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Saddleback College |
Instructor: Julie Anderson |
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Fall 2008 Semester |
SM 234, Phone 582-4657 |
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Email: Janderson@saddleback.edu |
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Schedule Updated:Nov 9, 2008 |
Home Page: www.saddleback.edu/faculty/janderson |
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MST 100: Aquarium Systems Distance Ed-hybridized
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Course Description: This
is a hybridized distance-education course. On-line presentations,
threaded discussions, worksheets and quizzes occur on-line and exams and labs
are scheduled on-campus or in the field. The course covers the chemical,
physical, and biological environment as it pertains to aquarium ecosystems.
Water quality, filtering, lighting, husbandry of organisms, nutrition & feeing,
disease prevention & treatment, and multiple tank systems will be covered
as well. Students will setup, maintain and conduct group aquarium projects
on-site at the Aquarium Lab Facility. One required field trip is scheduled for
a special back scenes tour of a large public aquarium.
Student Learning Outcome: Students will impart a working knowledge of aquarium science vocabulary, techniques, supplies, and equipment and understand how key elements are employed in the design, set up, and daily operation of a healthy, captive, aquatic environment.
This is a 12 week, compressed course consisting of approximately 66.4 hours, and is a equivalent to a semester long course! This works out to be 55% (36.5 hrs) equivalent of on-line lecture and discussion and 45% or 29.9 hrs of hands-on lab and testing here on-site. The tentative schedule of course activities are posted below.
Lecture: There will be 1-2 power point lectures and/or discussion boards posted on Blackboard each week. Many of lectures require an on-line assignment. It is of great importance that you keep up on the lectures, assignments and quizzes on a bi-weekly basis. Getting a few days behind may result in you becoming hopelessly behind! Because of the speed of this course, there is little to no time to catch up on missed work. The majority of the material covered on the 2 exams comes directly from the lecture, (quizzes and assignments) and labs (activities and exercises), so it is to your benefit to keep up on these materials. Begin the course by reviewing the course information presented in this syllabus and then login to Blackboard to read specific directions in the announcements (very important area to read thoroughly). Click on a topic from the left navigation menu bar and familiarize yourself with the course structure. Some of the links will take you to another web page, but it may also cause a movie, audio file, or other multimedia to play. Your first assignment; Introduce yourself in the first discussion forum, an online discussion topic. Usually these are threaded discussions (See Discussion Board). Access the discussion board by clicking on the discussion link.
Labs: You are expected to attend all labs as they are a very critical part for developing basic and technical skills through hands-on activities. Exercises will challenge you to apply knowledge gained from lecture topics in developing critical thinking skills.
Required Texts: Marine Aquarium Systems. A Scientific Approach
Emphasizing Ecosystem Dynamics in Learning How to Successfully Set Up and
Maintain Marine Aquariums for the Home, Classroom, Work Place and Research Lab.
Author; Julie Anderson. 2006.
Important Dates Regarding Records & Admissions:
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Drop with Refund by: |
Wed., Sept. 17, 08 |
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Elect CR/NC by: |
Thursday., Oct. 2, 08 |
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Drop without 'W' Grade by: |
Thursday, Oct. 2, 08 |
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Drop with 'W' Grade by: |
Wed., Oct. 29, 08 |
Grading: Grades for this course will be posted on the course Blackboard site. Grades will be updated often, and will show your grade to date, weighted with respect to the differing weights of the assignments.
Approximate Points Breakdown:
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120 pts |
2 - Exams (mid-term and final exam) both Lecture and lab will be “test material” |
30% |
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120 pts |
Lab & Worksheet |
30% |
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120 pts |
Quizzes & Assignments |
30% |
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40 pts |
Aquarium Project |
10% |
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400 pts |
Total Points |
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Grades are based on percent of accumulative points earned
and are assigned as straight percentage; 90-100% = A, 89-80% = B, 77-68%
= C etc. If you do not want a grade, you must submit a form for Credit/No
Credit by the deadline.
