EEES 1050-901 Geological Hazards & the
Environment
Spring 2011
Distance Learning Format
Dr. Don Stierman, Instructor:
Office hours (3086-H BOL) 10 - 1 Mondays, 10 - noon Wednesdays
Text: Living With Earth by Travis Hudson (Prentice Hall). Students will be required to complete Hazard City exercises, available with purchase of a new book either with a CD or with an Internet access code that comes free with purchase of a new textbook. The text is available as an e-book! The following was copied from an email sent by the publisher's representative:
"If the student does not want a print book – they can buy access to our premium website which will have Hazard City at www.mygeocienceplace.com for $30.00. They can upgrade to a version of this website that includes the etext for an additional $20.35." (quote from publisher)
We placed a copy of the Hazard City CD on Reserve in the Carlson Library last year with instructions to keep it there permanently. The former textbook included the CD so there might be copies floating around campus. Hazard City can also be accessed (for a fee if you bought a used textbook) via the Web site specified above.
If you are interested in the e-book, get in touch with the publisher ASAP. I do not know how e-books work. If you learn things that you think I should know and the other students should know, please contact me (email address links from link above - my name).
Professors teaching this class decided that critical issues like water resources, energy resources and climate change pose greater hazards to your way of life than volcanoes, earthquakes and floods, at least under the present circumstances. Our syllabi was recently modified to reduce the exciting stuff (like asteroid impacts) and replace that with an introduction to sustainability issues.
Students are required to have access to reliable computers with PowerPoint (download free viewer from Microsoft at this site) and stable Web links. It is your responsibility to identify and arrange for the resources needed to participate in this class. Unless University systems crash or there is a general regional Web server problem, I will not reopen or reset quizzes missed because of home computer problems (exception: documented, widespread power outage due to severe weather). If your home computer is slow and Web service prone to disconnects, take quizzes in a campus computer lab. If you want to take Geological Hazards in the traditional lecture format, Dr. Krantz teaches EEES-1050 Autumn semester.
Browsers: some students had quizzes freeze up while using MS Explorer. Please install and use FireFox for quizzes and tests. I am not responsible for quizzes freezing up while you are using other browsers. You are free to contact Distance Learning technicians if you have problems with this.
I place time limits on quizzes and tests so that students who are doing the work will find the answers quickly enough to respond. If you have a time anxiety problem, you may take the same test on paper under my supervision with no time limit but with no access to notes or textbook (you must make an appointment at least 48 hours before the quiz or test is scheduled to close). If you see what appears to be a duplicate test or column in the grade book, it is probably the test for students certified by the Office of Accessibility as needing more time to read questions. If you have a reading problem or other condition that qualifies you for special testing conditions, please provide documentation to the Office of Accessibility and they will contact me.
This course fulfills the Natural Science core requirement in that it:
Students will recognize relevant scientific terms, how scientists seek out and use the best available information to evaluate geologic hazards, and read examples of how some previously unrecognized hazards were discovered. Through short essays, students will demonstrate knowledge of scientific methods and reasoning (example: interpret maps showing variations in seismic shaking due to strong earthquakes). Students will post informed opinions regarding ways of dealing with risks due to geological hazards, drawing their conclusions from the scientific information available while taking into account economic and political realities.
Why I teach this class. Few, if any, of you will become scientists, but you may purchase a home, be elected to public office, serve on planning commissions, or work in a field that deals with public safety, investment, insurance or construction. Ignorance of natural hazards is usually expensive and frequently deadly. Ignorance can also raise irrational fears or panic people into taking hasty but ineffective, costly actions. I hope to help you understand the nature of these geological hazards and learn some ways of reducing harm resulting from exposure to damaging geological processes. Then there is the Fox Propaganda & Entertainment Network, where highly paid pundits pretend their rants are news. I will present facts regarding oil supplies and global climate change that neither Glen nor Sean are apparently aware of. Do not worry if these happen to be your favorite sources of misinformation, bring your best to the Bulletin Board. You will not be graded on your politics, just on your use of scientific facts and scientific reasoning.
