Blackboard Bulletin Board Discussions

These class discussions are exchange of ideas, while at the same time training independent critical and reflective thinking. When there are different opinions a debate can go in many different directions. No matter what direction a discussion takes it is important to understand that someone may tell you that they don't agree with your opinion. You may even be told that you are wrong -- even if you are not. When this happens it is important to NOT take offense.

Remember that you have already acknowledged in the Student Contract that you must participate in online class discussions (where students and the instructor may state opinions that you not necessarily agree with).


Sometimes students cannot take criticism well and demand that their opinion be "respected" by not being discussed in the first place. Some students even think that we shouldn't have discussions like some of the discussions we are about to have. They don't want their opinions changed, opinions they were born with, or received from the parents (often uneducated), or developed because they didn't learn anything in a school system that failed them. They feel their opinion, uneducated or not, should just be respected and not even discussed! Hmmm! If so, why bother to get an education? Why go to college? Why not just flip a lifetime of hamburgers earning minimum wage at MacDonalds? (Flipping cartoon from: http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/collections/1990/images/df1990-145.gif. Used for educational purposes.)

In this country we have a right to express opinions, and criticize the opinion of others. What good are opinions if we don't express them? Some students in these situations often use the term "respect" -- usually because the opposing view has offended them somehow -- without knowing what the term really means. Respect means "deferential regard", which means "a submission or courteous yielding to, and admiration for, the opinion, wishes, or judgment of another". While the term respects can be used when two persons are debating topics with several different possible answers, e.g., two politicians debating who is the best candidate, it is a GIVEN that no one can be expected to have an admiration for or yield to an opinion they feel is wrong and uneducated. It doesn't matter who is correct -- both have a right to their opinion and both have a right to express it. Instead of stating that we must show respect for other peoples opinion, we should be polite and civilized when we criticize the opinion of others. But respect is not necessary -- it is actually wrong to use that term for this purpose if you know what it means.


Stand up for your opinion instead of trying to kill the discussion be demanding "respect" from other participants.




To become educated it is very important to have an open mind, and to be able to participate in discussions, without becoming offended. Get mad, slap back, defend your standpoint while listening to other people's opinions, but don't get offended -- and don't think you offend people with an opinionated, but civilized, response. We live in a democracy, with Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech.


Sure, as stated several times on my web pages, you may want to maintain a HEALTHY skepticism for all points discussed in college. However, you must show consideration and respect for the knowledge and long training of instructors, and ponder other students' opinions, even though you may disagree with some of the things said in class. Remember that you are here to learn and that new advances in scientific understanding are often made when new ideas are expressed that go against traditional viewpoints (including religious viewpoints). If you are not here to learn, you are here for the wrong reason, and you should probably rethink what you are doing...

Research the topic before you claim to know something about it -- by clicking on some of the links on the reading assignment page or do your own Google search. Mark Twain's once said: "It is best to keep your mouth shut and be presumed ignorant than to open it and remove all doubt." Students should come to college with an open mind for new knowledge. "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." (Mark twain again.) It is normal to be ignorant if you don't have had a good educational background, as long as you realize that when you enroll for college classes you are in need of an education and are here to learn. You are not here to prove that you are smart -- you are here to learn.

Posting Specifics

There are two kinds of "discussions" and all topics are listed on top of this page.

In the Regular Course Shell we have the Class Discussion/Reflections. The Class Discussion/Reflections may be very active exchanges of ideas or just personal reflections on the topic by a student, depending on semester and the activity level of the class. To get a good grade in these discussions a very active student will not be slowed down by an inactive class. The active student can "reflect" on the subject without waiting for other participants to wake up. Although, it is always nice to know that you are not talking to yourself...

In the Town Hall Course Shell ALL Environmental Biology classes during the semester participate in an intellectual debate about EVOLUTION -- the main biological concept that, the "red connecting thread" of modern biology. The concept is so important to the understanding of the REAL world that this instructor has made the topic part of a Town Hall Meeting, in a hope to use opinions and statements of other students to lessen the affect this discussion may have on religious students.


The discussions take place on Blackboard bulletin boards (BBs). Each topic will take place over a period of time, usually most of the semester. The deadlines for the BB postings are in the Semester Calendar. After reading web pages and articles you will, at a time convenient for you, discuss the subject by posting messages on the specific bulletin board for the topic.

