MEDSCI 142 : Biology for Biomedical Science: Organ Systems
Medical and Health Sciences
2020 Semester Two (1205) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 3: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 4: | Communication and Engagement |
| Capability 5: | Independence and Integrity |
| Capability 6: | Social and Environmental Responsibilities |
Learning Outcomes
- Explain in depth the importance of particular organ systems. (Capability 1, 2 and 3)
- Explain how any imbalance can affect health and lead to disease. (Capability 1, 2 and 3)
- Use and develop your intellectual, cognitive and practical skills to complete the learning and assessment activities. (Capability 2, 3 and 5)
- Communicate your knowledge and understanding as a future healthcare and/or scientific professional with fellow students, the academic faculty and the community. (Capability 1, 4, 5 and 6)
- Plan and evaluate your own progress towards achieving personal and professional goals. (Capability 1, 2, 4 and 5)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Practical | 10% | Individual Coursework |
| Quizzes | 20% | Individual Coursework |
| Test | 40% | Individual Test |
| Final Exam | 30% | Individual Examination |
| Piazza discussions (formative) | Group & Individual Coursework | |
| Mock test (formative) | Individual Coursework | |
| Post class | Group & Individual Coursework | |
| 7 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| Practical | ||||||||||
| Quizzes | ||||||||||
| Test | ||||||||||
| Final Exam | ||||||||||
| Piazza discussions (formative) | ||||||||||
| Mock test (formative) | ||||||||||
| Post class | ||||||||||
Students must pass the practical / laboratory component separately in order to pass the course as a whole. There is no requirement to pass the theory component separately.
Learning Resources
- Textbook with Interactive E-Text Code: ISBN 9780730363538
Available for $176.63 NZD from ubiq: https://ubiq.co.nz/p/principles-of-anatomy-and-physiology-asia-pacific-edition-interactive-ebook-9780730363538 - Interactive E-Text: ISBN 9780730354987
Available for $75 AUD via Wiley Direct: https://www.wileydirect.com.au/buy/principles-of-anatomy-physiology-2nd-asia-pacific-edition/
Course Contacts
Professional Teaching Fellow, Course Coordinator
Email: a.tsai@auckland.ac.nz
DDI: +64 9 923 1552
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in. Please note that this 150-hour guideline does not consider
- diverse student ability/differences in processing and learning speeds;
- the extent of prior disciplinary knowledge/solidity of foundation pre-knowledge;
- differences between cognitively passive or active learning approaches;
- the level of attainment likely to be achieved with this level of time investment (C- pass vs A-range grades)
For this course, you can expect 35 hours of lectures, 15 hours of labs (6 x 2.5 hours), with the remaining 100 hours (minimum) to be invested in reading and thinking actively about the content, working on assignments and/or test and exam preparations.
Other Information
Digital Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
- Individual lecturers will be considering and taking on board the comments they have received on their SETs (e.g. Prof. Paton will change his slides and Prof. Curtis will be updating his diagrams).
- Labs with rotating stations that require students to take more ownership of the learning (e.g. Reproduction, Respiratory): we will look into ways of helping students to prepare for these labs, and review how the Lab Demonstrators and Tutors may better facilitate the learning at the rotating stations.
- Lab 6 (Musculoskeletal) will undergo changes to make it more relevant to the lectures and easier to understand.
- Content heavy: we accept this is a demanding course, however all the knowledge covered is requisite for your future studies. To help students unpack/focus, all lecturers will make an effort to produce an end-of-topic summary that highlights key areas / common misunderstandings. We will also work on updating the lectorial videos, making these more succinct and uploading these immediately after each topic has finished.
- Small group tutorials / office hours / meet-ups: these are not currently possible owing to resourcing, timetabling and space constraints. Going forward, we will remind students to maximise their interactions with Lab Demonstrators and Tutors, and remind students that they can set up their own study groups.
- Request for more revision MCQs / Test 2 practice test / wanting weekly quizzes to be re-opened after submission deadlines: these resources are already available to students. The weekly quizzes are the same as the post-topic MCQs (PDFs on Canvas and on Piazza). Instead of wanting ‘more’ MCQs, it is more valuable if you take the time to determine whether each of the five options within a MCQ is true or false, and justify why with correct facts. When you receive a copy of your exam back, you will see the relevance of this skill in a number of questions (e.g. Respiratory Physiology & Digestive Systems).
- Course guide-related comments (e.g. want more white space to write on, leaky ink etc.): these have been addressed in the meetings with class reps.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.