Class will be live and in-person, unless something arises. Keep up with announcements so that you don't miss changes.

Missed Classes:

Each unexcused absence will result in a 10 point deduction from your grade. Absences must be documented and/or cleared by Dr. Stokes before class, unless there is an emergency.

Tardiness:

Tardiness is unprofessional, disruptive, and disrespectful to your fellow classmates, especially since this is a student presentation course. You must be in your seat and ready to go at the start of class, otherwise, you will be counted as tardy. Further, tardiness will also count against your course grade (-5 points for each tardy).

Assignment Details:

The details for all of the assignments introduced below will be available on Canvas. So, check there for all of the information that you need to successfully complete each assignment.

Reflection Assignments:

You will complete two brief reflections on the impact of your General Education and your Biology courses on your overall education. You'll discuss the skills that you were taught in these courses and how those skills will impact your future career or career goals.

Presentations:

The main activity in this course will be student presentations. Each student will be expected to write a topic proposal and give two oral presentations. You will present one 5-8 minute talk and a 12 minute talk on a biological topic of your choice. This is separated into five distinct activities:

1. topic requests

2. a proposal for the presentation

3. a short 5 minute presentation

4. a longer 12 minute presentation on your topic

5. reflection paper on your talk and feedback received

Both presentations will need to be submitted by 11:59 pm on Canvas the night before your scheduled presentations. Further details are available on Canvas.

Writing and Presentations:

Presentations in this course must use proper scientific usage and conventions (i.e. Proper formatting of scientific names, formatting of references, etc.). Material in presentations should be properly cited in the format following the Biology Department’s Writing Standards. You will be expected to cite the sources for your presentation exactly as outlined in the Biology Department's Writing Standards. Failure to do so will result in a ZERO for your literature cited score. Further, failure to include citations will be considered cheating, and will result in an F for the course.

For all written aspects of this assignment (& in fact this class), including visual aids, the quality of your writing will be an important determinant of your evaluation. Please take the writing in this course very seriously. Frequent typos, grammatical issues, etc. will have a significant effect on your grade. Proper scientific usage and conventions (e.g. proper formatting of scientific names, referencing formats, etc.) will be expected in all writing.

Participation:

An important aspect of your education is participation in discussion. Though we won’t have a true discussion, you will be required to participate by asking at least ONE presenter a good question about his/her short presentation, and asking ONE presenter a good question about his/her long presentation during the semester. In other words, you must ask two questions throughout the semester. You do not have to ask questions of the same person for the short and long presentations. Questions need to be relevant to the information presented during class.

Peer Reviews:

For each presentation, you will be expected to complete a brief review of the presentation that you are watched. These reviews will be given to the presenter so they can evaluate their own performance. Constructive criticism is the most helpful, and is expected. So, be honest, and inform the presenter of where he/she could improve, in addition to noting things that were good. Each student will be graded on the quality of his/her reviews. You must list at least one thing that was good, and one thing that could use some work. One word answers will not be counted.

Grading:

Your grade will be based on the number of points you earn divided by the total points for the course. Your final grade will be percentage based. Grade appeals can only be made on the basis of miscalculation of your average and must be made to me within at least one week of grades being posted. There will NOT be any extra credit or curving in this course. Whatever grade you receive on presentations/assignments is the grade that you get for that assignment. Grades are rounded (by Canvas even!) as follows: 79.5%-79.9% rounds to 80%, 79.4% -79.0% rounds to 79%, etc.

Grades are based on the following percentage scale:

• 93-100 = A

• 90-92 = A-

• 87-89 = B+

• 83-86 = B

• 80-82 = B-

• 77-79 = C+

• 73-76 = C

• 70-72 = C-

• 67-69 = D+

• 63-66 = D

• 60-62 = D-

• <60 = F