1. Lecture clicker questions

Rationale:

1. Promote active engagement with lecture materials. Incite you to keep up with the material.  There is just too much information to ponder and digest to do it the night before the exams.
2. Provide you with feedback on your understanding of course materials
3. Provide you with opportunities to synthesize and apply what you learn to novel situations” (Heitz 2005).  

How it works:

During every lecture I will ask multiple choice questions that you have to answer using your personal response system (clicker). Most of the time, you can consult your notes, and often also discuss answers with your neighbor.  A rebate coupon for an iclicker is packaged with the textbook, you can purchase the clicker in the bookstore annex.  Please register your clicker the first week of class.  Once registered, your answers will be graded automatically and count towards your final grade.

What it’s worth:

The number of questions per lecture varies. During the course, you can earn a maximum of 100 points for this assignment, which will be calculated as a percentage of the total number of questions presented.  Obviously, you will not earn points if you are absent.  If I find your clicker being used on a day you are absent from class, you will receive 0/100 points for the semester AND you and the person using your clicker will be reported to the office of student affairs for cheating.    

 

2. Online quizzes

Rationale:

1. Pre-quiz: If you come prepared to class, you will get much more out of lecture. Promise!
2. Post-quiz: Again, the main reason for this assignment is to incite you to keep up with the material.  Research shows that reviewing material shortly after lecture is the most effective way to commit concepts to your memory. 
3. Provide you with feedback on your progress
4. Prepare you for the multiple choice part of exams.  

How it works:

You need to have a subscription to the Princliples of Life BioPortal (included with your textbook if you purchase it through our bookstore). For information how to register click here. On this website, you will find interactive exercises and other tools designed to help you master the material covered in the textbook. Do the pre-tests before 11 am on the day we start the chapterin lecture and do the chapter test within one week of us finishing the chapter in class.    

What it’s worth:

You will get 1 point for each pre- and post quiz if you have done so on time, and if you got more than 70% of the answers correct.  You can get a maximum of 32 points for this assignment.     This means that you can skip ten of the 42 online quizzes without penalty.

3. Preparation for laboratories

Rationale:

1. Protocol: For most investigative laboratories, you will have to distill a protocol from the narrative in the lab exercise. This is to ensure that everyone comes prepared and does not hold up his/her partners, and allows you to practice the important skill of protocol writing. In real life/lab nobody will hand you a protocol for your research!
2. Online tutorials and quizzes: They will teach you some of the background for our laboratory investigations, so that we have more time for the actual doing of the lab.

How it works:

Your lab exercise will specify whether you need a protocol for the lab. Please print lab exercises out in advance so that you know what is due. Online lab quizzes are announced on BioPortal .

What it’s worth:

Failure to bring a protocol when required will lose you 2 notebook points. Online pre-lab quizzes are usually worth 2 points.

 

Your final grade

Your grade will be calculated from the points accumulated during the semester.  Lab points might be adjusted across sections to ensure sectional equity and are worth ~ 25% of your grade (this means that lab points will be multiplied by a factor of ~ 0.5 to calculate midterm and final grades).  BioPortal keeps track of all your grades, but I find the display rather annoying. For your convenience, I have included a grade tracker in the print package - see also below.