Course Description- An introduction to basic concepts concerning the relationships among the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment, and the impact upon them due to the activities of our own populations. The interaction between humans and the environment will be explored from organismal, ecosystem, and global perspectives.
Role and Innovation- I have served as the coordinator for this course for two semesters and under this role I have been organizing a redesign of the course structure and assignments with the assistance of the department chair and other course faculty. We have rewritten our course objectives, and drafted a new schedule, The goal of the redesign is to remove the rigid standardized format of the course and allow each individual faculty the flexibility to showcase their expertise. We have initiated an instructor specific course project, which will play to each faculty’s strength.
I have personally developed 32 online assignments for distribution to the faculty. The creation of these assignments has allowed for us to discontinue use of publisher software, which was a required purchase for our students. Removal of the software purchase requirement saves our students upwards of $60 per student. The created assignments and selected readings have been chosen to reflect current topics, with special focus on Floridian examples.
I have also been selected to participate in an Open Educational Resources pilot grant for this course. Additional information on this grant can be found here.
Dr. Sarah Krejci & the Aquatic Research Lab 