Saddleback College, 2009 Spring Semester 

Instructors:  Julie Anderson

MST 101: Aquarium Management, Ticket #12910 

SM 234-6, Phone 582-4657 

Mandatory orientation Friday, Jan. 16, 9-11:50am SM 202. Students contract 4 lab hrs per week between 1/16-5/15, and be approved by the instructor. There will be 2 Friday & 1 Sunday field trip scheduled. Details at 1st class meeting.  You must complete 72 hrs.

Janderson@saddleback.edu

Web Page: www.saddleback.edu/faculty/janderson

 

 

MST 101:  Aquarium Management

 

 Course Description: Designed to integrate good management practices while developing increased level of skills and responsibilities in aquatic animal husbandry. Students will install, operate, troubleshoot and maintain life support systems and care for aquatic animals at Saddleback College aquarium science facility.

 

Student Learning Outcome: Students will demonstrate essential skills and technical knowledge through the successful application of good husbandry practices standard in the industry and regulatory agencies

Tentative Schedule You will be assisting with daily husbandry activities, attending field trips, workshops and will be engaged in various projects at the Saddleback College Aquarium Facility. It is important to read your Managers Manual related to topics listed for that week and understand the description and protocol prior to engaging in the activity. Activity will require understanding background of procedure.

* Since you will be contracting a set schedule at the mandatory meeting, the schedule below is simply a guideline to the various activities you will focus on for that week. You must read to learn the value of such activities, as well as hone your skills in performing the related tasks during your lab time. It is important for you to realize that you will be expected to perform any of the tasks learned from the previous week at any given time. The objective in this class is to develop effective husbandry skills while you acquire the ability to interpret assigned husbandry tasks, access various actions required, implement our institutions husbandry and safety protocols while managing your time efficiently.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE; Updated: Feb 20, 2009

week 1

*Jan 16*

Mandatory Orientation: Course Requirements, Notebook & Discussion of Projects, Forms to Sign: Safety, Procedures and Conduct and Field Trip(s) Information. In-Depth tour of Aquarium Facility and Support Areas, Attendance & Sign-In policy AND Submit your Contract Hour Schedule

Manual Reading;1-Water Quality Measurements and Recording, 2-Algae Cleaning & Tank aesthetics

 week
Jan 19-24

Manual Reading 3-Food prep, distribution and recording.  4-Vacuming & Water Changes, 5- Protein skimmers and other filters
Project work - Tropical Reef and Temperate system

  week 3
Jan 26-31

Manual Reading  6- Live food cultures and 7 - additional water quality instrumentation & calibration
Project work - Tropical Reef and Temperate system

week 4
Feb 2-7

Manual Reading: 8 - Maintenance of water pumps
Project work - Tropical Reef and Temperate system
Skills Assessment and Notebook Checks + Project Notes

week 5
Feb 9-14

Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed
Project work - Tropical Reef and Live Food Culture Set up

week 6
Feb 16-21

Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed 
Project work - Tropical Reef and Temperate system

week 7
Feb 23-28

Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed
Project work - Tropical Reef and Temperate system

week 8
Mar 2-7

Skills Assessment and Notebook Checks + Project Notes
FRIDAY, FIELD TRIP: Tidepool Collecting, Mar. 6, 11:20am - 1:20pm

week 9
Mar 9-14

TUESDAY; March 10, Sea Dwelling Creatures Field Trip. Be there by 2:20 for Optional Tour with Scott Cohen

Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed
Project work - Tropical Reef and Temperate system

Mar

16-21

SPRING RECESS – Yes, you can schedule times during this week!

week 10
Mar 23-28

Maintenance and Projects  (as above)

Sunday 

 Mar 29

SUNDAY, Mandatory Field Trip - Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, San Diego . Meet there at 10:15am - 1:15pm   
  Fernando Nosratpour, Assistant Curator will provide a special "back scenes tour"  into the research and aquarist staff areas! 

week 11
Mar 30-Apr 4


Routine Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed

week 12
Apr 6- 10 

Routine Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed

FRIDAY Field Trip: Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach. Optional Workshop: Fish Behavior Lab with Sandy Trautwein, Be there at 1:00pm-4:30pm

week 13
Apr 13-18 

Skills Assessment and Notebook Checks + Project Write Up
Maintenance and Projects  (as above)

week 14
Apr 20-25

Routine Maintenance: Filter & Tank cleaning, Water quals, feeding and live culture rotation and other tasks as needed

FRIDAY Field Trip: Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach. Optional Workshop with Sandy Trautwein, Be there at 1:00pm-4:30pm

week 15
Apr 27-May 2 

Maintenance and Projects  (as above)

week 16
May 4-9

Maintenance and Projects  (as above)

May 15

Final Exam at 9:00am.  Submit Notebook with Project Final 

Important Dates Regarding Records & Admissions:
     Drop with Refund by:  Wednesday, 1/28/09
      Elect CR/NC by Friday, 2/20/09
      Drop without 'W' by Friday, 2/20/09
      Drop with 'W' by Wednesday, 4/8/09

