October 27th

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful sunny Labour Day --not stuck on your computer studying Bioscience --well not all day anyway!

This post is just to remind you that today you should be thinking of finishing working on Unit 6. on the immune system and moving on to Unit 7 on the respiratory system, although you have another week to finish off the Blackboard quiz.

I hope you enjoyed that last unit. I have always found immunology hard so I took extra trouble with the workbook making sure it took you through all the relevant topics in as clear, simple and enjoyable way as possible. I hope I succeeded!

Just one more unit after this--the urinary system -- and then the countdown to the final exam on November 28th really starts in earnest.

There are still the online discussion topics to do and David should be posting those soon.

Those extra tutorials still haven't been finalised, but David and I are working on it.

All the best, Ruth

P.S. Please, please take a few minutes to fill in the survey form for me (see David's post below). I need them for submitting for the Certificate in Tertiary Teaching I am trying to get done by the end of the year.

Please give Ruth some feedback

Hi all,

Could you please take 10 minutes to complete the following survey for Ruth?

http://polybase.tekotago.ac.nz/StudentSurveys/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=9M14746L4m4K1

Cheers,

David

October 20th

Hi everyone. No, I have not marked the test yet ---I will try and do so later today. However, now it is out of the way, you should all be seeing your way clear to looking at the Immune System notes on Blackboard and working through the Workbook and Blackboard quiz. As I said last week it is a relatively short Unit but you will find it is almost all new stuff and Immunology is quite a complex subject. Doing the concept map on innate immunity that I gave you at the practical class on Friday could be a great help in getting some of the concepts clear in your mind. I will post a possible solution on Blackboard later in the week.

You have this week to finish the blood Blackboard quiz, so make sure you get on to it before it closes next Monday.

Some of you asked me about doing extra tutorials to help you revise before the final test which is on Friday 28th November. I would be happy to do that. We just need to get dates and times agreed and then I would like some feedback on what are the specific areas you have particular trouble with so we can work on them together.

I also talked about going through the notes and thinking about the particular questions that could be asked about each subject. In the absence of previous exam papers to work with this is a really useful excercise. You now have quite a lot of experience of the exam papers I write. Look back at them and at the workbooks, which are really just a set of potential exam questions(!), and as you go through your notes think about what questions could be asked. In fact make part of your revision creating and answering questions as potentially set in an exam. Some sucessful exam sitters make themselves a pool of exam answers as a standard part of their revision.

And only 2 more units to go before the end of the course!

Have a good week,
Cheers Ruth

Monday October 13th

Hi Everyone, I expect most of you are thinking about the test this Friday morning (9am H415). I have to admit it has taken me a bit by surprise as I seem to have lost a week during the holidays and thought I had another week to write it. Never fear, I will get it written by then. It will be on Units 3, 4 and 5: the endocrine and digestive systems systems and the blood and its components (not the nervous system as I suggested in my email today). I intend to give all three Units equal weight i.e. 20 marks available for each.

The practical will be on the immune and respiratory systems. I cannot imagine anyone will have time to read the notes (or text book) on these before the class but of course it would be great if you did manage to.

As a further distraction, you should be thinking of moving onto Unit 6 on the immune system which has gone up on Blackboard with a workbook and quiz. It is a relatively short unit but please put a bit of time into it over the next 2 weeks as it is a hard subject with lots of new terms and concepts.

Finally just a reminder that you have until next Monday to complete the previous quiz on the blood so don't forget to get that done before it disappears from sight.

It's a busy week!

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday,
Cheers Ruth

October 7th 2008

Hi, Hopefully you are managing to do a bit of Bioscience work during your (and your kids!) holiday. This is the second week to work on Unit 5 on the Blood and its Components.

I see some of you have completed the quiz, some have a bit more work to do on it, some of you looked at it and went for a long cup of tea and some haven't even done that. Anyway you have until the 20th to complete it.

However, remember that on Friday 17th there will be the 2nd Test which will include the Blood as well as the Digestive and Endocrine Systems. You might therefore find it useful to have completed the blood quiz (and the workbook!) by then.

Next Monday we move on to the Unit 6 on the Immune System.

Enjoy your week,
Cheers Ruth