Rosa-lee Cooke

Email: rcooke@mecc.edu
Office: PT235
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:30
Phone: (276) 523-2400, ext. 364
Fax: (276) 523-7486

*Enrollment available anytime for this course.

Textbook

Basic Chemistry for Water and Wastewater Operators published by American Water Works Association

ISBN10: 1583211489
ISBN13: 9781583211489

and Simplified Procedures for Water Examination published by American Water Works Association

ISBN10: 1583211829
ISBN13: 9781583211823

Course Description

This course covers the chemistry and biology associated with water and wastewater treatment labs.  Laboratory exercises carried out at nearby water and wastewater treatment plants are the focus of the course.  These labs teach the student to perform common tests such as those for pH, color, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and bacteria.  Online lessons supplement the lab work by introducing the student to biological and chemical theory.

Goals and Specific Objectives

Goals:

This course is designed to develop the student's basic laboratory skills, teaching the student to follow EPA approved methods for the analysis of water/wastewater samples.  The course also familiarizes students with water and wastewater quality criteria and how they affect plant operation.  Finally, the course teaches the scientific theories behind the laboratory exercises. 

Objectives:

•  The student will learn to perform tests including color, iron, pH, alkalinity, hardness, calcium carbonate saturation, turbidity, jar test, chlorine residual, fluoride, total suspended solids, mixed liquor suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, total coliform bacteria, biochemical oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand. 
• The student will learn laboratory safety techniques and will learn how to use common laboratory equipment. 
• The student will learn the chemistry and biology relating to laboratory tests. 
• The student will learn to make the mathematical calculations required in lab, including calculating concentrations and dilutions. 

Prerequisites

• The student must have completed ENV110 before beginning this course. (Environmental Science students are not required to take ENV110, only water/wastewater students.)
• The student should possess certain computer skills.  The student must be able to use the Internet at a basic level including using a web browser, downloading files, participating in an online forum, and sending and receiving emails.  In addition s/he should be able to use an operating system, use word processing software, and open PDF files.
• The student must have basic communication skills.  The student must be able to read and write English fluently and must deal with the public in a polite manner, deal with emergency situations, communicate effectively, participate as a team player, investigate problems, communicate instructions, demonstrate phone etiquette, and demonstrate writing skills.

Instructional Methods

• Online lectures
• Textbook readings
• Interactive assignments and virtual laboratory experiments
• Quizzes
• Lab exercises at local water and wastewater treatment plants

Communication

Since ENV211 is an online course, each student is expected to check his or her Mountain Empire email address at least twice weekly.  If you are having problems using your Mountain Empire email address, please contact the instructor as soon as possible. 

The instructor will use email to keep you updated on your progress throughout the course.  If you have completed any kind of assignment and have not heard from the instructor within a reasonable length of time (two days if the assignment was turned in over the internet or a week if the assignment was turned in through the postal service), then you should contact the instructor to make sure that your assignment was received.

When sending an email to your instructor for help or sending in an assignment, make sure to have your Course number and Assignment number in the subject of the email. For example: ENV211 Assignment 1.

Quizzes

Quizzes are online and are connected to a database. Once you click the submit button your grade will be stored in my gradebook. You are allowed to take the quiz as many times as desired, your highest grade submitted will be the one counted. If you would rather print the quiz and fax or mail it to me, contact information is given in this syllabus. Quizzes are worth 20% of your grade.

Assignments

Most of the assignments for this course are interactive using Flash. You will need to have the Flash plugin installed on your computer in order to view them. You will be given a score for each assignment which will automatically be published to my gradebook. You may take the assignments as many times as desired, your highest grade submitted will be the one counted. I am able to view your grades at any time, so if you are having trouble I will contact you to see if you need assistance. Assignments are worth 15% of your grade.

Labs

There are laboratory experiments you will be learning in this course, you must pick any 3 and write a lab report for the procedure.  If your lab does not do the experiments listed, you may contact me and I will approve a substitution for labs your plant performs.  Review how how to write a lab report. You may either create your lab report in a word document and attach it to an email or mail or fax the report. There are virtual labs for most of the experiments online. Please view the virtual lab before going to the plant so that you are familiar with the procedure before performing the experiment. Lab reports are worth 15% of your grade.

Exams

There will be two exams given during the semester, a midterm and a final. These exams are not open book and must be proctored . You must determine who your proctor will be within the first 3 weeks of class and send the information to the instructor for approval before exams are sent. The Midterm Exam covers the first half of the class and Final Exam covers the second half of the class. Exams are worth 25% each, totaling 50% of your grade.

View Your Grades

The student will be able to go online and view their grades throughout the course to see that your grades are being posted correctly. On the main page of this course you will see a tab called View Grades on the navigation bar. Once you click on this tab you will be prompted to enter your username and EmplID . Your username is first initial and last name all together and your EmplID is the student ID issued by MECC. For example, my username and password might be rcooke , ID 1234567. The first time logging in you will be required to create a password. Once the password is created you will be redirected to the beginning and enter your username, ID and created password. If you have any problems viewing your grades, contact your instructor.

Honor

All students at MECC should abide by the standards of conduct outlined in the MECC Student Handbook. Cheating WILL NOT be tolerated. Anyone caught cheating on an assignment or test will receive a zero for that assignment.

