June 18, 2002 - I'm in Richmond (VA) today (Tuesday). I will respond to e-mails and postings on BlackBoard when I return this evening.

June 12, 2002 - I placed the Double Helix movie in the library. Since this video does such a good job supporting the historical timeline you'll learn about in the Molecular Genetic unit I've decided to place a few questions concerning the video on your upcoming test. I will try and make sure the video question directly tie in with the material you'll be learning with Dr. Wolfe.

June 10, 2002 - Two announcements:

• Your microscopy/osmosis quiz has been posted on BlackBoard. The dates of availability are from June 10 through June 19. It consists of 16 questions. You have 30 minutes. Yes... you may use your notes/handouts for this quiz.
• Your interims are ready. Head on over to the grade page for your instructions.

June 5, 2002 - I'm back. I'm responding to e-mails and postings on BlackBoard's discussion board. Fire away with those questions about Saturday. If I don't talk to you in the next day or so then I look forward to seeing y'all Saturday morning 9:00 AM sharp in J105.

June 3, 2002 - Sorry for lack of announcements. I've made some changes to your schedule. I took some of the material that was going to be on your exam and placed on a new test - Test #4 Respiration & Photosynthesis (click on this (on your schedule page), it's a link). I also made a few minor updates to you midterm/lab Saturday page. I'm going to have to go out of town for a couple of days for an emergency trip. I will be able to respond to e-mails Wednesday afternoon.

May 23, 2002 - Two announcements:

• I'm going to stop listing the students that have completed the practice quiz (you know who you are :-). There have also been so many folks dropping and adding that I'm beginning to lose count. For those of you that have taken the quiz - thanks for doing so in a timely fashion. As for the remaining five.... HELLO!!!! Will you please take the bloody practice quiz so I know you can access BlackBoard and successfully complete the assessment process? The following still have not taken the quiz: E. Ashton, S. Cooper, A. Eppard, C. Wells, and J. Wright. (Sorry S. Cooper, I don't mean to jump on you so hard... I know you just added the course ;-) This practice quiz doesn't count as a grade... just get yourself on BlackBoard and complete the thing.
• I'm heading on a long strange trip for pretty much the rest of May. My last day in the office will be tomorrow (Friday, May 24). Please post questions and/or send e-mails by tomorrow if you absolutely expect a response from me. I will be taking a laptop and attempting to reach the college server from Texas but I'm Scottish so I'm assuming the worse. All of your quizzes and tests that must be completed by May 31 have been automatically schedule to appear and disappear on BlackBoard based upon the dates stated in your schedule. About four individuals have already taken everything that has been posted! Outstanding!

May 22, 2002 - Sarah posted an excellent question (on BlackBoard) about the quality of sound/video coming from her Thinkwell CDs. This happened last year on some machines. I contacted the Thinkwell technical help department and was told that some computers make the Quicktime program go to the wrong default sound setting. He said it is an easy fix and really wants you to call him if you're having problems at 1-888-416-8880 and select option 3 for technical help. This is what he left on my answering machine... Click Start, go to control panel, open Quicktime, on the Quicktime Settings go to sound options (it said Sound Out on my computer) and change the sound from "direct sound" to "wave out."

May 21, 2002 - I been in a bit of a funk today... one of my favorite scientists died... Stephen J. Gould. Here's just one of many news services carrying some information about his life and accomplishments (http://www.msnbc.com/news/SCIENCE_Front.asp). Fitting, don't you think... here we are in the middle of the evolution unit and that was his greatest accomplishment to science - proposing punctuated equilibrium.

