GEOL 101: Introduction to Geology Course Overview Course Objectives Texts and Other Resources Course Structure and Grading Course Requirements Academic Policies Lessons COURSE OVERVIEW Welcome to GEOL 101: Introduction to Geology! In this course you will learn about the processes that form Earth in the context of plate tectonics, including the differentiation of Earth's internal structure and the formation of rocks, minerals, and mountains. You will study natural disasters like landslides, volcanoes, and earthquakes. In addition, you will learn about surface processes such as streams, groundwater, shorelines, and glaciers, and the factors that cause changes in the landscape. COURSE OBJECTIVES When you have completed this course, you should be able to 1. Differentiate the internal structure and composition of the Earth. 2. Differentiate between the three types of plate boundaries. Relate tectonic features to the plate boundaries and processes that formed them.
3. Explain how minerals form and grow from atoms. 4. Explain how igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks form. 5. Compare how different types of magma form and predict the type of magma and volcanoes that form in different tectonic settings. 6. Explain how rocks weather and compare weathering among different rock types and different environments. 7. Identify strata, faults, and folds in geologic sections and summarize the forces and tectonic settings that lead to their formation. 8. Analyze the geologic history of a cross section using relative dating principles. Calculate the isotopic age of a rock. 9. Explain what causes earthquakes and earthquake destruction, and apply the correct procedures to locate the source and calculate the magnitude of an earthquake. 10. Compare depositional and erosional environments, features, and processes associated with streams and shorelines. 11. Identify the various parts of the hydrologic cycle. Explain groundwater processes. 12. Evaluate the risks associated with geologic hazards. TEXTS AND OTHER RESOURCES See the course description for the most up to date list of materials. COURSE STRUCTURE AND GRADING This course is different from an on campus, face to face class. You will study the course materials and demonstrate your proficiency by doing the following: 1. Reading the textbook, working through web tutorials and other online materials, and completing Study Guides and Investigations. 2. Participating and collaborating on the discussion forums and supplementing your Study Guide if necessary. 3. Taking the Lesson quiz and, if required, the Investigation quiz or completing an assignment. All quizzes are open book and open note. You may use your Study Guides. 4. Completing the unit exams and the final exam. All exams are closed book and closed note. In order to do well, you must be self motivated and proactive. You must read the textbook and work through the web tutorials in order to complete the Study Guides and Investigations. Your answers provide the basis for your contributions to the discussion forum whereby the class will discuss the answers collaboratively. You may change/supplement your Study Guide answers based off of forum discussions. The quizzes are open book and open note (including Study Guides), and they are an evaluative tool to assess your understanding and prepare you for the exams. You may not collaborate with other students on quizzes. Exams evaluate your individual understanding and mastery of the material without supports and, therefore, are closed book, closed note, and to be taken independently. A portion of the final exam is cumulative to assess your global understanding of major and through going concepts from previous exams (see the Exam section below for details). For further suggestions on how to approach studying for this course, see the Q&A section (accessible via the left hand navigation bar). Grades
Grades Grades will be awarded on a 920 point scale. A final accumulation of: 93 100 percent = A 90 92 percent = A 87 89 percent = B+ 83 86 percent = B 80 82 percent = B 77 79 percent = C+ 73 76 percent = C 70 72 percent = C 67 69 percent = D+ 60 66 percent = D 0 59 percent = F Assignments Two exams at 150 points each, one cumulative final at 200 points Lesson and Investigation quizzes and assignments at 20 points each (lowest quiz score removed) Discussion forum participation at 10 points each (lowest two scores removed) Points/Percentage = 500 (54 percent) = 320 (35 percent) = 100 (11 percent) Total Points = 920 Grade calculations: You can check your grades by going to the Gradebook area of Sakai. Your running total for the class is noted as a percentage. The score for each assessment will be shown as the number of points you earned for that assessment. For example, if you scored 27 out of a 30 point assessment, your score will be 27. You can calculate your percentage for that assessment by dividing 27 by 30 (90%). Please do not ask me to assess future grade possibilities at any point in the semester I cannot predict your future grade based on your current grade because there are too many variables involved in your final grade calculations. If you would like to calculate possible grade outcomes depending on given assumptions, the following example may help you do so: A student had a point total of 700 out of 750 points available three quarters of the way through the semester. She wanted to figure out what her final grade might be depending on her performance on future assessments. Since she had 210 points remaining in the course, she multiplied 210 by different possible average grades for those remaining assessments: If she had an average of at least 90 percent on all remaining assessments: 170 *.90 = 153; 700 + 153 = 853; 853/920 points = 92.7 percent If she had an average of at least 80 percent on all remaining assessments: 170 * 0.80 = 136; 700 + 136 = 836; 836/920 points = 90.8 percent