You post messages on the bulletin board, and depending on bulletin board sometimes by replying to previous messages in the discussion thread (click the REPLY button), sometimes by posting a new message (click the COMPOSE MESSAGE button). You may post as many messages as you wish in each bulletin board, and you do not have to post every day, but for full class discussion credit you must fulfill certain minimum criteria. (See the Grading Criteria.) For the "eye opening" method mentioned above to work, regular participation throughout the semester is REQUIRED.

Before you can participate you must answer the short Class Discussion Key Quiz -- based on the instructions posted on this page. Until you score 100 on the quiz, you will not be able to participate in the Regular Class Discussions/Reflections, because you will not be able to see the individual Class Discussion bulletin boards.

The key quiz is to make sure students read certain reading assignments and the discussion philosophy (this page) and are not worth any grade points -- because it is so easy a sponge can answer the questions -- but as soon as you "turn the key" by EARNING 100 on the Class Discussion Key Quiz the Class Discussion bulletin board folder will become visible on Blackboard Plaza.

Before you can participate in the Town Hall Meeting you must answer the Evolution Worksheet Quiz -- based on the Evolution reading assignments. Until you score 94 on the worksheet quiz, you will not be able to participate in the Town Hall Meeting, because you will not be able to see the Town Hall bulletin boards.

You must check your spelling with a word processor spell checker before you submit your comments. If your comment is full of spelling mistakes you may NOT receive any points. We all make spelling errors. These days it is easy to check the spelling by using a computer spell checker -- use it. If you post messages with misspellings a spell checker will find in less than a second -- you may NOT receive any points for your message (depends on which discussion you do the mistakes -- the instructor check some bulletin boards for incorrect spellings more thoroughly). In some bulletin boards MESSAGES WITH SPELLING ERRORS may be removed -- this is the instructor's message to the students that they need to change their attitude about spelling (or the posting rules).

Also, if your message is too short, and saying nothing, you may not receive any points. Don't post "empty blabber" just to get points -- if discovered you will not get any points.

The instructor may or may not participate in the discussion, but will always "listen in". Sometimes the instructor will participate by addressing some student postings on the Class Communication page. If so a student posting may for educational benefits of all students in class be posted on the Class Communication page -- depending on circumstances with or without the student name.

As already mentioned above, you are not graded on your opinion. It is, of course, best if your opinions are based on educated facts about the real world, but this is a democracy, a free country where everyone has a right to an opinion, even if it is wrong, and everyone has a right to state that opinion.

Discussion ethics is discussed further down the page (and elsewhere), but five unacceptable "posting behaviors" are mentioned here.

You should NOT:

(1) APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR OPINION. Sometimes students apologize for their opinion and posting. This behavior may cause an undesired atmosphere for the discussion. We live in a free country, with freedom of speech. YOU SHOULD NOT APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR OPINION -- at least not if it is an honest one. If you post a statement or an "opinion" and apologize for it, it may be assumed to not be an honest opinion, but rather an attempt to dishonestly improve your grade by "kissing up" to the instructor (see number 2 below), or that you have not read the reading assignment for the discussion and therefore don't really know what to say (see number 3 below). If you do this it will be assumed that it is not your honest opinion, and consequently you may loose points for such a posting. In the United States you do not have to apologize for your opinions -- so don't do that in these discussions.

(2) KISS UP TO THE INSTRUCTOR. Every semester some students post statements that appear, suspiciously or clearly, not to be their honest opinion (especially in connection with an apology as mentioned above). Some students even post messages clearly indicating that they don't plan to take these discussions seriously (see the example below). If you do this, and it is clearly a "kiss up" attempt to try to get a better grade, you may be removed from the discussion and/or lose points -- some students do it to play "devil's advocate" and that is a different story and an acceptable way, and sometimes clever way, of debating issues.

A posting must be honest, otherwise you are "giving the finger" to the philosophy and idea of these discussions (and to the instructor since he came up with the idea). A statement such as the example below may be harmful to the discussion atmosphere (and could be considered cheating) and may cause you to immediately be excluded from further participation. As with chat room discussions, bulletin board discussions like these class discussions have a moderator -- your instructor. A moderator may remove inappropriate messages, and/or exclude misbehaving persons.

