Attendance:

Credit toward attendance is earned through regularly answering questions posed each week, completing all field trips and submitting reports on a timely basis, as well as turning in all written assignments (all five papers) and the final project as they are due.

Participation:

Participation involves actively participating in conversations on the web board.  To accomplish this goal, regularly comment on the work and ideas expressed by members of your study group and go out of your way to post interesting ideas, articles, photos and web site addresses on the web board.  It also means sharing photos and impressions of your field trip experiences with the class on the board.

Short Papers:

Criteria for these papers are covered elsewhere.  For the sake of this portion of the grading rubric, however, it is sufficent to say that papers should be well written, well researched, presented in appropriate form (APA or MLA) and should demonstrate a genuine interest in the subject at hand.

Journals:

Journaling is a habit.   To excel at this portion of the course, you must make a habit of working on it almost daily.  Specifics of journaling are covered elsewhere.  The instructor will make every effort to make suggestions of journaling opportunities and activities on a weekly basis.  You can expect to see any number of these ideas in the weekly eiditions of Cob Webs.  You can either journal in an actual paper journal, utilize a portfolio approach, or even develop an electronic journal that you can post or attach to me as an attachment.  Journaling consititutes a major portion of this course, so make the habit enjoyable.  For instance, if you jog, skate, or bike, use that as an opportunity to observe what is going on around you and make some journal entries when you return home.  Similarly, let your mind become curious about the flowers, birds, trees, and animals you see and look them up to identify them.

Final Project:

The final project is the capstone effort of the class.  You have the opportunity to stay abreast of the nations's biggest environmental study and an issue that will impact Florida's ecosystems for decades to come:  The Everglades Restudy.  Use this course as an opportunity to become informed on this issue.  Find an angle on this story that really interests you and develop a paper that you would want others to read.  Be willing to create this paper in a form that can be shared electronically as well as on paper and you will make the highest grade on this section.