Classes

·       Timetable:  Please check www.timetables@mq.edu.au for the official timetable of the unit.

·       Lectures:  Monday 10.05–10.55am W6D Lotus Theatre; Wednesday 9.05–9.55am W6D Lotus Theatre; Friday 11.05–11.55pm W6D Lotus Theatre.

·       The lecture notes for the first lecture in week 1 will be provided.  ALL SUBSEQUENT LECTURE MATERIAL WILL BE EXPECTED TO BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE WEB SITE at ilearn.mq.edu.au.  Lecture recordings and video capture links (under echo) are also found at the unit website.  Lectures will be used to emphasise key points and concepts with relevant examples.  Studying the material to be covered BEFORE coming to a lecture will strongly help you get the most out of the lectures. 

·       Tutorials:  These are compulsory, with one class every week, commencing from week 2.  During tutorial time the problems assigned (see tutorial list at the end of this document) will be discussed.  These problems closely resemble the types of problems in exams and are designed to help you gauge how much command you have on the materials covered.  You MUST work on these problems on your own before the tutorial so as to fully take advantage of this exercise and should bring in the textbooks, lecture notes and accompanying resources such as the model kit to assist the session. 

·       Laboratory classes:  The laboratory classes for CBMS103 run from weeks 2-13 in E7B308 and E7B320.  These are compulsory.  You will be allocated ONE laboratory class every 2nd week.  This will be based on the details provided during your enrolment.  Laboratory classes will begin in week 2 for students allocated Group A laboratory classes and week 3 for students allocated Group B laboratory classes.  Please refer to the laboratory manual for further details.

·       Your allocated laboratory day and group (A or B) and tutorial time will be available on the unit web page.  During week 1 you can email A/Prof Joanne Jamie (joanne.jamie@mq.edu.au) if your allocation is in conflict with other academic timetables or commitments that are beyond your control.  In your email you must include the following information: your name; student number; phone number; email address; the reason why the assigned laboratory and/or tutorial day/time is not appropriate for you; and possible alternative allocation(s).  A/Prof Jamie will reallocate you as appropriate.

Required and Recommended texts and/or materials

Prescribed Texts and Materials:

J. McMurry, "Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry" (7^th Edition)

S. McMurry, “Study Guide and Solutions Manual” (7^th Edition)

D. P. Weeks, “Pushing Electrons”, 3^rd Edition

Molecular Modelling Kit

(The above are a bundled package at the Co-op bookshop.  Upon request they may also be sold separately).  The text is also available as an e-book - please enquire with the bookshop.

 CBMS103 Laboratory Manual (available from Co-op bookshop and downloadable from the unit web site)

CBMS103 lecture notes can be obtained from the unit web site.  Notes for the first lecture will be provided in the first lecture.

Unit web page

The web page for this unit can be found at ilearn.mq.edu.au.  Just login and follow the prompts to CBMS103.  You can use any web browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari to login.

You will be asked for a username and password. Your User Name is your Macquarie Student ID Number, which is an 8-digit number found on your Campus Card.  The password is your myMQ Student Portal password.  This will be the original MQID password (2 random characters followed by your date of birth in ddmmyy format) that was sent to you on enrolment, unless you have already changed your password in the myMQ Student Portal.  If you have any problems with iLearn log a ticket with OneHelp at onehelp.mq.edu.au.  More information about OneHelp can be found at http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.

You are expected to access the unit web site frequently  This contains important information including notes on ALL the topics to be covered; What You Need to Know Sheets; your marks for practicals, quizzes and mid-session exam; and past exam papers, including with answers.  Additionally, the web site will also be used to post important messages and links to internet facilities and sites of relevance to the course, downloadable software, and lots of other interesting material.

Technology Used

You are expected to access the unit web site on a frequent basis and download pdf files.  If you do not have your own computer you may wish to access the CBMS103 web resources on campus using the PC computers in the Library or in the C5C computer laboratories.

·            To view notes on all the topics and past exams on the unit web site, you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 9 or later to be installed on your computer.  Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe web site http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/. If you are using the computers in the library, then Acrobat has already been installed.

