Course Syllabus for ENVS 202:

Summer Term 2015:

Textbook:

No text is required for this course. Instead, you will view numerous web sites with information relevant to the topics we're discussing. You'll find links to these sites in the lectures as well as in the Resources section of the course. From time to time, I'll post Current Events links in the Resources area as well. Check these out for the latest on environmental issues.

Instructor: G. Bothun, Dept of Physics

  • email: dkmatter@uoregon.edu
  • email: bigmoo@gmail.com


Key Deadline Dates:

Homework Assignments

First Homework Assignment Due 10 PM Friday July 3
Second Homework Assignment Due 10 PM Friday July 17
Third Homework Assignment Due 10 PM Friday July 31
Fourth Homework Assignment Due 10 PM Friday Aug 14
Fifth Homework Assignment Due 10 PM Wednesday Aug 26


Exam Login Window:

Midterm Exam: 2 pm August 3 -- 10 pm August 5


The Exam is Now Available for LOGIN


Optional Final Exam: September 1--2




Important Notes:

Some students feel that they don't need to do homework for this class to pass it. Not True If your taking the class Pass/Fail you must complete 4/5 assignments or you will get a grade of Incomplete To be eligible to take the midterm, you must have completed 2 of the first 3 assignments

For reasons of efficiency (there are 50 students in this class), feedback on the assignments will be given back in the form of thorough notes on each assignment that you should use as a learning guide. This will generally be distributed a couple of days after the due date. Egregious errors on certain aspects of the assignments will be noted in the comment field in My Grades.

 Math Required:

  • This course has a quantitative portion - mostly related to the homework assignments which may involve some work in Excel but definitely some graphing and analysis of data.


Course Requirements and Grading Scale:

  • Completion of 5 homework assignments. These are accessed in the assignments area in blackboard. Please pay attention to the due dates and don't fall behind. Late assignments are still allowed but maybe subject to some point reduction. In addition, failure to turn in an assignment results in an automatic -10 points recorded for that assignment (that's worse than a zero). Let me say that again, for all of you that didn't read it the first time. Homework assignments are the most important part of this course. You need to do them all. Failure to do an assignment will result in -10 points score for that assignment.

    Assignments will be submitted via a Web upload form that is embedded in each assignment. Please use that instead of email.

    Homework is generally graded on a level of effort scale as well as a level of completeness of response on each question. Some students clearly blow off the homework until the very last minute while others are more conscientious. Homework questions or simulations should be done as completely as possible relative to the information that is available to help answer the question.

    A growing problem with the homework questions is the increasing tendency for students to cut and paste the content of a web site, completely, without citation, and submit that as their answer. Such practice is easily detected so please refrain from doing so . The proper approach to the homework questions is for you to access relevant source material and synthesize a response to the question in your own words.

  • Completion of 1 midterm and 1 optional final exam. The midterm occurs late in the summer term and will cover most of the material in the first 4 modules as well as material in the first 3 homework assignments.

    The final is comprehensive but also *optional*. Note: most all students that take this course end up *not* taking the final as they are satisfied with their grade based on the completed homework assignments and midterm exam.

    The final is optional and is a risk/reward exam. You should only take it if you think you have a reasonable chance of improving your grade. A poor performance on the final will definitely lower your grade. If you take the final, that grade will be averaged with your midterm grade to produce a composite point total (out of 150). If you have outstanding homework you are not eligible to take the optional final.



    Both exams will be linked from the assignments page during the indicated range of dates. You are required to take the exams during these time periods. You do not need proctoring services to take the exams.

    The exam format consists of a series of short answer or multiple choice questions and will be taken using a Web form. The exam is an open notes exam and you will have four hours to complete the exam from the time you first access the exam to the time you submit it. Note: in practice you can finish the exam in much less than four hours, but sometimes there are network difficulties, real life difficulties, etc.



    After you have completed 3 homework assignments and taken the midterm, a new entry called Interim Grade will appear in the gradebook on blackboard. This interim grade, which is effectively your current course grade, will be based on your weighted average, which will be updated with each homework assignment submitted after the first 3.

    The weighted averages that correspond to letter grades are as follows:

    • 95% and above A+

    • 90% -- 95% A
    • 86% -- 90% A-
    • 82% -- 86% B+
    • 77% -- 82% B
    • 72% -- 77% B-
    • 64% -- 72% C+
    • 55% -- 64% C
    • 45% -- 55% C-



    If you elect to take this course P/F you still must complete at least 4 of the 5 assignments and earn a passing grade on the midterm to successfully earn a P.



    Suggested Timetable and Milestones: