GEOL 101: Introduction to Geology Course Overview Welcome to GEOL 101: Introduction to Geology! I'm Carrie Bartek, and I'll be your instructor for the course. 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 course description for an up to date list of materials. Course Structure and Requirements This course is different from a traditional class. You will study the course materials by reading the textbook, visiting Web sites, collaborating on the discussion forums, and completing assignments. In order to do well, you must be self motivated and proactive. The assignments, quizzes, and exams will help me determine your level of understanding, but you must post to the discussion forum or contact me via e mail if you have a question or need further explanation of a particular concept. I'm more than happy to help. Grades will be awarded on a 1000 point scale. A final accumulation of 700 799 points = C range; 800 899 points = B range; 900 points and up = A range. Points Two exams worth 150 points each and one cumulative final, worth 200 points 500 (50%) Assignment quizzes and exercises 400 (40%) Discussion forum participation 100 (10%) Total Points 1000 Grade calculations: You can check your grades by going to the gradebook area of this site. 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 250 points remaining in the course, she multiplied 250 by different possible average grades for those remaining assessments: If she had an average of at least 90% on all remaining assessments: 250 *.90 = 225; 700 + 225 = 925; 925/1000 points = 92.5 % If she had an average of at least 80% on all remaining assessments: 250 * 0.80 = 200 points; 700 + 200 = 900; 900/1000 points = 90%
If she had an average of at least 70% on all remaining assessments: 250 * 0.70 = 175 points; 700 + 175 = 875; 875/1000 points = 87.5% What to do first: Most people find that the most challenging part of online classes is finding the time to devote to them. So, I suggest that 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 one 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, I estimate that 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. Email requirements: All email correspondence should contain your full name and GEOL 101 in the subject line. If the email does not contain this information in the subject line, I may mistake your email for spam and you will not receive a response. Please show respect and be professional in your e mail communications. Respectful and professional emails include a greeting such as Hello, Ms. Bartek (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. I really do want to help you, but I reserve the right to delete emails that do not adhere to these criteria. Participation requirements: 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 in GEOL 101 will be checked by your participation in each of the discussion forums. Because participating in the forums is important to the class, you will receive a 0 for your discussion forum participation for any week you have not participated. Resources: All Study Guides and Web Resources are in the Resources section of the course. Work through the Study Guides for each lesson by reading the textbook and discussing answers with your peers on the appropriate discussion forum and by viewing Web resources to aid your understanding. Quizzes: The quizzes are located in the Quizzes and Exams area of the course. They 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 will be a combination of multiple choice, matching, ordering, and occasionally short answer and are randomly generated from a question pool. You will have the option of taking these quizzes more than once, but the questions will be different each time a quiz is taken. You will be able to see the multiple choice questions you answered incorrectly. Essay questions must be graded by the instructor so you will not be able to see the correct answers to these questions until the due date has passed. Note that only your last attempt will be graded. Because the quizzes are timed and generated from the question pool, it is in your best interest to complete the Study Guide questions before you take the quizzes you will receive a higher score on the quiz by completing these questions first.
Discussion forum: Your discussion forums serve as your active classroom environment. The only thing you can t do on the discussion forum is discuss any component of exams, and you must not be rude. You may guide students to answers to quizzes and assignments as long as you are not giving away correct answer choices. For example, the answer relates to the three types of plate boundaries is ok, but the answer is c is not ok. You should plan to contribute to the discussion forum at least two times per week in accordance with the rubric shown below. The forums will be available one week before the Thursday they are due. Due dates for discussion forums: To benefit you and the other students, forum discussion needs to begin well in advance of assignment due dates for the lesson. Your discussion forum posts will be graded according to the rubric below. Note that the grace period does not apply to your discussion forum participation. You will receive full credit only if your first post is submitted by the end of Tuesday of the week the forum posts are due. You can continue to post to the forum through Thursday. Posts made after Thursday of the week the forum is due will not be considered when awarding participation points. Criteria Timeliness Quantity Quality Contributes to Class Learning Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Exemplary 5 points 7 points 10 points First post is after Wednesday in the week the lesson assignments are due. Does not submit an original post. Does not reply to another student. Post does not demonstrate evidence of knowledge and understanding of lesson materials and content and may be plagiarized from a website. Post does not help other students understand the lesson material. First post submitted by the end of the day on Wednesday of the week the lesson assignments are due. Submits an original post. Replies to another student. Post demonstrates some evidence of knowledge and understanding of lesson materials and content (shows synthesis of information and is not simply cut and pasted from a website). Post helps other students understand the lesson material. First post submitted early in the lesson period (by the end of Tuesday of the week the lesson assignments are due). Submits an original answer to one of the study guide questions posted on the forum. Replies to another student. Post concisely demonstrates clear evidence of knowledge and understanding of lesson materials and content (shows synthesis of information and is not simply cut and pasted from a website). Post helps other students understand the lesson material. Due dates for assignments, quizzes, and tests: All assignments, quizzes, and tests for each lesson are due at 11:50 pm on Thursday of the lesson week, except where noted. You may submit assignments early, but if you are locked out of a quiz or assignment because it is late you will receive a zero. Assignments in this course cannot be made up. If you do not submit an assignment when it is due, you will receive a zero for that assignment. Start your work early in the lesson week (see Sample Schedule for my suggested weekly plan). I am available to answer your questions and will check my e mail daily Monday through Friday. Please 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. If you wait until the last minute and encounter a computer problem, you may not be able to complete assignments before they are due. Grace period: Because students occasionally have a problem submitting work on time due to sickness, work, or a computer glitch, an automatic 24 hour grace period for assignments, quizzes, and exams (except for the final exam) is provided to all students. The grace period does not apply to discussion forum assignments. Please note that if you have a problem after 1 pm on Fridays, I will likely not be able to answer your questions or help you with a computer glitch. If you wait until the last minute and have a problem with a quiz, exam, or assignment, you will receive a zero. Exams: The two unit exams will be available in the Quizzes and Exams area two to three days before they are due. These exams are closed book and closed notes. They will be 1 hour and 10 minutes long and consist of 50 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. 