If she had an average of at least 70 percent on all remaining assessments: 170 * 0.70 = 119; 700 + 119 = 819; 819/920 points = 89 percent Discussion Forum Your discussion forums serve as your active classroom environment. Each weekly discussion is worth a maximum of ten points. Your two lowest discussion forum scores, including scores of zero for missed discussions, will not be calculated into your final grade. With the exception of exams, you are free to discuss all lesson materials, including Study Guides, Investigations, and assignments as you re working through them. Discussing specific quizzes may occur after the quiz submission period is over including the grace period, meaning the start of the next unit (usually a Saturday). Please be polite and respectful of your fellow students during discussions. For due dates, the grading rubric, and posting requirements, see the Due Date section below. For tips and troubleshooting as well as how to use the forums as a learning tool, see the Q&A section of the site. Quizzes The Lesson and Investigation quizzes are located in the Quizzes and Exams area of the course and are 20 points each. Your lowest quiz score, including a score of zero for a missed quiz, will be dropped and not calculated in your final grade. Quizzes are designed as formative learning tools to check your understanding of the topics addressed in the lessons and to hold you accountable for completing all components of the lessons. You can use your notes but you cannot collaborate with others on the quizzes. The questions may be a combination of multiple choice, matching, ordering, and occasionally short answer questions. You will be able to see the multiple choice questions you answered incorrectly. I must grade your essay questions, so you will not be able to see the correct answers to these questions until the due date has passed. Complete the Study Guides before you take the quizzes as you perform better on the quiz. For due dates and the missed quiz policy, see the Due Date section below. For what constitutes plagiarism on a quiz, see the Honor Code section below. For suggestions on how to prepare for quizzes, see the Q&A section of the site. Exams Exams: The two unit exams will be available in the Tests & Quizzes section on the Wednesday and Thursday of the testing week. These exams are closed book and closed note. They will be 45 minutes long and consist of thirty multiple choice questions. If you miss an exam or are locked out of an exam and a make up exam has not been approved, you will receive a zero for that exam. For due dates and the missed exam policy, see the Due Date section below. For what constitutes plagiarism on an exam, see the Honor Code section below. A great way to prepare for your exams is to print a clean copy of the Study Guide for each lesson the exam will cover and try to answer the Study Guide questions without referring to your notes. This is an excellent way to see what you know and what you do not know. Then, focus on studying the material you cannot readily answer on your own. Cumulative final exam: The final exam will be administered in the Tests & Quizzes section of the site. It is worth 200 points and has two parts. Part 1 consists of 25 multiple choice questions covering Lessons 10 12 (100 points), and Part 2 consists of twenty five multiple choice questions covering cumulative material from
Exams 1 and 2 (100 points). You will have forty minutes to complete each part of the final exam. Submitting Work You will use Sakai to submit all work. To access quizzes, tests, and assignments, click on the Tests and Quizzes section or the Assignments section in the left navigation bar. Scroll down until you find the appropriate assignment, test, or quiz for that lesson. You can submit assignments multiple times but are only allowed to open quizzes and exams once. If you open an exam, then decide not to take it and try to back out of it, you will be locked out of the exam and will receive a zero. Therefore, do not click on any exam links until you are ready to take the exam. Due Dates Discussion forums: To benefit you and the other students, forum discussion needs to begin well in advance of quiz and assignment due dates for each lesson. You may post to the forum at any time during the relevant lesson week, including the grace period (Friday Friday), for a grade. Posts made after Friday at 11:50 pm (to discuss quiz questions) are welcome but will not be counted toward your discussion forum grade. Your discussion forum posts will be graded according to the rubric below. Criteria 0 points 1 point 2 points 3 points Timeliness The first post is submitted on after Friday of the lesson week. The first post is submitted on Thursday or Friday of the lesson week. The first post is submitted by the end of Wednesday of the lesson week. The first post is submitted by the end of Tuesday of the lesson week. A second original post and/or a reply to another post is made after Friday at 11:50 pm or there is no additional post. A second original post and/or a reply to another post is made by Friday at 11:50 pm or there is no additional post. A second original post and/or a reply to another post is made by Friday at 11:50 pm or there is no additional post. A second original post and/or a reply to another post made by Friday at 11:50 pm. 0 points 1 point 2 points 3 points Quantity No original answers or replies. They were previously answered and discussed in prior posts. Answers and/or replies that consist ONLY of hyperlinks, figures, and/or pictures with little to no discussion. One original answer to one of the Study Guide questions. At least two original answers to the more challenging Study Guide questions OR an original answer to a more challenging question AND a reply to another student s post with an expanded answer to one of the more challenging Study Guide questions. 0 points 1 point 2 points 3 points Quality Posts consist of ONLY questions (i.e., What s an igneous rock? ) or Posts show minimal evidence of knowledge and understanding of Posts demonstrate some evidence of knowledge and understanding of Posts concisely demonstrate clear evidence of knowledge and
