Instructors: The courses will be taught or team-taught by different departmental faculty.
Required Textbook: FAIGLEY, PENGUIN HANDBOOK (use the edition that was required for your English 1104 and/or 1108 class)
Recommended Textbook: Douglas A. Skoog, F. James Holler and Timothy A. Nieman, Principles of Instrumental Analysis, any edition. Philadelphia: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. This or any similar text provides a useful reference throughout all four semesters of AIL.
The list of lab experiments and the handouts for each project or lab will be available in Blackboard. Supplemental readings may also be assigned by individual instructors. Students are expected to be able to use library and web resources including electronic journals, databases, books and interlibrary loan.Location: Experimental work will be carried out in different rooms as dictated by the equipment and workspace needs; each student will have a personal drawer and plastic bin in Room 204 HHH.
Grading: See online semester syllabus in WebCT/Vista AIL forum (in the Learning Technology Center institution).
Student Responsibilities: You will be responsible for helping to choose experiments and projects to ensure that you meet the course outcomes listed in the outcome list by the time you complete the AIL series.
In-class work consists of laboratory projects, which typically require more than one lab period to complete. The at-home component of the course consists of data manipulation, report preparation and construction of plans of procedure.
Attendance is required at all labs. Students must plan experiments carefully outside of lab and work with high efficiency throughout the lab period. The instructor's permission is required prior to absence or early departure; any lab group members must also be informed. A major point deduction will be made from the total lab grade for each unexcused absence. Absence for unforeseeable emergencies (i.e., sudden illness) should be discussed with the instructor as soon as possible so that an equitable resolution can be found.
Safety and Waste Disposal: You will need to be familiar with and adhere to the laboratory safety and waste disposal guidelines included in this manual and communicated during the course of laboratory work.
Notebook: You will need a permanently-bound notebook, which should be used to provide a complete, permanent, organized and accurate record of all work performed on each experiment. A notebook from a previous class is fine, as long as it satisfies the basic requirements. (See notebook rubric in this manual.)
Working in Groups: You will be expected to work effectively in small groups. Some basic guidelines are provided separately in this manual.
Course Design: As the course proceeds, the experimental procedures will become increasingly student-designed. A briefly-explained task or goal will be handed out for each project. Before beginning the project, the group will devise a detailed procedure to accomplish the task (the Plan of Procedure). Lab reports from previous students and/or related papers from the literature will generally be available to help in choosing experimental strategies. An outline of the experimental plan must be cleared by the instructor before laboratory work begins!!!
After completion of the project, a formal Lab Report must be submitted by the next lab period.
Oral Presentations: Oral presentations related to AIL work will be given each semester. Some or all presentations may be videotaped. A description of expectations for the oral presentations and samples of peer and self-evaluation forms are included in this manual.
Portfolios: Collect all plans of procedure, laboratory reports, assessments, etc. in an electronic format, following specified conventions. See the complete portfolio description in this manual. A complete portfolio must be submitted at the end of each semester.