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. Make up exams: Exams cannot be made up except for 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. If a make up exam is approved, the make up exam date must be established as soon as the make up is approved. The make up exam will consist of essay questions, and you will need to make special arrangements with me to take the exam. Cumulative final exam: The final exam is located in the Exams section of the course. It is worth 200 points and has two parts. Part 1 consists of 50 multiple choice questions covering Lessons 10 13 (100 points), and Part 2 consists of 50 multiple choice questions covering cumulative material from Exams 1 and 2 (100 points). Honor Code: Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the UNC Chapel Hill Honor Code. When writing essay questions, you must put answers in your own words so I can assess how well you know the material. I expect you to use appropriate technical terminology in a way that shows your understanding of it. Please note that downloading or printing out the quizzes or exams is prohibited; doing so is considered a violation of the Honor Code. Sample Schedule: The following is an example of how you might structure your course work each week. 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. Use a calendar to post deadlines for yourself for completing each task by the due date. 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. Start reading the assigned pages in the textbook and take notes summarizing each section as you go. Visit the suggested Web sites and view the tutorials when you hit difficult topics. Begin working on the Study Guide and post questions and answers on the appropriate discussion forum. Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Try to finish your reading and most of the Study Guide questions. Read the discussion forum posts so far for the week, and if you have not done so already, post two questions you have that are different from questions already posted. Try to answer some of the questions that have been posted. Use the resources (textbook, Web site) provided by the instructor to answer the questions. Check your grades 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. Use the discussion forum to answer the Study Questions you have not yet answered. Review the Study Guide and the notes you made as you read the textbook. Take and submit the quiz or complete any other assigned work. Take the exam if one is assigned for the week. Submitting Work You will not submit work to the instructor via e mail; you will use Sakai to submit all work. To access quizzes, tests and assignments, click on the Quizzes and Exams link or the Assignments link in the left navigation bar and scroll down until you find the appropriate assignment, test, or quiz for that lesson. Remember that you can take quizzes multiple times and submit assignments multiple times but are only allowed to open an exam once, and can only take an exam one time. 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. So, do not click on any exam links until you are ready to take the exam. 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 may be asked 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. You may wish to take this tutorial on plagiarism that was developed by librarians at UNC, Duke, NCSU and NCCU. If you have questions, please consult your instructor. Please note that downloading or printing out the quizzes or exams in Sakai is prohibited; doing so is considered a violation of the Honor Code. Course Schedule Lesson Course Home Page Lesson 1 Topics and Required Submissions Introduction Read the course home page and review the lesson pages, review the Sakai site, obtain and familiarize yourself with the textbook. Submission: introduce yourself on the discussion forum Introduction to Geology and Formation of Earth Chapters 1 and 2; Chapter Sections 5.4, 9.9, and 19.1 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lesson 1 (10 points) quiz on Lesson 1 and course home page (20 points)
Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Plate Tectonics Chapter 3; Chapter Sections 10.10 and 11.7 Minerals and Rocks Chapter 4 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lessons 2 and 3 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 2 (20 points) quiz on Investigation 3 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 3 (20 points) Igneous Rocks and Magma Chapter 5 Volcanoes Chapter 6 and Section 11.7 in Chapter 11 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lessons 4 and 5 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 4 (20 points) quiz on Investigation 5.5 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 5 (20 points) Exam 1 Exam 1 is located in the Exams section of the course. It assesses what you have learned in Lessons 1 5. It consists of 50 multiple choice questions and is worth 150 points. You will have 1 hour and 10 minutes to take this exam. Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9 Weathering, Soil, and Mass Wasting Chapter 15 Sedimentary Rocks Chapter 7 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lessons 6 and 7 (10 points) quiz on Lesson 6 and Investigation 15 (10 points) quiz on Lesson 7 (20 points) quiz on Investigation 7 (20 points) Deformation and Metamorphism Chapter 8 Geologic Time Chapter 9 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lessons 8 and 9 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 8 (40 points) quiz on Lesson 9 (20 points) Investigation 9 submission form (20 points) Exam 2 Exam 2 is located in the Exams area of the course. It assesses what you have learned in Lessons 6 9. It consists of 50 multiple choice questions and is worth 150 points. You will have 1 hour and 10 minutes to take this exam. Lesson 10 Lesson 11 Lesson 12 Lesson 13 Earthquakes and Earth's Interior Chapter 12 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lesson 10 (10 points) virtual earthquake exercise (20 points) Rivers and Flooding Chapter 16 Groundwater Chapter 17 Submissions: discussion forum posts for Lessons 11 and 12 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 11 (20 points) Investigation 16 (20 points) quiz on Lesson 12 (20 points) Investigation 17 (20 points) Shorelines, Glaciers, and Sea Level Change
Chapter 14 Submissions: quiz on Lesson 13 (20 points) Final Exam The final exam is located in the Exams area of the course. It is worth 200 points and has two parts: Part 1: 50 multiple choice questions covering Lessons 10 13 (100 points) Part 2: 50 multiple choice questions covering cumulative materials from Exams 1 and 2 (100 points) You will have 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete each part of the final exam. Course Evaluation: Please take the time to fill out a brief, anonymous evaluation. We want to know if this course met your needs and expectations. The University of North Carolina Send comments and questions to fridaycenter@unc.edu.