comments (i.e., Wow, cool! ) with little to no demonstration of concept understanding OR content is plagiarized from a website. lesson materials (may only include definitions) OR posts consist of ONLY found resources (hyperlinks and/or figures, pictures) with little to no original commentary that demonstrates concept understanding and applicability. lesson materials and content. Concept application and synthesis is attempted. understanding of the more challenging Study Guide questions. Concepts are applied correctly and/or there is clear evidence of concept synthesis. 0 points 1 point Contributes to Class Learning Post does not help other students understand the lesson material. Post clearly helps other students understand the lesson material. Assignments, quizzes, and exams: All assignments, quizzes, and exams for each lesson are due at 11:50 pm on Thursday of the lesson week, except where noted. Because there are occasional problems with submitting work on time due to sickness, work, or a random computer glitch, an automatic 24 hour grace period for ALL assignments, quizzes, and exams (except for the final exam) is provided without penalty. Therefore, the submission period for ALL assignments, quizzes, and exams (except the final exam) will close at 11:50 pm on Friday of the lesson week. You may submit assignments and quizzes any time during that lesson week, but if you are locked out of a quiz or assignment because you waited until the last minute and it s late, you will receive a zero. Quizzes and assignments cannot be made up. Make up Exams 1 and 2: There will be no early or make up exams administered. If you miss Exam 1 or Exam 2 due to extraordinary circumstances such as military duty, hospitalization, or death in the immediate family (spouse, child, parent, primary caregiver, siblings) prior or immediate notification of the absence is required, as is documentation of the reason that lists the dates of the missed exam. If your absence is approved, your missed exam will be reweighed according to your grade on the comprehensive portion of the final exam. For example, if you missed Exam 1 and receive a score of 20/25 = 80 percent on the comprehensive portion of the final exam, your Exam 1 score will also be 80 percent, which translates to a calculated score of 24/30. Final Exam: All students must take the final exam. Only your dean or the director of Campus Health Services or Counseling and Psychological Services may officially excuse an absence from a final examination. Please see the "Final Examinations" section in the UNC Student Bulletin for information about final examination excuses. The final exam will be available for a 48 hour period, as are Exam 1 and 2; however, there is no grace period allotted for the final exam. Sample Schedule Most people find that the most challenging part of online classes is finding the time to devote to them, so you obtain a planner or calendar and plan a regular time every day that you will devote to your course work. A general guideline of the time required for classroom courses is to spend two hours of study time for every hour of lecture. We can use that same formula for estimating the time required for a distance education course, and since a three credit class typically meets three times a week, you will need about nine hours each week to
complete your work. Some students will require less time to learn the material and some will require more. Start your work early in the lesson week. Do not wait until Wednesday to work on your lesson, as you will likely have questions and will not have enough time to complete your work and get feedback on your questions. If you wait until the last minute and encounter a computer problem, you may not be able to complete assessments before they are due. Here is an example of how you might structure your weekly course work. If you have a job during the week, you may want to do most of the reading and preparation on the weekend and submit your work at the beginning of the week. Friday through Monday: Review the lesson (see links in left hand navigation) so you know what work is required for the lesson, and check the appropriate Lesson folder in Resources. Post deadlines in your calendar. Make sure you account for your work schedule, getting adequate sleep, and meeting your other obligations in making your plan. Print and read the Study Guide for the lesson to familiarize yourself with important concepts. Do the assigned readings in the textbook and take notes summarizing each section as you go. Visit the suggested websites and view the tutorials and additional materials. Work on the Study Guide and post questions and answers on the appropriate weekly discussion forum. Tuesday: Finish the assigned readings and the Study Guide questions. Read the discussion forum posts so far for the week, and if you have not done so already, post your answers to questions that haven t been posted and/or contribute to questions that have been posted. Use the resources (textbook, website) that I provide to answer the questions. Wednesday: Check your grades on Sakai for the previous week. Review any items you answered incorrectly on quizzes. Check the discussion forum, and follow up on questions you answered and asked. Supplement/update/correct your Study Guide and Investigation answers based on the forum discussion. Thursday: Review the Study Guide and your reading notes. Take and submit the Lesson Quiz (and the Investigation Quiz if one is assigned for the week) by 11:50 pm or complete any other assignments. Take the exam by 11:50 pm if one is assigned for the week. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Communication
