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Geography 101
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At the conclusion of the course you will have a basic understanding of:
- the underlying processes that create patterns of weather and climate.
- the physical processes that create and modify various landforms.
- the hydrological cycle and its impact on weather and climate, plant and animal distributions, rivers, and landforms.
- the location and characteristics of biomes, and interpret the distribution, origin, form, population, habitat, and human significance of natural organisms.
- the basic tools used by geographers to study the physical environment.
This section of Geography 101 The Physical Environment is conducted in an online format. Though it presents great opportunities for learning at a distance and in a time-flexible format, it requires each student to take more responsibility for their own learning. It's absolutely imperative to keep abreast of the course schedule and regularly check your email for updates and important messages.
Feel free to ask questions via email or by phone (715-346-4449). Check the course calendar, your email and the announcements page for any course changes.
The class grade is based on your performance on exams, extra credit exam pretests, and completion of on-line activities and assigned labs. Multiple-choice computer graded exams are used in Geography 101. I write questions that evaluate not only your knowledge of factual material, but test your analytical abilities as well. I like questions that might pose a problem to solve, and hopefully you arrive with the correct answer. This means that straight memorization will not suffice. You must know the factual material and be able to apply it. One thing about the physical environment is that it cannot be broken down into a set of isolated facts to be memorized. The Earth's physical environment acts as a system, that is, a set of interacting components. For instance, the geographic distribution of soils is directly related to the distribution of world climate and vegetation. But the type of vegetation that occupies a place depends on climate and soil. In order to be successful in geography one must be able to see and comprehend these kinds of relationships. This is what makes physical geography both interesting and granted, sometimes difficult to understand. Having said that, there are a lot of "facts" to be learned.
All testing is done online through DesireToLearn (D2L link above).
There will be four unit exams that cover both lecture and lab material. Each exam is comprised of 75 questions. All exams are timed and no late submissions are accepted. The lecture portion of the exam (50 questions) covers the conceptual material presented during each unit. The lab portion (25 questions) evaluates your ability to solve specific problems related to the material presented during lecture and laboratory sessions. These questions often require calculations, the use of maps, diagrams, and interpretation of graphs. Your ability to satisfactorily answer the questions depends on your capability to use these tools.
You will complete two lab assignments most weeks. The course outline has links to web pages describing the assignment and helpful hints on how to complete it. Write your answers in the printed lab manual then transfer to the online submission forms. Retain all maps and graphs created for the assignments. All assignments, unless otherwise noted, are due before the unit pretest that covers them. No late submissions are accepted. See the course calendar for dates.
Lab assignments are graded on the basis of completion not correctness, no partial credit is given. In order to get full credit for a lab assignment all assigned questions must be completed. In the grade book I assign a 5 for a completed exercise and 0 for an incomplete assignment. Carefully look over your assignment before submitting it as a 0 will be awarded even if one question is left blank. An answer key will be provided to check your answers after submission. Recall that I assess your assignment based on completion, not the correctness of the answers provided. It is your responsibility to see that the answers have been correctly answered by reviewing the answer key. The sooner you turn the exercises in the longer you'll have to study the correct answers and ask questions about those you got wrong while preparing for your unit exam.
Course grades are based on the percentage of total points accumulated. The grade scale is:
94 -100 = A
90 - 93 = A-
87 - 89 = B+
80 - 83 = B-
77 - 79 = C+
74 - 76 = C
70 - 73 = C-
67 - 69 = D+
60 - 66 = D
< 60 = F
There are four extra credit pretests completed online and available for only a short period of time, usually only 12 hours or less. The pretest is a timed test. You will have 10 minutes to finish once you start the quiz. There is no way to make up one of these pretests unless you have a verifiable medical, legal, or school-related excuse. I do not provide individual students with extra credit, regardless of your personal circumstances.
Given that this is an online course an attendance policy is not required. Instead, it is expected that all assignments be turned in and exams taken at their scheduled times
Make-up exams or assignments are given once a verifiable medical, legal, or school-related excuse has been provided. There are no exceptions. If you know you cannot take the exam on the date scheduled notify me by email (mritter@uwsp.edu), or call the Geography/Geology Department (715-346-2629) prior to an exam.
Please make note of the following pdf document that explains your responsibility and rights within the UWSP campus community, including required behavior by students and faculty within the classroom environment.
View Students Rights and Responsibilities document
Geography 101 Lab Manual - Purchase at the Geography/Geology Department office SCI D332
Several #2 lead pencils
Package of colored pencils
Ruler
Calculator