·            Please note information will also be sent by email to your student email account so please look at your email account on a frequent basis.

You will also be required to use an Online Web Learning (OWL) System for assessment tasks and practice problems.  This requires software that is freely downloaded, but is also available for you to use on the library PCs and those in the C5C computer laboratories.  Further details on this will be provided on the first day of the first on-campus session.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

CBMS103 is a 3 credit point half year unit and will require an average of 9 hours of work per week (contact hours plus self study time).  For students with weak chemistry backgrounds, more time than the 9 hours per week will probably be necessary to perform satisfactorily in this unit.

CBMS103 consists of 3 hours of lectures and a 1 hour tutorial every week (except week 1) and a 4 hour laboratory class every 2^nd week.  CBMS103 is designed to allow you to develop an understanding of organic and biological chemistry and the practical skills to undertake simple organic chemistry experiments in an efficient and safe manner.  The lecture material, tutorials and laboratories complement each other, and along with quizzes (in lectures, on-line and in laboratory classes), have been developed to increase your understanding of the topics so you can achieve the learning outcomes. 

The unit expectation is that you will:

·        Attend all lectures or when not possible listen to the recorded lectures

·        Attend all tutorials and attempt the set exercises

·        Demonstrate reasonable competence in all laboratory preparation exercises and attend each laboratory class

·        Demonstrate reasonable competence in the post-laboratory exercises submitted by the due dates

·        Perform satisfactorily in the laboratory and coursework assessment tasks

·        Spend an average of no less than 3 hours per week of private study in addition to class contact.

If you prepare and attend all components of the unit and work consistently and continuously throughout the semester, you should be able to develop a strong understanding of the chemistry of organic compounds, including of biological significance, and perform satisfactorily in this unit.  A clear correlation has been seen between student attendance and satisfactory completion of this subject.  Students who try to memorise just before exams typically do not do well in this unit.  Instead a deeper understanding of the concepts is required. 

·        Lectures will be presented formally, although quizzes and general questions may be asked in class, demonstrations provided, and examples of problems worked through, to strengthen and increase understanding of the concepts.  Most lecture material will be available on the unit web site, while other material will be provided in the lecture class.  You are expected to download the lecture material and bring it into the lecture class so you can spend most of the time listening to the lecturer rather than transcribing.  Do not assume these notes or recordings/video capture are a suitable substitute to attending the lectures.  Students historically fall behind and perform poorly if they do not attend the lecture classes and often further material is provided in the lecture class, so a student that does not attend the class will not be as well prepared as they would otherwise be.  Learning is an active process, and as such, you must engage with the material.  This means downloading and reading the lecture notes and relevant sections of the textbook (and beyond) before and after lectures is strongly recommended.  Quizzes and a mid session test will be run in the lecture classes. The quizzes will be multiple choice and short, but cover material in recent weeks prior to that days lecture, therefore all students are expected to keep up to date with lecture material through revision each week.  Additional on-line quizzes will also be provided.  The quizzes and mid session test are designed to allow you to continuously learn and to identify what you understand and the areas that you need to spend more time on, with minimal assessment penalty. 

·        Tutorials will be run to assist your understanding of the course material.  Suggested questions to be covered for each tutorial class are provided at the end of this document.  Attempting the questions before the tutorial class to identify what you need assistance on is highly recommended.  The tutor will often ask for students to assist in answering the questions throughout the class.  Attendance records will be kept, and while tutorials do not contribute formally to your mark, poor tutorial attendance may be viewed unfavourably and could affect the final mark if a student is on a grade boundary.

·        Laboratory classes are designed to develop basic laboratory skills, general safety practices and critical and analytical thought.  Pre-laboratory questions are designed to make sure you are ready for the laboratory work and have grasped the relevant theory and safety practices necessary.  In-lab and post-lab work are designed to allow you to appropriately record your experimental observations and your calculations in a detailed and accurate manner and assess your understanding of the theory behind the experiments conducted and to use this understanding to solve related problems.  The laboratory experiments are scaffolded such that the expectations of pre-lab, in-lab and post-lab reports increase throughout the course as understanding of the concepts and skill in how to record the data and interpret results develops.

