Welcome to Biology 04, Elements of Biology! I am your instructor, professor
Cynthia Sanchez. This course will run from January 24 to May 20th 2020. This is
an introductory course which is a survey of cellular and molecular biology,
ecology, and evolution, designed for students not majoring in the sciences. It
reviews fundamental concepts, principles of biology, and background information in
the physical sciences. There is also a coordinated laboratory course
associated with this lecture. This can be found in the catalog and the course
schedule under BI - 04L. I am your professor, Cynthia Sanchez. I
can be reached on my office phone at seven six zero - three six six - three seven
nine one, extension zero two five nine. Often the best and quickest way to reach
me is via email. Please keep in mind that all communications with the instructor
must be sent from your Copper Mountain College email account. If you are able to
meet with me in person, I have office hours Mondays and Wednesdays 5:30 to
6:30 p.m. in room 113 or request an appointment. This is a fully online
course which will require computer access and an internet connection. The
textbook and some presentations will be in PDF format or Word format. If you do
not already have a PDF Reader, a PDF Reader can be downloaded for FREE at the
link shown here. This online course also requires a textbook. There is a free
downloadable PDF version of this textbook available here on Canvas. Keep
in mind, the file is large so downloading might take a while! This course is
conducted through Canvas. From the CMC website, you can click on the MY CMC
PORTAL and log in. Under bookmarks you'll see CANVAS.
Click on CANVAS and log in or
just go directly to the link shown here. IMPORTANT! You MUST log into Canvas and
complete the first assignment before 11:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on
January 31st 20:20 in order to not be dropped from
the course for non-attendance! Don't worry. You're going to have a lot of
support from me and from the Distance Education Center. You are never alone and
we are here to help you. You may visit the distance education center online, in
person, by phone, or via email. This course is broken down into four modules. Each
module covers five chapters from the textbook, along with a module exam. Each
chapter will have one homework assignment, one discussion board
assignment, and one chapter quiz. Once you have completed all of the quizzes for
that module you may then take the module exam.
Let me show you how to access your course. From a computer with an internet
connection, you want to open up your browser. Once you have opened your
browser, go to the Copper Mountain College homepage. From the home page, you
can access your My CMC Portal. Your page will probably look different from mine,
because I am a faculty member. However, under BOOKMARKS you will find a link
that says "Canvas". Click on this link here. You may want to bookmark this page to
make it easier to find in the future. From this page, you will click on your
course. Once you have signed on to Canvas and have entered your course, this is the
first page that you will see. This gives the entire layout of the course along
with all relevant assignments, exams and quizzes. Let me show you how this works.
This online course is separated into four modules. Each module will cover five
different chapters. Each chapter is going to have a homework assignment, a
discussion and a quiz. Once you have completed all of the assignments for all
of the chapters of that module, then you can take the module one exam. The module
exams are timed, so make sure you have enough time to successfully complete the
exam in one sitting. Let me show you how to navigate your
course. The easiest way is to first click on the link of the Chapter. Here you will
find a link to a PDF copy of your textbook and most chapters will also
have some sort of presentation. The textbook and the presentations are saved
in a PDF format to make it easy to view. If you do not already have a PDF Reader,
there is a link in the announcements for you to download a free PDF Reader. When
you have done the reading and looked at the presentation, then you can just click
on NEXT. Next you will see the homework assignment for this chapter. There is a
link for the homework in a Word document. Clicking on this link will download the
document to your computer. When you are done downloading the document, click
ENABLE EDITING. This will allow you to add your answers to the document. Once
you have opened the Word document, you'll be able to see the homework. For example,
here's the homework for Chapter 1. To save your file, go to FILE, SAVE AS, and choose
a name that you will remember, and click SAVE. Next, you can go ahead and put your
answers in the blank spots here. When you are ready to submit, you will go back to
the Chapter 1 Homework Assignment Page and click on SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT. This will
bring up a Text Entry Box. Go to the document that you have prepared that has
your answers. Next click "Ctrl A", which will select ALL which will highlight
everything on the page. Then, click "Ctrl C". That will COPY everything highlighted.
Now, go back to Canvas and make sure that you have clicked on the Text Entry Box.
Now, hit "Ctrl V".
Scroll up and down to make sure that everything looks correct before
submitting. When you are ready, hit SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT. You will see here that the
assignment has been submitted. Great! Let's go to the next step for Chapter 1.
Click on NEXT. Each chapter is also going to have a short Discussion Question. Let
me show you how to complete this assignment. Click on REPLY.
Next, click on the Text Box and type in your reply.
Please use complete sentences. So once you have put in your response, then click
on POST REPLY. When you are done, then you can click NEXT.
The final step for completing Chapter 1 will be to take a Quiz. When you are
ready, click on TAKE THE QUIZ. Once you have put in your answers, every time you
click NEXT, at the upper right hand corner you will see a Log of the
questions that you have completed. Even though I have not completed this quiz,
I'm going to push SUBMIT. If you have not answered all of the questions, a Pop-Up
Box will appear that will show you that you have unanswered questions. In this
case I'm just going to submit this anyway. You will get instant feedback on
which questions you have correctly answered and what your score was. Now I
can click Next again. Now that I have completed chapter 1, I can go on to
Chapter 2. Once you have completed all of the quizzes for the chapters in that
module then you can take the Module 1 Exam or the exam for that module. Now
keep in mind the module exams are timed so it is best to study ahead of time to
make sure you don't run out of time. When you are ready, you can say TAKE THE QUIZ.
When you click on NEXT this will bring you directly to the next module. Module 2
is going to cover chapters 6 through 10 and it's set up in the same way as the
first module. Make sure to check your grades often. Most of your assignments
will be graded within 24 hours. It's also a great idea to keep track of your
progress and make sure you're paying attention to the due dates! Also, make
sure you are checking your announcements regularly as well as checking your
Copper Mountain College email. Let's go back to the Home Page. So when you go to
the Home Page, you're going to see different things that are due. This will
help you keep track of where you're at in the course. It's also good to
occasionally view the Course Calendar. This will
help you look ahead to see what things are do in the future. That's it! So, I hope
that that was helpful and if you have any questions please feel free to let me
know!