If you must contact me regarding course management or problems, please use my utnet.edu email - Blackboard email works, that simply forwards mail to my regular email.
I use Blackboard Messages for assignments, and Discussion for discussions. Letters might sit in my Blackboard Messages for a week or more and I do not open Discussions each and every day, so if you need to contact me ASAP, use email.
I tend to NOT respond quickly to messages sent by people who do not read and follow instructions.
For those who can read and follow directions (most of you, no doubt), I apologize for shouting. Please bear with me while I make a few more policies clear.
All deadlines will be posted on a calendar linked from the Syllabus. Assignment details are embedded in Lectures. You are REQUIRED to read all lectures and should do so deliberately enough to notice
I do not automatically accept late work and will not reopen quizzes or tests for students who forget or otherwise cannot tell time or read a calendar. If you are a bit late with an assignment, send it anyway (do NOT ask) and you will usually catch me in a good mood. If assignments are submitted before I grade that set of assignments, they are not counted as late even if they arrive between the posted deadline and the time I sit down to grade assignments. Quizzes and tests close and will not be reopened except for extraordinary circumstances.
Evaluation (final grade) will be based on:
Written responses to a question
(short essays)
posted as part of almost every chapter. Sometimes you will have the choice
of questions. Submit these to Blackboard Messages (addressed to me), NOT the bulletin board
or email (I suggest you write and spell check your
essay in your favorite word processor, then cut and paste into the body of the WebCT
email): 15%
Hazard City projects (instructions will appear in
lectures): 25%.
Participation in chat and/or bulletin board
discussions: 10%
Chapter quizzes (online): 25%
Midterms and final exam (online): 25%
Calendar with deadlines
I particularly like attachments (when necessary) in .pdf or .jpg formats. These open quickly without a download delay.
If the midterm or final exam is missed for circumstances qualifying for an excused absence, make-up tests are on campus in short essay format.
IMPORTANT! I 'forgive' your lowest scores in quiz and in Hazard City. This means missing one quiz and one Hazard City project does not hurt your final grade. The reasoning behind this policy is, even the best, most focused students miss a deadline now and then (flight home was cancelled, had to take Grandma to the hospital in Cleveland) so do not panic when life does you an ill turn. I do suggest you save your mulligan for a real emergency. If you skip a quiz and have a problem later on, you will have to explain and document both missed quizzes in order to qualify for an excused absence and opportunity to make up the quiz.
How do student attitudes regarding educational goals influence outcomes? Some thoughts on approaching an intellectual challenge.
Those who earn certificates as "Virtual Seismologist" (and other extra credit challenges) when offered will receive additional credit. It is not impossible to earn an "A" without doing the extra credit but most top students do complete these challenging exercises. Extra credit opportunities are specified in lecture slides. Not every chapter has an opportunity for extra credit.
Essay assignments should be short (300 words or less) and to the point, like a Letter to the Editor. Answer the question asked and do not get sidetracked. Back up your answer with appropriate facts. In some cases, recognition of facts or arguments opposing your position should be mentioned.
I will post PowerPoint 'lectures' on the Blackboard site. You will also be expected to use links provided below to view materials posted by others on the Web. All assignments are specified in lecture slides. You must read the lectures in order to discover what the assignments are. Lectures include animations that will help you read slowly enough to let the thoughts sink in. If you miss the assignments you are flying through the lectures too rapidly.
Expectations: Rule of thumb is, 2 hours of study for each hour of lecture. During this 15-week semester, you should devote 9 hours per week reading the textbook, visiting the Web sites suggested, reading the PowerPoint slides I prepare, taking the online quiz, posting short essays to the appropriate bulletin board. If a group of students can agree on chat times, we can open the chat room once or twice a week, but I need at least 5 active students chatting. I also expect students to use all links on this page to view details regarding policies, instructions, and so on.
