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Nature of course request C00898 :

Undergraduate

LACC

From:
Course Prefix & Number	Descriptive Title	Credits/Hours
BI 101, 102, 103	General Biology	5 - 0
To:
Course Prefix & Number	Descriptive Title	Credits/Hours
BI 101, 102, 103	General Biology	5 - 0

Abbreviation for Class Schedule(20 spaces) General Biology

Current Course Description: The major principles and methods of biology: BI 101 includes ecology, the diversity of life and an introduction to evolution. BI 102 considers cellular structure and function, energy transformations, genetics, evolution, reproduction and development. BI 103 emphasizes the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals along with a brief treatment of animal behavior. This sequence is designed for students not intending to pursue further study in the biological sciences. Three lectures and one two-hour laboratory period. BI 101 is not a prerequisite for BI 102. BI 102 is a prerequisite for BI 103 ¿offered during the academic year.

New Course Description: The major principles and methods of biology: BI 101 includes ecology, the diversity of life and an introduction to evolution. BI 102 considers cellular structure and function, energy transformations, genetics, evolution, reproduction and development. BI 103 emphasizes the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals along with a brief treatment of animal behavior. This sequence is designed for students not intending to pursue further study in the biological sciences. Three hours of lecture and one two-hour laboratory period ¿ offered during the academic year.

Justification for changing the course (e.g. alignment with other institutions, program revision, etc.): Based on assessment and enrollment trends in our 100 series courses, the Biology Department has decided to remove the BI102 pre-requisite from BI103, eliminating all pre-requisites in this series. In terms of assessment, data over the last 2 years has shown that students are positively responding to 100 series lab improvements and content ¿ but fundamental perceptions about science are still negative. For this reason, the Biology Department will be implementing a new case study approach emphasizing real-world applications in all 100 level coursework, with a concomitant reduction in content. Because of content reduction, each 100 course can exist as its own stand-alone unit ¿ and, currently, BI103 is the only series course that depends on BI102. In terms of enrollment trends, the most significant enrollment in this series is BI102; these increases are largely driven by pre-nursing trends to the point that we are either barely able to or unable to accommodate all interested BI102 students. Consequently, freeing BI103 from its current BI102 pre-requisite will allow us to accommodate more LACC-interested students, using this course as spillover. Currently, many of the students who take BI103 rate it more favorably in terms of its usefulness and interest to them in comparison to BI 101 and BI102. Because BI103 involves introductory plant and animal/human structure and function ¿ which present many important real-world applications (e.g. diet, health, disease) ¿ we believe broadening the audience capabilities for BI103 will also better serve our mission statement. This change aligns with many other OUS programs, including UO, OSU, and PSU ¿ all of which present their 100 sequences as focused on principles and methods of biology (vs. detailed content) and do not have prerequisites for any course in the sequence. Because recent offerings of BI103 have not been full, we anticipate that opening up access to BI103 (i.e. by relieving the BI102 pre-req) will have positive effects on managing the ever-challenging pre-nursing-impacted BI102 enrollment situation because it should reduce the need to add more BI102 sections (impacting space and FTE) on a last-minute basis. In fact, we believe this BI103 pre-requisite change will promote a more efficient use of existing instruction FTE, and a more efficient use of currently scheduled space in NS123 (solely dedicated to 100 lab instruction) and NS125 (equally shared with Earth Science for dual use in General Science and some 100 lab coursework).

Students/Program affected: BI 103 serves the LACC BI 103 is one of two series choices for the Chemistry Major/Forensic Chemistry option BI 103 is one of two series choices for the Earth Science Major

Approval Queue C00898

Attached Files: