How to be successful in Life Sciences

1. Read the chapters and lecture notes for each chapter (s).
2. Understand the vocabulary--much of this course is understanding the technical lingo and concepts of the different techniques used in molecular biology.
3. Make sure you define and understand all the vocabulary for each chapter--found in bold and in the chapter review sections.
4. Make sure you can answer the section objectives.
5. STUDY! STUDY! STUDY! Do not try to learn the chapter or chapters the night before the test--you will find it impossible.
6. Completely study before taking the quizzes.
7. Ask for help!!
8. Participation is very important. Log on everyday and don't miss more than one day of not checking in to see what is expected of you.
9. REMEMBER: You are responsible for your own learning. No teacher can assume that responsibility.
10. REMEMBER: To make sure all your work is completed and turned in before an activity! Don't leave things to the final crunch hour.
11. READING IS KEY: remember that you won't have all the non-verbal cues that you get in a physical classroom and neither will your instuctor. Also, your instructor's role will be much less that of the distributor of information, and much more that of a guide or resource for you in exploring an area of knowledge. Almost all of your information will come in the form of words.
12. Taking a class online means you won't be sitting quietly in the classroom; participation is even more essential.
13. COMMUNICATION IS KEY: As always, effective communication is critical to success. It's even more important in the online environment because your instructor can't see you frown, or hear the question in your voice. Your instructor does want to help---so please write your question and send it along, express your confusion, your concern and be direct! You will save alot of time, and both you and your instructor will know better what you intend. Be sure and ask about anything and everything that has to with course content, course procedure, and evaluation.

Do's and Dont's

1. Don't read material just once. Multiple reading, line-by-line reading are among the keys to understanding biology.
2. Spend some time just navigating your way throught the class and making sure you can figure out what the buttons are for.
3. Don't expect too much, too soon. Study and then re-study.
4. Manage your time. Try to spend about 11-12 hours a week on your assignments and readings. You will find that your time mangement skills will be critical in an on-line class. Why? Because it's very easy to spend either far too little, or far too much time on the class. Set designated blocks of time to work on the class. This will help you stay up with the assignments and with the interaction required in most online classes.
5. Download or print out pages for reference and review away from the computer.
6. Set priorities and pay close attention to what your instructor says about priorities.
7. Don't give up.

Rules of the Road

1. Participate. In the online environment, it's not enough to show up! We need to hear your voice to feel you presence, and we especially need your comments add to the information, the shared learning, and the sense of community in each class.
2. Be Persistent. Remember that we're all working in a fairly new environment. If you run into any difficulties, don't wait! Send a note immediately to the instructor of the course. Most problems are easily solved, but we have to hear from you before we can help.
3. Share tips, helps and questions. For many of us, taking online courses is a new frontier.There are no dumb questions, and even if you think your solution is obvious, please share it ! Someone in the class will appreciate it.
4. Think before you push the SEND button. Did you say just what you meant? How will the person on the other end read the words ? While you can't anticipate all reactions, do read over what you've written before you send it.
5. Be patient. As much as your instructor will try to be prompt in answering questions, please do not expect instantaneous responses to your queries. Learn how to set break points in your study, so that you can return exactly to the point when your question is answered. Be patient with yourself as well; give the material a chance to soak in.
6. Course Time Requirements

   Be advised that this is 4 credit course.

   We recognize that not everyone is going to have to spend 3 hours for every 1 hour of instruction. But some of you will spend more and some less. You can use this gauge as to how much time you need to spend on an online class such as this versus a regular class.