I'll be out of commo much of the weekend, so be sure to carefully read the explanation to clear up your uncertainties. I'll see you Monday.

IMPORTANT

You have until the day of the final examination to choose to withdraw from the course. If you choose to withdraw from the course, you will receive a W as your final grade. This will not affect your GPA. If you look at or touch the final examination, then you officially and IMMEDIATELY forfeit your right to withdraw. In that case, you will receive a letter grade (A,B,C,D, or F), which WILL affect your GPA. It is your responsibility to check the class standings and know whether you have a chance of passing. If you choose to withdraw before the final examination, let me know.

The Urinary System slide show has been updated.

After you have given your Hormone Project Presentation, use the following link to submit your evaluation. DO NOT evaluate anyone other than your own group-mates. If you gave the presentation alone DO NOT submit an evaluation.

Evaluation Form

Submit the form as soon as possible. Your group will not receive a score until you do.

The Respiratory System slide show has been updated.

At this point in the semester it becomes very important to keep your eye on the orange columns in the Class Standings and to understand the explanation.

Also, if two of your lecture examination scores are tied for the lowest score, then you'll need to email me and tell me which one (if any) you'd prefer to retake on the day of the final examination. Otherwise, I'll choose for you.

If you choose to withdraw from the course, you should email me to let me know. Just as importantly, you should immediately inform your group members for the hormone project. You should NOT assume that I will give you a W instead of an F if you simply stop attending.

I've posted the answers to PhysioEx 7.

The Peripheral Circulation and Regulation slide show has been updated.

The open laboratory session will be from 9-11 am on Friday 6 November.

The Heart slide show has been updated.

The answers to PhysioEx 11 are posted.

The Lymphatic System slide show has been updated.

Patty said that she would make photocopies for the laboratory, but here is an electronic copy of the things you should know from the PhysioEx and EKG assignments, and here is a copy of the handout you'll be using for the EKG.

The breakdown of questions for Practicum 2 has changed. Be sure to read it.

If you printed out the Course Syllabus long ago, be sure to compare it to the one that's posted. The schedule for the laboratory might be different. Remember that you signed up for an alternative date for the practicum (if you're in the Wednesday section).

I've posted a heart-dissection video on the Practicum Videos page.

Although the PhysioEx activities instruct you to print out your data, you should not do this. The only data I need are those that you write in the book. You should hand in only the pages of the exercises and the pages for the Review Questions. Remember that if you are not required to complete an activity within an exercise (according to the Laboratory Schedule), then you do not need to complete the Review Questions that pertain to that unassigned activity. Of course, you must complete the other Review Questions.

The Completed Vascular Project Table is now under Assignments and Scores.

The Blood slide show has been updated.

The cadaver-based vascular practice practicum has been slightly modified. The "questions" have changed from "artery" or "vein" to "blood vessel". That's just to let you know that on the real practicum I will not say whether you're looking at an artery or a vein. You have to be able to tell by looking. Also, even though the practice practicum is ordered so that all the arteries are shown and then all the veins, on the real practicum I will go back and forth randomly between arteries and veins.

The Endocrine Glands slide show has been updated.

The BIO202 laboratory will be open from 0900 to 1100 on Friday 02 October 2009 C.E. for any last-minute review you might want to do for the impending practicum.

I've added a link under Assignments and Scores about make-up examinations.

The posted breakdown of questions for Practicum 1 is now officially correct (and only slightly changed). Enjoy the weekend.

The PhysioEx key appears under Assignments and Scores.

I've added some links under Assignments and Scores that pertain to the hormone project.

IMPORTANT

Patty Finkenstadt has changed the policy with respect to the PhysioEx assignments.

1. All PhysioEx assignments will be worth 10 points instead of 20. Half of these points will be for completing the experiment (and answering the questions on those pages); the other half will be for completing the corresponding Review Questions.

2. After the assignments are checked for completeness and timeliness, they will be returned to the students. You will be checking your own returned assignments for correctness. There will be answer keys posted for this purpose. It's important for you to check your answers, because you need to be able to answer multiple-choice questions about the PhysioEx assignments on the practicum. (In other words, you need to understand the experiments.)

3. Because the PhysioEx assignments have been de-emphasized with respect to point-value, the number of multiple-choice questions about PhysioEx will be doubled to 10 on the practicum (instead of 5).

The Reproductive System slide show has been updated.