This class runs by the calendar. Most students who fail this class do so because they fail to submit assignments. You are free to schedule your time as you see fit, but it is your responsibility to complete and submit each assignment and take each chapter quiz during the appropriate time window. Students have taken a week of vacation and even given birth without any problem because they looked ahead, planned well, and got their work in.
Be alert to news stories on geological hazards. Floods hit Toledo in June of 2006, including homes where students taking this course lived. Close to home (Toledo for most of us - The Blade) is most important, but big (M > 7.8) or deadly (> 1000 fatalities) earthquakes anywhere on earth should catch your eye. A quiz or test question can be based on recent (while the class is in progress) news that is not mentioned in either the lecture or the book (you are of course free to post comments on current events to the Bulletin Board and read - and respond to - posts by the other students).
Although there are no mandatory on-campus meetings, students are expected to submit written work in time to meet posted deadlines and take topical quizzes within the time frame during which each topic is under discussion. The midterms and final exam will be scheduled for specific times, TBA after polling the class for preferences/work conflicts. I sometimes host an optional on-campus 'film festival' at least once where interested students can view a couple of videos that deal with geological hazards.
Watch the Online Calendar for deadlines. I use an easily edited document on my Web site rather than Blackboard.
If you have problems and are using Microsoft Explorer, install and test Mozilla Firefox.
My totally unreasonable policies are also posted. Some do not apply to Distance Learning. For example, having your leg in a cast does not constitute an excuse for missing a DL exam, although being confined in the hospital does permit you to take a make-up provided you submit documentation.
Tentative schedule
January 10 - 20: Chapters 1 & 2: What does 'living with earth'
mean? and Earth Systems
Links to supplementary
materials
January 21 - February 3: Chapter 3 and 5: The Dynamic Geosphere & Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes!
Note: we will refer to Chapter 4 (Earth Materials) as relevant to future chapters.
February 4 - 16: Chapter 6 – Volcanoes.
First midterm on earth systems, plate tectonics, earthquakes
and volcanoes about February 18.
Last day to withdraw is March 25. Instructors no longer are permitted to
drop or withdraw students. If you stop attending class but do not withdraw
your final grade will be "F".
February 17 - March 1: Chapter 7 – River Floods.
March 2 - March 21: Chapter 8 – Unstable Land -
Subsidence
and Soils
I will not participate vigorously in class
during the Spring Break, March 5 - 12
March 22 - March 31: Chapter 9 – Coastal Hazards.
Second midterm on hazardous surficial processes: About April 1.
April 2 - 29: Resources
Water Resources (Chapter 10): 4/2 - 4/10
Soil Resources (Chapter 11): 4/11 - 4/16
Energy Resources (Chapter 13): 4/17 - 4/24
Atmosphere and Climate Change (Chapter 14) & Human Impacts on
the Environment (Chapter 15): 4/25 - 4/29.
May 3 - 4: Final exam (emphasis on resources but hazards are still in play).
If you have a problem with either a midterm or final date, let me know ASAP and we will seek a solution to the scheduling conflict. Midterm and final missed for legitimate reasons are allowed make-ups but these are usually on campus, short essay format. I will not reopen quizzes or tests once grades are released to the students and correct answers become available.
Quizzes and exams are time limited. Students who are certified by the Office of Accessibility as requiring additional time must have that office contact me at least 48 hours before the quiz or test closes. Those taking tests on-line will be permitted to use textbooks and notes (some will use them anyway so why penalize men and women of integrity) but I’ll wager that anyone taking one of my tests without having cracked the book will not be able to look up answers fast enough to pass. I generally keep midterms and final exam windows open for 24 hours, quizzes are open for most of the interval scheduled for that topic. You should do all assignments (including Hazard City) before attempting the quiz as Hazard City issues might pop up as quiz questions.