OWL
OWL is an Online Web Learning system that we will use very
extensively in Chemistry 307-308 this year. We have switched to this
system because we believe it will provide very significant help for you
to learn Organic Chemistry and because it provides significant financial
savings for you. You have access to the Student Solutions Manual and
Study Guide and the eBook version of your textbook through OWL. The
links are on the left side of your home page
Almost all of the homework in the course will be assigned and
completed using OWL. Your grades on the homework assigned in OWL
will be an important component of your grade in the course. Therefore,
you must register for OWL and use it regularly. The course package that
you purchased in the bookstore has an OWL access code that you use to
register for OWL. Do not throw it away. The cost of replacing it is quite
high. Although there is a grace period during which you can use OWL
without registering, it is advisable for you to register as soon as you get
the access code.
Here are instructions to help you register:
Course Name: 160:307 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Section #1
Start Date: 08/20/2012
Book: Organic Chemistry, 6th Edition / Brown, Foote, Iverson, Anslyn
(ISBN: 0-840-05498-X)
Institution: Rutgers University - Busch Campus, Piscataway, New Jersey
Instructor Name: Robert S. Boikess
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Registration Instructions
Click here for the registration page for your text, school and course.
Then follow steps 1 through 3 below.
1 Enter your information in the Self Registration Form. Enter your
access code and click Continue to complete the registration process. (If
you do not have an access code, see payment options above).
2. After you see the Successful Registration confirmation, click Login
Page at the top of the screen.
3. When you see the Login page below, bookmark it for future visits to
OWL. Here you’ll enter the login name and password you chose during
registration
Alert: Some MAC users may have browser issues when trying to
use OWL.
If you need assistance with using OWL, please visit
www.cengage.com/chemistry/owlsupport If you don’t find what you
need, click “Sign-in” at the upper right corner of the OWL Technical
Support site. If this is your first time to the site, click “Create a
Cengage Learning Account.” Returning users can sign in. Choose
OWL again (if necessary). Then, click “No, please create a new case”
at the top of the Critical Issues box. You will receive live chat options
after opening a new case and email updates on open cases.
Once you register and reach the OWL Course Home Page, you can
get started by clicking on Go to Assignments and then on the Current
Assignment tab. Starting on August 20, you will see a four-part current
assignment, called Intro to Owl, which has short exercises to help you
learn to use OWL. This assignment will be graded “pass/fail.” If you do
not complete this assignment your grade on the assignment will be
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“fail.” Since OWL will be such an important part of the course, if you do
not learn to use it, your grade in the course is likely to be “fail,” as well.
Every OWL assignment will have a due date. This first
assignment is due on Friday September 7. If you leave it for the last
minute, computer problems or other catastrophes are likely. The system
will not accept an assignment after the due date.
Please note that depending on your computer, you may get a
security message when you open some of the applications in OWL. It
will read something like this:
“Java has discovered application components that could indicate a security
concern. Name: JMSketchLaunch. Block potentially unsafe components from
being run?”
If you get this message, do not block anything. Just click on No
In addition to the Intro to Owl assignment, you will see an
assignment for Chapter 1. This first assignment consists of many simple
questions called Mastery Pool or Visual questions. Their purpose is to
help you “master” some of the skills presented in this chapter and help
you learn to use the applications in OWL. Although, it is very unlikely
that you will need them, you will have 5 tries for each question. Each
time you give a wrong answer, OWL will give you the right answer and
then a different variant of the question.(Sometimes you may get unlucky
and get the same variant back again. If so just be sure you understand the
answer before you reenter it.) This assignment will be graded pass/fail
and it should not take very long to complete. To pass you must provide a
correct answer to every question. If you do not complete the Mastery
Pool/Visual assignments, you will be unprepared for some of the graded
assignments and exams. When we assign grades at the end of the
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semester, a student with a poor record of pass grades on these
assignments who is near a border line will be penalized.
There will also be a second assignment from Chapter 1 posted
before the semester starts. It will consist of End of Chapter (EOC)
questions. Each question will be worth 1 point so you can get 10 points
for the week’s assignment. You will have 4 tries at each question. When
you enter the assignment, you will see a list of the questions. Clicking on
the link brings you to a screen that has four buttons at the top linking to
your four tries for this problem. Each time you give a wrong answer,
OWL will give you the right answer. You can learn from that and then
try one of the other variants of the question. If you leave the
Assignment, you can return and work on any of the other untried
questions. But once you start a particular question, you cannot leave
without losing the point for that question.
These points will be totaled at the end of the semester, the total
divided by 2, and then added to your points for the course. Most of you
will get most or all of the points for these assignments. So not taking
these assignments seriously will put you at a competitive disadvantage.
Since the main goal of the online homework is to help you master the
material, working with friends may be helpful.
There will be new assignments every week. They will be available
on Monday mornings at 8 AM and they will usually be due on the
following Friday (12 Days later) at 11:59 PM. We suggest doing the
Mastery Pool exercises as soon as possible and also not leaving the EOC
questions for the last minute. The EOC assignment will have no more
than 10 questions, and the total number of points for the assignment will
be 10.
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If you have any difficulty using OWL, please use their Technical
Support site. There is no point in writing to any of the instructional staff
because none of us are likely to be as knowledgeable about using
computers as you are. The possibility that you will have some problems
using OWL is very real. If you leave your assignments until the last day
and something goes wrong, you will not make the deadline. No
extensions will be given for any reason. Do not ask.
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