May 21, 2002 - Updated table (there has been a flurry of drop/add) of existing 24 cyberbiology students:
 

The following students have successfully completed the practice quiz on BlackBoard :-)		The following students HAVE NOT successfully completed the practice quiz on BlackBoard. Something happened. Maybe you didn't hit the submit buttons at the bottom of the page... may you haven't even taken it yet. Please do so immediately so we know that you can before your first test.
S. Branch G. Brubaker J. Burch S. Capstack A. Davidson L. Hinkle E. King D. Kluesner M. Krym	M. Lilley L. Mansfield J. Morris M. Nebel J. Peeples T. Price C. Showalter J. Smith B. Whetzel	E. Ashton J. Bailey A. Eppard D. Gayle C. Wells J. Wright

May 20, 2002 - FYI. No cyberbiology instructor ever wants to hear the words... I tried to take my test on time but my computer/server/this-n-that wasn't working... You know those excuses aren't going to fly. Take your tests and quizzes early enough so you can run to campus as a back-up and take your test/quiz here. Here are the hours of the "open" (F112) computer lab:

• Monday – Thursday: 9:00am – 10:00pm

• Friday & Saturday: 10:00am – 6:00pm

• Sunday: 1:00pm – 9:00pm

May 19, 2002 - Hello and welcome to the course. I'm in and out of the office this week and I will be out of the state for the last week in May (that's why I'm teaching on-line this summer. Ask your questions on BlackBoard. E-mail directly for the stuff you don't want me to address in public. If this is your first time to my site take some time to read everything so you can up to speed. Begin with reading the rest of these announcements (below) and then read everything on the FAQ, traveling, syllabus, and schedule page.

Here's the 24 making up the summer cyberbiology crew. Check to make sure your name is in one of these two columns...  (f it's not - please notify me immediately (it means you're not registered!!!)

The following students have successfully completed the practice quiz on BlackBoard :-)	The following students HAVE NOT successfully completed the practice quiz on BlackBoard. Something happened. Maybe you didn't hit the submit buttons at the bottom of the page... may you haven't even taken it yet. Please do so immediately so we know that you can before your first test.
S. Branch J. Burch A. Davidson E. King M. Krym K. Lester J. Morris M. Nebel T. Price J. Smith B. Whetzel	E. Ashton G. Brubaker S. Capstack D. Gayle L. Hinkle D. Kluesner M. Lilley L. Mansfield J. Peeples A. Quick C. Showalter (you may need to contact Ms. Sue Ann Curran - see instructions for contacting blackboard folks on my FAQ page) C. Wells J. Wright

May 13, 2002 - Three announcements:

• Our CyberBlackBoard WebGoddess (Sue Ann Curran) will be giving some training sessions during May (see dates in my May 3 Anouncment). For a sneak-peek at her handout, click on this document (it's in WORD... hopefully it will open in your browser window). Better yet... just go to the training sessions.
• I'm going out of town again... for the rest of the week. I will do my best to respond to e-mails. The last time I went to this hotel our server didn't allow me to log on as a remote user since our new server is terribly paranoid about suspected. hackers. But I feel pretty optimistic that I will be able to respond to your e-mails.
• For those of you that will be with me in the second 5-weeks. I've picked the mandatory Saturday - July 13. I'll work on the schedule for Bio 102 in early June and post it by mid-June.

May 3, 2002 - Welcome early birds! You should have (or will be) receiving a letter from me (mailed May 3, 2002) in which I'm encouraging you to visit this page and explore. Here's what I think you should be looking at BEFORE the course starts (links for all of these can be found on the cyberbiology home page):

• Traveling page 
• FAQ
• Schedule
• Syllabus

Most of your test (material covered in lessons using the Thinkwell CDs) and quizzes (independent investigations and on-line lab simulations) will be administered on BlackBoard. Please head on over to BlackBoard, log in and take the practice quiz. I also want you to visit the discussion board and introduce yourself.  :-)

Our CyberBlackBoard WebGoddess will be giving some training training sessions to help you to learn more about BlackBoard:

• Cyber College Orientation May 15 at 4:00 PM in D102
• BlackBoard Hands-On May 23 at 12:15 PM in F110

Questions? Great! Please post them on BlackBoard's Discussion group page. Just go to BlackBoard and click on Communication and then click on Discussion Board and then click on Ask Mr. Murray. The other discussion group on the page is the Cyberstudent Cafe which provides a forum for you guys to discuss car pools, study groups, and such.