Professor’s
Ocean 101 Welcome Message
Hello everyone and welcome to San Diego Mesa College’s OCEA
101 Oceanography purely online course!
My name is Ray Rector, your oceanography online instructor for
this course.
Congratulations for signing up
for this online introductory oceanography course here at San Diego Mesa College
this Fall 2024 Semester – you picked a great program! This is a
fairly challenging 3-unit, college-level, physical oceanography and marine biology
course that runs over a 16-week period.
This course is purely online and asynchronous, with no mandatory set
meeting days or times.
This
course covers most physical and biological aspects of the ocean and is
especially suited for students who want to complete their physical science GE
with an emphasis on the ocean,
and is required if you want to take the oceanography lab. Additionally, this course is
for anyone who wants to learn all the important aspects of our truly amazing
ocean. You will learn many things about the ocean: its origin and chemical make-up,
plate tectonic theory, seafloors and marine sediments, currents and waves, wind
and storms, beaches, sea life, and how the ocean is literally the life blood of
the planet. Finally, this course
is also about ocean awareness, and how our ocean is under siege by pollutants,
overfishing, habitat destruction and undesirable climate change.
Here’s
how this fully asynchronous online course works:
1) Course Online Access: You access this course
through Canvas at the following URL:
https://sdccd.instructure.com/login/canvas
2) Professor’s Role: The
instructor (that’s me!) is the course content presenter and facilitator,
discussion leader, and learning outcome assessor. I am here to make sure that you can
access all the course content, that you understand how to successfully complete
all the course activities, help you with any learning issues you might
experience, and finally, grade your assignments and tests. You and
I primarily communicate via discussion board, Zoom, and email me using the
“Inbox” link found on the main Dashboard Canvas page. You can
also reach me at my personal website email address at oceanprof@seascisurf.com
3) Course Learning Assessments: The student
(that is you!) uses this online classroom platform (Canvas) to learn introductory
oceanography and successfully (hopefully) get college credit for doing
it. To successfully complete this course, you must successfully complete
a couple of writing assignments, post on discussion board forums, take several
quizzes and exams, and go on a virtual fieldtrip.
4) Course Study Materials: The
information (course content) you need to learn in this course comes from four
primary sources: a) your textbook, b) instructor lectures and PowerPoint
slides, c) Endless Voyage oceanography video documentary series, and d) a
series of short YouTube ocean topic tutorial videos.
5) Ocean 101 Canvas Course Layout: Navigating through
our Canvas course site is somewhat simple. When you log into our Canvas
course, you’ll notice that there is a menu on the left side of the course
page, where all components of the course are listed. This menu has
several linked categories that include the following: “Home”;
"Announcements”; "Assignments"; “Discussion";
"Quizzes; and “Grades”.
Here are some details for each Canvas
menu item:
a) The
“Home” link is where you will find all the various course
components listed/expanded to view.
The “Home” page also has important logistical documents and information,
such as my instructor welcome message and video links, and the course syllabus
and schedule. Other useful items
are also there and include assignment and test-taking tips, plagiarism info, a
link to my personal educational website, and Canvas help links.
b) The
“Announcement” is where you find my weekly update message
concerning current course activities and due dates.
c) Means of communication between course participants
is done from the "Discussion" link. Note that "Email" messaging is
done outside the course page, but within the general Canvas Dashboard site
under the “Inbox” Icon.
d) Assessment components (graded class activities) of
this course are found under the "Assignments",
“Discussion”, and “Quizzes” sections.
e) The majority of the course oceanography science
curriculum is also found at my personal student website at www.seascisurf.com,
and includes textbook support, professor’s lecture materials (lecture
notes and PowerPoints), Oceanography streaming learning videos, and Internet
geosciences education links.
f) Required research/writing assignments are found in
the “Assignments” and “Discussion Board”
links. You access writing assignment instructions and submit your
assignment response from the “Assignments” or
“Discussion” portal, depending on the assignment.
g) Quizzes and Exams are taken via the
“Quizzes” link. You get three untimed attempts on
taking quizzes. You get one timed
attempt taking an exam.
h) You have access to your grades in the course
through the “Grades” link.
i)
The “Discussion” link includes several different forums,
including two graded forums. This
where students can hold public or private discussions concerning course work
– primarily students helping students – and for raising any sorts
of questions, comments and concerns about this course or anything in
general.
