Instructor:

Teaching Assistants:

Overview

Course format

Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm in room 1140 Plant Sciences Building

Website: http://www.life.umd. edu/classroom/bsci338m/

The Mammalogy website has extensive supplemental material for the course, including lecture outlines, copies of past exams, and an image archive of living mammals. In addition, we will be utilizing blackboard for announcements, tracking grades and asking questions of general relevance to the class. Blackboard can be accessed directly from the Mammalogy home page at the above URL. You can also reach blackboard directly at http://www.elms.umd.edu. From the blackboard site for our course, you can also jump to the Mammalogy website.

I recommend that you print out lecture outlines prior to coming to class. The outlines are intended to help you organize the material we will be covering and to enable you to listen to lectures rather than doing an inordinate amount of notetaking. You can add your notes directly to the outlines.

Assignment of grades: There will be two hourly exams, each worth 100 points towards the final grade. The final exam (worth 150 points) will be cumulative, and will stress the information covered after the second hourly exam. The exams will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions, and they will be drawn primarily from the lectures. There will also be an in-class written assignment (worth 50 points). Your final grade will be calculated based on a total of 400 possible points. In most years, I have not curved the grades, but I reserve the right to do so if the distribution of grades warrants. Any curves will be based upon final point totals only, and will always be in favor of the student (i.e., if you earn 90-100% of the possible points, you are guaranteed an A).

Regrade policy: Regrade requests must be made in writing and must be submitted within one week after the answer key has been posted on the website. Please check your answers against those in the answer key before submitting your regrade!

Attendance: In accordance with university policy, attendance in lecture is not mandatory, but it is soley your responsibility to obtain notes from lectures that you miss. If you miss a lecture, you should plan to obtain detailed notes from a classmate to supplement the lecture outlines available at the class website.

Make-up policy: Make-up exams and assignments will be given only in the case of illness of the student or a dependent, death in the family, religious observance, or participation in University activities at the request of University authorities. Documentation is required. If the absence is forseable, you must notify me at least one week in advance of the anticipated absence. If the absence is unforseen, you must present documentation to me within one week of the missed exam to have the opportunity to make up the missed work.

Academic integrity: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit
http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.