Revenge of the Killer Microbes

Example Syllabus

Instructor: Dr. Alice Wright
Telephone: 559-278-7692
Email: awright@csufresno.edu
Office Number: Science Room 10B
Course Web site: http://csufresno.blackboard.com

Office Hours: Wednesday 1:00 - 3:00 and by appointment

Note: You must include in the subject area of any emails that you send to me the course name (Killer Microbes) or number NSCI 125. I do not open all of the email messages I receive.

Introduction and Course Description

Revenge of the Killer Microbes (N Sci 125) is a three-unit course meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 to 12:15. This course satisfies General Education Requirements (upper level) as a capstone course and as an integration course in the Physical Universe and Its Life Forms category.
This course is for students who would like to know more about infectious disease and emerging diseases. The course is divided into three major sections. In the first section we will learn about the complex interactions between man and microorganisms specifically on disease and disease causing microorganisms, here we will emphasize the historical effects of diseases caused by microorganisms. The second section will emphasize the modern "conquest" of infectious disease and the rise of public health programs. The third section will cover emerging diseases, including causes and remedies. In each section of this course, we will study specific diseases and microorganisms and their historical, psychological, economic, and sociological effects on individuals and society.

Prerequisites

This course is an upper level General Education Course and before taking this course students should complete the lower lever General Education Courses. A substantial amount of writing is required for this course and completion of lower level writing requirements is necessary. Students should have taken a biology course, either an AP high school biology, Bio10 or BioSci 1A or an equivalent course. I have placed several microbiology textbooks on reserve in the library. If at any time during the course, you feel that your understanding of basic Biology is not sufficient, please let me know, and I will provide additional reading material for you.

What You Will Need to Purchase for this Course

Textbooks:
Man and Microbes, 1996. Arno Karlen, Simon and Schuster Publishing
Mapping Epidemics: A Historical Atlas of Disease. 2000. Brent Hoff and Carter Smith III, Grolier Publishing.
Students will be required to purchase Scantron forms (Form No. 883-ES) for exams.
Each student is required to have access to email and the internet. The University provides free email accounts to all students. Students may sign up for email or for Internet access through CVIP at Barstow and Cedar or in the University Student Union. Material for this course is posted on blackboard.

Grading, Examinations, and Major Assignments

Grading Policy:

90 -100% A
80 - 89 % B
70 - 79% C
50 - 69% D
Up to 5% of the total grade may be earned as extra credit through participation in class. Points will be lost for disruptive behavior. Fifty percent of the grade is determined through examinations and fifty percent from assignments. There are 600 total points and thirty points extra credit that are earned through participation.

Examinations: There will be three examinations and a final exam. Each exam will carry equal weight in grading. No makeup examinations will be given. The final is optional and comprehensive. Students may take the final to replace a missed examination, or to substitute for an examination that they did not do well on. The final examination can not be used to substitute a grade on a writing assignment. Examinations will consist of multiple choice, matching, true/false, and either a few short answer questions and/or an essay question. Approximately 30% of the examination questions will require students to use the knowledge they have learned in different ways than it was presented in class. More than memorization of the material is required, students are expected to understand the material and be able to discuss it and apply it. Material covered on examinations is from lecture, assigned readings and from video presentations shown in lecture. The exact text chapters or pages covered may be different from those listed in the syllabus schedule - these changes will be announced in class. If you are absent, please get the announcements from a fellow student. Students provide SCANTRON sheets and pencils. Students will place backpacks and books at the front of the classroom or under their chairs on examination days.

Examination Schedule

Date Material on the Exam Points
9/23 Section 1 man and microbe interactions, history 100
10/23 Section 2 conquest of disease 100
11/20 Section 3 revenge (emerging diseases) 100
12/16 Comprehensive final exam (optional) 100

Participation:

Participation is strongly encouraged during class discussions. Students who participate regularly will receive extra credit points. Up to 30 points may be earned. Points will be lost for disruption of the class; including talking, using pagers or telephones, and arriving late (and noisily) at lecture. Please turn telephones and pagers off before the start of class. Students who are very disruptive or chronically disruptive will be asked to leave the class. Students must be sensitive to the views of others in the class. Some subjects may have religious, ethnic, or gender issues associated with them. Crude, inflammatory, condemning or condescending comments will violate classroom civility and are grounds for removal from class.

Major Assignments:

This is an upper division general education course and so a substantial amount of writing is required. The assignments are designed to generate awareness about emerging diseases, to develop resource awareness, and to develop research skills for scientific, technological and social policy issues. Each paper should be typed and demonstrate a command of the English language. Students concerned about their writing skills are urged to contact the English Writing Center (Education 184, 278-0334) for assistance. Specific instructions for each assignment, and information on how the assignments are to be graded, will be posted on the course web site. Points are lost when the instructions for the assignment are not followed.

