FORT 130 - Forest Mapping Systems
Fall 2009

Instructor: Dr. Peter Linehan
220 Science Technology Building
Office Telephone: 717-749-6089
Email: pel2@psu.edu


Class Location and Time:

Monday 2:00-4:50 Room 108 General Studies


Office Hours:


Text: Paul Bolstad. 2008. GIS Fundamentals, A First Text on Geographic Information Systems. Third Edition. Eider Press. 620p.


Map and Compass for Firefighters. NFES 2554. National Wildfire Coordinating Group 108p. http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/training/map_comp.pdf


Equipment: The following required items are available at the bookstore.:

This is equipment you can use for the rest of your professional career. I still have my Silva Ranger that I bought as a freshman in 1975!


Course Description: This is a required two credit course in the Forest Technology program. This is a new course that has grown out of a previous course in drafting and mapmaking. With changes in technology and industry practice, we are changing the course to a forest mapping and navigation emphasis. Here are some of the topics and skills you will learn:

This course will be taught as a hands-on field course. We will discuss topics in class and then go to the field to try it out.


Course Website:
I am using the Penn State online course software, ANGEL, to support this course. Each of you should be automatically registered on the course website. You can find it at http://cms.psu.edu. You will need your Penn State Access account to log in. I will present more details in class.


Evaluation: This course is worth two academic credits. You will be evaluated as follows


Assignments and Projects

40%

Quizzes - In class or online

20%

Exam 1

20%

Final Exam

20%

In calculating your quizzes and assignments grade I will drop your lowest score of each.


Grades: You will earn grades as follows:

Grade

Percentage earned

A

90 - 100

A-

89

B+

87 - 88

B

80 - 86

B-

79

C+

77 - 78

C

70 - 76

D

65 - 69

F

< 65


Assignments:
Some assignments you will have to hand in a work sheet or a written report. You may also have to upload reports to the course website or personal blog. You will be given specific instructions for each assignment.


Late assignments

I expect that you will hand in completed assignments on time unless I postpone the work or you make prior arrangements with me. If you find that you cannot complete an assignment on time then you should contact me (by phone, email, or in person) telling me how much you have completed and what is your problem with completing the assignment. I am looking for specific information on the difficulties you are having, not just that you couldn’t do it. That way I can help you or we can work out what steps you should take to understand and complete the work. I reserve the right to give a reduced grade or 0 for late assignments.


Quizzes

In many classes there will be a quiz during the class. It may be on paper or on line. Occasionally, I may ask you to complete a survey or quiz out of class by an assigned date.


Attendance / Participation

Your attendance is not included in your grade. To succeed in the course you have to attend regularly. The textbooks are very comprehensive, but you won’t understand many of the skills unless you participate fully. If for some reason you can’t make it to class, please contact me before class so you can make arrangements for missed work.


Cell Phones

Please silence or turn off your cell phones during class. They can be very annoying when they go off in class; as I have learned from my own phone. Feel free to bring your cell phones in field labs. Be aware that in some areas around campus, especially the Waynesboro Watershed, there is no reception.


Important Academic Dates

To better plan your academic progress you need to keep in mind these important deadlines.

Action
Date
Intent to Graduate Deadline
9/7
Drop/Add Period
8/24 to 9/2
Drop/Add Deadline
9/2
Late Drop Deadline
11/13
Withdrawal Deadline
12/11

Penn State Principles

I would like to remind you of the Penn State Principles (http://www.psu.edu/ur/principles.html), which have been adopted by the University:


Professional Expectations

The forest technology program is designed to prepare you for a career in natural resources when you graduate. You should treat your courses as you would a professional job. I have the following expectations for your performance in class, in the field, and in completing your assignments.

  1. Come to class on time.

  2. Prepare any assigned readings or work ahead of time.

  3. Be ready to participate in class discussion or to take an assignment.

  4. Come dressed appropriately. This includes closed shoes or boots, no sandals, for field work. Also, for field work you should have long pants, an appropriate jacket, and headgear. If it is raining you will need raingear. I reserve the right to exclude any student who is not dressed properly from labs, with makeup of work at my discretion.

  5. You will not smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco during class and outdoor labs. If we have a break during class you can smoke in the designated areas. Due to forest fire concerns, no smoking is allowed in the forest.

  6. Please don’t bring food to class.

  7. Drinks are allowed. It is better to use cups with lids.

  8. Please remove hats and caps in class to improve the professional atmosphere.

  9. Please stow your backpacks and book bags under your desk or outside the class so that I can reach people around the class room.

Academic Integrity
When you hand in assignments I assume it is your own work. Cheating and plagiarism is wrong. I may assign a grade of zero for assignments where I know cheating or plagiarism has occurred. I can also assign a grade of 'F' in the course because of this infraction. For group projects and research assignments, we will discuss ahead of time what constitutes doing your own work and what is cheating.

Here is the University College Academic Integrity Policy that we will follow: https://teamworks.campuses.psu.edu/uc/Academic%20Programs/UCpolicies.pdf

The College of Agricultural Sciences has a helpful website on this topic: http://academicintegrity.cas.psu.edu/

Computer Usage
Computer systems have become very powerful and indispensable tools in all our lives.   It's becoming hard to remember how we did things before the computer age.  As with all good things there are also negative uses of this new technology, including software piracy, network hacking, and the creation of viruses. In this course we will follow the University's computing policies which can be found at http://its.psu.edu/security.html


Official Academic Policies

The official academic policies for Penn State are listed on the Faculty Senate website:  http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/


Services for Students with Disabilities
Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. If you have a disability-related need for reasonable academic ad-justments in this course, contact the Disabil-ity Contact Liaison, Kendra Wolgast, located on the first floor of the General Studies Building in the Student Success Center. She can be reached at 749-6045 or kmw24@psu.edu. For further information regarding the Penn State Office of Disability Services, please visit their web site at http://www.equity.psu.edu/ods/. Instructors should be notified as early in the semester as possible regarding the need for reason-able academic adjustments.


Flu Information

Special Fall 2009 Flu Protocols -In compliance with Pennsylvania Department of
Health and Centers for Disease Control recommendations, students should NOT
attend class or any public gatherings while ill with influenza. Students with
flu symptoms will be asked to leave campus if possible and to return home
during recovery. The illness and self-isolation period will usually be about a
week. It is very important that individuals avoid spreading the flu to others.

Most students should be able to complete a successful semester despite a
flu-induced absence. Faculty will provide students who are absent because of
illness with a reasonable opportunity to make up missed work. Ordinarily, it is
inappropriate to substitute for the missed assignment the weighting of a
semester's work that does not include the missed assignment or exam. Completion
of all assignments and exams assures the greatest chance for students to
develop heightened understanding and content mastery that is unavailable
through the weighting process. The opportunity to complete all assignments and
exams supports the university's desire to enable students to make responsible
situational decisions, including the decision to avoid spreading a contagious
virus to other students, staff, and faculty, without endangering their academic
work.

Students with the flu do not need to provide a physician's certification of
illness. However, ill students should inform their teachers (but not through
personal contact in which there is a risk of exposing others to the virus) as
soon as possible that they are absent because of the flu. Likewise students
should contact their instructors as quickly as possible to arrange to make up
missed assignments or exams.