MLAB 2378 fundamentals of Molecular Diagnostics
 

Instructions - PLEASE PRINT THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

BOOKMARK THE COURSE SCHEDULE PAGE. This way you DO NOT have to log into BlackBoard each time you wish to access your course materials. The only time you need to go into BlackBoard is to post to the Discussion Board (this will be listed in "assignments"), take exams or send in an assignment. I would encourage you to visit BlackBoard each Monday to view any announcements which may have been added. When you click on the "Course Materials" in BlackBoard the course site will open in a new window. You CANNOT click the "back" button on your browser to get to BlackBoard. Instead, you will have 2 Internet windows open. Look at the taskbar at the bottom of the screen or, if you are using the most current edition of FireFox, the tabs at the top portion of the screen. You will see the link for BlackBoard there.

If ANY link DOES NOT work email me immediately. List the URL (address) of the web page and specific link which is not working. The date at the bottom of the page indicates when I last worked on it and that the link was working on that date.

When you revisit any page click on the "refresh" button for your browser. I will continue to make edits to the web pages through out the semester. If you return to a web page it will be displayed as you originally saw it. To ensure that you see the most current page it is critical that you refresh it otherwise you may miss important additions.

The course schedule has the information divided into numbered units. Click on the unit to take you to the unit materials. Each unit of instruction will have FIVE links. When you are on the unit page click on the link to take you to the designated course materials which are as follows:

  1. Objectives
    Unit objectives are designed to guide the student in learning the unit content. ALWAYS review the unit objectives FIRST. This will assist you in answering the following questions. What does the instructor think is most important? What information will I need to memorize? What information should I focus on as I read the textbook and course notes?

    Objectives are turned into questions for your exam. I strongly encourage you to use note cards, a spiral notebook or a word processing program to write down the objective and the information to answer and/or address the objective. If an objective is unclear to you email your course instructor.
  2. Notes
    These will be brief presentations of the unit material. You are encouraged to read your textbook assignment FIRST (if there is one), review the notes then once again review the textbook assignment. The presentations in the "Notes" section is NOT designed to replace the textbook reading assignment. Rather they are to be used as an enhancement to the textbook.
  3. Assignments
    You are expected to spend quality time on the assignments. Assignments are designed to strengthen your knowledge of a given area. These are usually links to sites that may more clearly explain material presented in the text to enhance your learning. If you are struggling with an area, spend as much time as possible going through the assignments. If you have a fairly strong background in the area, skim through material presented in the assignments. As we progress into areas of the course requiring application of knowledge there will be assignments that you will complete and send to your instructor. The due date for submission will be indicated on this page. Enrichment activities are optional but I strongly encourage you to go through them.
  4. Assessment
    Assessments test your knowledge. Upon completion of studying the course objectives, unit notes, unit assignments and textbook you need to test your level of retention of the unit materials and determine your level of mastery. If, after reviewing the unit materials, you are still struggling contact your instructor. Assessment activities are for self-evaluation purposes only and are not submitted to the instructor.
  5. Links
    These are web sites of interest which may also be used to enhance your learning of the course materials. As you perform your own research of a given topic be sure to email your instructor any link that you believe will be an enhancement to the course. IF A LINK DOES NOT WORK click the email link at the bottom of the page to send me a message. Be as specific as possible so I can fix it.

    Many of the materials you will find in this course have been produced by other instructors. The internet is invaluable and my sincere thanks goes out to those instructors who unselfishly publish their course materials on the Internet for everyone to freely access and use. Without their materials this course would have been EXTREMELY difficult to get up and running as quickly as it has.

Helpful Hints

  1. To copy something, i.e. a url or text, highlight your target by clicking your cursor at the beginning and, while holding down the LEFT mouse button, drag it across the text. Once the target text is highlighted press "ctrl" and the letter "c" AT THE SAME TIME. (This command will work in almost any application from web pages to word processing programs.)
  2. To paste the selected text place your cursor in the page where you want it to go and press "ctrl" and the letter "v" at the same time. (This command will work in almost any application from web pages to word processing programs.)
  3. If you are working in a word processor and wish to cut selected text highlight it as in step 1 above and press "ctrl" and the letter "x" at the same time. You can then paste the text using step 2. This is an extremely fast method of moving text around on a page.
  4. To copy an image, place your cursor over the image and right click, a pop-up menu will come up with several options. I usually select "save to desktop" so I can find the picture easily. When I was taking my molecular course I found it helpful to copy pictures into my objectives as an easy reference for studying.
  5. If you're like me you come across really great web sites all the time. I find that bookmarking isn't very user friendly. I found a really cool tool which assists me in organizing my bookmarks as thumbnails on a web page. You can also create tabs, ie, have a tab for Immunology/Serology links, Hematology links, etc. It's very easy to use and I hope you like it. I have set it as my "home page" on my browser: http://www.only2clicks.com/

Last Update: January 14, 2012
Web Author: Terry Kotrla, MS, MT(ASCP)BB
Comments: kotrla@austincc.edu
Copyright ©2007 by Terry Kotrla - All Rights Reserved