Course Syllabus
The Editor Only Instructions are NOT visible to your students. To remove, mark as complete in the Key Action Items menu in the lower right-hand corner. Right-click to open links in a new tab or open in Key Action Items.
- Use the heading hierarchy in the Rich Content Editor to add blocks of text and visual interest to the page.
Edit Syllabus Information:
- Consider using CELT'S mindful and student-centered syllabus Toolkit (pdf).
- Enter relevant content on your syllabus page. Important: There are some examples that require being edited or deleted as needed.
- ISU Required Syllabus Statements must remain and are not editable. Your course-specific syllabus statements are editable.
- To print, save this page as a PDF file as described in the Tip below. Leave the Disclaimer and Tip for your students.
Syllabus: AGRON 217
Tip: The Syllabus Navigation menu is located on the top right corner of the screen to help you quickly locate syllabus content.
Print/Save this page by pressing Control+P (PC) or Command+P (Mac) and select a printer or Save as PDF.
Course Description
This course is...
- Course Name: AGRON 217
- Department: Agronomy
- Current Semester and Year: Spring 2023
- Credit Hours: 1
- Course Prerequisites: BIOL 101 or equivalent
- Course Meeting Time: Thursdays, 2:10- 5:00 pm , Agronomy Hall G0541
- Course Format: In-person
Instructor Information
Instructor: Prashant Jha
Email: pjha@iastate.edu
Phone: 515-294-7028
Office location: 3212 Agronomy Hall
Student hours: (on-campus/virtual) W-F (2:00- 5:00 pm) with prior appointment
You can contact your instructor in the following ways:
- General announcements will be posted via Canvas announcements. Properly configure your Notification Settings in Canvas to receive notifications.
- Option #2
Course Objectives (COs)
Upon completing this course, students will be able to do the following:
CO 1: Develop skills needed to identify important weeds of Iowa’s agricultural, horticultural and natural habitats.
CO 2: Be able to identify weeds from an assigned list of 100 weeds. Students are required to know common name, family, and life cycle.
Course Materials
List any required and optional materials, such as books, instructional guides, websites, simulations, interactive games, mass media publications, peer reviewed journals.
Follow a specific reference style guide, such as APA, MLA or Chicago. At minimum, reference the author or owner name, date of publication, title, and the URL or source, such as publisher.
I do not require a book for the class, although I recommend anyone interested in plants in the landscape (crop fields, pastures, prairies, etc.) acquire a good weed identification book. I provide several resources to help learn the weeds in the course, including factsheets for all of the weeds on the 217 list, and grow the majority of weeds in the greenhouse. The students will also be able to learn and identify the weeds during field trips.
Learning Activities
Explain how the learning activities provide opportunities for practice, interaction and achievement of the listed learning objectives.
To successfully complete this course, you will do the following:
- Attend all the classes
- Spend time becoming familiar with weedy plants
- Complete quizzes and exams.
- Complete the weed collection project
Assessment & Grading
Assessments
List all course assessments. Provide specific and descriptive criteria to be used for evaluating student work and explain their connection to the course grading policy.Explain what kind of feedback students can expect after each assessment.
Quizzes (100 pts):
There will be six weekly Canvas quizzes. The first two are worth 10 points, the following four are 20 points. Quizzes are cumulative, covering all of the weeds that have been reviewed during class.
Weed collection (100 pts):
Students will make a weed collection of twenty (20) weeds. Students need to find weed in the wild/agronomic fields and take photos that allow the instructor to easily ID the plant. Students will create a dichotomous key that uses vegetative traits to differentiate weeds. Pairs of students will be given a list of weeds that the key will be based on.
Exams (300 pts):
There are three exams, 50, 100 and 150 pts. Students are expected to know the common name, life cycle, and family of weeds on the AGRON 217 Weed List. The exams will have live plants grown in the greenhouse or from the field or pictures of weeds. For the final exam, students will be expected to know terminology used to describe common traits used in describing plant characteristics (e.g. pubescence, glabrous, leaf arrangement, etc.).
Grade Distribution
To add more columns or rows, hover the cursor over the table to see table properties. See Canvas Guide for more guidance.
You can accumulate points by participating in the following way:
Weed collection: A collection of 20 pressed and mounted specimens. Each weed is worth 5 pts, 2 points for proper ID, 1 point for scientific name, family and life cycle, and 2 points for quality of sample. Due date (May 4) 100 pts.
Canvas quizzes: Weekly quizzes will be administered through Canvas beginning the first week of class. The quizzes use multiple choice questions based on descriptions and images of weeds. The quizzes are comprehensive, including all weeds that have been reviewed in class up to that week. Quizzes must be completed by 11:59 PM on Wednesday of each week. There will be a time limit on the quizzes based on the number of questions, thus prior studying is required to succeed. The first two quizzes are worth 10 points each, the remaining four quizzes are worth 20 points. 100 pts
Three ID exams: Exams will include greenhouse specimens, plants collected in the field (both live or remains of plants with distinctive parts), herbarium specimens, or pictures of the weeds. The final exam also will include questions regarding terminology used in taxonomy (see glossary on website) 300 pts. Exam dates will be announced in class and canvas.
