Distance Education Online Orientation, Page 2 of 2
Academic Honesty & Plagiarism
As a distance education student you agree to the same
rules of academic honesty as on-campus students. As a results of
completing the registration form at the University of Florida, every
student has signed the following statement: “I understand that the
University of Florida expects its students to be honest in all their
academic work and understand that my failure to comply with this
commitment may results in disciplinary action up to and including
expulsion from the University”. We, the members of the University of
Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest
standards of honesty and integrity.
If you take an online exam, write a project or
assignment report, or compute results from a statistical analysis you
should comply with the standards of academic honesty which are followed by
all scientists and teachers around the globe. Do not plagiarize. Remember
if you plagiarize you only embarrass yourself. Many instructors at the
University of Florida use antiplagiarism software. Simply - do not
plagiarize. It is not worth it.
As a distance education student you will write
assignment reports, project reports, and / or a thesis. Correct
referencing is expected from you. If you copy material from a textbook,
journal article, or the Internet without correct referencing the original
source, you plagiarize. Don't do it! Give credit to the authors who wrote
material and cite them correctly.
Examples / Correct
Referencing
Referencing of books:
Goovaerts P. 1997. Geostatistics for natural
resources evaluation. Oxford University Press, New York.
Referencing of book chapters:
Reddy K.R., White J.R., Wright A. and Chua T.
1999. Influence of phosphorus loading on microbial processes in the soil
and water column of wetlands. pp. 249-273. In Phosphorus Biogeochemistry
in Subtropical Ecosystems, Reddy KR, O’Connor GA, and Schelske CL
(eds.) Lewis Publ., New York.
Referencing of
journal articles:
Grunwald S., Barak P.,
McSweeney K. and Lowery B. 2000. Soil landscape models at different
scales portrayed in Virtual Reality Modeling Language. Soil Science,
165(8):: 598-614.
Referencing of
proceeding papers:
Choi J.-Y., Engel B.A.,
Theller L., and Harbor J. 2003. Internet based SDSS for watershed
management using web-GIS capabilities. ASAE Annual International
Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada,
July 27-30, 2003. Paper No. 03-3033.
Referencing of
Internet resources:
Florida
Geographic Data Library (FGDL). 2003. Available at: http://www.fgdl.org/ (verified:
8/8/2003)
Graduate Student Guide
Study the Graduate Student Guide in your first
semester or even before you enroll in the Distance Education Graduate
Track in Environmental Science. It is your responsibility to make yourself
familiar with rules and regulations related to your MS program.
E-Technologies
All SWS distance education courses are interactive. There
are numerous media which provide you with effective communication tools to
interact with your instructor and/or TAs which include email, phone,
chatrooms, message boards, and other. We seek to provide you with a
scientific stimulating environment to enhance your learning outcomes.
Learning should be fun, shouldn't it?
Most of our SWS distance education courses use the Internet to provide
you with course material. Make sure that you have access to a reliable
(and fast) Internet connection.
Different SWS courses use different types of course material. Power
Point slides with notes, voice support, and / or animations are commonly
used. Hyperlinks provide you with additional resources. Some of our
courses use Flash animations and digital videos to provide you with all
you need to understand complex course material. Supplementary reading
material is provided in some courses in form of pdf files. Recommendations
for textbooks or other supporting material are given by your instructors
to make learning most efficient.
Virtual Computer Lab
Some of the SWS distance education courses use a virtual computer lab.
The virtual computer lab provides students with 24 hour access to the
course material, software, datasets, assignments, and interactive
tools. You will be given a login, password and instructions to access the
virtual computer lab. The virtual computer lab can be accessed from UF or
home computers via an Internet connection. The advantage is that you do
not need to purchase any software because the virtual lab provides you
with everything you need to study. All course relate material is hosted at
one central place (a server). In short, the virtual computer lab is a
terminal application which lets you focus on course content instead of
wasting time for solving technical computer problems. For example, SOS
5720 GIS in Land Resource Management uses the virtual computer lab.
Distance Education Courses
The student is responsible for contacting the instructor via
email after registering for a distance education course.
Distance Education Coordinator
Contact the SWS Distance Education Coordinator Sabine
Grunwald sabgru@ufl.edu (Phone: 352-392-1951 ext.
204) for questions related to the SWS Distance Education Track in
Environmental Science. She is available to help if you would like advice about SWS
distance education courses, admission, transfer of credits, how to find
an advisor, the virtual computer lab, rules and regulations of the program,
etc.
For questions related to application forms or to register for courses
please contact Student Services: Rhiannon Pollard, rhiannon-pollard@ufl.edu, (352) 392.1803 ext. 341.
Graduate Coordinator
Contact the SWS Graduate Coordinator James Jawitz jawitz@ufl.edu, (352) 392.1951 ext. 203 for questions related to the admission into the
SWS Distance Education Track in Environmental Science.
Select & Contact your Advisor
Prior to admission, each distance education graduate
student is assigned a graduate advisor who normally becomes the Chair of
the student's Supervisory Committee (http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/personnel/faculty.htm).
In cases where it is not appropriate or possible for a student to
pre-select an advisor, a prospective advisor will be assigned. A student
cannot be admitted if a graduate advisor cannot be found. The SWS Distance
Education Coordinator and Chair of the SWS Department will assist you to
select an advisor. Detailed information about the selection guidelines can
be found in the Graduate Student Guide.
We encourage to work closely with your advisor. Your
advisor can guide you through your M.S. program and your thesis project.
