For Distance Education Sections of ENY 4161/6166 Insect Classification

Contact information: For information regarding enrollment and registration for this course, please email our Entomology Student Services coordinator and registration person, Mrs. Debbie Hall. Also, email the instructor as soon as you have successfully completed registration. In your email please include a mailing address for receipt of the course CD ROM.

Introduction

Offering Insect Classification as a Distance Education course offers many challenges to the instructor. Classes such as this are typically taught in a laboratory environment utilizing many "hands-on" exercises to complete lesson objectives. Obviously this is not possible in a distance offered course, and requires development of exercises that parallel those offered in a traditional classroom environment.

You have chosen to enroll in a class whose content is delivered on a CD-ROM disk. This fact alone introduces potential problems. There are many different computer systems, not all of may be compatible with some of the types of files that will be used to deliver course content. I rely on email to submit some of the forms on your CD. Some ISP's (Internet Providers) don't allow the protocol used to accomplish this. If this happens to you, please email the instructor (click on this link to open an email window). You may always copy the content of a form and email it to me. I recommend you do t his. Also, be sure to keep copies of anything you send me.

Email - each of you must have an active email account. The University of Florida requires that you obtain a student ID # and a Gatorlink email account as part of your registration process. While your course materials are included on the course CD ROM, your instructor will post additional class notices to your Gatorlink email account. Even though many of you already have other independent email accounts, you must obtain a University of Florida Gatorlink email account for use as a registered student. Please send the instructor an email message as soon as you have successfully registered for this course. Be sure to include your home or business mailing address for receipt of the course CD ROM. The instructor will email class notices to everyone. This may include date and location of any additional course materials, exam dates, exercise deadlines, etc.

Class Materials

Reference textbooks: Triplehorn and Johnson's, An introduction to the study of insects. 7th Edition. (this new 7th edition is now available, and contains many changes in the higher classification of insect orders). This course follows the classification as presented in the 7th edition, so you should have access to this book, either thru purchase, loan, or thru a library. However, there are many errors in this book, so I am changing recommended textbooks to include any prior versions of the classic, Introduction to the study of insects previously by Borror, Triplehorn, and Johnson. Later editions are preferable, especially the 6th edition.

You should purchase the manual Arthropod Collection and Identification: Laboratory and Field Techniques, 2005, by Gibb and Oseto (best prices may be found on Amazon.com). Additional Field guides that you may possess will also be useful for identifications. However, if you are participating from a non-USA site, literature presented here may be less beneficial to you. Please contact the instructor if you will be working from an international location.

Additional Recommended Textbook(s): The Practical Entomologist by Rick Imes, available from Amazon.com; Introduction to Insect Biology and Insect Diversity by H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell, III. (This reference will be useful to those who do not have an entomology background).

Course Web Sites:

• Course Resources - web links here will provide you with many of the resources needed to complete written exercises during the semester. Additional course lessons materials, notes, and materials may be posted here at later dates, but the majority of your course content is contained on the CD which will be mailed to you the first week of class. I will notify you if and when new material is posted online.
• As on-campus classroom sections meet (Fall and Spring semesters) I will post the on-campus class schedule and course materials as they are delivered, to aid you in understanding the sequence of topics that are covered in the classroom, and to make available to you all handouts that these student receive. I try to keep the course content identical for both Distance Education sections and for the on-campus sections, but there are differences, and by viewing the in-class handouts you will be able to see what these students are receiving.
• Library web site - contains many online bibliographic databases for literature searches.

A word about documents: many included on your CD disk here are formatted as Adobe Acrobat PDF files (requires Acrobat reader to view and print). These may also be posted online. In lieu of purchasing an expensive textbook (I feel that all entomology students should have a copy of one edition of the book Borror and DeLong's, Introduction to the Study of Insects, selling for $75.00, now into its 7th edition, with Triplehorn and Johnson the most recent authors) most course materials will be found on the disk.

Collecting materials: Pinning supplies (pins, pinning box); collection net; hand lens. I have listed suppliers of entomological equipment on your CD. They may also be found using a Google Search. Most of you have access to the basic materials needed to make a collection.

CD-ROM - contains all course content; should be returned at end of course at the time you mail in your collection for grading.

Method of delivery and submitting exercises

This course is self-contained on a CD-ROM disk. Exercises that require written responses may be submitted by email, surface mail, or FAX. You may mail your responses to the following address:

Paul M. Choate
Entomology and Nematology Dept., Bldg 970
Natural Area Drive
University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611
USA

I am adding some of the forms that are contained on your CD to this web site. There are technological issues that may prevent these from working correctly. Some of your email providers block form submissions. However, I will try to have these also available online to save you the inconvenience and potential cost of mailing.

As exercises using specimens are completed you should add those to your collection, which will be mailed in for evaluation at the end of the semester.

Today is: Questions or problems? Email Instructor

UF/IFAS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences