics of sustainable forestry.
b. describing how fish and game populations are managed in order to sustain the population.
c. describing the problem of soil erosion in the United States and the world.
d. identifying ways to maintain soil fertility and the impact of pesticide use.
e. describing three major water problems and evaluating which of these problems is of most concern in the United States.
f. describing primary, secondary, and advanced sewage treatment options.
g. identifying the key questions that must be asked about each energy alternative to evaluate energy resources.
h. summarizing the usefulness of coal, petroleum and alternative fuels as an energy resource.
i. describing the pattern of Earth’s average surface temperature fluctuation using geologic time.
j. summarizing scientific consensus about future global warming and the uncertainties of global climate models.
5. The student will demonstrate knowledge of world geography and international political concerns and steps governments are taking to move toward a sustainable society by:
a. locating on a map or a globe the areas of the world that are experiencing major environmental problems.
b. correlating those environmental problems to the political as well as regional economic concerns for that area of the world.
c. discussing UN involvement and world political agreements concerning sustainability.
d. listing and summarizing the missions of five types of public lands in the United States.
e. describing different types of environmental leadership.
f. comparing mainstream and grassroots environmental groups.
6. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the role the government, economic climate and media play in the public perception and the prevailing environmental ethic in our society by:
a. distinguishing among high-waste, matter-recycling, and low-waste economies.
b. describing the direction that scientific principles steer us as we create more sustainable economies.
c. identifying political tools that can be used to improve environmental quality and reduce resource waste.
7. The student will demonstrate an understanding of how the issues discussed in this course are connected to the decisions and choices one makes in his or her personal life by:
a. writing their local government officials, congressman/woman or becoming involved in a local environmental project.
b. summarizing and evaluating urban transportation options.
8. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major environmental challenges facing modern societies and understand the choices and trade-offs these challenges pose by:
a. identifying the major environmental challenges facing modern societies.
b. assessing the choices and resultant consequences to those societies.
9. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the technologies associated with major environmental problems and the technologies that may help solve these problems by:
a. explaining the types of technologies associated with current major environmental problems.
b. explaining how technology may or may not be the solution to some of those problems.
c. describing ways that environmentalists recommend to reform federal forest management.
d. analyzing ways to help reduce the interlocking problems of tropical deforestation and the fuelwood crisis.
Criteria Performance Standard:
Upon successful completion of the course the student will, with a minimum of 70% accuracy, demonstrate mastery of each of the above stated objectives through classroom measures developed by individual course instructors.
PREREQUISITES: EAP 1695
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS : Essential Environment: The Science Behind the Stories. 5th ed. 2015. Withgott. This ISBN includes the loose leaf text with the Mastering Environmental Science code and Viewpoints booklet as a bundle.
ISBN Number: 9780134096520
Course ID for www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com is stickrath02405.
Library: ollege.edu/central/libonline/
REQUIRED MATERIALS: myCourses powerpoint lecture notes in notebook.
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 11 First Day of Classes
January 15 Last Day to Drop and Receive Refund
January 18 Martin Luther King Jr. Bday
March 6-13 Spring Break
March 18-20 Midterm Exam
March 23 Withdrawal Date
March 25 Spring Holiday
April 29- May 1 Online Final Exam
FINANCIAL AID : ollege.edu/central/SSFA/HomePage/calendar.htm
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: The college has an official policy on academic honesty and proper classroom behavior. It is the student’s responsibility to review the online Academic Honesty Policy or "Academic Honesty and Student Behavior: Expectations of Students at SPC" brochure. It is important to remember that everyone’s goal should be to learn. Behavior that impedes the learning process of others will not be tolerated. Disruptive behavior includes talking at inappropriate times, text-messaging, talking on the phone during class or repeatedly coming to class late or leaving early. Students are expected to be actively engaged in the learning process, and should ask the instructor questions as needed.
