A printable version (MS Word) of the syllabus can be found on the course's Desire-2-Learn (D2L) page

BIOL 2161K

Introduction to Medical Microbiology

Instructor Information:

Lecture Instructor:      Mr. Jason Hitzeman

Office:                         Walraven Building, room B-336 (within the Science & Math office)

Phone Number:          706-368-7525

Email:                          jhitzema@highlands.edu

The following items are available on the website for you to print off:

1. A Lecture Schedule with lecture topics, chapters, and test dates noted.

2. Study Guides (Word documents) for each exam can be found on the Lecture Materials page.

3. Outlines & Notes (Word documents) and PowerPoints for each lecture can be found on the Lecture Materials page. You are REQUIRED to print at least one of these out in advance of class. I will lecture at a pace that assumes you have completed notes with you.

4. A link to the Lab Schedule with laboratory topics and lab practical dates listed. Lab handouts are available as links within the Lab Schedule. You are REQUIRED to have these printed off and read in advance of lab.

Course Description:

(3-3-4) Biology 2161K beings with an overview of the structure and properties of microorganisms, their growth requirements, metabolism, and ecological roles; emphasis is then given to the host-parasite relationship, potential for pathogenicity of microorganisms, defense mechanisms of the human host, including extensive discussion of immunology, and the etiological and epidemiology of infectious diseases for each human body system. Laboratory work introduces the student to identification and culture techniques, transmission control mechanisms, and common clinical isolation procedures. Laboratory Fee Required.

Text:

Lecture:  OpenStax College. Microbiology; ISBN-13: 978-1938168147; ISBN-10: 1938168143

Download for FREE at: https://cnx.org/contents/5CvTdmJL@4.9:rFziotaH@4/Introduction

Additional course materials will be made available through GHC’s course management system known as Desire2Learn or D2L.  Students should log in frequently to access these course materials.

The Laboratory Manual, written specifically for the exercises and equipment used at Georgia Highlands College is Laboratory Instruction for Introductory Medical Microbiology, by Callan. Print out each section in time to read it before the lab for which the notes apply.

Prerequisites:

BIOL 1010K or BIOL 2107K or BIOL 2121K with a grade of C or better

Students with Disabilities:

If any student in the class feels that he or she needs accommodation due to a disability, please feel free to discuss this with the instructor early in the term. Georgia Highlands College has resources available for students with certain disabilities. Accommodations may be made (such as providing materials in alternative formats, assuring physical access to classrooms or being sensitive to interaction difficulties that may be posed by communication and/or learning disabilities) through Student Support Services on all campuses. For more information, please contact: Cartersville 678-872-8004; Floyd 706-368-7536; Marietta 678-915-5021; Paulding 678-946-1029.

Attendance & Make-Up:

Lecture: Attendance will be recorded for advisory purposes and administrative record keeping. Points are not given or deducted according to a student’s attendance. If a lecture test is missed for an emergency, a make-up test over the material missed may be administered at the discretion of the instructor and in the format of the instructor’s choosing, usually essay form.  Only one make-up test is allowed for the entire course.  There will be no re-takes. Make-up exams will be taken during the next class period attended by the student. It is the responsibility of the student to get any information missed during that class time

Lab:  Attendance in laboratory is also recorded and does count toward the final grade. Absence and tardiness will result in deduction of points from 100; 10 points is deducted for each missed lab absence and prorated for tardiness. There are no make-up labs. If schedule and space permits students are often allowed to attend different lab sections during the same week to make-up a missed lab. You are responsible for learning any missed material from your classmates.

Inclement Weather Policy:

In the event of weather related cancellation of classes, the schedule will pick up the sequence of lectures herein described as classes resume.  The semester may then be extended, or double lectures designed as we go.  If we have covered all material for a test, the test will be given on the first day back to class.  If there is inclement weather, the college posts necessary announcements on www.highlands.edu.  Cancellation notices for Floyd or Cartersville locations will be reported to radio stations and WXIA-TV in Atlanta.  However, please be advised that station regulations may not allow for clarity in location-specific announcements such as “Georgia Highlands, Cartersville only.”  Generally speaking, stations simply broadcast something like “Georgia Highlands is closed.” Classes in Paulding or Marietta will be cancelled when, respectively, North Metro Technical College or Kennesaw State University close. Policies for distance-learning courses relative to inclement weather are different. It is assumed that all distance-learning courses are considered accessible even during periods of inclement weather.