Keep in mind that the Review Questions at the end of the PhysioEx chapters are required as well, except for review questions that have to do with activities that are not required according to the Laboratory Schedule. The Review Questions are broken into sections with headings that correspond to the titles of the activities.

To bring more widespread attention to the Saladin outlines, I've changed the Notes for Downloading page. You should take a look.

IMPORTANT

If you haven't already received my mass email, then be sure to read this important message:

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/thoffman/CommonGlobal/Marieb.html

ALL (and only) Wednesday laboratory students must submit this form (only once).

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/thoffman/Common202/AlternativeLab.html

The timeout problem with the hormone forms has been fixed.

I've updated the Digestive System slide show. I'll be updating the slide shows gradually, so that each is updated by the time I use it in lecture. Therefore, you should hold off printing each chapter's slide show until it is updated.

The Hormone Request Form has been added, but you have to have a group formed already to be eligible to submit it.

The Course Syllabus has been updated so that the schedule of laboratory topics is now correct. Be sure to note the error in the version I handed out in class.

I misspoke when I said that there is an electronic form on the website for requesting a hormone for the group project. I haven't yet put the form on the site, but I will soon, probably today.

The Practicum Videos are now online.

I've added the Official Laboratory Schedule. It's important that you realize the difference between that and the brief schedule of topics that appears on the Notes for Downloading page.

The laboratory schedule on the Notes for Downloading page has changed. The official laboratory schedule will be published within a day or two. I'll explain the special circumstances concerning Wednesday students after the semester starts.

The Lecture Slide Shows might change between now and the beginning of the semester. If you intend to print them, you should save paper by holding off until the first day of class.

I've added links for the Rules Consent Form, the Comment Form, and the Email Form.

I've revised the Course Syllabus.

IMPORTANT END-OF-THE-SEMESTER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Read ALL of these, and act on all that apply to you.

1. You may opt to retake whichever lecture examination you scored lowest on, and if you opt to retake it, doing so can not hurt you. If you score higher the second time, I'll replace your original score. If you do not score higher, nothing will change. You will take the retake immediately upon submitting Examination 6, and the retake will be multiple-choice.

2. If you know that you will not be opting for the retake, it would be cool to let me know now, just to save a bit of paper. You do NOT need to tell me that you want to take it.

3. If two or more lecture examinations are tied for your lowest scores, you must tell me which test you prefer to retake. Otherwise, I'll choose one.

4. If you look at or touch Lecture Examination 6, then you will NOT be allowed to withdraw (and you will receive a letter grade, which will affect your GPA). If you choose to withdraw before Examination 6, please let me know. A withdrawal will appear as a W on your transcript, but it will not affect your GPA. It is your responsibility to check the class standings to see what score will be required for you to get your desired grade and to see whether it is possible to pass the course.

I apologize for the delay in the audio. I made the same mistake again and uploaded to the wrong directory immediately after yesterday's lecture. At least this time I learned how that's been happening, so that should be the last time.

Veins 15 and 16 were misnumbered on the Practice Practicum. That has been corrected.

Practicum 2 will include 75 total questions. Forty of these will use the cadaver; the remaining thirty-five will use sheep hearts.

As always, you are NOT allowed to take the practicum on a day different from your scheduled day.

I'm sorry about today's mix-up. I uploaded the lecture recording, as usual, immediately after the lecture. But I didn't realize that I uploaded it to the wrong directory. It's fixed now.

The Respiratory / Urinary Practice Practicum is now up there, too.

I've uploaded the Sheep-Heart Practice Practicum.

I just want everyone to realize that I misspoke on Monday when I said that all we would be doing on Wednesday in the laboratory is the list of veins. We'll be doing the list of veins, but we'll also be doing the dissection of the sheep heart.

I've added links for the vascular practice practicum on the Practice Practica page.

If you are registered in the MW laboratory section, your practicum in on WEDNESDAY. It is NOT okay to show up for a practicum on a day different.

It is NOT okay to show up late for any lecture examination. If you show up late, you may be required to take the make-up (non-multiple-choice) version.

I've updated the Potentially Useful Study Links.

I've added several Practice Practica. More will be added later.

I have added a mandatory Rules Consent Form to be submitted from the main website.

IMPORTANT END-OF-THE-SEMESTER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Read ALL of these, and act on all that apply to you.

1. You may opt to retake whichever lecture examination you scored lowest on, and if you opt to retake it, doing so can not hurt you. If you score higher the second time, I'll replace your original score. If you do not score higher, nothing will change. You will take the retake immediately upon submitting Examination 6, and the retake will be multiple-choice.

