OLD Syllabus

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Course Overview

GEOG 030 (GS): Geographic Perspectives on Sustainability and Human-Environment Systems (3 credits). Prerequisites: None

This course introduces the study of sustainability and human-environment interactions from a geographic perspective. We examine both the influence of humanity on the environment and the influence of the environment on humanity, with attention to the sustainability of current human activities. We take a complex systems perspective on major environmental and societal challenges and examine linked human-environmental issues in a variety of contexts. We emphasize the major individual and societal decisions which impact the environment and the ethical views implicit in the decisions. We explore key concepts such as cartography, systems analysis, and individual and collective action, as well as various topical issues related to climate change, agriculture, biodiversity, and development. Course discussions and activities highlight both major themes in human-environment geography and the experience of what it is like to perform human-environment geography.

There are 10 modules that will be completed at a rate of approximately 1 week per module. GEOG 030 will be conducted entirely on the World Wide Web. There will be no set class meeting times, but students will be required to complete weekly assignments. Each module contains interactive exercises, links, animations, movies, and novel explanations of the basic principles related to sustainability and human-environment systems. Each unit will conclude with an open book, on-line assessment. Students will also complete a capstone project, where they will work to produce a professional-quality analysis of a sustainability topic.

GEOG 030 can be applied toward Penn State's General Education   "Social and Behavioral Sciences" (GS) requirement.

 

Typical module weeks schedule

 

 

Each module runs from a Thursday to the following Wednesday at midnight (11:59PM Eastern Time to be precise). You have this 7 day period to access each module and complete the readings, learning activities, quizzes, and self-checks. Anything not completed by Wednesday at midnight will be considered late. Modules will be graded with feedback in a timely manner, generally during the week following their submission. Due dates for the assignments must be strictly followed. An exception will only be made in case of an official, written documentation of a family or personal medical emergency. Do the work ahead of time and you should easily avoid this issue.

Please note that the final project will be due Wednesday, April 20, at 11:59 pm EST, and the final exam must be taken by Wednesday, May 4, at 11:59 pm EST. Late projects will  NOT be accepted and missed exams may NOT be made up.

* Note: As well as other components of this course, the exams, quizzes, and final project will be conducted entirely online. You do not have to be in University Park campus at any point of the course period or afterwards for course completion.

 

What I expect of you?

I expect that you will treat this course in the same manner you would a credit-bearing face-to-face section of an introductory level course. You should expect to spend the same amount of time on this course that you would spend in and out of class in your other courses. On average, that may be about eight hours per week. However, you will find your workload depends on your familiarity with the technology needed to take an on-line course and any past experience you have with the subject matter.

In my experience, the students who reach their goals in online courses are those that are able to motivate themselves to keep up with the coursework and those that take the opportunity to communicate with the instructor and their peers. I encourage you to ask as many questions as you would in a face-to-face class. If you are struggling with any aspect of the course, I can only help you if you ask for help.

Specific learning objectives for each module and assignment are detailed within each module.
 

What can you expect from me?

We are using an on-line learning environment for this course and, as such, my "office" is also on-line. Please feel free to contact me directly with questions, and I will try to respond to you generally within 24 hours and always within 48 hours. If I am going to be out of touch for a while, I will let you know ahead of time. Any general questions should first be posted to the "Questions" discussion board on ANGEL.

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Course Objectives and Outcomes

Course Objectives: The aims of this course are to

• Investigate the ways that humans in various geographic contexts think about, affect, and are affected by the natural environment
• Assess the interconnectedness of complex human-environment systems, including relationships at multiple spatial and temporal scales
• Evaluate the sustainability of current social and environmental practices and explore alternatives

Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this course, students will be equipped to

• Critically analyze and develop informed positions on major societal and environmental challenges associated with sustainability
• Enact principles of sustainability in everyday life, both as individuals and as members of society
• Investigate the ways that humans in various geographic contexts think about, affect, and are affected by the natural environment

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Required Course Materials

All instructional materials needed for this course are presented on-line—no textbook is required.

In order to access the online course materials, you need to have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password. If you have any questions about obtaining or activating your Penn State Access Account, please contact the World Campus.

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Assignments and Grading

GEOG 030 will rely upon a variety of methods to assess and evaluate student learning, including:

• Learning Activities: graded activities that are spread throughout the course.
• Automated Online Quizzes allow you to practice your mastery of the concepts in the modules.
• A Final Project that will be used to evaluate your knowledge and skills through the
  production of a professional-quality report on a sustainability topic.
• A Final Exam that will evaluate your ability to synthesize and apply concepts from throughout the course.

