Introduction to Biology (BIOL 1301) at UoPeople

Last term, I also took Biology (BIOL 1301). It’s a required elective for business students and mandatory for health sciences students. I must admit that I hadn’t taken a biology course since freshman years, so I was a bit nervous before taking the class. I talked to some people on Facebook about the course, and their inputs also made me anxious. I recall that I was above average if not very good at Biology. But I loved learning about interesting things in various organisms and their behavior. I’m happy to say that I found BIOL 1301 very interesting and loved every minute of it. In the course, you learn about the beginning of life, cell structure, genetics, evolution, various diseases, theories, and experiments. Suffice to say that it wasn’t as dull as the one I studied earlier in my academic career.

Initially, it was a big class with over 30+ students, but the number decreased to only 22 by the end of the term. I don’t blame the students who dropped out as the first few weeks are tough and require a bit of getting used to the subject. My instructor for the course was super active in all aspects of the course. She regularly posted in Discussion Forums and the course forum. She also made sure nobody got unfair peer assessment by changing the grades herself when necessary. I wouldn’t say that she was harsh but she wanted things to be done in a certain way, like proper paragraphs with at least 4 sentences, conclusion, summary, perfect APA citations, and so on. She also rarely gave anyone a perfect score, so 9/10 was the grade I mostly received from her. She was probably the only instructor so far I’ve seen at the UoPeople that deducted marks for writing over the word count limit. She also did something very unique; she told students privately when they received unfair grades and that she’ll adjust it at the end of the week. All in all, she was a very hardworking and excellent instructor.

You get a colorful textbook assigned to you, which is helpful but sometimes doesn’t explain the topics well. Resources like Khan Academy, Lumen Learning, and YouTube will help you if you feel stuck or don’t understand the subject well. You’ve to read a chapter or two each week to do the assignments. Most of the Discussion Forum questions are taken from the book. You write 3 Written Assignments and 5 Learning Journals in the course. They weren’t hard but required plenty of research, reading, and critical thinking. I enjoyed all the assignments because they helped me increase my knowledge about biology vastly, and I learned a great deal through them.

The Graded Quizzes and final weren’t hard, but there were rarely any questions from the non-Graded Quizzes. So, you must know the subject inside out by revising all your notes to do well on them. Each Graded Quiz had 30 questions, and you’ve to do it in only 30 mins. I wasn’t expecting so many questions in a Graded Quiz and that too with only 30 mins given. One thing I despise about the exams at UoPeople is that they don’t tell you beforehand about the number of questions you’ll get tested on in the quizzes and finals. In contrast, the Final Exam only had 40 questions with 1 hr given to you. Now you do the math, 30 mins for 30 questions in a Graded Quiz but 60 mins for 40 questions in a final 😲. The final wasn’t hard, neither was it easy. Only about 5% of the questions in the Final Exam came from the non-Graded and Graded Quizzes. I believe only those students who do all their readings and make notes will do well on the Graded Quizzes and Final Exam. I got about 38/40 on the Final Exam and ended up getting an A in the course. I couldn't be happier with the result. 

To conclude, biology is a very satisfying course if you do all your readings, make good notes, work hard on your assignments, think critically, and reflect on what you learned. Also, don't be wary of the course, but embrace it. You learn about engaging things in it, such as the evolution of different organisms, various diseases and what they do to our bodies, the beginning of life, and many significant theories and experiments. In the end, what you learn and how you use it going forward in your life through the course; matters the most.