2. If you know that you will not be opting for the retake, it would be cool to let me know now, just to save a bit of paper.

3. If two or more lecture examinations are tied for your lowest scores, you must tell me which test you prefer to retake. Otherwise, I'll choose one.

4. The Final Examination will be given on 11 May at 4:00 pm (NOT 5:30). It will be given in the usual lecture room.

5. If you missed a lecture examination, you need to complete your make-up examination(s) by 13 May. If you complete a make-up examination before 11 May AND if that is your lowest test score, you may opt for the multiple-choice retake of that examination.

6. If you need to take a make-up examination, you must contact me and tell me whether you need to take it in my presence (in which case you'll need to make an appointment with me) or whether I should leave the test in the Testing Center, where you can take it any time they are open (as long as it's by 13 May).

7. If you look at or touch Lecture Examination 6, then you will NOT be allowed to withdraw (and you will receive a letter grade, which will affect your GPA). If you choose to withdraw before Examination 6, please let me know. A withdrawal will appear as a W on your transcript, but it will not affect your GPA. It is your responsibility to check the class standings to see what score will be required for you to get your desired grade.

Many thanks to all of you who sent condolences. I appreciate it, and so does Edna, Gertie's surviving litter-mate sister.

I'm sorry that there are still scores that need to be posted, but I had to kill my dog today, and that has put me out of the grading state of mind. I'll post them soon, though (for those with complete peer reviews).

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/thoffman/Gert.html

I've updated the scores. Many scores are missing for the presentation, because the following people did not submit scores for their group members:


I'll be unavailable much of the rest of the weekend. But I'm not the one to complain to about a missing score, anyway. Contact your delinquent group member. Enjoy the weekend.

I've added the breakdown of questions for Practicum 3 (under OFFICIAL INFORMATION). Be sure to see the breakdown page, because it also includes study links.

Let me set the rules for the hormone presentations.

1. You'll be using the instructor station to deliver your PowerPoint presentations. Come to the laboratory with your presentation saved to a USB drive (flash drive).

2. Each member of the group must participate in presenting the information.

3. Presentations MUST be made on the correctly scheduled night. No Wednesday presentations can be made on Monday; no Monday presentations can be made on Wednesday. If you show up on Wednesday thinking that it's okay to do your Monday presentation at that time, all members will receive a zero.

4. Any member who does not show up for the presentation will have its score cut in half.

5. Know your presentation well enough so that you don't simply stand up there and read the slides to the audience. The audience can read. Put the information in your own words as you speak.

6. Anyone who is late to the laboratory (even for being in the audience) will lose points.

7. Be prepared to answer questions from me and from students.

There are a five important announcements today.

1. There will be two open laboratory sessions (to study for Practicum 2) on Friday 10 April 2009 C.E. The first will be 0900 to 1100, and the second will be 1700-1900. The word on the street is that the cadavers will be available only for the first hour of each session. I haven't confirmed the veracity of such claims, but to be sure, you should show up at either 0900 or 1700 if you need to see the cadavers.

2. The breakdown of questions for Practicum 2 is:
·35 questions on sheep hearts
·25 questions on cadaver vessels
·15 multiple-alternative questions about blood routes, fetal circulation, and PhysioEx
I made an announcement weeks ago about the appearance of blood routes and fetal circulation on the practicum, but I'm reminding you here to BE SURE to look at the Practice Blood-Route Worksheets and the Fetal Circulation links (under Course Materials). The best way to make sense of the blood-route worksheets is to study the flowchart-type figures, NOT the anatomical figures (the ones that show what they actually look like). One example is Figure 21.11 in the Seeley, Stephens, and Tate (8th Edition) textbook.

3. You should always remember to check the Potentially Useful Study Links, but I'm letting you know that there's a link to a pinned dissection of a sheep heart. It's the last link under cardiovascular links.

4. Because this practicum involves a classwide activity, if you appear late you will risk being locked out.

5. I have decided to allow a second choice as being correct for one of the questions on Lecture Examination 4, so I will need your Scantrons again. Bring them to lecture on Monday. I don't expect any shenanigans, but I want you to be aware that making any changes to your Scantron is acedemic dishonesty and will result in a zero for the examination. (Remember that I can check it against your question forms.)

6. I said there are FIVE announcements, not six.

Be sure to read through the BioPac handout BEFORE coming to the laboratory. You should know the procedure well enough to be able to take a quiz on it.