Attendance: You must make every effort to attend all labs and may not miss an exam. Exams will only be made up if I am notified prior to the exam, and have a valid explanation that is approved at my discretion. You may not miss more than 2 consecutive lab class meeting or a sum total of 2 throughout the semester. This class meets for 14 weeks and 2 missed lab classes is 18% of the lab component and will result in a major drop in your overall grade. 3 missed labs will result in an automatic Failing grade. If you must miss a class, you are responsible for any announcements and assignments as they are scheduled above. Please check my website for updates. Alternative assignments may be possible to make up for valid and excused absences, again at my discretion, so keep me informed!!
Assignments & Worksheets, Quizzes and Exams: Assignments and Worksheets are posted on-line, and are short answers, others are in the manual and may require diagrams and labels.. They are due the following week, as posted. Quizzes are scheduled above and are On-line, they will be a combination of matching, true and false, multiple choice, fill in the blank and short answer, open book and notes, I'll explain how this works. Exams are scheduled in advance and are scheduled on-line, with exception to the Lab exam portion, which will occur during lab time in the classroom.
Lab Exercises and Activities:
Lab exercises are to be completed in the manual and are due the day of the
first Lab Exam, unless this exercise is posted with on-line submission
with a completion date. Activities will be conducted during class meetings on
campus. We will set up and maintain small marine aquaria, perform weekly
maintenance, feeding, cleaning, water quality measurements and record keeping
of aquarium projects. Aquarium Project will require record keeping, reports of
equipment used, and evaluations relating to aquarium project. Specific skills
developed: Basic equipment use, aquarium set up, maintenance, trouble-shooting,
system design, basic math, specimen handling, acclimation, observation,
feeding, health and compatibility and a special field trip tour of the back
scenes of the Aquarium of the Pacific.
Extra Credit: These can be earned a number of ways, but cannot exceed an accumulative of 20 pts for the entire semester. You may assist with routine maintenance and special projects in our Aquarium Facility, (1.5 hours = 3 pts) and are encouraged to do so to increase your aquarium skills.
Aquarium Project: This will run for a total of 9-10 weeks and is the major focus of lab activities as we progress through the 12 week semester. Refer to pages 98-103, in the manual for more details. This project will be due the last class meeting, Nov. 20, 2008, during final lab practicum exam.
Student Services: General Student Service Information is available at the Saddleback College Website. General, academic, and service information can be obtained by accessing the Counseling Division and Financial Aid Websites. Individual and small group counseling information such as academic planning and review of transcripts is available by appointment. All other student services are available on campus during normal business hours.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: This course meets the requirements set forth in the accessibility checklist and universal design grid provided by Special Services. The Web Pages, video presentations, textbooks and class materials used in this course are accessible to students with disabilities. If you have questions on how to make accommodations for you, please contact Special Services, Mike Sauter. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Special Services Office in the Student Services Center. Requests for accommodation for testing must be done in a reasonable and timely fashion. Accommodated testing is given for lecture exams for students with documentation of need.
Contact Information:
Email. This is the preferred method of contact rather than phone! I check this at least 3-5 times a day and am on-line much of the time. Expect responses within 6 hours during the hours of 8 am to 9 pm. Due to the large amount of spam that everyone receives. All of your emails must have MST 100 in the subject field so that they don’t get trashed.
Office Hours: I am generally in the Biology Prep area, (Sr. Lab Technician, Biological Sciences) SM 234-6, during the hours of 11:00am - 8:30pm M-Th, and alternate Fridays: 8:00am – 4:30pm. Drop-ins can be accommodated most of the time, but I'm not always on campus or in a situation where I can stop working, but do try anyway if drop-ins work best for you. or leave messages on my voice mail.
Enjoy the Course!
