Syllabus and Grading
Outline for AATM 200 (8860) – Natural Disasters
This online course
offered completely through Blackboard Learning System.
Official course
description in the undergraduate bulletin.
This course fulfills
both a Natural
Science General Education requirement and a
Challenges
for the 21st Century General Education requirement.
There are no specific
prerequisites for this online course.
SPRING 2017 - Michael Landin e-mail address: mlandin@albany.edu
“Office Hours” via “Ask
a Question” or e-mail; prompt replies guaranteed!
TA: Pamela Eck, ES 218, Office Hours:
Tue/Thu 10 AM to Noon (e-mail address: peck@albany.edu)
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The
goals of this course are to provide students with an understanding
of the
energy and forces behind natural events that can become natural
disasters
due to the ever increasing human population.
Various mitigation
and
safety strategies will be discussed for each type of natural disaster,
to meet
the ultimate challenge of being a “survivor” on our wonderful and
dynamic,
yet occasionally dangerous planet.
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You are required to purchase the McGraw-Hill
Connect Plus package ($85),
which contains the Abbott
10e Natural Disasters eBook, along with giving you
access to the Connect
LearnSmart homework assignments. For an additional
$25, you will have the
option of purchasing a looseleaf copy of the
textbook.
You should purchase and
register yourself during the two weeks before
classes begin (in the Ice Breaker module in Blackboard).
As you will see below, the
homework grade will count toward 30%
of your
final grade. Please do not wait until the start of
classes to purchase
the Connect Plus package or you will
rapidly fall behind.
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The following 10th Edition chapters will be covered:
Unit 1 – Introduction
Prologue- Energy Flows
in Earth History and Natural Disasters.
Unit 2 - Meteorology
Unit 3 - Geology
Unit 4 – Astronomy & Earth History
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Exams (50% of final grade;
500 points): The “Unit 1 Exam” is worth 50 points,
with the
other three “Unit Exams” each worth 100 points.
The "Mitigation and
Safety
Final Exam" is in two parts (Part 1 = 100 points; Part 2 = 50 points).
Each
time you take a "Unit Exam" you will be given a set of randomly
selected
questions
from a larger question pool. The
questions themselves will be
in
various formats (i.e., multiple choice, true/false, matching, ordering,
etc.). The
"Unit Exams" are not cumulative. You will only be allowed one
attempt
for each “Unit Exam” since there are no "do-overs"
if you are ever
caught in
a real natural disaster!
Be
sure you have a quiet place to work to complete your exams without any
disturbances. Since the exams are timed, you may not
pause or take a break
during
the exams for any reason (no exceptions).
Furthermore, your work will
be lost
if you do not click “submit” on the exam forms.
Homework Assignments (30%
of final grade; 300 points): There will be
16
Connect LearnSmart homework assignments for the
"Modules," plus two special
mandatory assignments: Earthquake Certificate and Geologic Timeline. You will
drop
your lowest Connect LearnSmart homework assignment grade (or you can
choose
not to do one of them, which is not advised, as that will likely
lead to a
lower grade on the corresponding "Unit Exam"). Each of the 15
graded LearnSmart homework assignments is worth 16 points. The Earthquake
Certificate is worth 25 points and the Geologic Timeline is worth 35
points.
Discussion Forum (20% of
final grade; 200 points): You will be given a grade
for your
participation in the Discussion Forum during each "Unit" through a
grading
rubric. Each Unit Discussion Forum is worth 50 points.
Private Journal (40 Bonus
Points): There will also be the opportunity to
obtain
Bonus Points at the conclusion of each "Unit" by completing a private
Journal entry with your reflections and comments on
the "Unit." Note that
by
obtaining the maximum of the four Unit Journal Bonus Points (each worth
up
to 10 points) amounts to a partial
letter grade increase in your final
grade!
Thus,
the course is graded on a base of 1000
points (Max possible=1040 points).
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The following Classic Grading
Scale will be used: A 93+ ; A- 90-92 ;
B+ 87-89 ; B 83-86 ; B- 80-82 ; C+ 77-79 ; C 73-76 ; C- 70-72 ;
D+ 67-69 ; D 63-66 ; D- 60-62 ; E 0-59 ; S 73-100 ; U 0-72.
There are no provisions for
extra credit or additional bonus points!
Note: final grades are not rounded up; example:
89.999 = B+
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Academic Honesty: Students
are expected to work independently and turn in
their
original work, whether it is for their homework or any other assignments
in the
course, including exams. Cheating is just plain wrong, yet some
students
feel that
cheating is "OK" as long as they do not get caught. The temptation
to cheat
in an online course is very high, since one is usually unproctored
and
alone. Using the course textbook, Lecture Notes and Study Guides are allowed,
but using
the internet, other people, or any other materials during exams is
considered
cheating. This almost goes without saying, but anyone
caught
cheating
will be granted an automatic "E"
in this course and subject to
prosecution
by the University's judicial system. The
course grading system
is such
that "bombing" one exam, or missing a few homework assignments, is
not
"the end of the world" in terms of obtaining a decent final grade in
this
course.
More
information on UAlbany Academic
Integrity Violations can be found here.
Please
note that there are hard deadline
dates posted for when the homework
activities
and exams are due to be completed. Late homework is not accepted,
but one
can continue to complete the activities and practice before taking
the
"Unit Exams." The exams are
timed and will be automatically submitted
once time
has expired. Exceptions of any kind for
homework or “Unit Exam”
deadlines
will only be made for emergencies
(i.e., serious health problem,
family
emergency, legal or employment issue, etc.) that can
be documented and
will be
treated on a case-by-case basis.
Computer problems will not excuse you from completing homework
assignments
or taking
"Unit Exams" by the posted deadlines.
Make sure that you have a
second
computer available in case you experience software (e.g., browser issues)
or
hardware failure on your personal computer.
One can usually find public
computers
in libraries or borrow one from a friend.
If you experience
connectivity
issues, there are many places of business (e.g., Starbucks,
libraries,
etc.) that have free Wi-Fi.
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Below is the general
syllabus planning calendar for Spring 2017:
Modules & Dates Module # Module # Module #
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Ice Breaker Module Jan 9-23
(various pre-semester activities to be completed)
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Unit 1: Introduction
1:Jan 23-27 2:Jan
28-31
Human Population Energy and Disasters
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Unit 1 Exam Due: Feb 3
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Unit 2: Meteorology
3a:Feb 3-7 3b:Feb 8-16 4:Feb
17-23
Weather Principles Severe
Weather Hurricanes
Special Topics 1 & 2: Feb 24-28 Ice
Storms & Blizzards; Floods
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Unit 2 Exam Due: Mar 3
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Unit 3: Geology 5a:Mar 3-15 5b:Mar 16-23 6:Mar
24-31
Seismology Earthquakes Volcanoes
7:Apr 1-6
Tsunami
Special Topics 3 & 4: Apr 7-11
Mass Movements; Wildfires
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Unit 3 Exam Due: Apr 14
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Unit 4: Earth History 8:Apr 14-20 9:Apr
21-28 10:Apr 29-May 2
Space Impacts Mass Extinctions Climate Change
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Unit 4 Exam Due: May 5
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Mitigation & Safety Final Exam Parts 1 & 2 Due:
May 17