If you think DOING the vascular project was a pain, I encourage you to try GRADING them. After many hours, I'm exactly half way through them. Anyway, I'll have them done by Monday's lecture. My original intent was to have them done by Monday so that you could use them to study, but I'm now officially telling you NOT to use them to study. They're not much good for studying how the vessels ACTUALLY are arranged. The class, as a whole, really dropped the ball on this assignment, I'm afraid. I'm not trying to make you feel bad or discourage you; I'm just telling you the truth. It's disappointing, because I was hoping this assignment would be a source of comparatively easy points for you. That's because the entire assignment consisted of following instructions and copying. Also, I told you SPECIFICALLY how to get full credit. I announced that the easiest way to lose points was to omit vessels that appear on the official list. Yet almost no one included all the vessels. This just doesn't make any sense to me, especially in a class in which students beg for extra credit. Even worse, though, the drawings are fraught with carelessness with respect to positioning, completeness, spelling, and labeling. That's why I'm telling you not to use them. Instead, study from books or from websites. Enjoy the weekend. I'll see you Monday.

Don't forget to check the Potentially Useful Study links for things that might help you with the sheep hearts.

The hormone worksheet is due Week 10 (as you doubtless know). It's okay to hand in a paper version to me in the laboratory. But you may also opt to submit the worksheet electronically. I have added a link for the Word version of the worksheet, so you can type your answers in. I have also added an upload tool so you can send me the file. Be sure to see the instructions for how to name the file before sending it.

Now that I have received multiple complaints from students about the cheating that was occurring on Wednesday night's practicum, I want to make a class-wide announcement about it here. First, I hope you recall my telling the class that one of the few ways you can piss me off is to cheat. It sucks that I now have to closely watch a few of you, as though this were high school. I much prefer treating my students like adults and like friends. But friends don't cheat. It also sucks that now your honest classmates will be watching you more closely and hopefully reporting to me. Honest students should not be afraid to report cheating to me (whether anonymously or openly), because cheaters only cheapen the value of hard-earned scores in this very demanding course. Also, you're supposed to be training for the medical field, wherein you will directly affect others' lives. If you can't cut it in this class the legal way, then you shouldn't be here. Leave nursing to the people who are willing to EARN the degree.

For now, I have not reduced any scores on the practicum, but I could do so at any time, especially if additional evidence mounts. If honest students report to me in the future that any of the same dishonest students are cheating again, I will enter the cheater's final semester score as zero (F). I also might recommend expulsion from Phoenix College.

I hate to turn BIO202 into a police state and have students spying on each other, but that's what cheating causes. If you're an honest student (as most of you are), you have nothing to worry about. I'm not going to reveal the names of any of the suspected cheaters. You know who you are, and so do we.

The key to the vascular project table is now online.

I added a link to Visible Body under Course Materials. It's a fairly neato site.

I'm sorry it took me so long to grade the PhysioEx assignments. They're only slightly more fun to grade than they are to do.

Now for some castigation. I realize that some of you work together on the PhysioEx assignments, and I even said that that's okay. But that does NOT mean that it's okay to write exactly the same response to questions as another student. That is NEVER okay to do, unless the assignment is a group assignment. Even if it's not with bad intent, such practice is plagiarism, which is SERIOUS academic misconduct. I didn't dock anyone any points for it, but THIS WILL BE THE ONLY TIME. From now on, ALL individual answers need to be put into your own words. If I see duplication again, the VERY LEAST that WILL happen is that all students involved will receive a zero with no chance of making it up. What CAN happen is that all students involved are thrown out of PC. Don't mistake my extravagant use of capital letters as anger. I realize no one was intentionally cheating. I just want you to realize that I am laying down the law, so it will not be tolerated again.

I'll be posting a PDF of some reproductive models that might help you out. The PDF will appear under Course Materials.

Enjoy the weekend.

I'm sorry, but I won't be able to post your scores until about 11:30 on Thursday morning.

I have received the official word about the questions on Practicum 1. You'll find the breakdown under Official Information. Also, astute readers of the Laboratory Schedule will notice that you are REQUIRED to bring your textbook with you to the laboratory on the day of the practicum.

There will be an OPEN LABORATORY period on Friday 27 February from 09:30 to noon.

Because at least one of you is having a problem with the VBR MP3's, I've replaced the High Quality versions of the lecture recordings with CBR's. If you've had any problems, then go back and download the replacements. If you don't know whether there's a problem, because you haven't yet downloaded any lectures since the last test, then you are falling behind, and you should expect your next test score to reflect that.

