Syllabus

BIOL 220: Botany & Society Syllabus

Instructor contact information

Instructor: Dr. Ben Montgomery

Office phone: 864-503-5764. Cell phone / text messages: (864) 381-7587

Office: Smith 315

Office hours: M,T,W,TH,Fr 11:00 – 12:00 AM (online or by cell phone; I won’t necessarily be at my office, but can meet in person by appointment).

Communications:

I will be easily reached throughout most of the course by email, cell phone or texts to my cell phone. If you want to talk by phone or text, use the cell phone number.

Texting

If you text, please include your name in the text message and use conventional writing norms (not texting norms). Because I cannot verify identities based on phone numbers, texting is a good way to ask about assignment instructions, due dates, etc., but not a good way to ask about your grades or anything private.

For questions about grades, email is the appropriate choice. Email is also a good way to ask longer questions about assignments, to send documents, etc.

Phone

If you do want to talk by phone, email me your phone number in advance or send me a text alerting me that you will call about Botany. That way, I will know it is a real call, not a robo-call. It’s okay to call at your convenience – I am often available in the evening and after 9:00 in the morning.

Book & Web Resources

Required book

Mauseth, James D. Plants and People. Burlington, MA, USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC., 2013.

Course management system

The course’s Blackboard website will be used to disseminate readings and announcements and to submit assignments and receive feedback. Other online resources will be linked through the course’s Blackboard page. There are separate Blackboard pages for lecture and laboratory; the tab for laboratory assignments includes an “L” after the course number.

Objectives

1. Understand structure and function of plant parts, including cellular organelles, tissues, & organs.

2. Understand processes necessary for growth and survival. These processes include photosynthesis, respiration, cell division, and communication among cells in the processes of development and responding to the environment.

3. Understand characteristics of different types of plants, such as mosses, ferns, cone-plants (gymnosperms) and flowering plants (angiosperms).

4. Consider how plants allow for societal needs, such as food and resource production, nutrient cycling, and pharmaceutical development.

5. Consider risks faced by plant communities from climate change and other factors, and how society can respond to those risks.

Course Format

The course is taught online in a partially synchronous format. For the lecture portion of the course, there will 2 daily topics for most days Monday through Friday, except exam days. This schedule allows the material of a normal semester (14 weeks x 3 meetings per week = 42 meetings) to be covered over the 23 weekdays of the summer semester. Assignments will be due at 11:59 PM on the day specified, unless otherwise noted. No material will be strictly synchronous, meaning that there will not be live lectures or activities for which you are required to be online at a particular time.

Textbook readings and lectures

For most scheduled class days, you are required to read a section from the textbook or other sources and watch one or more online lectures. The material will overlap between the reading and lecture, but some material will be unique. Thus, it is not sufficient to complete only the readings or watch only the lectures.

‘Daily’ quizzes (20% of lecture score)

After learning from the reading and lecture, you will be required to complete a ‘daily’ quiz that draws from the reading and lecture. Due to the accelerated pace of the summer semester, two such quizzes will be assigned on most days. If you take all daily quizzes, then the three lowest will be dropped, and the remainder will account for about 20% of your lecture course grade. Missed daily quizzes will be scored as a zero. There are no make-ups for daily quizzes – the professor has discretion to drop missed quizzes due to excused absences for documented medical and family emergencies.

Exams (58% of lecture score)

In addition to the daily quizzes, you will be assessed on exams that cover multiple chapters of material. There are three midterm exams, each worth 12% of the lecture course grade, and a course final exam that covers all course materials and is worth 22% of the lecture course grade.

Other activities (22% of lecture score)

Throughout the semester, there will be small interactive assignments. Some activities are designed to help you prepare for assessments. Finally, some activities will help you think about how botany intersects with aspects of your life and societal questions more broadly. These activities are collectively worth about 22% of the lecture score.

Laboratory

The laboratory is a required component of the course. The lecture component of the course is worth 75% of your final course grade and laboratory is worth 25%. To calculate your course grade, multiply your lecture grade by three, then add your laboratory grade and divide the total by 4. One grade including lecture and laboratory is submitted to the university at the end of the semester. Details of the laboratory portion of the course are specified on the laboratory syllabus.