Biology 40/140 Fall '99 Instructor Joanne Tippett
General Notes on the Course - October 18, 1999
I amalgamated the lecture on Biodiversity into the lectures on Biomes and Agriculture, so that we could watch the video about The Natural Step and the University of Texas building,. You should still have read all of the chapters assigned in the syllabus. Remember that there are many resources on the web site at www.holocene.net/sustainability/dominican.htm These will be of use to you for your essays and assignments. Office Albertus Minor (last office on the right) Office hours Monday 11:45 - 12:15, Wednesday 3:45 - 4:15. I can be contacted via my pigeon hole in the mail services room, or by email at email@holocene.net
.Future Research by Joanne Tippett
I am currently writing a proposal for conducting further research into the SuNstainable DesignWays process, with the aim of developing a tool which can be used in regional sustainable planning. I would like to ask if I may use some of your work (in particular the journals) as part of this research. I would be using the words and ideas you wrote in textual analysis - where I search for patterns in what people have written about, in order to develop a theory of how people think about, and respond to, sustainable planning.
This does not have any effect on your grade in any way, either if you decide you do not mind your words to be analyzed or if you do. If I do use your work in this research, I will change all of the names, so that no one could tell who the work came from (this is standard procedure). I would use only general demographic information - such as age, major and birthplace, to make the information gathered more useful. If your work was used in the research, it is possible that small sections of it may be quoted in a paper, (as you may quote an author to back up an argument in a paper), which may be published at a later date.
I will be passing around a sheet of paper, which you can fill in and sign if you do not mind if your work is used in this way.
Group Project:
In the lab practicals, we have been using a design process called SuNstainable DesignWays, a process which I developed, both from my research into pattern understanding and design and from the work I carried out in Southern Africa. There are manifold purposes of this project.
The primary purpose is to provide you with a practical lab experience where you are able to apply what you are learning in lecture to a real planning exercise, while learning skills which will be useful to you in future work and study. The group project is the culmination of this lab work, and will be presented in the time that was set aside for a final exam (the long essay question takes the place of a final exam). This is on Dec. 13. 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM. The group project consists of 200 out of a total 720 points for the entire course. (60 points individual assignment, 100 points content of final group presentation, 40 points observation of individual contribution and involvement to lab sessions). Each group also has an opportunity to suggest that individual scores within a group be redistributed by up to 10% up or down, in order to reflect different amounts of contribution to the group project. This is up to the groups to negotiate, and if the group feels that such an adjustment is necessary, it is to be handed in writing with the final project, to be taken into account in assessment. (Note: I do not expect this to be necessary, but feel that it is a useful tool to place at the disposal of the group in case a discrepancy in terms of attendance and effort should arise)
This practical work also represents the preliminary stage in what we hope will be a process of broad engagement of the student body in the design and development of a sustainability center. However, it is not certain that a sustainability center is to be built, or if it is to be built at Dominican College. Therefore, this work also serves a possible function of creating a vision of what a center could be like, which may help to stimulate interest and support.
I have chosen the site above Deer Park Road for investigation, as it seems like a reasonable contender for a good site and represents a large, undeveloped plot of land, which for many reasons should be developed very sensitively, if at all. It may well be that the planning process which we carry out suggests that this is not a suitable site for such a development, but will still provide may useful ideas for a sustainability center.
Some of the weekly assignments will be helpful in the overall planning process. When this is the case, I suggest that group member keep these assignments together as part of the pack that they are using for the planning process (the assignments will not be reassessed as part of the group grade, but will prove useful to the group in the design). When this is the case, I have placed grades on post it notes, which should be removed before adding the papers to the group packet.
Journals:
Journals should continue to be written for the remainder of the lab sessions (including the field trip). Journals are due on Dec. 13, at the same time as the group project is due. In the journal, I am particularly looking for a reflection on the process of learning, how you are finding the practical work, what you observe about how the tools work, how the group interacts and how this is affected by the tools that we are using, how the concepts that you are learning in lectures and from the reading relate to the practical work, etc.
Essays:
The essays take the place of the final exam. They are due wed. Dec. 8th. The sooner you begin working on them, the less you will have to cram in at the end. There are more resources available on the web site. If you have an idea for a particular paper you would like to write which is not on the list of choices, come to my office hours to discuss it with me.