Instructions for Individuals With Disabilities

Students may request academic accommodation for disabilities through the Office of Student Services. That office will evaluate the request and make recommendations for appropriate and reasonable accommodations, which the student will provide to the instructor. Individuals requiring temporary handicapped parking accommodations due to short-term illness should also contact Student Services.

All correspondence will be kept confidential.

Emergency Statement

In the event of a College-wide emergency, course requirements, classes, deadlines, and grading schemes are subject to changes that may include alternative delivery methods; alternative methods of interaction with the instructor, class materials, and/or classmates; a revised attendance policy; and a revised semester calendar and/or grading scheme.

In the case of a College emergency, please refer to the following about changes in this course:

· If you are unable to access the water/wastewater distance learning website, please contact IT services at 276-523-2400 or contact your instructor. If power or servers are down across campus it may take a couple of hours for service to be reinstated. Please be patient and your course material will be back up and running shortly. If this does occur penalties will not be given for late assignments.

· If the MECC mail server is down your instructor will use the following email address: rosa_cooke@comcast.net.
*****Please note that this email address will ONLY be used in case of an emergency when the MECC mail server is down!******

· The telephone number for your instructor is as follows:
276-523-2400, ext 364

For more general information about the emergency situation, please refer to:

· The Mountain Empire Community College web site at www.mecc.edu or the Virginia Community College System web page at www.vccs.edu

· The college phone number is 276-523-2400

· The college phone number to call in case of snow or inclement weather is 276-523-7495. You may also receive information about snow or inclement weather at the following TV and Radio Stations:

WCYB-TV— Bristol

WJHL-TV — Johnson City

WQUT-FM — Johnson City

WAXM-FM — Norton

WDIC-FM — Clintwood

WJNV-FM — Jonesville

WVTF-FM — Local NPR
WXBQ-FM — Bristol

· You may contact security at MECC from off campus by calling 276-523-7473 and from on campus by dialing 473 from any campus phone. There are also several emergency security phones located on MECC’s campus.

Emergency Notifications: When MECC considers an emergency to pose an ongoing threat to students and employees, the college community will be notified in several ways:

1. Text Message (register to receive text messages from MECC at http://www2.mecc.edu/sms/index.html)

2. Email

3. Telephone

4. Postings on the college’s web site

5. In person

Attendance Policy

Regular class attendance is required. When absence from a class is necessary, it is the responsibility of the student to inform the instructor prior to the absence. The student is responsible for the subsequent completion of all work missed during an absence. (MECC Student Handbook)

Mountain Empire Community College is committed to academic quality and student success. Elements that support both of these values are regular attendance and participation in class. The college policy states that regular class attendance is required. The attendance policy in this class is that you spend at least 5 hours per week working on assignments, which will help ensure you stay on track. As listed below in the Weekly Schedule, the scheduled quiz and assignment should be completed each week.

Grading Policy

Midterm Exam	25%
Final Exam	25%
Lab reports	15%
Quizzes	20%
Interactive assignments	15%
	100%

Grading Scale

A =	90-100%
B =	80-89%
C =	70-79%
D =	60-69%
F =	Below 60%

Weekly Schedule

You will need to read the online lessons as well as selected readings in Basic Chemistry for Water and Wastewater Operators and Simplified Procedures for Water Examination.  The chart below lists each week's work.  Tests include information both from the online lessons and from your textbook readings. 

Most lessons have an associated assignment, quiz, and lab.  In addition, there are two exams which must be completed for the course. Write a lab report for any 3 lab experiments, spanning the entire 15 week process . Review how a lab report is written.

Week	Reading Assignments	Read Labs	Assignments	Quizzes	Exams
Week 1	Online lesson 1 and 2 Chapter 1 in Lab book and Chapter 1 in textbook	Find a water treatment plant and a wastewater treatment plant.	1, 2, and MSDS tutorial	1 and 2	None
Week 2	Online lesson 3 and 4 Page 3 in Lab book and Chapter 2 in textbook	1 and 2	4	3 and 4	None
Week 3	Online lesson 5 Chapter 3 and 4 in textbook	3	5	5	None
Week 4	Online lesson 6 Chapter 5 in textbook	4 and 5	6	6	None
Week 5	Online lesson 7 and 8 Chapters 6 and 7 in textbook	6	7 and 8	7 and 8	None
Week 6	Online lesson 9 Chapter 8 in textbook	7 and 8	9	9	None
Week 7	One week to complete the Midterm Exam				Midterm Exam
Week 8	Online lesson 10 Chapter 9 in textbook	9	10	10	None
Week 9	Online lesson 11 Chapter 11 in textbook	10	11	11	None
Week 10	Online lesson 12 Chapter 13 in textbook	11 and 12	12	12	None
Week 11	Online lesson 13 Chapter 14 in the textbook	13	13	13	None
Week 12	Online lesson 14 Chapter 15 in textbook	14 and 15	14	14	None
Week 13	Online lesson 15	16	15	15	None
Week 14	Online lesson 16 and 17	17	16 and 17	16 and 17	None
Week 15	One week to complete the Final Exam				Final Exam