Course Goals:

This course is designed to provide a survey of global and regional interactions among people, their geographic location and utilization of space, and the physical environment. The primary emphasis of ISS 310 is how natural systems operate and what the human response has been. As a result, ISS 310V is a merger of Physical Geography with Social Science, taught in the Virtual environment.

Course Materials:

All of the materials required to complete this course will be provided for you online through the ANGEL course site. You will also be required to follow links in the web lessons to other web sites that provide additional information on specific topics. Follow this link to the course help-setup page prior to accessing the internet lessons to ensure your workspace is properly configured for this VU course. I recommend purchasing a current world atlas so you can look up locations that we discuss in the course; it is not, however, required.

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) All course emails will be sent to your MSU (mail.msu.edu) accounts only. You will need to check your MSU account at least once a day for emails from your Instructor. If you need to, please set your MSU account to forward your emails to an account that you do check frequently.
(2) We highly recommend that you view this course website in Microsoft Internet Explorer, as the site was designed specifically for use in this browser.

Course Etiquette (How to Interact with Others in this Class):

An entirely virtual course is quite different from the traditional courses you have taken at Michigan State University. In a virtual course, the only contact you are likely to have with your section Instructor or with others in the class is through email, discussion boards, or chat rooms. In general, this system works very well and many students prefer it to a traditional (lecture) class because they can ask questions freely without feeling intimidated. We have also discovered, however, that this same feeling of freedom can be a negative thing, particularly because some students feel they can be rude. Unfortunately, we have had several instances in the past where students were rude to other students during conversations, and even to the Instructors during routine question and answer sessions. This increased rudeness seems to stem from the feeling of anonymity that a web course enhances among students, especially those who, for one reason or another, are not receiving the grade that they feel they deserve. Again, most students make an effort to respect others and their opinions. We ask that you make a special effort to be one of these respectful people.

Students who make rude comments will be warned the first time by email. Upon the second, you will be asked to come in and meet with Dr. Arbogast to talk about the problem. REMEMBER: THE ONLY BASIS YOUR SECTION INSTRUCTOR HAS FOR GRADING AND DISCUSSIONS ARE THROUGH YOUR WORDS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN. He/she has no other context in which to understand your thinking. Therefore, it is important to be concise, informative, and polite while "talking" with your section instructor and other students in the class.

Course Organization (How this Course is Taught):

While a team of faculty and staff manages the course, an Instructor teaches each section. Moreover, this course is delivered through a series of online lessons and interactive (animation) units. Course assessments are accomplished through online exams (based on online lessons) and online writing assignments (based on concepts covered in recent online lessons).

Your Class Advisor and Instructors
Dr. Arbogast is the advisor of this course. He created this course and is the professor responsible for the class in the context of the Geography Department at MSU. During this semester he will NOT be involved in the day-to-day workings of the course.

Instead, your Instructors are responsible for this course, from the day-to-day management to the grading. Also, your Instructors take care of the grading of writing assignments and exams, any content questions you may have, any questions about how to work through the course, and final grades. Any email correspondence should go to your section instructor. Juliegh Bookout is the Course Coordinator for this class, which means you will receive emails and instructions from her often. Beth Weisenborn oversees the Virtual Geography program at State, so you may receive notices from her occasionally. Dr. Arbogast will be available only if a major problem arises, which potentially includes problems with the VU system, issues of plagiarism, or final grade concerns.

Lessons
This course consists of 18 online lessons, called lessons, grouped into 4 units.

Lesson	Topic	Reference unit
UNIT 1	Introductory Material
0	Course Introduction & Setup	--
1	Geography: Space & Place	--
2	Geography: People	--
3	Geography: People & Place	--
4	Earth-Sun Interactions	--
UNIT 2	Weather/Climate & People
4	Our Atmosphere &Global Climate Regions	Climate
5	Tropical Circulation & Response	Land Use
6	Hurricanes & Public Awareness	--
7	ENSO's Global Impact	--
8	Monitoring Midlatitude Weather	--
UNIT 2	Global Environment
9	Climate & Environmental Response	--
10	Energy Use	--
UNIT 4	People & the Land
11	Geomorphology & Michigan	Geomorphology
12	Soils Use & Conservation	--
13	Groundwater Resources	--
14	River Modification & Control	--
15	Geologic Hazards	--
16	Global Deforestation	--

Throughout the lessons, you will be provided with links to other web pages. You are asked and required to follow many of these links in order to answer questions that pertain to them. The lesson's text will indicate whether you NEED to visit and explore URLs or if such a link is supplementary but optional. In such cases, exploration of these sites will increase your understanding of the subject matter and will help you with the exams. Exam questions will be derived directly from selected web sites that you are required to visit.

