Dr. Walid H. Shayya School of Agriculture, Business, and Technology

---

---

Fall 2023

Brightspace Access of Course Material On-line (for students enrolled in the course)

---

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Walid H. Shayya

Instructor's Contact Information Office: Room 135 - Marshall Hall Phone: (315) 684-6526 (dial 6526 when using campus phone) E-mail: shayyaw@morrisville.edu Web:  http://people.morrisville.edu/~shayyaw/ School Website: https://www.morrisville.edu/school-of-agriculture-business-technology College Website: https://www.morrisville.edu/

---

GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course provides an introduction to the global positioning system (GPS). The basic principles of GPS are covered with emphasis on field applications in the natural resources and renewable energy areas.  The course will also provide a brief introduction to the geographic information system (GIS), emphasizing data viewers and online GIS applications. Students will be expected to learn how to conduct field surveys using handheld and real-time differential GPS units as well as incorporate those within GIS data viewers. The course will also familiarize the students with the high-end, open-source and commercial GIS software used within the geospatial technology courses offered within the environmental sciences curricula at the 200-, 300-, and 400-levels.

Course Format: Lecture (Asynchronous Online), Laboratory (Face to Face)
Meeting Times/Locations: Lecture (recorded by 5:00 PM on Sundays), Laboratory (Fri. @ 9:00-10:50 AM for 01L, 11:00 AM-12:50 PM for 02L, and 1:00-2:50 PM for 03L in Bicknell 115; Thu. @8:00-9:50 AM for 04L in Bicknell 203)
Semester Start Date: August 28, 2023
Semester End Date: October 13, 2023

1 credit (1 lecture hour, 2 laboratory hours), fall semester, first seven weeks

---

EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES:

Upon the successful completion of NATR 113, the student is expected to have:

Applied the global positioning system to the collection of data on natural and man-made geographically referenced features.

Developed the skill to utilize data viewer software to download, display, and upload geographically-referenced data to/from different GPS units.

Understood how various geospatial technology tools are utilized in a variety of contexts.

Understood the basic principles of geographic information systems (GIS) and the global positioning system (GPS).  

---

STUDENT HOURS:

The instructor has the following designated student hours per week:

• Mondays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM

• Tuesdays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM

• Wednesdays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM

• Thursdays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM

• Fridays: 8:00 to 8:50 AM

Students are encouraged to video (or audio) call the instructor in MS Teams during the listed times. Alternatively, students may make appointments to meet the instructor virtually in MS Teams by contacting the instructor using the following email address: shayyaw@morrisville.edu.

---

CONTACT HOURS AND CLASS SCHEDULE:

This one-credit hour course runs during the first seven weeks of the fall semester. It includes three contact hours per week of lecture and laboratory (one section of the lecture and four sections of the laboratory are offered during the 2023 Fall semester). The 50-minute lecture is offered asynchronously online in Brightspace. The first three laboratory sections (i.e., 01L, 02L, and 03L) meet in Bicknell 115 on Fridays (section 01L meets from 9:00 to 10:50 AM, section 02L meets from 11:00 AM to 12:50 PM, and section 03L meets from 1:00 to 2:50 PM), while section 04L meets from 8:00 to 9:50 AM on Thursdays in Bicknell 203. The course runs from Monday - 28 August 2023 (the 1^st week of the fall semester) to Friday - 13 October 2023 (the 7^th week of the fall semester). A comprehensive final examination is scheduled online on Friday - October 13, 2023.

---

TEXTBOOK(S):

A course manual will be available from the campus bookstore. The specifics of class manual are as follows:

1. Shayya, W.H. 2023.  Introduction to the Global Positioning System: Course Manual (3^rd Edition). XanEdu Publishing Inc. (ISBN: 979-8-82278-544-1).

The course manual includes the instructor's PowerPoint presentations (printed in handout format) and pertinent reading material to be used in NATR 113. Numerous resources are also available online on geographic information systems and the global positioning systems. Students are encouraged to be actively involved in acquiring some pertinent knowledge from these sources.

---

CLASS POLICIES:

• Class Material and Reminders: The lecture and laboratory topics in NATR 113 will follow the course outline provided on this page (under Brightspace) and online at people.morrisville.edu/~shayyaw/NATR113/NATR113.htm (the course outline along with course expectations will be covered during the first class recording). Lecture materials are delivered through one weekly recording available online (lecture recordings are available asynchronously under Brightspace). You should expect the class recordings to be made available by 5:00 p.m. on Sundays starting August 27, 2023. Weekly reminders for the class will be prepared on Sundays and made available in the weekly page in Brightspace. Additionally, a copy of the weekly reminders will also be forwarded to the campus email address of every student currently enrolled in the class.

• Attendance: First and foremost, students must always plan to be in class on time. Given the nature of the course, all students are urged to attend all classes. Attendance will be taken during each class session, and appropriate actions will be taken when students have more than one unexcused absence during the semester. A student with a few or no class absences during the semester will receive favorable consideration during the grading process if the student is close to receiving the next higher letter grade.