"I will belive anything that helps me pass this class. What do you think?" [Grammar and spelling as by the student.]

When this students was asked about the statement and told to read the grading criteria for the class discussions she replied with this statement:

"The only reason that I put their 'I will belive anything that helps me pass this class' is because I thought I was giving your way of showing do it this way and you will earn your grade." [Grammar and spelling as by the student.]

Hmmm!? Sounds like a sophisticated way of cheating -- and like all cheating a DUMB idea (and extremely STUPID attitude) that will earn a LOW GRADE in this class -- and easy to catch if the student is DUMB enough (like this student) to flag the behavior in a posting! The student is saying that she will cheat and just post messages the instructor like in order to kiss up to him and try to get a good grade (better than she deserves)! This particular student continued with similar behavior -- other inappropriate postings including plagiarism (stealing stuff from the Internet and pretending she wrote it) and ended the semester with a zero as the discussion grade.

(3) SKIP THE READING ASSIGNMENTS. Remember this is college, you are here to learn about NEW things based on how the REAL world works, and you are supposed to use your brain for your own critical (careful judgment) and reflective (careful consideration) thinking! For this reason you must read your textbook and the required reading assignments for each discussion topic -- and all instruction pages like this one! As quality control -- since there are often students who don't have the willingness to read anything -- if I suspect that you have not read the assigned reading material for the discussions you may be removed from the discussion and/or lose points. Some assignments have worksheets to be filled out for quality purpose.

(4) PLAGIARIZE. The messages you post must be YOUR OWN SPELL CHECKED WRITING. Do NOT copy from the Internet and pretend you wrote it.

Using a quote from the Internet can sometimes make a posted opinion stronger. This is of course allowed -- IF you make it as a quote, give the source, and if your own opinion and writing makes up the biggest part pf your posting. (You must mark the quote with quotation marks, and you must state the source -- name of person or organization AND the URL where the text quoted can be found.) Click on this link for more on plagiarism if you don't understand.

YOU CANNOT COPY OTHER PEOPLES WRITING, on the Internet, in books and magazines, other student's writings, etc., and pretend that you wrote it. If you think another persons writing is so good that you like to share and include some of it in your posting, you must PARAPHRASE -- rewrite it in your own words, or mark it as a QUOTE. Plagiarizing is cheating, don't do it!

I have more than once caught students who almost verbatim copied already posted messages by other students in the class. Is this laziness or is the student perhaps not smart enough to come up with his or her own statements? Hard to know why. Student caught plagiarizing one time -- textbook, Internet, other students, or anything else -- will EARN a zero on BOTH the Class Discussion assignment and the Town Hall assignment. Student caught plagiarizing more than one time will EARN letter grade F for the course, depending on severity the student behavior might be reported to the college.

Don't be stupid. Plagiarism is CHEATING. Write your own messages using your own words...

(5) WRITE LIKE A THIRD GRADER or A CRIMINAL GANG MEMBER. Keep the language clean -- use acceptable language expected in a college level discussion! Don't write like an uneducated criminal gang member. Your messages must be SPELL CHECKED -- use the spell checker of a word processor before you post your messages. Don't write like an uneducated third grader.

In case you don't know, the lowest STC Developmental English level, ENGL. 0071, is considered 3rd grade level -- a clear indication that the educational system is failing when students attending STC write like 3rd graders...

These days spell checking is easy to do with a computer spell checker. Use it! I don't have time to check all messages for spelling errors, but I will select a few bulletin boards and remove all messages with spelling and punctuation errors. All sentences ALWAYS ends with a PERIOD. A new sentence ALWAYS starts with a CAPITAL letter. The English pronoun I (Spanish yo), is always written with a CAPITAL letter. Finally, don't use instant message hieroglyphics (cell phone text messaging abbreviations) -- at least not in the main body of your message! It is an uneducated way of writing. If you want to personalize your messages with an instant message abbreviation as a greeting at the beginning or as a sign off signature, that is OK. But keep the body of the message you wish to EARN a grade for at an educated level. This is college. (Did you click on the instant message link?)