Throughout each lesson, you will have the opportunity to test your knowledge with several questions. These questions are not graded and do not need to be handed in while working through the lessons. You will, however, be able to look at the correct answers and discuss any further questions you may have with your instructor. You WILL see some of these questions (or similar questions) on exams.

Reference Units
Some of the lessons will direct you to access and complete different reference (interactive animation) units. Once you have completed the unit, you are directed back to the lesson to answer a series of questions. These questions will test your understanding of the unit material, but they are not graded. You WILL see some of these questions again on the exams.

Exams and Their Grading:

There will be 4 exams during the semester. The exams are spaced as evenly as possible throughout the course. As a result, lessons from different Units may be included on one exam.

We have set up the exam schedule this way to lessen your workload and to evaluate your understanding of the material while it is still "fresh". The purpose of these exams is to test your understanding of the material from the web lessons AND interactive units covered. The dates of the exams are listed on the course schedule page.

The dates of the exams are listed on the course schedule page and calendar. You notified of an upcoming exam on the course announcements page (the week of the exam). This notification will provide you with information concerning the exam dates and access times. Exams will NOT be given on the weekends or through the ANGEL maintenance sessions early Tuesday mornings.

Each exam will be offered during a wide window (Eastern Time) on dates specified (course schedule page and calendar). You may log into the exam at any time during that window. Once logged into the exam, you have a time limit to complete your exam and turn it in. Otherwise, your exam will be saved by the computer at the time limit and automatically turned in for you.

You are expected to treat the online exams as you would an exam in a traditional lecture class - in other words, no cheating of any kind (including plagiarism). With this said, all exams are open-note exams. Your Instructor and other administrators CAN and DO monitor your exam logs before, during, and after you have taken the exam - they can detect patterns consistent with cheating and have the authority to discuss the matter with you immediately and give you a ZERO if they see fit. Once you have turned in your exam, it is automatically graded by the computer. Your grades are then uploaded to your personal gradebook in the following days. Official grades, answers, and explanations for the exam are provided on the course website about 3-4 days following the exam.

Exams will consist largely of multiple-choice questions, although some T/F or short answer questions may be asked. All exam questions are selected at random from a pool of questions. All answer options for each question are also ordered at random. Please take note that your exam is unique and completely unlike any other student's exam. Cheating on these exams would be a waste of time.

Makeup Exams
Makeup exams are only allowed in only a very FEW cases. If the exam is missed due to an emergency, you may arrange a makeup exam with your section instructor. Also, a makeup can be scheduled if the section instructor is notified at least ONE WEEK before the exam date of a scheduling conflict. I cannot stress this enough...you MUST contact your section instructor IMMEDIATELY to set up a makeup exam. Otherwise, you will miss your opportunity to take a makeup and receive 0 points for the exam.

Writing Assignments :

In addition to the examinations, you will also be required to submit responses to writing assignments (usually 1 per week). Your answers to each of the 6 assignments will be due at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on the date specified on the course schedule! You will receive 0 points (out of 10 possible) for late responses. Remember, though, that only your 5 best assignment scores count to your final grade.

The writing assignments will be loosely based on the lesson or unit you are working on that week, while asking you to reflect on your personal experiences with respect to that topic. Each assignment is worth a possible 10 points total. Your score will be based on the completeness of your response (e.g., 10 points for a truly superior and insightful response, 6 points for a complete response, 1 point for an incomplete response). All sources must be cited. Also, any form or degree of plagiarism will NOT be TOLERATED and will result in 0 points, no questions asked!

A note about writing assignments: These assignments have been designed to provide you with the opportunity to reflect upon a topic discussed in class on a more personal level. We do not want to read your unfounded and unsupported opinion about an issue. You must support your ideas and opinions with credible, properly referenced sources. Claiming that a phenomenon occurs because it's "mother nature's will" is NOT acceptable and your response will be graded accordingly.

You can also use the discussion boards to post content questions/answers and other discussions about the lessons. Discussion boards (and chat rooms, informally) is a good place for you to get to know your classmates ­- as much as is possible in a virtual course.