• Student Behavior: As students in a technical program are preparing for a professional career, all students are expected to conduct themselves as professionals (in both manner and dress). 

  • Eating, drinking, or consuming any tobacco products is prohibited in all in-person classroom settings (classroom, laboratory, or field). Doing so may result in the student's dismissal from that class period and will count as an unexcused absence.

  • Cell phones and pagers must be turned off during instruction time. The use during, or the disruption of the class by these devices will result in the student's dismissal from that class period and an unexcused absence.

• Assignments: NATR 113 includes six laboratory assignments (accounting for 35% of your final grade in the course). Each assignment will carry an equal weight of 10 points. Class assignments must be accessed and submitted through the provided links on Brightspace. Assignments must be completed individually and submitted by the listed deadline (although there is usually a grace period of one day for submitting a class assignment in NATR 113). Those course assignments serve a specific educational purpose by allowing the student to learn and apply the covered course concepts and be engaged with the covered topics and the utilized software. As such, students must complete those assignments accurately, neatly, and on time. Copying another student's assignment (including retyping their answers) or allowing someone else to copy your completed assignment is considered cheating (and it will result in you receiving a zero grade on the assignment). Assignments may not be submitted for a grade once an assignment is corrected and returned to the class.  A student missing an assignment will receive a grade of zero on that assignment. However, the lowest assignment grade will be dropped at the end of the semester.

• Examinations/Quizzes: The class includes one comprehensive final examination administered online on Friday - October 13, 2023. The final examination will cover class material and class assignments. Starting from week#2, please note that there will be a weekly online quiz on the material covered during the weekly lecture. The weekly quiz must be completed under Brightspace between 5:00 p.m. and midnight on Thursdays. A student missing a weekly quiz will receive a grade of zero on the quiz. At the end of the semester, however, the quiz with the lowest grade for each student will be dropped.

• Honesty Policy and Discipline (Due Process): Honesty and integrity are significant elements in professional behavior and are expected of each student. Any assignment (including those in electronic media) submitted by a student must be of the student's original authorship. Representation of another's work as the student’s own shall constitute plagiarism. In any form, cheating is unacceptable in all college courses. Students having academic problems should consult their academic advisor or a college counselor. Cheating will be dealt with according to SUNY Morrisville policy. The standards of academic honesty and due process procedures for SUNY Morrisville are in the Rules, Regulations, and Expectations section of the Student Handbook.

• SSafety Guidelines: Certain class assignments may require the student to be absent from the professor's direct supervision. Whether the student is under immediate supervision or not, safe conduct and safe use of equipment shall be the ultimate rule. Failure to comply with prudent safety practices and/or willful disregard for class participants and/or equipment may be cause for immediate dismissal from that particular class session by the professor. Any subsequent unacceptable activity may be cause for dismissal from the course by the Dean.

---

GRADING/EVALUATION OF STUDENT:

Evaluation is a shared responsibility between the teacher and the student. The purpose of the evaluation is to demonstrate how well the professor has taught and the student has learned specific course materials, the principles, concepts, and terms relevant to the covered topics.  Evaluation is also intended to assess the student's ability to utlize the acquired knowledge in problem-solving.

The breakdown of grading in this course will be as follows:

Class Work Ethic and Participation ==> 10% of the final grade

Online Weekly Quizzes (scheduled on Thursdays)==> 20% of final grade

Class Assignments ==> 35% of final grade

Final Exam ==> 35% of final grade

The distribution of grades in this course will be based on the A-F College grading scheme. The letter grades correspond to the following percentage scale: A (90-100%), A- (87-89.9%), B+ (83-86.9%), B (80-82.9%), B- (77-79.9%), C+ (73-76.9%), C (70-72.9%), C- (67-69.9%), D+ (63-66.9%), D (60-62.9%), and F (<60%).

---

STARFISH EARLY ALERT SYSTEM:

This course participates in the Starfish Early Alert System, an early intervention system designed to enable academic success, student persistence, and graduation. When an instructor observes student behaviors or concerns that may impede academic success, the instructor may raise an alert flag that notifies the student of the matter, requests an individual contact to discuss the issue, and (in most cases) refer the student to the academic advisor. If you receive an email notification of an early alert, you must contact the instructor as soon as possible to discuss the issue. The purpose of the contact is to determine the severity of the issue, accurately assess its potential impact on your academic success, and plan actions to prevent negative consequences and enable academic success. For more information about the Early Alert system, contact your academic advisor.

---

OUTLINE OF TOPICS:

*The topics and corresponding dates listed in the table above are tentative and may be subject to change during the semester.

---

COLLEGE-WIDE POLICIES:

To view the College-wide policies page, please click on this link.  

Joint Appointment in the Division of Environmental and Renewable Resources and the Division of Animal & Plant Sciences and Agricultural Business   Website developed and maintained by Dr. Walid Shayya, Professor; School of Agriculture, Business, and Technology; State University of New York at Morrisville. Last modified on December 18, 2023.