EXC courses, anyone?

[hoagland]

Hi,

I was just wondering whether anyone has taken the Exceisior Course(s) Plant Anatomy or/and Genetic Engineering of Produce in the Human Diet? I am going to be taking those courses this spring as part of my degree and was wondering if anyone is currently taking or has already taken one or both of these courses. I am currently unsure of what to expect from these courses, so any feedback or tips of advice would be appreciated!! Thanks!


`Dakota

[Sunshine]

Hi Dakota,

I took the Plant Anatomy course last spring. It focuses on anatomy at the microscopic level; internal tissues (cell types), and their structure & function. Are you a biology major? This class will likely compliment the genetics class you mentioned.
Here's a breakdown of what that class was like (15 week session):

Per week:
-25-75 pages of reading from the text.
-1 written response to the assigned reading,
minimum 125 words. 2 or more responses to other
classmates' postings.

Throughout the term:
-2 term papers, 1,200 & 2,000 words, fully cited with references from peer-reviewed journals.
-3 essay quizzes.
-2 exams- midterm and final. These were in
the form of essay questions.

Hope this helps.

[Sunshine]

I just realized I left out the number of weekly responses to the assigned reading- usually you'd post 2-4 125-word responses depending on the professor.

[hoagland]

Thanks for the help! This will be my first experience with EXC, so now that I have an idea of what is going to be expected of me, I feel a little more prepared (overall, it sounds like a lot of writing!) Do you think that taking 2 of these classes will take a lot of time and effort - generally speaking? I have some other stuff I would be doing in the process and was wondering if taking both of these classes would be too big a load to carry or if it is still doable. Thanks...I really appreciate it!

`Dakota

[Sunshine]

It's hard to generalize since everyone's different. Personally, I found that three classes at a time was my limit (I also work full-time). Overall, I think EC's formula is pretty accurate: expect to study for 3 hours per credit each week, so a 3 credit course would equal 9 hours of study per week. That said, every class will be slightly different depending on the professor's expectations.