Exam 1, Monocots and Amaranthaceae (50 pts)
Exam 2, Monocots, Amaranthaceae through Fabaceae (100 pts)
Exam 3 Comprehensive (150 pts)
Grading Scheme
Grading scheme: The table below shows the Canvas default grading scheme. This is a Canvas sample grading schema, and not an institutional grading schema. Make sure the grading schema you describe in your syllabus matches your grading schema in the course-specific settings.
The following grading standards will be used in this class:
| Grade | Range |
|---|---|
| A | 93% to 100% |
| A- | 90% to < 93% |
| B+ | 87% to < 90% |
| B | 83% to < 87% |
| B- | 80% to < 83% |
| C+ | 77% to < 80% |
| C | 73% to < 77% |
| C- | 70% to < 73% |
| D+ | 67% to < 70% |
| D | 63% to < 67% |
| D- | 60% to < 63% |
| F | 0% to < 60% |
Course Policies
Below are sample policies. They may not fitting your course, so please change accordingly.
Feedback
All graded assessments will be returned with feedback within 7 days of the due date. Personalized feedback will be provided for each assignment and reflection. In addition, responses to common questions and unclear content will be posted at the conclusion of each module. Comments will be posted at the conclusion of each discussion.
Missed and late coursework
It is important to keep up with the pace of this course. Therefore no missed coursework will be accepted. If you miss the deadline on a weekly assignment, you will receive zero points.
Exams will be penalized one letter grade for each day they are submitted late (including weekends). Make sure to keep careful track of submission deadlines for all of your work in this class.
Attendance
Since the class only meets eight times, I expect students to be present each week. Unexcused absences will count for negative 10 points. Students are expected to participate in discussion; active engagement during the field trips is expected. No use of cell phones during class. Improper behavior during class can result in the loss of points at the instructor’s discretion (up to 10 points per class).
Grade Appeal Process
If you become concerned about your instructor's class management, please communicate your concerns with your instructor. Concerns sometimes relate to grading methods, paper turnaround time, and course policies, as examples. If you feel uncomfortable speaking with your instructor, please contact...
Before you decide to appeal, check out ISU's academic appeal process.
Recommended ISU Syllabus Statements
Academic Dishonesty
The class will follow Iowa State University’s policy on academic misconduct (5.1 in the Student Code of Conduct). Students are responsible for adhering to university policy and the expectations in the course syllabus and on coursework and exams, and for following directions given by faculty, instructors, and Testing Center regulations related to coursework, assessments, and exams. Anyone suspected of academic misconduct will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct in the Dean of Students Office. Information about academic integrity and the value of completing academic work honestly can be found in the Iowa State University Academic Integrity Tutorial.
Accessibility Statement
Iowa State University is committed to advancing equity, access, and inclusion for students with disabilities. Promoting these values entails providing reasonable accommodations where barriers exist to students’ full participation in higher education. Students in need of accommodations or who experience accessibility-related barriers to learning should work with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to identify resources and support available to them. Staff at SAS collaborate with students and campus partners to coordinate accommodations and to further the academic excellence of students with disabilities. Information about SAS is available online at www.sas.dso.iastate.edu, by email at accessibility@iastate.edu, or by phone at 515-294-7220.
Discrimination and Harassment
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515-294-7612, Hotline 515-294-1222, email eooffice@iastate.edu
Prep Week
This class follows the Iowa State University Prep Week policy as noted in section 10.6.4 of the Faculty Handbook.
Religious Accommodation
Iowa State University welcomes diversity of religious beliefs and practices, recognizing the contributions differing experiences and viewpoints can bring to the community. There may be times when an academic requirement conflicts with religious observances and practices. If that happens, students may request the reasonable accommodation for religious practices. In all cases, you must put your request in writing. The instructor will review the situation in an effort to provide a reasonable accommodation when possible to do so without fundamentally altering a course. For students, you should first discuss the conflict and your requested accommodation with your professor at the earliest possible time. You or your instructor may also seek assistance from the Dean of Students Office at 515-294-1020 or the Office of Equal Opportunity at 515-294-7612.
Contact Information For Academic Issues
If you are experiencing, or have experienced, a problem with any of the above statements, email academicissues@iastate.edu
(Important note to faculty: The email address for contact information is monitored and answered through the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost)
Disclaimer: The information in this syllabus is subject to change in extenuating circumstances. Changes to the course syllabus will be provided in writing and announced via course-wide announcements.
The syllabus page shows a table-oriented view of the course schedule, and the basics of course grading. You can add any other comments, notes, or thoughts you have about the course structure, course policies or anything else.
To add some comments, click the "Edit" link at the top.