See the new link about sound files cutting off (under Technical Issues).

First, though there are unfortunately two versions of the Hormone Project Description and Worksheet floating around out there (one that says the worksheet is due Week 7 and one that says Week 10), the OFFICIAL due date is Week 10 for the Hormone Worksheet. Notice that the individual Vascular Project is also due Week 10. That project is much less work, and I'll talk about it in the laborat'ry.

Second, there is now a link (under Assignments and Scores) for some references that you might find helpful in working on the hormone project.

Enjoy the weekend.

I'm sure that most of you are at least as disappointed as I am by the scores on Examination 1. As a class, your mean score was, I think, the lowest I've seen for this test. By comparison, my last two BIO202 classes' means for Examination 1 were 70.2% and 78.3%. I'm not mentioning this to add to your misery. I just want to arm you with as much information as possible so you can make the adjustments that will be NECESSARY if you want to improve your test scores. By monitoring the website traffic, I noticed that much of the BIO202 traffic occurred within the last few days. This means that many of you are waiting until the last few days before studying for the test. This is exactly what I told students NOT to do. If you continue to put off studying, you can expect your scores to remain the same as this one. You should expect to have to put in a couple hours of study each day to do well. (By the way, I mean a couple of hours of undistracted, concentrated study. That does not mean spending a couple hours with the book open somewhere near you while you answer several cell phone calls.) Another thing I noticed by monitoring the website traffic is that not too many students even looked at (let alone read) the page of tips for how to succeed. Read that page as soon as you're done reading this message, then be honest with yourself when you consider how many of those things you did NOT do. There's really only one reason I wrote those tips, and that's because they work. So if you ask how you can improve, I'm just going to refer you to that page. Those are my best ideas. It's all about time management. If there is no way for you to put in the necessary hours outside of class, then there will almost certainly be no improvement in your scores. I don't want to see that happen. I want all of you to succeed in this course. But you're simply going to have to cut something out of your life, bite the bullet, and put the time in for this course. While you're doing all of that, however, remember that this first test is just one of six, and that it represents only 100 of 1065 points for the semester. There definitely is still time to recover from this, so PLEASE don't be discouraged.

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/thoffman/CommonGlobal/Study.html

With Lecture Examination 1 coming up on Monday, I don't want you diverting precious study time to PhysioEx. Therefore, PhysioEx 8 will be due Week 5. There will be no lab that week, though, so you'll have to submit your PhysioEx packets to the Biology Department. Use the same guidelines as for submitting late assignments (only it won't be late if it's submitted by the day of your normal lab meeting on Week 5).

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/thoffman/commonglobal/lateassignments.html

I've scrapped the idea of posting WAV's and MP3's on the Lectures page. All lectures are now MP3's, and you have a choice of High and Low Quality. The Low Quality recordings are the same as the MP3's were before. The High Quality recording are the same quality as the WAV's were, but since they're now MP3's, you should be able to use them on portable players.

There are now forms under Assignments and Scores for submitting a request for a hormone for the project. This is the only allowable method for requesting a hormone. Be sure to use the correct form.

Though the Official Laboratory Schedule does not explicitly say it, the Abdominopelvic Quadrants Table is due next week (of 02 February). I'll be collecting them at 19:00:00, so if you're not done when you enter the laboratory, you'll lose points. Enjoy the weekend.

I'm glad that some students are already using the Anonymous Comments link. But I've received a couple of submissions that were questions needing answers. Keep in mind that the form is anonymous, meaning that I don't know who is sending it, and I therefore cannot respond. The form is there for you to speak your mind. If you have a question to which you need a reply, you will need to email me. Enjoy the weekend.

You should consider attending an information session that's being held Friday 23 January in DB223. It's about the expectations and rigor of the BIO201/202/205 classes and how to succeed using the various resources available to you, including the Success Center. Even if you can't make it to this 11:00 session, you should be aware of the Success Center.

I've added the official Laboratory Schedule to the website. Also, I've slightly changed the syllabus and the textbooks page:
http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/thoffman/CommonGlobal/textbooks.html

I've added a randomization feature to the vocabulary pages. I think this is important, because people tend to memorize terms in a list based on their positions in the list. Don't underestimate the importance of vocabulary. If you don't know the meanings of biological terms, you won't be able to make sense of many of my test questions. On the other hand, if you know the terms WELL, you'll probably realize that many of my test questions are really quite obvious. This can have a big effect on your grade.