The course syllabus for this course, like all LCC syllabi, is in the Concourse syllabus system as required by the college. Like all LCC syllabi, it can be found by clicking on the large box that says “Concourse” on the D2L home page for the course. Or you can click the link at the right side of the page that says “Syllabus” (right under “Useful links”.
The system and the college require the syllabus to be in a certain format and include certain information. Individual departments (like Chemistry) and professors (like me) want to include information valuable to students such as how the class will run, what you’ll study, what you are responsible for, and how you’ll be graded. By the time all this is included (and put in the required system) you get a very long (students often feel TL;DR)boring, gray document. Reading it can feel like reading the Terms and Conditions when you purchase something online. That’s too bad, because there are good reasons to at least be familiar with the syllabus – it can help you better plan for the course, allowing you to actually spend less time and better succeed in the long run.
So in this section I’m going to briefly cover some highlights of the syllabus and explain what you need to know now and what you might want to refer to later if needed, and hopefully answer some FAQ’s. But if you have any other questions about the course at any point in the semester contact me.
Meeting Times
This course meets fully online and asyncronously, which means that you will never have to be logged in a specific time for a class meeting. The only activities that have to be done during a specific time are the Unit Exams and Final Exam exam (dates listed on Course Schedule), which must be done at a testing center over the specified days (but you can due them anytime the testing center is open on the specified days). Other items, like quizzes and online homework, have due dates but are untimed and available for a number of days, allowing you a lot of flexibility to work on and complete them.
I get that all of you are balancing work, family obligations, and other classes. You also may have some travel or vacations some week. You may not know your work schedule week to week. So there is a lot of flexibility built into the course. The homework and quizzes will be available to you over several days, and are only due on specified days (see the schedule) they cover to ensure you stay on pace. The homework and quizzes are designed to help you learn and prepare as opposed to actually “grade” you. The responsibility is all yours to keep up and figure out how to complete each unit. My only suggestions are
- Don’t procrastinate! Students who wait until just before the deadlines to do all the work find it much harder, and get lower grades.
- Study the material in the order presented. Chemistry builds on itself, and the material in the beginning of a unit is usually needed to understand what comes next (this is also why procrastinating hurts — if you spend a little time with the earlier material before moving on, it helps!)
- Contact me if you are having trouble, get seriously behind, or need to deviate significantly from the schedule. And don’t delay! I want you to to be successful, but can’t help if I don’t know what’s up.
Contact Information
It’s here.
Course Description
See the syllabus. It should be self-explanatory.
Student Learning Outcomes
These are broad objectives that encompass on a broad, general scale what a successful student
Materials
Include this website, OpenStax text, the online homework, and the course D2L site. These were discussed in the previous section (Welcome to CHEM 151)
Evaluation Criteria and Breakdown (grading)
All grades (individual assignment and total) will be posted in the D2L gradebook (and nowhere else) as required by LCC.
The following information is direct from the syllabus (with an added clarification on quizzes). Please contact me with any questions.
Criteria (770 points total)
Online Homework (70 points)
There will be a homework assignment on each topic. The online homework for this course is in a homework website similar to this one. There will be a homework assignment over each of the 12 course topics this semester, with a total value of 100 points. However, they will count out of a total grade of 70 points. This will benefit you. For example, a student who earns 90 total points on the homework throughout the semester will get a 70 out of 70 for their homework grade plus 20 bonus points for the course. A student who earns 63 total points out of the total 100 on the homework throughout the semester will get a 63 out of 70 (or 90%) on homework toward their total course grade.
Unit Exams (400 points)
There will be five 100-point departmental unit examinations given during the semester. All unit exams and the final exam will be closed-book, proctored and taken using pencil or pen on paper, either at an LCC Testing Center or with an off-campus (non-LCC) proctor.
Final Exam (200 points)
The final exam will be comprehensive, covering material from the entire course. The exam is timed. The scheduling and format for each part will be similar to the unit exams, except it will be longer and you will be given 1 hour 40 minutes (100 minutes) to complete it. You will be allowed a 3″ by 5″ index card (both sides handwritten) that you can write info on to refer to during the exam for the final exam only.
More information about the unit exams and final exams are available at this link. This link is also under “Useful links” on the right sidebar.
Class Participation/Quizzes (100 points)
There will be 13 Class Participation/Quiz assignments during the semester. Each will be worth 10 points. You will keep the highest ten scores (and drop the lowest three) for a maximum total of 100 points.
Bonus/Extra Credit (30 points maximum)
As stated above, the graded homework is worth 70 points. However, earning a perfect score on all assignments would result in a score of 100 points. Therefore, there are 30 points maximum bonus points in the course.
Breakdown
4.0 : 90 – 100%
3.5 : 84 – 89.9%
3.0 : 78 – 83.9%
2.5 : 72 – 77.9%
2.0 : 66 – 71.9%
1.5 : 60 – 65.9%
1.0 : 55 – 59.9%
0.0 : 0 – 54.9%
Course Policies
Please read the Course Policies in the syllabus. These policies apply for ALL sections of CHEM 151, regardless of instructor, so we will follow them in this class as to not do so would be unfair to students in other sections. The one I get the most questions about is making up exams or quizzes. Note the policy as written in the syllabus:
There are no makeup quizzes or exams in CHEM 151. An absence from an hourly exam or a quiz will be recorded as a zero. However, one exam score will be dropped. If a student misses one or more exams, one of the missed exam zeroes will be dropped. If the student completes all of the unit exams, the lowest exam score will be dropped.
You will be given access to the quizzes and homework well before their due dates, so you will have plenty of time to work on them. You will also have a window of a few days to take each of the paper and pencil, proctored exams. There is a lot of flexibility of when to do those assignments. Don’t procrastinate! If you wait until the last minute and have something come up (work, internet outage, illness, etc) I will typically not extend the homework or quiz deadline (instead I will remind you that you get to drop three quizzes or that there are bonus points available on the homework).
I MAY (no guarantees) be more flexible on the exams, as they are scheduled to be done only on certain days. I do want you to take the exams and be successful and I realize the days might be problematic at times. If that is the case , tell me as soon as possible. The exam dates are available on the calendar now. If you contact me in advance (the earlier, the better) and tell me there will be a problem, I can probably work with you.
Again, the key is to communicate with me what is going on!
CHEM 151 Honors Option
An Academic Honors Option is an instructional agreement whereby a student can earn an Honors designation on his or her transcript by completing an approved enrichment assignment in a non-Honors course. The Academic Honors Option assignment designed by faculty for this course is explained below. In addition to completing all other course work assigned by the instructor, students seeking an Honors Option will solve a set of questions that go beyond the assigned online homework. The questions include more advanced conceptual and/or mathematical skills often utilizing topics covered in different chapters or exam units.
These extra, Honors Option questions will be housed in a separate Honors Option website that works similarly to your regular CHEM 151 Online Homework website. Here is a link to the Honors Option website.
If you elect to complete this work and do so successfully, your achievement will be noted on your official LCC transcript. A student must have earned at least a 3.0 in the regular CHEM 151 class and 65% in this Honors course to receive Honors Option credit. Please be aware that an Academic Honors Option DOES NOT earn Honors course credit. The course name will be changed to reflect successful completion. Depending on character limitations, the title might look like: General Chemistry Lecture I-Hon Opt.
If you are interested in doing an honors option in CHEM 151, you will have to be registered and logged in to the Honors option question website. Please contact your instructor with any questions or to get started.
Institutional Policies
All of these policies and this entire section is required by LCC. I have no input on it and am required to include it. I have no problem doing so, but I realize that it is cumbersome to read.
Additional Items
The longest part of this section is the Learning Objectives for each topi in the course. You can think of these as the course outline, and a set of questions you can ask yourself becfore each exam — if you can do these items, you should be well prepared. I will list them within each topic covered, so there is really no need to see them in the syllabus.
Other items in this section may be useful information to you — you don’t need to read it, just take a quick look to know it is there later if you need it.
Schedule
As mentioned earlier, the course schedule is available at this link. There is also a link in the right sidebar of all pages in this website.
It is tentative at this point, but will always be accurate as it will be updated if there are any changes. I’d recommend checking it weekly or at least at the beginning of each unit.