Grading Scale:

   89.5-100% =A       79.5-89.4% = B       69.5-79.4% = C       59.5-69.4% = D        < 59.5% = F

Evaluation Methods and Grading:

Grades are determined by proficiency on lecture and lab exams. There are no extra credit or bonus opportunities.

The breakdown is as follows:

The lab grade will be derived as the average of three grades: two lab practicals and a grade based on lab participation.  Each lab practical is worth 100 points and will be administered during your normally scheduled lab time.  The participation grade is worth a total of 100 points and can be earned by the completion of the scheduled lab exercises. The number, format, and individual value of each lab exercise will be determined by each lab instructor.  Failure to attend lab will result in loss of all points (5 per lab exercise) for that exercise.  There are absolutely no make-up opportunities for these exercises.

Grades for individual assignments are posted on GHC’s Desire-2-Learn (D2L) site at the instructor’s discretion. D2L is not the official grade book for the class. While I try my best to not make mistakes entering grades into D2L, there may come a time when it does not match the official grade book. In those cases, the official grade book, not D2L, will be the grade that stands unless an error has been made and can be verified with a returned, or saved, assignment.

Statement of Academic Integrity:

All work presented is expected to be produced by the student's own efforts. Plagiarism (copying of another author's work or written material, even a sentence or two, and then claiming it as your own work), cheating, attempting to cheat, or collaborating in cheating (on tests, quizzes, assignments, laboratory work, or any other work done for a grade) is ample reason for receiving an F for that assignment.

Behavior that may be perceived as cheating includes but is not limited to:

• Talking during the administration of an exam.
• Looking in the direction of another student's exam, or towards notes, textbook, etc. during an exam.
• Fumbling through a book-bag, knapsack, purse, etc. during an exam.
• Use of a cell phone or other electronic device during an exam.
• Having anything other than a pencil, a scantron, and the test on your desk during the exam.

Any appearance of cheating will be regarded as cheating, so students should avoid any and all behaviors that could even be construed as cheating.  Policies on student conduct and academic integrity are located in the GHC “Student Guide and Planner” and in the Student Handbook at https://sites.highlands.edu/academic-affairs/student-interests/academic-integrity-documents/.

Returned Class Items:

Lecture exams are never returned to the student. They are available for review (15-20min/exam) by appointment for the week following the exam period. During the week preceding finals, exams will be made available during assigned lab times for review.

It is the student’s responsibility to keep all graded materials returned to them (from lecture and lab) until a final grade has been issued for the course and it is determined that there are no errors in that assigned grade (i.e. a miscalculated  grade or incorrectly entered grade). Any grade discrepancies can only be rectified with proof of the student’s correct scores, which can only be verified with the original graded items. Therefore, it is very important that these items are retained by the student until final grades are posted.

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will demonstrate competency of one discipline in the sciences in terms of its informational content.

2. Students will demonstrate competency of on discipline in the sciences in terms of its terminology.

3. Students will demonstrate competency of on discipline in the sciences in terms of its commonly used units of measurement.

4. Students will demonstrate the ability to operate basic instrumentation, gather data, and generate conclusions in a laboratory or observational setting.

5. Students will demonstrate the ability to apply discipline content to problem solving.

Earned F:

This message applies only to students receiving financial aid:  Federal regulations state that if a student did not attend classes and received failing grades, then the grades were not earned and financial aid needs to be reduced accordingly.  Please be advised that any student receiving a 0.00 GPA will be required to prove that the 0.00 GPA was earned by attending classes or completing requirements for each class.  Students who have earned at least one passing grade for the semester will not be affected by this regulation.  If a student has properly withdrawn from all classes, the student’s financial aid should be adjusted from the time they signed the withdrawal form.