For more detailed grading criteria, including what may happen to misspelled messages, see the Grading Criteria in the Syllabus. For more discussion ethics, continue reading...

Internet Caution

The Internet, especially the World Wide Web, is a good resource for information, to e.g., update or supplement topics in lecture notes or textbooks. An Internet search that takes just seconds will provide, at least hundreds, usually thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of sources for almost any subject. However, be careful -- sometimes very careful, about the reliability of information that can be obtained from these sources. There is no editorial control. Anyone with access to a server can put up anything they want -- rumors, myths, speculations, lies, conspiracy theories, racist statements, instructions how to build or obtain dangerous items, sightings of Elvis, etc.

Don't believe everything on the Internet! Use critical thinking and ask what information you have about the source. (Is it a person or a group you know anything about? What motivation do they have, do they promote a special interest?) A good way to evaluate the reliability is to look at the language. (Is it moderate and balanced, or is it exaggerated? Is it a well-reasoned analysis, or is it a broad generalization?) What and how many sources or links are referenced? (Someone may claim to have obtained data from a reliable source but it may not be true. Always check the original source.) Is the information cross-referenced and corroborated by other independent sources? (Be careful with claims that are not supported by any other evidence. Be careful with deceptive names that portray groups or persons as something they are not.) Don't use one single source when you gather data on the Internet -- find supporting sources.

Notes about the Blackboard evolution discussions

This is a science class. The instructor is in charge of the class, and it is not an option for students to select if they do or don't want to participate in the class as intended by the instructor. However, because of previous problems with religious students becoming offended by some postings (not just the evolution discussion but it happens EVERY semester in the evolution discussion, and sometimes also in other discussions). During the fall 2007 semester on students had a nightmare, which shook her up so much she almost dropped the class. She was, according to her Blackboard posting, dreaming that humans had ape ancestors... Woa. Scary . What a horrible nightmare! The student EARNED an A at the end of the semester. I hope the nightmares stopped...


Read the following:

So, don't get offended by what is said in these discussions. We definitely do not want to agree that makes for boring messages that cannot be called discussions! This is the Internet! This is higher education! This is Academic Freedom! This is Freedom of Speech! This is Biology! This is interesting! We live in a democracy; we don't live in a Taliban country, where women walk around with a sack over their head.

You come to college to LEARN! If you have a potato sack over your head (like most women in Afghanistan) -- remove it! Open your mind!


Remember, as long as the language is civilized, you are not graded on WHAT you say in these class discussions, nor your opinion, nor how you say it (except: You must check your spelling!) -- you are graded on IF you say something, or not on a regular basis during the semester...


Did you read that? You are graded on IF you say something -- with regular participation THROUGHOUT THE DISCUSSION PERIOD -- NOT on your opinion! You are graded on IF you say something, or not on a regular basis during the semester...



If you don't want to participate, that is your option, but you will EARN a ZERO on the assignment if not doing the minimum requirements listed in the Grading Criteria and discussed on this page. This will of course lower the course letter grade EARNED at the end of the semester. See the Grading Criteria for additional details.

It is an interesting world out there -- let's think about it and let's talk about it. Let's not be afraid of it, and let's not be afraid of discussing it. Since this is Biology, let's discuss the real world, the local and the world environment we experience every day. Since this is a college class, let's use independent critical and reflective thinking, based on facts and educated opinions.

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If you have not done so already, you need to take a look at the Grading Criteria so that you understand how you will EARN the grade points for these class discussions. Remember, it has nothing to do with your opinion, but it has a lot to do with your time spent composing worthwhile thought through messages -- throughout the discussion period -- and thereby your attitude toward the discussion assignments. Do you need more coffee?

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We are on the brink of destroying our planet by global climate change caused by greedy, materialistic, self-indulgent, and "anything goes" human behavior, and I claim that the main reason for this behavior is an ever-increasing poorly educated superstitious faith based human mindset -- not understanding how the real world works -- allowed to rule and control interaction with the planet. Dr. Jan A. Nilsson

It was once said that the best college professors are intellectual gangsters with unconventional views and methods to open the minds of students. I don't know if I qualify for such honorable distinction, but I definitely try! We have a lot of work ahead of us. It is an uphill battle, but QUALITY education is the solution.


Dr. Nilsson