Professor’s Welcome Message
Welcome to San Diego Mesa College GEOL100 – Physical Geology
100 Online Course!
Hello Geology Student! My name is Ray Rector, your geology
online instructor for this course.
Congratulations for signing up for
my physical geology course here at San Diego Mesa College during this 8-week
Summer 2023 session – you picked a great program! This is No-Cost,
3-unit, college-level, physical science course that takes place over a compressed
8-week time block, and is taught purely online and asynchronous.
How This Online Geology
Class Works:
1) The student (that’s you!) uses
this asynchronous online classroom platform (Canvas) to learn introductory
geology and successfully (hopefully) get college credit for doing it. To
successfully complete this course, you must successfully complete a couple of
research writing assignments, post on discussion board forums with your fellow
students, take several quizzes and exams, and go on an extra credit virtual
fieldtrip or two.
2) The instructor (that’s me!) is primarily a course content facilitator,
discussion leader, and learning outcome assessor – I’m here to make
sure that you are able to access all the course content, that you understand
how to successfully complete all the course activities, and finally, grade your
assignments and tests. You and I primarily communicate via
discussion board and email me using the “Inbox” link found on the
main Dashboard Canvas page. You can also reach me at my personal website
email address at geoprof@geoscirocks.com
3) The information (course
content) you need to learn in this course is found in several places: a) your
textbook, b) instructor lecture notes, c) instructor’s website links, d)
numerous website and online article links that have been included in the
assignment instructions, and e) direct personal communication with
me.
4) Navigating through our
Canvas course site is somewhat simple. When you log into our Canvas
course, you’ll notice that there is a menu on
the left side of the course page, where all components of the course are
listed. This menu has several linked categories that include the
following: “Home”; "Announcements”;
"Assignments"; “Discussion"; "Quizzes; and
“Grades”. Below are some details for each Canvas menu item:
a) The “Home” link is where you will find all the various
course components listed/expanded to view.
The “Home” page also has important logistical documents and
information, such as my instructor welcome message and video links, and the
course syllabus and schedule. Other
useful items are also there and include assignment and test-taking tips,
plagiarism info, a link to my personal educational website, and Canvas help
links.
b) The “Announcement” is where to find weekly update
messages concerning current course activities and due dates.
c) Means of communication between course participants is done from
the "Discussion" link.
Note that "Email" messaging is done outside the course page,
but within the general Canvas Dashboard site under the “Inbox”
Icon. Alternately,
I can be contacted via traditional email at geoprof@geoscirocks.com.
d) Assessment components (graded class activities) of this course
are found under the "Assignments", “Discussion”, and “Quizzes” sections.
e) The course’s geology science curriculum is found both on
the course Canvas page under “Learning Resources” and at my
personal student website at www.geoscirocks.com. Learning resources include the no-cost
e-textbook, the professor’s lecture materials (Power Points and lecture
notes), streaming geology learning videos and tutorials, and several Internet
geosciences education links.
f) Required research/writing assignments are found in the
“Assignments” and “Discussion Board” links.
You access writing assignment instructions and submit your assignment response
from the “Assignments” or “Discussion” portal,
depending on the assignment.
g) Quizzes and Exams are taken via the “Quizzes”
link. You get three attempts at the quizzes, and are untimed. Exams are timed with two attempts. All tests are open-book.
h) You have access to your grades in the course through the
“Grades” link.
i) The
“Discussion” link includes several different forums, including two
graded forums. This where students
can hold public or private discussions concerning course work – primarily
students helping students – and for raising any sorts of questions,
comments and concerns about this course or anything in general.
5) Your typical work agenda
for each week will include the following: a) reading a couple of chapters in
your no-cost e-textbook, b) viewing the professor's PowerPoint presentations
and recorded lectures, c) watching a couple of “Earth Revealed” streaming
geology videos, watch and study the short geology topic mini slide show
tutorials, posting on discussion board, working on a writing assignment, and d)
taking one or two learning assessment quiz. Impromptu, nonmandatory Zoom lecture
meetings may be announced for this class during the 8 weeks.
6) I personally grade your
written assignments and forum posts, whereas the quizzes and exams are
automatically graded. Therefore, you get homework and test results back
rather fast, whereas your submitted written assignments will take longer for me
to grade and get back to you. Please give me a little patience with
getting back your graded written assignments.
Important Resources and
Must-Read Documents
Make sure to thoroughly
and carefully read the course syllabus, schedule, and plagiarism
policy.
1) The syllabus is essentially the official
course agreement between me (the instructor) and you (the
student). This is where all the course information and logistics are
found. Things like textbook information, how
assignments should be completed, and grading standards are all
found in the syllabus.
2) The schedule is, by far, one of the most
important documents during the semester for keeping your studies on a timely
track – things like homework study assignments and test due dates are all
there; it’s a document that you will want to
check nearly every day. The schedule
has clickable web-links for all the weekly study assignments, including
textbook chapters, lecture slide shows and tutorials, and streaming geology
videos.
3) My plagiarism policy is outlined in the “Online
Netiquette and Student Code” portion of the course syllabus and also posted on the Canvas course menu. Please carefully read it. Note that I use plagiarism detection
software like “Tunitin.com” and “Eve2” on assignments
that are turned in to this class.
4) Assignment
and Test taking tips are found in the “Home” page -- created to
help you successfully complete and submit the assignments, quizzes, and exams.
5) For those students who are new to the
Canvas online learning platform, a very helpful link to a
Online Student Training page is found under the “Home” page (URL: https://www.sdccd.edu/about/departments-and-offices/instructional-services-division/online-learning-pathways-1/students/student%20training.aspx)
You will also be using an
additional educational website that is designed and maintained by the
instructor (my personal website) exclusively created for maximizing your
learning outcomes. This website is
found at:
www.geoscirocks.com
Once there, click on the
button to
access our classroom web page.
Here you will find a plethora of information that will greatly
facilitate your success in this course.
Assignment and Test Dates
Each and every assignment and test
has two specific dates: 1) the availability date in which it becomes
available for your inspection and response, and 2) the due date, in
which it is due for grading, which is the same thing as the expiration date,
as it also becomes unavailable for inspection henceforth. Most
assignments and tests are due on a Sunday by 11:59 pm.
Late assignments and tests are both
unaccepted. Make sure that you stay on top of ALL due dates (listed in
the Course Schedule).
I hope that you will enjoy this
course this summer session, and that you will learn a lot about the Earth
too. Let’s make the
most of it in this earth science class! Look forward to meeting everyone
online.
First Week of Class
Activities/Schedule
During
your first week of class, you will need to do several things to get started in
this course. Below is the list of
Week #1 class activities:
1) Read/study the class syllabus and schedule
posted on the Canvas class home page and here
2) Post an introduction of yourself to
class on the discussion board (details in the Assignment folder) by midweek.
3) Read/study the first textbook
reading homework assignment – Chapter 1 - Topics: Introduction to Geology
and the Origin of Earth
4) Read/Watch Study other supplemental
homework assignments that covers an overview of geology and the origin of Earth
5) Watch the professor’s recorded
Introduction to Geology PowerPoint lecture
6) Take Quiz 1 by the end of the week.
Oh, and if you get a chance,
please watch my posted Geology Class Welcome Video from Hawaii!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s8zDr6TUFY&feature=youtu.be
Aloha!
Ray Rector