Cell Phones:

The use of cell phones, pagers, etc. during lecture or lab time is strictly prohibited. These devices can be very disruptive if they "go off" during class time. Please turn these devices off BEFORE you arrive to class (silent mode/vibrate can still be heard by classmates and therefore is not acceptable). Any students whose cell phone, pager, etc. disrupts class will be asked to leave class immediately and will not be allowed to return until the next class period. Exceptions will only be made if the student is expecting a very important phone call (one that could cause them to leave class early anyway). In these situations, silent mode/vibrate is acceptable and the instructor needs to be informed of this at the beginning of class.

Extended Absence Policy:

Students, who have circumstances that prevent them from continuing to attend classes over an extended period of time, sometimes request that the faculty member permit them to submit work in absentia to receive credit to complete the course.

If the concurrent absences will constitute more than 15% of the class sessions for the term, then written permission from the Division Chair is required before any course assignments can be completed while missing class.  The student must be in good academic standing in the course to make the request.  All approved coursework must be completed by the end of the semester in which the course was begun.

(Note: If a program has a more stringent absence policy than this, then the program policy prevails.)

Policies & Procedures:

Georgia Highlands College has in place a number of policies and procedures for students. These include the Grievance Policy, Appealing a Grade, Extended Absence Policy, Incomplete Grade Policy, Hardship Withdrawal Policy, Tobacco Free Campus Policy, Sexual Harassment Policy, and a No Weapons Policy. More information on these can be accessed Here and 

Campus Carry:

For guidance on HB280 Campus Carry, please visit the USG website www.usg.edu/hb280

Scantron Forms:

Exams are all matching & multiple choice. Students must provide their own Scantron grading forms (Form No. 882-E), which are available at the campus bookstore at a small cost. For this reason and because Scantron forms can become damaged in use, students are encouraged to be prepared by coming with multiple forms for every exam. Scantron forms must be clean and un-creased and must be marked clearly to be graded properly. Running out of forms, using forms that are in poor condition or marking forms improperly will lead to a student receiving potentially losing points for the corresponding exam. The answers marked on the Scantron form are the ones graded. No credit will be given for answers marked correctly on the examination copy which are marked incorrectly on the Scantron form.

Laboratory Risk Statement:

Since this course involves a laboratory component, there are specific safety issues that students need to be aware of (such as use of safety goggles, or any other such example specifically related to that course). It is the student's responsibility to be aware of all such issues and act in an extremely cautious manner to avoid any potential causes for accidents in the laboratory. GHC (including its faculty and staff) is not liable for any accident in the lab due to negligence on the part of any individual. Specific safety issues are discussed in the lab manual and laboratory safety lecture. It is also recommended that if you are pregnant or intend on becoming pregnant during the course, that you not take the course at this time.

Early Grades Statement:

GHC offers a variety of part-of-term classes to allow our students to have flexible schedules.  However, there are only three Semesters each year; Spring, Summer and Fall.  It is only at the end of each Semester that grades are rolled to academic history and available on the official transcript.  After each part-of-term, as soon as Instructors have entered grades, they may be viewed online by logging into the Charger Portal (Click Here).  Transcripts may also be request at any time by logging into the Charger Portal.  Prior to the end of term, should a student need an early grade letter sent to another institution they may complete the request form and submit it to the Registrar’s Office for processing (Click Here).  Please contact the Registrar’s Office at registrar@highlands.edu if you need any assistance.

Early Warning Program:

Georgia Highlands College requires that all faculty members report their students' progress throughout the course of the semester as part of the institution-wide Early Warning Program (EWP).  The objective of the program is to support academic success by reviewing early indicators of satisfactory student progress.  In accordance with EWP, faculty members provide the Registrar's Office with academic reports of each student enrolled in their course(s) at checkpoints staggered throughout the semester.  The following success factors are reported at their corresponding checkpoint:

Week 2: Notification of Non-attendance

Week 6: Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory Progress