General, Organic, and Biochemistry II 3150:112 -­‐ 801 Spring 2014 Instructor: Prof. Thomas Leeper, KNCL-­‐206, tleeper@uakron.edu, (330) 972-­‐6066. Contact and reply policy: The preferred method for contacting the instructor is in the discussion area during office hours. Outside of office hours, he will typically respond to emails within 24 hours M-­‐F, or 48 hours on weekends and holidays. Course Location: Springboard; Springboard self-­‐help guides can be found at www.uakron.edu. Office Hours: Dr. Leeper will hold “office hours” online, in the Springboard discussion area, MoTh, 4-­‐
5pm. He is also available in the discussion area via prior appointment or by phone: (330)-­‐972-­‐6066 Electronic tutoring access: Qualified electronic tutors are available: www.etutoring.org Bulletin description: Prerequisite: 110. Sequential. Online version of the course. Introduction to principles of chemistry, fundamentals of inorganic, organic and biochemistry. Structure and chemistry of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins; biochemistry of enzymes, metabolism, radiation. Textbook: Chemistry for Today: GOBC; Seager and Slabaugh, most recent edition. As of 08-­‐28-­‐2013 this is ISBN 0-­‐495-­‐11282-­‐8; Chapters 13-­‐25. OR ISBN 0-­‐495-­‐11280-­‐1 Access and overview: Springboard is to hold discussions, distribute content, and for evaluation, both homework and exams. Springboard’s dropbox will be used for collecting case study assignments. Lectures will be Panopto podcasts: slides and narration. Video podcasts of instructor “chalk-­‐talks” will also be available for key units, e.g. amino-­‐acid and nucleotide structures. Access to content will be sequential, i.e. later assignments only become available after earlier content is completed. For example, lecture content will not be available until the student has passed a syllabus quiz. Course objectives: 1) Completion of the introduction to organic chemistry provided in GOBCII. 2) Learn biochemical structures such as amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleotides, and lipids. 3) Understanding how body fluids and transport related to blood chemistry and metabolism. 4) Learn metabolic pathways and how enzymes are involved in metabolite conversion. 5) Understand how biopolymer structure relates to function and human disease. Grading Policy: 75% of grade determined by 3 unit exams (25% each) 10% homework 10% case studies 5% group problem solving Optional final examination can be substituted for one exam. With advanced written approval of the instructor, the final can substitute for multiple exams for medically excused exam absences. Withdrawal policy: Students withdrawing within the 15th calendar day can drop with no record on transcripts. After that time, a “WD” is visible. Last day to withdraw without grade is the 49th day. Exam format: Students will take proctored computer based tests on the day of the assigned exam. For UA students that can drive to the main UA campus, these exams will be administered in the UA computer based testing facility (Schrank Hall North Room 152) at no cost. For all other students, they will need to arrange for a suitable proctor to monitor the exam at least one week in advance of the exam. A list of criteria describing suitable proctors is below. The easiest way to find a proctoring service is a National College Testing Association (NCTA) site listed in the Consortium of College Testing Centers (CCTC), www.ncta-­‐testing.org/cctc. Many centers charge a fee, typically $15 to $25 per exam. The student is welcome to find no-­‐cost alternatives, but such proctors must still adhere to the suitable proctor list below. It is the student’s responsibility to negotiate those arrangements between the instructor and the proctor in advance. For students with no suitable proctor available, they may make arrangements with the instructor during the 1st week of class to install free proctoring software, Respondus MonitorTm and LockDown BrowserTm, on their webcam enabled device or computer. Suitable proctors: Official testing center at a college/university – including but not limited to those listed at the CCTC; Certified librarians at a library, college/university, or school; College/university academic advisors; CRLA certified teaching/learning centers; Educational officers of a corporation, military installation, or correctional facility. Not suitable proctors: Relatives or spouses/partners/significant others; Friends and/or roommates; Co-­‐workers or business associates; Peers; Undergraduate students; Athletic coaches; Anyone who is unable to monitor the student during the exam and/or does not possess a professional email address. Each 1-­‐hour exam will include instructions on how the proctor will authenticate access and will contain 44 questions worth 40 points. Some of these will be matching (10-­‐30%), one to three will be numerical problems, and the remainder will be multiple-­‐choice. September 19th Exam 1 (organic chemistry; ch. 13-­‐16) October 24th Exam 2 (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins; ch. 17-­‐20) th
