Biology 226: Human Cross-Sectional Anatomy

(1.0 credit hour)

Parkland College, Natural Sciences Department,  2400 West Bradley, Champaign, Illinois 61821

 Prerequisite:  BIO 11-122 or equivalent.

    COURSE INSTRUCTOR       

(As of Spring 2010, BIO 226 will be taught by Kathy Bruce.)

INTRODUCTION

    Welcome to BIO 226: Human Cross-sectional Anatomy.  For most of the course history (15-20 years?) it has been taught "on campus".  Times change, and so do instructional techniques.  Therefore - we are now offering BIO 226 as an online course (technically a "hybrid", as the testing is done on-campus), with Spring of 2009 being the third semester online.  To be quite honest, when I did teach this as an on-campus class, I simply stood in front of the students, pointed to various structures on the slides, and named the structures.  Yes - I would often lecture a bit prior to the slide presentations - but that was pretty much it.  (To state it much more bluntly - 226 is a pretty boring course, even compared to other anatomy courses such as BIO 121 and BIO 122.)  As many noted on their course evaluations - much of the same type of learning could be accomplished via an online presentation, and done on a schedule that was more accommodating to each specific student's schedule.

    As students became more & more used to taking some of their other courses online, additional recommendations to switch BIO 226 to an online format started showing up in the course evaluations.  As a general rule, I tend to not like online courses, at least not from the point of view of the instructor.  I personally prefer the one-on-one interaction that can occur between a student and professor in a classroom or lab setting, and you simply do not get that with most online courses.  On the other hand, there are many advantages to offering a course online, and I do have the experience of having taught BIO 225 (Pathophysiology) online for nearly a decade.

    So - the fact of the matter is that you are now enrolled in the third offering of BIO 226 online.  Please keep the following in mind as you make your way through the course:

1)  Don't forget that you can stop by my office and ask questions. This is not always the case with many online courses.  (I once had a student living in Germany take my online Pathophysiology course!  Needless to say - she could never stop by to ask questions.)

2)  Be sure to make use of the Study Techniques section listed below.  It will give you guidance as you progress through the course.  And - if you come up with study techniques that you feel assist you in the online variant of this course, please send them to me so that I can pass them along to your classmates.

3)  DON'T FALL BEHIND!  One of the problems my online Pathophysiology students encountered on a regular basis was that they let their course study "slide" until the last minute, which resulted in them either missing an exam deadline or doing poorly on that exam due to insufficient study time.  Keep in mind that one of the many advantages of taking an online course such as this one is that you can FINISH EARLY if you so desire.  For the motivated student, there is no reason why you cannot be finished with the course by midterm (for an 8 week course, i.e., at the end of 4 weeks) - or even sooner!!!!   The exams should be ready by the end of the first week of classes - well, at least exam I should be.