The quizzes and exams help me determine your level of understanding, but you must post to the discussion forum or contact me via email if you have a question or need further explanation of a particular concept. I'm more than happy to help. If any emailed question may likely help others, I may post them and my responses in the Forums. I will remove all content that would identify who asked the question. I will post all class announcements, which will also be emailed to you, under the Announcements area in Sakai. Please note that emails regarding the course will go to your UNC Onyen email address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). It is your responsibility to make sure you are receiving all class emails and are checking all class announcements on Sakai on a weekly basis. Make sure you check the course site every day Monday through Friday for important updates. These are the best ways to contact me: Email me. Post a message on the discussion forum. Phone: Email me with a phone number where I can reach you and I will call you at that number. You can expect a response from me within twenty four hours Monday through Friday. If you send an email to me at 5 pm on Friday, you may not receive a response until Monday. Email, Internet, and Browser All email correspondence should contain your full name and GEOL 101 in the subject line; otherwise, I may mistake your email for spam and you will not receive a response. Please show respect and be professional in your email communications. Include a greeting such as Hello (not hey ) and a message written in proper English. A message in proper English uses complete sentences, whole words (not u for you or i for I ), and has been reviewed by you at least once to make sure it makes sense and says specifically what you want. A reliable Internet connection is your responsibility. You must be using the most up to date version of Firefox for this course. Failure to do so may result in incomplete quiz and exam submissions and low scores. Repeated Internet and/or browser problems are not legitimate reasons for missed or incomplete forum discussions, assignments, quizzes, and/or scheduling make up exams. For assistance with Sakai, Internet connectivity and browser issues see the Contacts section of the Sakai site. Participation The UNC Undergraduate Bulletin states the following regarding participation: Regular class attendance is a student obligation, and a student is responsible for all the work, including tests and written work, of all class meetings. No right or privilege exists that permits a student to be absent from any given number of class meetings. Your weekly attendance will be checked by your participation the discussion forums. Because participating in the forums is important to the class as a whole, you will receive a 0 for your discussion forum participation for any week you have not participated. ACADEMIC POLICIES By enrolling as a student in this course, you agree to abide by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
policies related to the acceptable use of online resources. Please consult the Acceptable Use Policy on topics such as copyright, net etiquette, and privacy protection. As part of this course, you are to participate in online discussions or other online activities that may include personal information about you or other students in the course. Please be respectful of the rights and protection of other participants under the UNC Chapel Hill Information Security Policies when participating in online classes. When using online resources offered by organizations not affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill, such as Google or YouTube, please note that the terms and conditions of these companies and not the University s Terms and Conditions apply. These third parties may offer different degrees of privacy protection and access rights to online content. You should be well aware of this when posting content to sites not managed by UNC Chapel Hill. When links to sites outside of the unc.edu domain are inserted in class discussions, please be mindful that clicking on sites not affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill may pose a risk for your computer due to the possible presence of malware on such sites. Honor Code Remember that as a student of UNC Chapel Hill, you are bound by the University's Honor Code, which states that It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an official capacity. An especially serious Honor Code violation is plagiarism. Please take this tutorial on plagiarism that was developed by librarians at UNC, Duke, NCSU and NCCU for extra credit on Exam 1 (see Introductions and Course Policies folder in the Resouces section of Sakai. If you have questions, please consult your instructor. Note that taking screenshots, downloading, or printing the quizzes or exams in Sakai is prohibited; doing so is considered a violation of the Honor Code. Office of Accessibility/Special Accommodations If you are a student with a documented disability, you can receive services through Accessibility Resources & Service. You must self identify through Accessibility Resources to receive services or accommodation from either of these offices. Accessibility Resources works closely with programs, offices, and departments throughout the University to help create an accessible environment. The office is located in Suite 2126 of the Student Academic Services Building (SASB), 450 Ridge Road, Chapel Hill, NC, and is open from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. You can contact them by phone at 919 962 8300 or 711 (NC RELAY), or by email at accessibility@unc.edu. LESSONS Course Information, Syllabus, Introductions Lesson 1: Introduction to Geology and Formation of Earth Lesson 2: Plate Tectonics
Lesson 3: Minerals and Rocks Lesson 4: Igneous Rocks and Magma Lesson 5: Volcanoes Lesson 6: Weathering, Soil, and Mass Wasting Lesson 7: Sedimentary Rocks Lesson 8: Deformation and Metamorphism Lesson 9: Geologic Time Lesson 10: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior Lesson 11: Groundwater Lesson 12: Shorelines, Glaciers, and Sea Level Change The University of North Carolina Send comments and questions to fridaycenter@unc.edu.