You will earn a grade that reflects the extent to which you achieve the course learning objectives listed above. Grades are assigned by the percentage of possible points earned in each module's activities. Below is a breakdown of each assignment's value as a percentage of the total course grade.

You will earn a grade that reflects the extent to which you achieve the course learning objectives listed above. Grades are assigned by the percentage of possible points earned in each module's activities. Below is a breakdown of each assignment's value as a percentage of the total course grade.

Assignments and Grading

Assessment	Points	Total Points	% of Course Grade
Quizzes (3)	50 points each	150	15%
Learning Activities (10)	50 points each	500	50%
Final Project (1)	Project Proposal - 20 points Sources Collection - 30 points Final Report - 100 points	150	15%
Final Exam (1)	200 points	200	20%
Total Possible		1000	100%

 

Make-Up Exams and Late Assignments

Make-up exams will not be offered except in the case of University-excused absences. Late assignments (including project components) will be penalized at 10% per day. Assignments more than ten days late automatically receive zero points. All assignments have precise (to the minute) deadlines that are understood in terms of Eastern Standard Time (EST), and will be under Eastern Daylight Time(E.D.T.) as applied in Penn State's resident campuses in Pennsylvania. Anything past the deadline is automatically late, even if it is just one minute late. Every 24 hours (to the minute, business days only) after the deadline, another day of late penalty is incurred.

Grades

I will use the ANGEL gradebook to keep track of your grades. The minimum scores for course grades are as follows.

Letter Grades and Points

Letter	Minimum Points Needed to Earn this Grade
A	93.3% (933 points)
A-	90% (900 points)
B+	86.7% (867 points)
B	83.3% (833 points)
B-	80.0% (800 points)
C+	76.7% (767 points)
C	70.0% (700 points)
D	60.0% (600 points)
F	0.0% (0 points) Unsatisfactory (student did not participate)

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Course Schedule

Below you will find a summary of the learning activities for this course and the associated time frames. This course is 16 weeks in length.

Course Schedule
 

Start Date	Module	Tasks Due	Due Date (11:59 pm)
Unit 1, Modules 1-4: Key Concepts
1/11 (MON)	Course Orientation	1) Course Information Quiz - ANGEL 2) Initial Course Survey - ANGEL (Pass or fail basis)	1/13 (WED)
1/14 (Thu)	Module 1: Geographic Perspectives	Learning Activity: Getting to Know You (50 pts) - blog	1/20 (WED)
1/21 (THU)	Module 2: Coupled Human-Environment Systems	Learning Activity: Drawing Systems Diagrams (50 pts) - blog	1/27 (WED)
1/28 (THU)	Module 3: Ethics	Learning Activity: Your Ethics Views (50 pts) - blog	2/3 (WED)
2/4 (THU)	Module 4: Individual & Collective Action	Learning Activity:  Water Usage and Tracking (50 pts) - blog	2/10 (WED)
2/11 (THU)	Unit 1 Quiz Project Proposal Work Week	1) Unit 1 Quiz (50 pts) - ANGEL 2) Project Proposal (20 pts) - ANGEL dropbox	2/17 (WED)
Unit 2, Modules 5-7: Sustainable Development
2/18 (THU)	Module 5: Development	Learning Activity: Development Case Studies (50 pts) - blog	2/24 (WED)
2/25 (THU)	Module 6: Food & Agriculture	Learning Activity: Food Choice Social Norms (50 pts) - blog	3/2 (WED)
3/6 -3/12	Spring Break!	No activties due
3/9 (THU)	Module 7: Urban Planning	Learning Activity: Sustainable Cities (50 pts) - blog	3/16 (WED)
Unit 3, Modules 8-10: Global Environmental Change AND OUR RESILIENCE
3/17 (THU)	Unit 2 Quiz * What constitutes an acceptable source and how to use in-text citations	1) Unit 2 Quiz (50 pts) - ANGEL 2) Project Sources Collection (30 pts) - ANGEL dropbox	3/25 (FRI)
3/24 (THU)	Module 8: Natural Hazards	Learning Activity: Vulnerability Profiling an Reduction (50 pts) - blog	3/30 (WED)
3/31 (THU)	Module 9: Climate Change	Learning Activity: Climate Diplomacy (50 pts) - blog	4/6 (WED)
4/7 (THU)	Module 10: Biodiversity	Learning Activity: Human Impacts on Biodiversity (50 pts) - blog	4/15 (FRI)
4/14 (THU)	Final Project work week!	Final Project Paper (100 pts)  - ANGEL dropbox	4/22 (FRI)
4/25 (MON)	Unit 3 Quiz (+ don't forget about the extra credit!)	Unit 2 Quiz - ANGEL	Quiz closes: 4/29 (FRI) Extra credit due 4/30 (SAT)
5/2 (MON)	Final Exam available	Final Exam (Missed exams may not be made up!) - ANGEL	Exam closes: 5/4 (WED)

