November 18, 2008 - Extra Credit option. Please read... very carefully.... then read it again.

November 5, 2008 - Three announcements:

• Note: we are ahead of schedule. I will finish Chapter 14 in lecture on Thursday (11/6) and begin Chapter 15. Bring those notes with you!

• Business as usual next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, Thursday will be different. There will be no lecture or lab on Thursday... and Thursday only. Again... On Tuesday (11/11) there will be lecture and lab. On Wednesday (11/12) there will be lab (for those student that usually have their lab on Wednesday). However, on Thursday there will be NO lecture and NO lab. Please don't twist this announcement around... it's really simple. There will be no lecture next Thursday (11/13) for all of my biology lecture sections. And... the lab that is regularly scheduled for Thursday (11/13) will be cancelled. I'll go through this in lecture on Tuesday... several times.

• Give me until the end of next week (11/14) to announce the extra credit assignment. I figure the above announcement will cause enough confusion for next week. 

October 28, 2008 - Made a change to the lecture schedule page. Test #3 will be available on BlackBoard beginning October 30.

October 27, 2008 - Relatively complex lab this week. Print out all the materials and study them in advance of your lab meeting. Read the appropriate material in your textbook that supports what we will be doing in lab. And... DO THE ONLINE PROTEIN SIMULATION (link on the lab page).

October 21, 2008 - Several announcements:

• Genetics Resources:

  • Before utilizing these two wonderful resources listed below, first study your chapter on genetics (with my notes).

  • I have a tutorial in my public folder which you can only access from campus. Here are the instructions: Open Computer.  Open the K: and/or the Public Folder. Open my folder (MurrayJ) and then open the Genetics Tutorial folder. Then double click on Genetics. Plan on spending a lot of time on this tutorial. It covers a lot of stuff from Meiosis to Advanced Genetics. You simply must do this before taking the next test.

  • Go to BlackBoard and click on the Virtual Professor tab. In the Genetics folder you will find a worksheet with 17 problems. You will also notice that there is an answer key in this folder. Please only access this after you have made a sincere and honest attempt at answering the questions.

• Attention Thursday Afternoon section (BIO 101-25). I will be introducing Genetics this afternoon and will be completing it next Tuesday. On this upcoming Thursday (October 23) we will not be meeting for lecture. Instead.... read this carefully.... instead... you are to study the chapter and do the above tutorial and worksheet. Consider working with a partner... it's more fun :-)   I will be sending an e-mail alerting you to this announcement using your SIS e-mail account.

• Don't forget your lab midterm exams this week. Be there at 9:30 am on your regularly scheduled lab day!

October 9, 2008 - Made a small change to the lecture schedule (moved up Chapters 10 and 11).

September 26, 2008 - A bunch of announcements:

• Check our lecture schedule (http://www1.brcc.edu/murray/serendipity/Biology/admin/schedule/Bio101_Fall2008.htm) and keep an eye on this announcement page. Seriously. You will get no sympathy from me when you start off your sentence with... "But this other student in the class said..."

• No lecture is scheduled for Tuesday (September 30).

• There is lab for the week of September 29 - October 3. Go to your lab schedule page (http://www1.brcc.edu/biology/labs_fall08.htm) and click on the appropriate link for additional directions. Yes, there will be a quiz on this lab. After completing my assigned questions, which are basically your notes, you will need to take the Photosynthesis (LeafLab) Quiz on BlackBoard. It will be on BlackBoard from September 29 - October 3).

• The lecture midterm is exam will be administered in our classroom on Thursday (October 2). I know that I'll see everyone there because... because there is no make-up! Be there on time and be prepared. Click on the appropriate link on your lecture schedule page for additional information. I encourage you to devote a significant amount of time studying Chapters 6-8. The exam will consist mostly of questions form Chapters 6-8 and then general questions from material previously covered in Test 1 and Test 2. Don't waste your time studying old tests. I went back over your notes and picked out general concepts and wrote questions around them. Go back to your notes and textbook to review that chapters covered since the beginning of the course.

• So there you have it. Technically you do have Tuesday "off"... but I think I maid a serious argument for you investing that time on Tuesday preparing for Thursday's lecture midterm. See you Thursday!  

September 26, 2008 - Problem logging onto the LeafLab after initially registering? Had a student unable to enter the LeafLab after picking his own username and password. Here is how the folks at Pearson Education (the publishers of the lab) solved his problem:

• I sent the student information on clearing his cookies. I tried to log on as him and was successful the first time. If any other students encounter this problem then here is the link for clearing cookies.
  Answer Title: Internet Explorer: Cookie Settings and Temporary Internet Files
  Answer Link: http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/247pearsoned.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=221&p_created=1179414207
  Should you experience additional problems relating to this issue, feel free to reply to this message so that we may assist you further.
  For your convenience, visit our 24/7 website for technical assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com.
   

September 9, 2008 - We are on schedule :-)   Just a few announcements:

• Labs are proceeding as scheduled this week. Including Thursday's lab (Great News! I found someone, more qualified than myself, to teach the Thursday lab)

• No lecture will be held on Thursday (morning or afternoon). Assuming we complete Chapter 5 in lecture today (Tuesday), there will be no need to post any additional assignments on the Virtual Professor's webpage concerning Chapter 5.

• Test #2 (Chapters 2-5) is up and running. Please click on the link on your lecture schedule to learn more about this test. This test will remain on BlackBoard until midnight September 18... however, most of the information will not remain in your short term memory until said date. Therefore, be smart, use the time you would of used in lecture Thursday to prepare and take the test.

• Next Tuesday (9/16) we roll forward with Chapter 6! 

August 25, 2008 - I pass along the following from our computer folks at BRCC:

• ... Blackboard should be working again, but our myBRCC portal (http://br.my.vccs.edu) and myVCCS (http://my.vccs.edu) are not working.  However, students can log directly into Bb by using http://learn.vccs.edu and into SIS with http://sa89.vccs.edu.
   

August 21, 2008 - Two announcements:

• Go to the lab schedule and print the "Introduction" lab. Read it. Do as much of it as you can... before coming to lab. When does lab start? Generally, at 9:30 am. But if we finish lecture early... we will start lab early. So DO NOT skip lecture!!! You may end up walking into lab late (and your classmates may point at you and whisper).

• The following is from Ms. Basinger (our Student Computer Help Desk Technician and BlackBoard Administrator): Firefox 3 is not playing nice with Bb, students trying to submit work receive an error message that they need to enter a valid file name.  Older versions of Firefox still work fine, but students should know that all of our computers on campus have the newest version of Firefox.  IE (Internet Explorer) last spring was freezing during tests, so I have been telling students when submitting assignments use IE and when taking tests use Firefox.

August 20, 2008 - How are we doing? I have several announcements:

• Ready for tomorrow? You will be if you print out Chapter 17 lecture notes (see link on our lecture schedule page) and read the appropriate pages in your textbook.

• Take your practice quiz on BlackBoard. It does not count for grade. Just do it. 

• Make sure you go to your VCCS e-mail account and read your e-mails... or... have them forwarded to your regular e-mail address. I may use several mass e-mailings during the semester.

• Attention invisible students. If you have not attended class (i.e. signed the attendance list) you may be administratively dropped at the end of the week. Problems? See me.

August 18, 2008 - I pass along the following from the BRCC Computing Department concerning a brief scheduled outage Tuesday evening:

• What this means is that sites hosted at BRCC (www.brcc.edu,www1.brcc.edu, etc) will have periods of unavailability between 9 and 10 PM on Tuesday, August 19.  Blackboard, student email, and SIS are all hosted on VCCS servers at Featherstone so they will work fine.
  
  One note:  many of our students get to Bb, email and SIS by clicking on the "MyBRCC" link on our homepage at www.brcc.edu.  If our web site is down, they are likely to tell you they can't get to Bb, etc, because they can't get to the MyBRCC link.  True, that link may be unavailable, but they can always get to their stuff by going straight to http://my.vccs.edu .  You may want to remind/inform them of that...
   

August 18, 2008 - Class starts tomorrow but 20 of you have already logged onto BlackBoard this morning and taken your practice quiz.  Thank you! Now, if you really want to impress me, do the following:

• buy your textbook and ready Chapter 1

• print out and read the lecture notes to Chapter 1 (link is on your lecture schedule page)

• eat a bowl of oatmeal and then call your parents and tell them how much you appreciate them

See you tomorrow!

August 14, 2008 - Welcome. You're early! Have a look around at the website. When BlackBoard is activated head on over there and take your Biology Practice Quiz (located in the assignment folder). Don't worry, it does not count as grade.... but it does demonstrate your ability to successfully log into BlackBoard and take an assessment.

Pending Announcements - The following are reminders for me... They are not official announcements!
 (September 9, 2008) No Lecture: Study/Take Test #2.    See announcement page & Virtual Professor (on BlackBoard) for additional information concerning. Attention Thursday lab section - See announcement page for your fate on Thursday, September 11, 2008.
(September 25, 2008) No Lecture: Invest this time in preparation for your midterm lecture exam and completing you online LeafLab.