November 28 Exam 3 (nucleic acids, metabolism, fluids; ch. 21-­‐25) December 5th Final (cumulative, optional) Homework: Homework will be graded within Springboard’s quizzes section. Each assignment will consist of 10-­‐20 multiple-­‐choice questions of difficulty similar to exam questions, per chapter. Three attempts will be allowed with the highest-­‐grade attempt exported to the gradebook. Case studies: Five case studies will be worked during the course. Groups are encouraged, but not required to help with these assignments. After reading the study in advance, consulting relevant lectures, and working in advance a series of related problems, the students will then individually answer several questions in the quizzes area. These assignments will have a distinctly different flavor and feel to regular homework and will provide a more applied perspective. Two examples include: a) Treating a late night case of aspirin overdose utilizing knowledge of solubility, pK/Henderson-­‐
Hasslebach, and blood chemistry. b) Managing juvenile sickle cell anemia with oxygen administration, NO stimulation of Hgf, and a bone-­‐marrow transplants. The later case study will also introduce ethical concerns, race and prejudice in diagnostic medicine, genetic counseling etc. Group work: Using survey tools, each student will be asked to include indicate five 1-­‐hour periods that they can commit to meeting with other students in the discussion area. Students with compatible time blocks will be assigned to groups of four or five students. Each group will generate a unique name; preferably related to chemistry. At five times in the course, the group will schedule to enter the discussion area and work to solve a problem. Access to the question will only be obtained after everyone has logged into Springboard. One member of the group will self designate as the leader and answer the question based upon input and feedback from the rest of the group. These questions will be difficult and require approximately ten to twenty minutes of work. The time allowed to answer will be one hour to accommodate lag and technical issues. Each group member must take a turn as the leader to receive points. Everyone in that group will be graded by the group leader’s response to the problem. Content access will be released on the following schedule: August 18th Syllabus, GOBCI review, and chapter 13 September 1st Chapters 14 & 15 th
September 15 Chapters 16 & 17 September 29th Chapters 18 & 19 th
October 13 Chapters 20 & 21 October 27th Chapters 22 & 23 th
November 10 Chapters 24 & 25 Technical Expectations: You are expected to have the following minimum technical skills: 1. Access to a computer with an operating system that is less than 3 years old with internet access a minimum of 3 hours per day, 3 days per week 2. The ability to use email with attachments 3. The ability to compose and respond to a discussion forum 4. The ability to save files in commonly used word processing programs (e.g. Word, Open Office) 5. The ability to copy and paste 6. The ability to work on two browser windows simultaneously 7. The ability to play audio and video files online 8. Ability to print or scan written files to image files (pdf, bmp, jpg, tiff) Net Etiquette: Students must adhere to the following rules related to professional electronic communication. • Treat all on-­‐line communications as graded written assignments. • Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation before sending your words over the network. • Do completely write out all sentences. Do NOT abbreviate writing or use acronyms (do not use LOL) unless they are scientifically accepted abbreviations. For example, NMR for nuclear magnetic resonance or RNA for ribonucleic acids are acceptable. When in doubt spell it out. • Do use proper capitalization and punctuation. Do NOT use all lower case words. • Be courteous. Avoid comments that MIGHT be offensive to others. Sarcasm and jokes can be misunderstood. • Do use straightforward language. Emoticons are sometimes acceptable, but if others do not know what they mean, they become useless. • Please also be aware that ALL CAPS is often perceived as SHOUTING! • Think about online writing in the same way as making a verbal comments in a classroom. The words you post can be made public and demonstrate your demeanor and interpersonal skills. • If you attach files, be sure they follow the standards of respectful classroom behavior. • Avoid attacking a classmate for a point of view you disagree with. Debate should be civil. Resorting to personal attacks is a form of intellectual irresponsibility. • Use of profanity can result in dismissal from the course. • Everything you upload, post on-­‐line or complete for this course is archived. Students with special needs: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with special need. Students should refer to The University of Akron Student Handbook for more information (http://www.uakron.edu/dotAsset/743584.pdf) Student Conduct: Students are expected to follow all applicable rules and regulations expected of a resident student at The University of Akron. The University student Code of Conduct can be viewed here: http://www.uakron.edu/ogc/UniversityRules/pdf/41-­‐01.pdf. Academic Honesty: Any student involved in academic dishonesty such as plagiarism or similar misconduct will
automatically receive a grade of F for the assignment and, depending upon the severity of the
infraction, the class. In such instances, further penalties, including probation and dismissal, will be
administered in accordance with the provisions of the Student Disciplinary Procedures.
See the University Libraries Page on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity for more information (https://www.uakron.edu/libraries/help/tutorial-­‐detail.dot?inode=654079)