6) Weekly Work Schedule: Your typical work agenda
for each week will include the following: a) read several chapters in your
e-textbook; b) view/study the professor's Power Point presentations and lecture
notes; c) watch/study several ocean tutorial videos, d) watch the
“Endless Voyage” streaming video series; e) post on discussion
board; f) work on a writing assignment; and g) take a couple of learning
self-assessment quizzes.
7) Grading: I personally grade your
written assignments and forum posts, whereas the homework quizzes and exams are
automatically graded. Therefore, you get homework and test results back
rather fast, whereas your submitted written assignments will take longer for me
to grade and get back to you. Please give me a little patience with
getting back your graded written assignments.
Important
Resources and Must-Read Documents
1) Syllabus and
Schedule: The course Syllabus - an
Important Must-Read Document
- is basically the official course contract
between me (the instructor) and you (the student). This is where all the
course information and logistics are found. Things like textbook information, enrollment,
attendance, and grading policies,
are all found in
the
syllabus.
The syllabus also includes
the course Schedule which is important for keeping your studies on a timely track – things like
homework, assignment, and tests due
dates are all there.
2) Canvas Navigation: Download this document for help with using Canvas
and Zooming: Resources_for_Navigating_Canvas_and_Zoom.pdf
3) Professor’s Ocean Website: You will also be using an additional educational
website that is designed and maintained by the instructor (my personal website)
exclusively created for maximizing your learning outcomes. This website is found at:
www.seascisurf.com Once there, click on the 
button to
access our classroom web page.
Here you will find a plethora of helpful information,
including course syllabus, schedule, lecture
notes, PowerPoints, test and fieldtrip information, and
numerous resource
links.
4) Course Textbook: This course requires an oceanography textbook
that is ABSOLUTELY FREE - an
eText titled MiraCosta Oceanography 101
- Author: MiraCosta College Earth Science Faculty
Digital Copy
URL:
https://www.oercommons.org/courses/oceanography-101-miracosta/view
Textbook Option #2: You can substitute
and/or supplement the MiraCosta e-textbook with another oceanography
e-textbook for this course that is also ABSOLUTELY FREE – is titled “Introduction to Ocean Sciences”
- 4th
Edition and Authored by Segar
A free digital copy of this text is found here:
https://www.reefimages.com/oceans/SegarOcean4Book.pdf
Textbook Option
#3: Yet another optional/supplemental
textbook (highly recommended) that requires
payment is below:
This
text is titled “Essentials
of Oceanography”, 13th Edition;
Authored by Trujillo & Thurman and Publisher: Prentice Hall
13th Edition:
Print ISBN: 9780321814050, 0321814053
eText ISBN: 9780133558890, 0133558894
The
e-text version of the Essentials of Oceanography is fairly inexpensive and
handy with electronic devices.
Directions for access to Pearson e-text for Essentials of Oceanography, 13 edition are found below.
This eTextbook is simple to use on computers or iOS and Android mobile devices
(even offline). You can take notes and highlights within the e-text; they are
added to your virtual notebook, where you can organize them for the way you
study.
1) Go to: https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/essentials-of-oceanography/P200000006984?view=educator
2) Pick your format option
3)
Purchase instant access online or redeem your access code (temporary access is
also available).
Note
here that you are given options on your choice of course textbook so that you
find one that is best suited to your reading and study style. Please make the most of
these very
valuable learning
resources.
7) Contacting me:
Don't be shy when it comes to communicating with
me
or your fellow students.
Contact me by either email,
or on the discussion
board. As a general rule, I can be quickly contacted by email through
the Canvas “Inbox” link, or via my personal
email at oceanprof@seascisurf.com
(I
check for messages
at least once a day,
typically several times).
I
really believe that you will enjoy this course this semester,
and that you will learn a lot about
our ocean. And it is my hope that
you
make the most of it! Look
forward
to meeting everyone online during our first week of class.
Also,
if you have not done so yet, please check out my personal video class welcome
on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgeToPGDIWw&feature=youtu.be
Aloha!
Ray Rector