University of Hawaii

Honolulu Community College

GG101 Lab

Miscellaneous

This page contains miscellaneous information to help navigate through the course


FAQ


What are the course requirements?

What is the Academic Honesty policy?

How do I submit answers to the quizzes?

What is the Earthwatch report (EW)?

Whaat is the Virtual Field Trip (VFT)?

What materials will I need to buy?

What if I need help with a topic?

How do I submit a report?

How do I write a report?

Where can I get more information about writing a report?


What are the course requirements?

Read more on the introduction page and in the syllabus


What is the academic honesty policy?

Cheating and plagiariasm are becoming a serious problem in online courses that threatens to undermine the validity of courses and grades. Learning does not take place when work is borrowed or stolen from another person. No one wants to be operated on by a doctor who cheated his/her way through medical school. Although less severe, lying about one's accomplishments presents a threat to anyone who relies on the authenticity of the credentials. Although cheating may get a grade for this course or that course, it is a serious offense, and everyone gets caught eventually.

Because it may not be clear what constitutes dishonest academic behavior the University of Hawaii has defined it in the student honor code.

Tot be sure that everyone understands each student in this class must certify that he/she has read, understands, and agrees to the cademic honesty policy of the University of Hawaii.

This is required even if you have already submitted the form for the TV/lecture course as they are two separate and distinct courses.

Return to me the following statement (with your name) to Laulima:

I ___________________ have read, understand, and agree to the conditions stated in the section of the University of Hawaii student conduct code pertaining to cheating and plagiarism.

Copy the above statement into an email with your name in the blank and send it to Laulima

Here is the University of Hawaii policy on dishonesty and plagiarism. The penalties for violiating it can be severe, from getting an F grade to permanent expulsion from the university.

"1. CHEATING includes, but is not limited to, giving or receiving unauthorized assistance during an examination; obtaining or distributing unauthorized information about an examination before it is given; using inappropriate or unallowable sources of information during an examination; falsifying data in experiments and other research; altering the record of any grade; altering answers after an examination has been submitted; falsifying any official University record; or misrepresenting the facts in order to obtain exemptions from course requirements.

2. PLAGIARISM includes, but is not limited to, submitting, in fulfillment of an academic requirement, any document that has been copied in whole or in part from another individual's work without attributing that borrowed portion to the individual; neglecting to identify as a quotation another's idea and particular phrasing that was not assimilated into the student's language and style or paraphrasing a passage so that the reader is misled as to the source; submitting the same written or oral material in more than one course without obtaining authorization from the instructors involved; or dry labbing, which includes obtaining and using experimental data and laboratory write-ups from other sections of the course or from previous terms or fabricating data to fit the desired or expected results."

If there is any part of this that you don't understand, please contact the instructor at Laulima to discuss it.

The entire student conduct code is online at http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/policies/conduct.html.


How do I submit answers to the quizzes?

Answers will be submitted on the Coastal Learning Moodle site (link to be established soon)



What is the earthwatch (EW) report?

The EW report is a log of geologic events during the term. It briefly chronicles geologic events at equal intervals throughout the term. It has ten entries spaced according to the'schedule' that breaks the term into equal increments.

We all need to increase our awareness of the envirionment. The geological environments not only supports us by providing everything we need.

The earthwatch report is designed to do that, by focusing our attention on earth processes.

A geologic 'event' is any geological proceess that is reported anywhere in the world.Virtually everyday there is at least a brief report of a geological event such as a volcano rumbling, beginning to smoke, or erupt. There are landslides, floods, droughts, storms (not strictly 'geological', but are an important part of Earth's environment, and often related to geologic processes such as flooding), earthquakes, tsunami, landslides, etc. .

You get the idea? If not write to the instructor at the geolab address questions

See more information on the introduction page.


What is the Virtual Field Trip (VFT)?

A virtual field trip is an online visit to a museum of other information site online. There are virtual field trips in the lab manual that can be used. There are many other options, some of which are linked on the lessons page. A brief report (around 1000 words) describes the site and the visit.


Where Can I Get More Information About Writing a Report?

Here are some links that will give information about writing reports. They are guidelines and not models to be followed to the letter. University of T Toronto
Oxford Dictionaries
Northumbria University
Honolulu Community College


What materials will I need to buy?

The text for this lab course is the "Lab Kit For Earth Revealed", (ISBN 0757504795) published by Kendall-Hunt (www.kendallhunt.com). It is available at the HCC bookstore and can be ordered online from the bookstore website. (http://www.bookstore.hawaii.edu/hcc/).

You will need to use additional supplies. These can be purchased inexpensively anywhere that sells school supplies:

You will also find the textbook from your geology course useful as a reference for terms, processes, landforms, illustrations, etc.


What if I need help with a topic?

Write to the instructor at Laulima. You may consult with other students on the concepts but NOT on specific questions on the quiz. There are also a growing list of links to online resources on the lessons page.


How do I Submit a Report?

Submit reports in one of the following ways:

1 .Online drop box at Laulima ..

2. Message on Laulima.

The following formats are acceptable. Others will probably not be readable.

Most word processing software can save documents in many different formats through the 'save as' menu.


How Do I Write a Report?

Writing a report not easy! The writer always has a hard time trying to figure out what to write about, how to say it, what to include and what not include. There is no easy way around this. Like much of what we learn, we learn it by doing. (Try following a set of instruction about how to walk . . .).

The formal report should be written in a style that conveys information to the reader about 'the five Ws': who, what, when, where, why.

Every report must include references used, if any. This includes web sites. Refer to the section in the syllabus regarding academic honesty for more information.

The length depends on the report and the type of report. A typical report will be three or four pages, not including illustrations or attachments, etc. Some reports may be longer than this while others may be shorter.

I will not count the pages as a basis for the grade, however the report should be the right length for what you are reporting. It should say just the right amount, not too little, not too much. How do you know? It's your report and you know what you saw and did on the virtual field trip. Tell your story like you were describing a trip to WaterWorld, but remember that you are supposed to learn something on the virtual field trip and it is important to convey that in the report.

The reports will be graded on the basis of 'completeness' and 'frugality' as well as information content.

1. Is the report complete? Does in convey what was done, or what site was visited? A good report will not leave the reader wondering what the writer saw, read, or did that was not reported.

2. Is the report frugal? Too much information is as bad as not enough information. No one wants to read how many times you had to restart your computer on the way to a website., for example. A good report will not include unnecessary material that leaves the reader wondering why it was included.

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Updated 081312