Timetable may be subject to minor changes

Since its previous internal offering, some minor changes have been made to the laboratory experiments and the lecture material. This follows feedback from students in the 2014 internal CBMS103 unit.

Non-attendance and extensions

Non-Attendance for Assessable Tasks:  Students unable to attend a laboratory class, tutorial class, quizzes or exams due to illness or other extenuating circumstances must fill in a disruption to studies request (ask.mq.edu.au) and provide formal documentary evidence as soon as possible. 

For students who do have a valid reason for the non-attendance formally approved by the unit coordinator, if in-class quizzes or one laboratory class is missed, you will get an average mark of your other quizzes or laboratory reports (seen as a -1 in your view marks).  If more than one laboratory class is missed you must speak to A/Prof Jamie to discuss alternative options.  If the mid-term exam is missed, there will generally be no make up exam.  In this case, your final exam mark will be used for the missed mid-term mark (i.e. final exam mark will be out of 65%).  If the final exam is missed due to a valid reason a Supplementary Examination can be granted.  If a Supplementary Examination is granted, the examination will be scheduled after the conclusion of the official examination period.  The offer of a supplementary examination is at the discretion of the academic staff and you should not assume that it will be provided.  Supplementary Examinations are not make-up exams, i.e., a poor result in the final examination is not reason to request a supplementary examination.  Please note that if you are sick at or in the days just prior to the scheduled exam time you should contact the unit coordinator as soon as possible to discuss the possibility of a supplementary exam.  It is normally unwise to sit an exam if illness or other circumstances will significantly affect your performance.

If an absence is anticipated (perhaps for a mandatory religious or University associated sporting event) you must inform the unit convenor in advance that this will be the case and discuss alternative arrangements.  It is your responsibility to undertake this.  Notification after the event of an anticipated absence will not be looked upon favourably.  For any unjustified absences students will receive a zero mark for the assessment task. 

Extensions:  Students unable to complete a form of assessment (laboratory reports, quizzes) on time due to illness or other extenuating circumstances must fill in a disruption to study form (ask.mq.edu.au) and provide formal documentary evidence as soon as possible and contact A/Prof Joanne Jamie to discuss possible extensions.  Extensions will be granted based on merit and will be more favourably considered if consultation with the unit coordinator on the need for an extension occurred BEFORE the due date.  If there is no acceptable reason for a late submission, marks will be deducted for every day late.

 ·        A/Prof Joanne Jamie Unit Convenor, Lecturer and Tutor, F7B 231, ph 9850 8283, email joanne.jamie@mq.edu.au

·        A/Prof Andrew Try, Tutor, F7B 228, ph 9850 8291, email andrew.try@mq.edu.au

·        Dr Fei Liu, Tutor F7B 330, ph 9850 8312, email fei.liu@mq.edu.au

A/Prof Joanne Jamie is the coordinator of this unit and should be consulted if you have administrative or organisational problems. 

 A/Prof Jamie will be presenting the majority of the lectures.  Other staff will assist with some lecture topics during some stages A/Prof Jamie is away.  A/Profs Jamie, along with A/Prof Andrew Try and Dr Fei Liu will be involved in tutorial classes.

 The staff have an open door policy for any questions best dealt in person on their topics.  However, it is best to organise an appointment first by phoning or emailing beforehand (put CBMS103 in the header of the email message). 

Tutorial classes

Tutorial classes run weekly and begin in week 2.  Tutorial attendance is compulsory.  Your allocated tutorial time will be given on the ilearn unit web page. 

During tutorial time the problems assigned below may be discussed.  It is most likely that the tutor will choose a selection of the questions assigned based on class requests, rather than attempting every question.  You MUST work on these problems on your own before the tutorial so as to fully take advantage of this exercise and should bring in the textbooks, lecture notes and accompanying resources such as the model kit to assist the session and be prepared to ask questions on sections that you wish to have clarified.

 These questions will also be placed on the CBMS103 ilearn web site.