Saddleback College, 2008 Spring Semester 
Instructor: Julie Anderson
MST 100: Aquarium Systems, Distance Ed, 3 units
SM 234, Phone 582-4657
14 Lab class meetings; Wednesday, 3:30pm- 6:00pm
Meets: Jan. 16 – April 14, 2008
Email: Janderson@saddleback.edu
Ticket # 2669
Home Page: www.saddleback.edu/faculty/janderson
 
 
Distance Education / Hybrid Course
MST 100 DE: Aquarium Systems
 
 
This course uses Blackboard as the electronic teaching platform and can be accessed at:Http://socccd.blackboard.com/webapps/login. User name (your assigned email user name  for Saddleback College)   Password (your Saddleback College email password, or default is your pin number followed by two zeros.
 
 
 
Course Description: This is a hybrid distance-ed course. Threaded discussions, worksheets and quizzes will 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.
This is a 14 week course, approximately 66.4 hour, 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.
Lecture:There will be one-two power point lectures and/or discussion boards posted on Blackboard per week. Many of lecutures will require an on-line assignment. It is of great importance that you keep up on these on a bi-weekly basis.
Labs: You are expected to attend all labs as they are a very critical part for developing skills and applying knowledge gained from lecture topics.
Because of the speed of this course, there is little time to catch up on missed work.Getting a few days behind may result in you becoming hopelessly behind!The majority of the material covered on the 2 exams comes directly from lectures and labs, so it is to your benefit to keep up on these materials.Begin the course by reviewing the course information presented in this attachment and then login to Blackboard to view additional topics. Click on a topic from the left navigation 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.
Enjoy the Course!
 
Week / Date 
On-Line: Lecture Topics, Discussions and Assignments & Quiz Schedule 
On-Site: Lab Activities & Exam Schedule
1
Jan 16 
* Assignment: Discussion Board: Introduce yourself
* PPT: History and Aquarium Ecosystem (pg 6). 
* Review: Procedures and Lab Safety; pgs 103-104) 
* On-line: Quiz 1 
* PPT: The Aquarium Environment: Chemical and Physical (pg 9-11) 
Orientation Meeting 
* Procedures and Lab Safety; pgs 104-06.   
Lab 1: Aquarium Devices (pg 62, please review pgs 7 and 103.) 
 
2 
Jan 23
* PPT: The Aquarium Environment: Biological and the Nitrogen Cycle (pg 12-16) 
*Assignment: Lab 3: Analysis of a Marine Aquarium Ecosystem (pg 73, and pg 13)
Assignment: Lab 4; The Nitrogen Cycle (pg 78) 
Lab 2: Aquarium Chemistry (pg 67) 
 
3
Jan 30 
* On-line: Quiz 2 
* PPT:The Traditional & Reef Tank 
* On-Line Assignment: Lab 4: Traditional vs Reef Tank (pg 82),  
* Discussion - Record keeping & maintenance. 
Lab 5: The Set Up Tank assignments and supplies (pg 82-86) 
*Aquarium Project Records (pgs 87-92)
4
Feb 6 
* On-line: Quiz 3 
* PTT:The Water: Quality & Water pumps and flow rates (pg 21-26) 
*Assignments: Worksheet 1: Aeration and Circulation and Water Pumps; (pg 23-4) 
*PPT: Stocking the aquarium: Introducing and species compatibility (pgs 36-37)
Aquarium Project : Water quality testing *Capture, transfer and acclimation. Aquaria maintenance, 
 
 
5
Feb 13
* PPT:Filtration: Theory, Types, Substrate and Media (pg 25-33) 
* On-line Quiz 4 
* PPT: Filtering Structures and Protein Skimmers (pg 31-33) 
Assignment:Worksheet Protein Skimmers (pg 34) 
*Review for Mid-Term Exam 
* Coral Propagation techniques: Creating a Nice Live Rock!  Cutting & Mounting "soft" and "hard" coral frags (pgs 116) 
*Aquarium Project and maintenance
6 
Feb 20
MIDTERM EXAM  (Covers topics from weeks 1-5) 
Lecture will be posted On-Line; 9:00am, Feb 15 - and closes Feb. 20, 9:00am)
Mid-Term Lab Exam.  Submit Labs & Worksheets (Weeks 1-5)
Lab: Aquarium Project and add Protein Skimmers 
7
Feb 27
* PPT: Nutrition and Feeding of Marine Inverts & Fish (pg 38-40) 
* On-line Quiz 5
* PPT: Lighting & Sterilization (pg 41-43) 
Assignment: Worksheet Sterilization (pg 44) 
Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach Meet at Group Gate promptly at 12:45pm, Wed., Feb 27. 
8
Mar 5 
* PPT:Special Systems: Reef tanks, Natural Reefs, Refugiums, Algae Scrubbers, Mangroves, Sea Grass, Kriesels and more! (pg 45-47)  
* On-Line Quiz 6
Lab class Dismissed
9
Mar 12
* PPTs: Part a & Part b Disease: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment (pg 57-65) 
* On-line Quiz 7
*Aquarium Project and maintenance 
*Water change, gravel vacuum and maintenanceAdding Canister filters 
Mar 17-21
Spring Recess
 
10
Mar 26 
* PPT: Aquarium Math; (pg 57). 
Assignment: Mathematics for Aquarists, (pg 93-95). 
* PPT: Systems Integration and multiple tank systems (pg 58-61)
*Aquarium Project - finish up Charts & Math 
Movie: "Watery World - History-Present day Aquariums" 
 
11
Apr 2
 
* Your Projects should be completed!
Share your project: Analyze, interpret project results 
* Discussion review for exam
*Submit your Aquarium Project 
*Clean up Projects (capture, trasfer animals, rock and sand), clean filters, skimmers and tanks and store - docked 10 points if not completed!
*Review for Exam - last chance to ask!
12
Apr 9
FINAL EXAM parts 1 and 2
Final Lab Practicum, scheduled as published for Exam Schedule 
 
Required Text:  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. 2005.
   Distributed to you, (courtesy of Aquarium Systems.): The SeaWater Manual, Fundamentals of Water Chemistry for Marine Aquarists, by E. Mowka, Jr., and The Living Reef, Aquarium Manual, 2nd ed., by D. Wrobel

Important Dates Regarding Records & Admissions:
 
Drop with Refund by:
Friday, Jan 25,08
Elect CR/NC by:
Monday, Feb 11, 08
Drop without 'W' Grade by:
Monday, Feb 11, 08
Drop with 'W' Grade by:
Tuesday, Mar 11, 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:
 
120 pts
 2 - Exams (mid-term and final exam) both Lecture and lab will be “test material”
30%
120 pts
Lab & Worksheet 
30%
120 pts
Quizzes & Assignments
30%
  40 pts
Aquarium Project
10%
400 pts
Total Points
 
 
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!!
Quizzes and Exams:  These will be a combination of matching, true and false, multiple choice, fill in the blank and short answer. Quizzes are scheduled above and are on-line, open book and notes, some are “timed” so you should be well prepared and should obtain 100% for these! Exams are scheduled in advance, are scheduled on-line and will occur lab time. These will require a scantron sheet, 1-100.

Lab Exercises and Activities:
Set up and maintenance of small marine aquaria, weekly maintenance, feeding, cleaning, water quality monitoring and record keeping of aquarium projects, reports and evaluating unique and common problems 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 10 weeks and is the major focus of lab activities as we progress through the 14 week semester. Refer to pages 98-103, in the manual for more details.  This project will be due the last class meeting, April 10, 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 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 11:30am - 8:00pm M-Th, 8:00am – 4:00pm F (except during times I instruct other classes.) 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.