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Tips for Success in GEOG 030

• Pay extra attention to course annoucements
  Read all the email announcements and read the whole thing when you do. Unlike offline courses where instructors have more diverse means to get your attention, online courses typically have emails as the only channel through which you can get news and reminders. Not paying full attention to the emails may result in your missing deadlines and opportunities, which will be detrimental to your grade.
• Participate
  In order to make the most out of this opportunity, you will need to be actively involved in this course. Your discussions with me and with your peers will be as important to your learning as your study of the material presented in the modules and activities. Discussions offer you the opportunity to organize your thoughts about the content under discussion, to present a logical argument about the topic, and to give and receive feedback.

• Do the work on time
  I see my role in this course as lead facilitator; that is, it is my job to help you achieve your educational objectives. I set deadlines to keep everyone on track to reach those goals. I think that if you do your best to adhere to those deadlines, for example, setting up a routine schedule when you work on the course, you will succeed. I strongly suggest setting a personal deadline that is earlier than the class deadline, this will help you avoid most issues that tend to cause delays. I do not see deadlines as absolute, though, and am willing to allow students flexibility to submit work late if it is necessary and if I am informed of the reason. If you miss work and you do not inform me until long after the fact, I am unlikely to be lenient, but if I know you will be turning work in late and the reason, I am likely to be lenient. Of course, I also realize emergencies arise that do not present the opportunity to inform me ahead of time, and will make allowances for those situations as needed.

• Keep your integrity
  I will assume that everyone in the class is an adult and will behave with integrity. As a student at Penn State, this goes beyond simply avoiding "what you assume" as lying and cheating, but accepting and adhering to what Penn State regards as academic integrity and violation of the value. You will have to actively study to be a person of integrity and remain as one. Penn State defines academic integrity as "the pursuit of scholarly projects in an open, honest and responsible manner." Academic integrity includes "a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation, or deception." In particular, the University defines plagiarism as "the fabrication of information and citations; submitting others' work from professional journals, books, articles, and papers; submission of other students' papers, lab results or project reports and representing the work as one's own." I have zero tolerance for plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and will be checking for it. Penalties for violations of academic integrity may include course failure and I have observed students failing the course as a consequence. If you are unclear about these policies please review the material at http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies.
• Struggling? Get help!
  There can totally be a case where you are paying full attention to the announcements and working hard for this course, but still somehow struggling. If this is you, please ask for help! The instructor and the TAs can be a source of help. Let us know of your concerns(e.g.ways to improve your upcoming assignment) and the situations you want us to be taken into consideration when instructing and grading. Also, in case you didn't know, you can go to Penn State to get institutional yet individualized help! if you are, for example, not too confident about doing well in a lot of writings needed for this course, please go to Penn State Learning website for more resources(https://pennstatelearning.psu.edu/tutoring/writing). They give you a range of tutoring options from online tutoring to in-person meetings by appointment.
   

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Course Policies

• Penn State email Accounts
  All official communications from the Penn State World Campus are sent to students' Penn State email accounts. Be sure to check your Penn State account regularly, or forward your Penn State email   to your preferred email account, so you don't miss any important information.
• Deferred Grades
  If you are prevented from completing this course within the prescribed amount of time, it is possible to have the grade deferred with my concurrence. To seek a deferred grade, you must submit a written request (by email or US post) to me describing the reason(s) for the request. I will determine whether or not you will be permitted to receive a deferred grade. If, for any reason, the course work for the deferred grade is not complete by the assigned time, a grade of "F" will be automatically entered on your transcript.
• Academic Integrity (edited on 11/17/2015)
  This course follows the guidelines for academic integrity of Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences  . Penn State defines academic integrity as "the pursuit of scholarly project in an open, honest and responsible manner." Academic integrity includes "a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation, or deception." In particular, the University defines plagiarism as "the fabrication of information and citations; submitting other's work from professional journals, books, articles, and papers; submission of other student's papers, lab results or project reports and representing the work as one's own." It also should be noted that unauthorized collaboration(submitting a quiz together) is also a breach of academic integrity. Penalties for violations of academic integrity may include course failure. To learn more, see Penn State's "Plagiarism Tutorial for Students."
  