Course Policies:

Academic Honesty
Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom Report states that "the student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarship, grades, and professional standards." In addition, the Department of Geography at Michigan State University adheres to the policies on academic honesty as specified in General Student Regulations 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and Grades, and in the all-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades, which are included in "Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide." Students who commit an act of academic dishonesty may receive a 0.0 on the assignment or in the course.

Plagiarism
More specifically, a very important issue with virtual classes is plagiarism. As defined, plagiarism is the effort to fundamentally use someone else's ideas as your own. Studies show that plagiarism is very common at most universities (including MSU), but is an even bigger problem in virtual classes since it is easy to copy directly from the website and put those exact words, or most of the words, in an answer. This is a potential problem in this case of the exams with essay questions and in the case of writing assignments. It is essential that you provide references when needed (i.e., you cite information that did not originally come from you) and that your responses are phrased in your OWN, original words. If the instructor suspects that a part or all of an answer has been plagiarized, the student will be contacted immediately - plagiarized content is given 0 points.

Please see the example below for clarification:

THE QUESTION ASKED:

How do humans influence species populations and ecosystems?

THE WEBSITE MATERIAL:

"Increased human population often leads to greater influence on the environment and sharper declines in species and ecosystems. According to the authors of the human footprint study, however, land transformation probably poses the single greatest threat to biodiversity, resulting in habitat loss and/or fragmentation for wild species. Beyond its effects on the nearby area, it can have global consequences, such as worldwide changes in soils and increased demand for fresh water for irrigation.

The authors also found that the greater the human access through roads, rivers, and coastlines, the greater the likelihood of resource extraction, pollution, and the introduction of invasive species. Both human access and land transformation have been fueled by increased power infrastructure (access to fossil fuel and electrical power) over the last century. Throughout most of human history, impact on the environment was constrained by raw human and animal muscle power. But today, one person with a bulldozer can match the power of 300 horses." (The Human Footprint, NASA-EO, 2003)&nb~sp;

A PLAGIARIZED STUDENT ANSWER:

Increased human population can lead to declines in species populations and ecosystems. Land transformation probably poses the greatest threat, resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation for species. While land transformation can affect the nearby area, it can have global consequences, like global changes in soils and increased demand for fresh water for irrigation. Also, the greater the human access through roads, rivers, and coastlines, the greater the likelihood of resource extraction, pollution, and the introduction of invasive species. Both human access and land transformation have been fueled by increased power infrastructure over the last century.

When reading the above example, the instructor cannot tell whether this student learned anything from answering this question, or if they just looked for key words and then copied a few sentences into their answer. This is the main reason why you must be sure to read the website, think through the information, and then answer the question in your own words. The example below is a good answer ­the information is basically the same, but the sentences are not the same as the website sentences, and it is obvious when grading this question that the student has thought through the information before answering. Furthermore, a reference is provided to support the student's answer.

AN EXAMPLE OF A GOOD WAY TO REWORK THIS INFORMATION INTO YOUR OWN ANSWER:

Humans can negatively influence species populations and ecosystems through land transformations. As humans transform previously "wild" lands they may encourage habitat loss or habitat fragmentation, both of which may lead to ecosystem degradation and a decline in species populations. Land transformations affecting large areas may even change an ecosystem's soil properties or alter water resources. Humans can also negatively influence species populations and ecosystems through increased access into "wild" lands as more roads are constructed or rivers and coastal areas are more heavily traveled. (Web reference: The Human Footprint, NASA-EO, 2003, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/footprint/)

Please be conscientious of this potential problem as you work through the course, and do not hesitate to contact you instructor if you have any questions.

Grading:

Your final grade will be based on your 4 exam scores and your 5 best writing assignment scores. Here's the breakdown:

4 exams worth 50 points each = 200 points

5 writing assignments worth 10 points each = 50 points (worth an exam score)

The maximum number of points for this class is 250. No extra credit work will be offered!

Final grades will be based on the following STRAIGHT SCALE (which has been created using the final grades of over 1600 previous students in ISS 310-V):

Percent	Grade
93-100	4.0
88-92	3.5
83-87	3.0
78-82	2.5
73-77	2.0
67-72	1.5
61-66	1.0
< 61	0.0

You can view your grades for the assignments and exams by viewing your personal grade report.

Extra Credit:

Given the number of exams and class size, no extra credit work will be considered.