Polk Community College - ALS Division
OCE 2001 - Oceanography Dr. Bruce Dubendorff
Syllabus - Section 1631
Class in LAC 1259	MTWR 9:45 am - 11:20 am
Lab in LAC 1151	MW 12:00 pm - 3:10 pm
Lakeland Office: LAC 1158	Phone: 297-1010 ext. 6152
Textbook: Oceanography (5th Edition) by Garrison (Thomson - Brooks/Cole)
Email: bdubendorff@polk.edu
Homepage: http://www.polk.edu/INSTRUCT/Mash/physci/instructors/bdubendorff.htm

Class Objective:
This class will survey the Ocean Sciences. The ocean sciences include the physics of the motion of the ocean, the chemistry of the makeup of ocean water, the geology of the ocean's floor and coasts, and the biology of the life in the oceans. Aspects of the oceans that affect humans and their environment will be emphasized. An additional aspect of this class will be to study the scientific method used to develop the natural laws governing the Earth and its interactions. The format of the class will be lecture with demonstrations and class discussions.

Web Pages:
There are web pages for my sections of this course. They can be reached from my homepage given above or from the PCC homepage by going to the Physical Science web pages on the Departmental Homepages. There is some information there that should help you improve your performance in the course. If you do not have internet access at home, you can access the web pages in the TLCC.

Contacting Dr. D.:
You can come by my office or call me at PCC. My office is LAC 1158. It is located inside the middle door directly below the classroom. My office phone number is 297-1010 extension 6152. If I am not in, you can leave a message for me. Also feel free to email me at the above address. Emailing me is the most likely way of reaching me if it is not during my office hours. For more complete contact information, including my office hours, see my schedule which is available on my web page at http://www.polk.edu/INSTRUCT/Mash/physci/instructors/schedules/bdubendorff.htm

Grading:
The course grade will depend on quizzes, classroom discussions, tests, a final exam, lab quizzes, lab reports, lab discussion, and lab attendance and participation in the following way:

Quizzes		10%
Classroom Discussions		10%
Tests	4 tests at 10% each	40%
Final Exam		15%
Lab Quizzes:		3%
Lab Reports:		18%
Lab Discussion:		2%
Lab Attendance and Participation		2%
	Total	100%

Class:

Quizzes: The quizzes will be short and will consist of questions of varying types. They will generally be closed book and closed notes. Each quiz will be on 1 chapter. Not all chapters will have quizzes and some chapters may have more than 1 quiz. Your two lowest quiz grades will be dropped. Some practice quizzes, both without answers for practice and with answers, are given on my web site. Quizzes cannot be made up since you can drop 2 quizzes.

Classroom Discussions: Throughout the semester there will be classroom discussions about topics in Oceanography. Many of the discussions will concern environmental topics. In each classroom discussion you will need to be present and make at least one contribution for a top grade. Classroom discussions cannot be made up.

Tests: The tests will be longer and will also consist of questions of varying types including multiple choice, true-false, fill-in-the-blank, and short essay questions in order to test multiple levels of cognitive learning. The tests will be closed book and closed notes. Each test will be on 3 to 5 chapters. Some past tests, both without answers for practice and with answers, are given on my web site. Except in dire circumstances you are responsible for making up any missed tests before the second class after the test is given by going to the Lakeland TLCC and taking it. Email me as soon as possible to let me know that when you will be making up the test.

Final Exam: The final exam will consist of multiple-choice questions and will emphasize knowledge over higher levels of cognitive skills.

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Lab:
Lab Quizzes: At the beginning of most labs there will be a short lab quiz on the lab to be done that week.
Lab Reports: Most of the grade for the lab portion of the course comes from doing the labs and writing up the lab reports. There will be a handout for each lab, posted on the web page, describing the lab as well as its lab report. Some of the labs can be made up while others cannot.
Lab Discussion: The last lab consists of a discussion of the last two field trips. The lab discussion cannot be made up.
Lab Attendance and Participation: Attendance at labs and participation in the labs is very important to the goals of the class. Because of their importance both attendance and participation count toward the grade.

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Attendance: If you are not in class, you are missing significant opportunities for learning. For this reason attendance at class is required. According to the college policy you are allowed to miss three classes 1 hour classes. Since this class meets for 95 minutes per day, you can be dropped from the course for missing more than 2 classes. Coming into class late is disruptive to the class. If you are not in class at the start of class, you are tardy. Three tardies equals one absence. If you are more than 20 minutes late, you will not be counted as tardy, you will be counted as absent. If a quiz is given at the beginning of class and you are not in class yet, you will miss the quiz and it cannot be made up.

If you stop coming to class, do NOT assume that I will drop you from the class. It is up to you to take responsibility for your education.

Class attendance is important for more complete understanding of the class material. Also some aspects of class cannot be made up. For example quizzes cannot be made up but you can drop 2 quizzes. You can also drop 1 lab quiz and 1 lab report. The "drops" are intended to account for any missed assignments. If you do not miss any assignments, you can drop your lowest 2 quizzes, lab quiz, and lab report grades. This is another advantage of class attendance.

Tests should be made up before the second class after the test is given. If you miss a test, contact me as soon as possible to arrange making it up. If you cannot reach me by phone or email, go to the Lakeland TLCC to make up the test. Only in extreme cases can tests be made up later than the second class period. Test made up later than the next class period will be a makeup test and will generally have more essay questions.

If at all possible, you need to notify me ahead of time if you need to miss a class for illness, etc. You can best notify me by emailing me. Email does not depend on me being there and it leaves a timed record of the notification. If you cannot email, call me at 297-1010 ext. 6152 and leave a message.

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Cheating: Generally the penalty for cheating is a 0 on the assignment, or the group of assignments, on which the student was cheating. In extreme cases the student may receive a F for the course. This is up to the discretion of the instructor. The simple, and obvious, rule is "do not cheat".

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Recommendations:
1) Do not fall behind in your work, it is more difficult to catch up than to keep up.
2) Keep returned work until the semester is over in case you feel an error was made in grading or recording a grade. Also your quizzes and tests may help in studying for other tests and the final exam.