  Advice:
  1. Your violation being "honest mistake" may help reduce severity of your sanction, but it does NOT make your violation non-violation. If you are really an honest person and made one mistake, you will naturally want to study to make sure you don't do it again. Penn State does have buffer measures for its members (e.g.your one time breach will amount to nothing in terms of your career until you make two more breaches) but it does NOT have enough measures for those people who simply do not care if they repeat similar kind of mistakes or not.
  2. Remaining a student of academic integrity needs active work. You need to study what academic integrity means to avoid violation of it. Individuals do NOT define what academic integrity is and what actions violate it. It is Penn State who defines it for its members. This is because individual opinions vary and we cannot accommodate all. But as you understand the process of making Penn State policy, you will probably understand how the policies we have came to exist and what purposes they serve.
  3. If in doubt, please consult official materials and relevant person(s) before taking any action.
  4. You may collaborate before actual taking of quizzes(working toward making an efficient summary of course materials), but you may not communicate anything related to quiz content in any form during the quiz with your coursemates or any person, once the quiz questions are revealed to you.
  5. Do not procure actual quiz questions from former takers of quizzes. Yes, it is violation of academic integrity.
  6. Nobody can stand in for you. Do not let any other person to take any part of your quiz for you or lend knowledge of questions. This applies to you being the source of information.
   
• Citation and Reference Style
  In this course, you will be expected to follow a specific formatting guideline for your references. You should use the Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition) for all citations done in all assignments in this class. You can see specific examples of how to cite different types of references (books, journal articles, website, etc.) by visiting the Chicago Manual of Style online reference guide created by Purdue University's Online Writing Lab. Please make sure that you have selected 'Author/Date' not 'Notes and Bibliography' when reviewing the formatting guidelines. To make this proces as easy as possible, you may use a free citation manager, such as Zotero, to collect, organize, and format your references.
  
  You can also visit the Academic Integrity and Citation Style Guide to learn more about how and when to cite. 
• Accommodating Disabilities
  Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. Every Penn State campus has an office for students with disabilities. The Office for Disability Services (ODS) Web site provides contact information for every Penn State campus: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/dcl. For further information, please visit the Office for Disability Services Web site:http://equity.psu.edu/ods.
  
  In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation:http://equity.psu.edu/ods/guidelines. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus’s disability services office will provide you with an accommodation letter.

• Netiquette
  The term "Netiquette" refers to the etiquette guidelines for electronic communications, such as email and bulletin board postings. Netiquette covers not only rules to maintain civility in discussions, but also special guidelines unique to the electronic nature of forum messages. Please review Virginia Shea's "The Core Rules of Netiquette  " for general guidelines that should be followed when communicating in this course.
• Military Personnel
  Veterans and currently serving military personnel and/or spouses with unique circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill/duty requirements, disabilities, VA appointments, etc.) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor in the case that special arrangements need to be made.
• Inclement Weather
  In case of weather-related delays at the University, this online course will proceed as planned. Your instructor will inform you if there are any extenuating circumstances regarding content or activity due dates in the course due to weather delays. If you are affected by a weather-related emergency, please contact your instructor at the earliest possible time to make special arrangements.
• Connect Online with Caution
  Penn State is committed to educational access for all. Our students come from all walks of life and have diverse life experiences. As with any other online community, the lack of physical interaction in an online classroom can create a false sense of anonymity and security. While one can make new friends online, digital relationships can also be misleading. Good judgment and decision making are critical when choosing to disclose personal information with others whom you do not know.

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Technical Requirements

For this course, we recommend the minimum technical requirements outlined on the Dutton Institute Technical Requirements page, including the requirements listed for same-time, synchronous communications. If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the Outreach Helpdesk  .

NOTE: Access to a reliable Internet connection is required for this course. A problem with your Internet access may not be used as an excuse for late, missing, or incomplete coursework. If you experience problems with your Internet connection while working on this course, it is your responsibility to find an alternative Internet access point, such as a public library or wifi hotspot.

Disclaimer: Please note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus can be changed at any time, and you will be responsible for abiding by any such changes. I will inform all students if changes are made. Changes will be announced via email or posted to the course discussion forum.