Supplies and Text: 
     MST 101: Marine Aquarium Manager's Manual, Julie Anderson, 2006.
     1 - 1" 3-Ring binder with 4 tab index pages

Course Summary - i.e. list of lab techniques & skills

  1. Maintenance, repair and trouble-shooting of equipment, supplies and facilities
  2. Installation, assembly and maintenance of water lines, filters, pumps and other life support systems.
  3. Maintenance of water quality, health, nutrition and disease control for all tanks.
  4. Calibration of sensors, computer set up, acquisition and interpretation of data from water monitoring systems
  5. Collection, handling, transferring and acclimation of organisms
  6. Live foods Cultures / Microcultures: (Artemia nauplii, rotifers and algae)
  7. Quarantine, disinfecting & biosecurity
  8. Nutrition, food prep & handling, feeding,
  9. Animal behavior; health evaluations, disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment
  10. Propagation and cultivation techniques (corals and possibly shrimp and clownfish too!)
  11. Field Trips (one is mandatory, but you should schedule and plan to attend all of these for Maximum benefit in your aquarium education)

Grading:    90% and above is A, 80% above is B, 70% above is C, etc...

RULES AND SAFETY IN THE LAB: It is your responsibility to be aware of and adhere to the rules and safety guidelines for student behavior as listed in the Saddleback College Catalog and on the Safety in the Lab Safety Handout you signed (it is also pg 1 of your Lab Manual.
Emergency Procedures and Evacuation Procedures.  Review the Emergency procedures and Evacuation routes posted in the front classroom bulletin board. These will  be reviewed during the first lab meeting.

GENERAL INFORMATION & POLICY: Students are expected to attend classes regularly.  Failure to attend classes may be taken into consideration in assigning grades.  The instructor may drop students who fail to attend the first meeting of any class for which they have officially enrolled unless prior arrangement has been made with the instructor. The instructor will drop students who officially enroll in a class and never attend no later than the end of the tenth instructional day of the semester. Instructors may drop
a student from a class when he/she is absent for a total of six cumulative instructional hours. In no case, where the instructor has an option to drop a student, should the student presume he/she has been dropped unless the instructor drop has been officially verified by the Office of Admissions and Records (Calif. Ed. Code, Section 70902).

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:  It is difficult to cheat in this class due to its project focus.  Any attempts to cheat that are detected, however, shall result in IMMEDIATE dismissal and failure in the class and I shall PERSONALLY follow up the case to ensure that the full weight of the College’s penalties is exercised.  Please see the Saddleback College Web site for details on College policy.

USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES:  Please no audible cellular phones or pagers.  If you leave the classroom to answer a call or page, please leave for the entire lecture so as to not constantly disrupt the class.  Photo phones or personal electronic devices such as a Palm Pilots cannot be used during a test, not even as a calculator. 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.

CLASS CONDUCT (BP-5401):  Students are expected to conduct themselves with respect for the right of all members of the college community to teach and learn in a safe and academically stimulating environment.  Students shall be held responsible for observing rules and regulations for student conduct promulgated under the authority of this policy by the Board of Trustees or the district's administration.  Violation of such rules shall constitute good cause for imposition of disciplinary action as provided in rules and regulations (Calif. Ed. Code, Section 66300). No food or beverages in the classroom or lab.                                                                                
 
GRADE AND INSTRUCTIONAL RELATED GRIEVANCE (BP-5505):  When a student believes that a district or divisional/school policy or procedure has not been followed, the student should discuss this concern with the course instructor. (excerpt of the official Board Policy - Visit the web site:  www.socccd.org/board/boardpolicies.asp

GRADE GRIEVANCE:  By law, the instructor is solely responsible for the grades assigned; no instructor may be directed to change a grade except in certain narrow circumstances authorized by the Calif. Ed. Code, Section 76224 (a). When a student believes that the district grading policy has not been followed, the student should discuss this concern with the appropriate course instructor.  Prior to filing a grievance, an attempt must be made to solve the problem. The student is expected to contact his/her instructor directly to discuss their differences when grades are available to the student. At this stage most differences will be resolved. This contact should be conducted in the privacy of the instructor's office whenever possible, and the pertinent issues should be well defined so that they may be discussed as objectively as possible.
 
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 10 l 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.                                             

Voice Mail: You can leave messages at (949) 582-4657, I'll do my best to return your call.
 
 


SIGNATURE SHEET (Student must read, sign and submit this page to the instructor):
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT OF SYLLABUS: I have read this syllabus and understand the policies outlined in this document along with any elaboration on the part of the
instructor.  Any items unclear to me have been brought to the attention of the instructor and clarified to my satisfaction.  I shall adhere to the policies outlined in this document without
exception and accept any aforementioned penalties as a result of failing to follow these rules.
Furthermore:  I shall behave as a consummate professional as outlined above in section 11 (above) entitled Class Conduct.
______________________________   _______________     ________________________        __________
    Name                                                         Student ID #                           Class                                Date