Three papers are required: a movie review, a paper debating a public health issues, and a paper making funding decisions on emerging diseases (in this paper you review student presentations). Students are also required to make one presentation on an emerging disease. This presentation may be done by groups of two or three students. Each student group will pick a unique emerging disease (must be caused by a microorganism) and students may email Dr. Wright at any time before the due date to reserve their disease topic. For each presentation the presenters must provide all of the students in the course a handout (paper/brochure) on the topic of the presentation.

The due date for each assignment is listed in the assignment schedule below. Late papers will lose 5% of the total possible points for that assignment, for each school day the paper is late. The public health issue paper has three due dates. Five points are deducted each time any of the three due dates is missed.

Plagiarism Detection. The campus subscribes to the Turnitin.com plagiarism prevention service, and you will need to submit written assignments to Turnitin.com. Your work will by used by Turnitin.com for plagiarism detection and for no other purpose. You may indicate in writing to the instructor that you refuse to participate in the Turnitin.com process, in which case your instructor can use other electronic means to verify the originality of your work. Instructions for getting started with Turnitin.com are attached. The class ID for this course is (1081373) and the enrollment password is (wright). The Turnitin system is sensitive to capital/small letters. Turnitin.com Originality Reports WILL be available for your viewing.

Assignment Schedule
 

Specific writing format requirements:

Typed (word processor)
The number of pages does not include a cover or title page
Double spaced
Use twelve point font (Helvetica or New Times Roman)
Margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) must be one inch
Staple all pages together.
Turn in one paper copy.
Quotation use should be minimal.
On the cover page write the course name and number, the assignment title, the title of your paper, your typed name, signature, and student number.
Use a standard format for your two to four references. Be sure to include the name of the publication, authors, date of publication, and publishers. Where appropriate include page numbers or chapter numbers.
I will be grading the grammar in each paper, including but not limited to, sentence structure, paragraph structure, syntax, and clarity.
Specific requirements for each assignment is provided on Blackboard Course website.

Primary Learning Outcomes

1. List six roles of microorganisms and their roles, rank the roles in order of importance.
2. Analyze media representation of an infectious disease and identify misleading or incorrect information about that disease.
3. Describe the processes of infection and immunity.
4. Contrast parasitism, pathogenicity, mutualism, and symbiosis.
5. List and describe three historical events and the impact of infectious disease on those events.
6. Compare how our current culture views infectious disease and compare that to how cultures in the past have viewed disease.
7. Describe natural defenses to infectious disease/microbes and how these defenses are used enhance resistance to infection.
8. Describe what public health is now and in the past. Describe the changes you expect to see in public health programs in the future.
9. Analyze and describe opposing sides of a public health issue.
10. Research facts about a public health issue.
11. Describe behavior, life style, and or attitudes that affect the incidence of infectious disease.
12. Describe five emerging diseases and for each describe social and/or environmental causes, remedies or influences.
13. Describe factors that contribute to emerging diseases.
14. Research facts about emerging diseases.

University and Course Policies

Copyright: You will be provided with digital and/or print materials to support your learning in this course. As all of these materials are proprietary in nature, and most are protected by copyright, you may not reproduce or retain any of the materials for purposes other than class work.

Students with Disabilities: Upon identifying themselves to the instructor and the university, students with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodation for learning and evaluation. For more information, contact Services to Students with Disabilities in Madden Library 1049 (278-2811).

Cheating and Plagiarism: "Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material (i.e., their intellectual property) so used as one's own work." Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from a 0 or F on a particular assignment, through an F for the course, to expulsion from the university. For more information on the University’s policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Schedule of Courses or the University Catalog.

Computers: "At California State University, Fresno, computers and communications links to remote resources are recognized as being integral to the education and research experience. Every student is required to have his/her own computer or have other personal access to a workstation (including a modem and a printer) with all the recommended software. The minimum and recommended standards for the workstations and software, which may vary by academic major, are updated periodically and are available from Information Technology Services (http://www.csufresno.edu/ITS/) or the University Bookstore. In the curriculum and class assignments, students are presumed to have 24-hour access to a computer workstation and the necessary communication links to the University’s information resources."

Disruptive Classroom Behavior: "The classroom is a special environment in which students and faculty come together to promote learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom are maintained. … Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning process, creating an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their identities, and to develop an understanding of the community in which they live. … Student conduct which disrupts the learning process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from class."

Subject to Change

This tentative course syllabus on the next page identifies major topics to be covered and the expected order. Some modifications may be needed. Changes will be announced in class and students are responsible for obtaining this information when they are absent from class.

Tentative Course Schedule