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Week / Date |
On-Line: Lecture Topics, Discussions and Assignments & Quiz Schedule |
On-Site: Lab Activities & Exam Schedule |
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1 Sept. 11 |
* Assignment: Discussion Board: Introduce yourself, due Sept 17 * PPT: History and Aquarium Ecosystem (pg 6). * Review: Procedures and Lab Safety; pgs 103-104) * On-line: Quiz 1 - due Sept. 17 |
* Mandatory Orientation Meeting * Procedures and Lab
Safety; pgs 104-06. On-Line part of Lab 2: Water Chem & Quality (pg 67) - see Lab menu for information. |
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2 Sept 18 |
* Review pgs 83-85 for the "Reef set-up" prior to Lab Class
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* Lab Exercise 2: Water Chem & Quality (pg 67) – See Blkbrd under Labs, for abbreviated notations and review
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3 Sept. 25 |
* PPT: The Traditional & Reef Tank * On-Line Assignment, Lab 5: Traditional vs Reef Tank (Read pgs 82-85), * PPT: Stocking
the aquarium: Introducing and species compatibility (pgs 36-37) * On-line: Quiz 3 - due Oct. 1 |
* Last chance to complete Labs 1 and 2 * Aquarium Project 2: Capture, transfer and acclimation AND routine maintenance of aquarium projects
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4 Oct. 2 |
* PTT: The Water: Quality & Water pumps and flow rates (pg 21-26) * On-Line Assignment: Worksheet Aeration and Circulation
and Water Pumps; (pg 23-4), due Oct 10 |
* Examine and compare various filters + Protein Skimmer diagram. * Aquarium Project 3: Aquaria maintenance, water
change gravel vacuum AND add Protein Skimmers |
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5 Oct. 9 |
* On-line Quiz 4 - due Oct. 12 * PPT: Filtering Structures and Protein Skimmers (pg 31-33) On-Line Assignment: Worksheet Protein Skimmers (pg 34 , due Oct 14 |
* Mid-Term Lab Exam (in classroom) - Weeks 1-5.
*Aquarium Project 4 and maintenance |
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6 Oct. 16 |
MIDTERM EXAM (Covers topics from weeks 1-5)
*Study Guide is available under Documents |
* Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach Meet at Group Gate promptly at 2:30pm, Thursday, Oct. 16 - NOTE earlier time!
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7 Oct. 23 |
* PPT: Nutrition and Feeding of Marine Inverts & Fish (pg 38-40)
* PPT: Lighting & Sterilization (pg 41-43) On-Line Assignment: Worksheet Sterilization (pg 44) , due Oct 30 |
* Set Up Demonstration: UV Sterilizer and Ozone system. Complete diagrams
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8 Oct. 30 |
* PPT: Special Systems: Reef tanks, Natural Reefs, Refugiums, Algae Scrubbers, Mangroves, Sea Grass, Kriesels and more! (pg 45-47)
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*Aquarium Project 7: Maintenance and using a canister filter for cleaning |
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9 Nov. 6 |
* PPT: Disease: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment, part a (pg 57-65)
* On-line Quiz 7 ...last one! |
*Aquarium Project 8- finish up Charts & Math
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10 Nov 13 |
* PPT: Aquarium Math; (pg 57). Assignment: Mathematics for Aquarists, (pg 93-95). * PPT: Systems Integration and Multiple tank
systems (pg 58-61) |
FIELD TRIP: Sea
Dwelling Creatures, Large Wholesale opreration located next to LAX. Be
there at 2:30pm. Directions are posted on Blackboard under
documents. * You may schedule a time
to come and clean up Aquarium Project prior to Final, or you may do this
after the Final Lab Exam |
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11 Nov. 20 |
* Student
Learning Outcome - Students will impart a working knowledge of
aquarium science vocabulary, techniques, supplies, equipment and understand
how key elements are employed in the design, set up, and daily operation
of a healthy, captive, aquatic environment. |
1. Final Lab Practicum – This is our Last Class Meeting 2. Clean up (capture, trasfer & acclimate animals, rock and
sand), clean filters, skimmers and tanks and store - docked 10 points if
not completed! |
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12 Nov 28 |
FINAL Lecture EXAM (this is comprehensive, but will
focus on last 1/2 of class) * You must
complete and submit by Thursday, Nov. 28, 9:00PM |
Thanksgiving Holiday *You may come by Dec. 4
or after, to pick up your Aquarium Projects, extra credit assignments and lab
exam results. |