SPC takes this subject very seriously and will not tolerate academic dishonesty or inappropriate/disruptive behavior in the classroom. College policy states that a first offense (cheating, plagiarism, etc) is given a “zero” for the assignment with no possibility of replacing the score. In addition, on the first offense, a form is filed in the Assistant Provost’s office. This does not go onto the student’s transcript, but should a second offense occur the student is then subject to expulsion from school. You need to be very clear about this procedure and about what constitutes cheating and/or plagiarism.
ATTENDANCE:
The college-wide attendance policy is included in the Syllabus Addendum which can be found at ollege.edu/webcentral/policies.htm. The policy notes that each instructor is to exercise professional judgment and define “active participation” in class (and therefore “attendance”), and publish that definition in each syllabus.
For this class, attendance is defined as active participation, which is based on the completion of the required activities (quizzes, exams, and current event summaries ).
Unexcused excessive lack of participation (two weeks of missed assignments in a row) before the withdrawal deadline will result in the recording of a non-participating status being entered into PeopleSoft, which automatically assigns a grade of “WF”.
If there is unexcused excessive lack of participation after the drop date, you will receive a failing grade “F” at the end of the term. If this is your third attempt (or greater) in this course and you violate the active participation/attendance policy at any time you will be assigned an “F”. The “Withdrawal” deadline for this session is March 23, 2016. You must decide by that date either to drop the course or stay in the course for a letter grade. As stated in SPC’s attendance policy, you are responsible for withdrawing yourself from the course if you choose to receive a grade of “W”. If you violate the attendance/active participation policy before the withdrawal deadline and do not want to be assigned a grade of “WF”, be sure to withdraw yourself form the course on or before March 23, 2016.
Please note that attendance is reported twice during the semester – during the first two weeks of class and at the 60% completion mark for the course. If you do not participate in the course by completing required assignments for the two weeks during these attendance periods, your absences will be reported and you will be automatically withdrawn from the course. Please plan to participate on a regular basis.
Mycourses : Your myCourses contains the syllabus and powerpoints. It also has an email area where you can communicate with me. You can also check your attendance, grades and your current class average. Please check the myCourses website on a regular basis.
QUIZZES: Weekly quizzes will be given online and are due by 11:30pm on the designated due date. The first quiz is unlimited time and submissions to get the feel of taking an online quiz. Starting on the Chapter 2 materials the rest of the quizzes are 20-minutes, timed and only the first submission counts toward your grade. After the quiz is due they will be reopened for unlimited review, but submissions do not count toward your grade. Be sure you read the chapter along with the lecture notes and feel ready before you log in to take the quiz. If you miss a quiz there are no makeups. Do not wait until the last minute to take the quiz. A power failure or computer or electrical malfunction does not warrant a makeup quiz. There are 15 quizzes total. 15 quizzes x 20 points= 300 points. Your lowest quiz will be dropped equaling a maximum of 280 points.
CURRENT EVENT SUMMARIES: Find four current articles (written within the last year) related to Biology and write a 200+ word summary about the article. Articles can be found in newspapers, magazines, journals or from reputable internet sources (check with me if you are unsure). Articles should be properly cited at the end of your summary using MLA or another appropriate format. Current events must be posted to the discussion forum and you are expected to post a reply to at least one other student's summary for each of the four current events. Your reply should include why you liked their current event and information you may know about that particular subject. Current events will not be accepted after due dates, but they may be submitted early (you do not have to wait until after the due date of one to move on to the next). See the "Current Events Rubric" located in the Current Event Summaries tab for a breakdown of how your summaries will be graded. The schedule below includes the dates that current event summaries are due. There are 4 current event summaries 4 @ 25 points each = 100 points.
DUE DATES: All assignments are due by 11:30pm on the due dates listed below.
PROCTORED EXAM INFORMATION:
The mid-term and final exams are proctored exams. A proctored exam is an exam that is administered by an authorized individual who supervises the student while they are taking the exam. The proctor's function is to ensure the integrity and security of the exam in a secure testing environment.
Proctored exams must be completed at an SPC campus or by designating a proctor if you are outside of Pinellas County. Students will not be allowed to use notes, texts, or online resources during proctored exams.
Students must schedule a day and time to take the exam. You have three options to complete your proctored exam(s). Please choose one of the options below that best fits your needs.