Folks --

Many A&P students like to get extra copies of the images from the textbook. Often, they use these images to either practice labeling structures or to make “visual flashcards.”

If you go to this page, you can download image sets by chapter. They are available as labeled images, leadered images (this means they have leader lines, but no labels). and unlabeled images (no lines or labels).

Hi folks:

Just a quick piece of info: Updates to this blog are always posted to the top of the page, pushing older posts downwards. If you miss a couple of posts, scroll down!

Over the next couple of days, I'm going to post short blurbs of information so you can get used to how this works. I'm also going to do it so I don't overwhelm you with info all at once.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Now that you're all settled and Week 1 is behind us, we can really start in on some of the "real" A&P material. This week's topic is body tissues and we'll really only cover them somewhat superficially this week. There are four adult tissue types: epithelial, connective, muscle, and nervous. This week, you'll read about three of these; we will skip nervous tissue now and cover it in the nervous system at the end of the semester.

As you read this information, only be concerned with the general functions of each type, how they are constructed, and what they look like. Learning about the tissues really occurs in the context of body systems. For example, it makes more sense to learn the details about cardiac muscle in the cardiovascular system. The purpose of this week is to give you a good foundation so the individual body systems will be easier to swallow.

Once you've gone through the Week 2 Reading Guide, you'll work on this week's "take-home" lab that I told you about on Wednesday. The instructions for this are found in the System Assignment for Tissues (in the green bundle of papers that I gave you last week). Work through the directions in Part 1, using the tissue flashcards that I gave you.

If you get stuck and can’t figure out how to start the identification key that you’ll do as part of the assignment, I suggest you check out the bulletin board down the hallway from the lab. There’s a similar identification key of various insects. It should help kickstart your brain if you’re confused.

That's all for now. As always, please send me any questions or concerns.

This is the website for the hybrid version of Anatomy and Physiology I at Massasoit Community College.

First off, just a couple of technical notes. The instructions that you followed to get here deliberately took you through WebCT, the course management system Massasoit uses for almost all of its e-Learning courses, as well as many of its traditional (face-to-face) classes. While most of your online experience in this course will occur at this site, WebCT is important for three reasons.

1. WebCT uses a browser check-up that ensures that your computer has all of the plugins that you'll need to get the most out of this website. Please run the browser check-up and make sure you have everything. If your computer fails one or more of the checks, follow the links provided to install the needed components.
2. The Grade Book I use to record your grades is found in WebCT.
3. Each week, you'll be responsible for taking an online quiz to ensure that you're keeping up with the material. Those quizzes reside in WebCT.

You can always return to WebCT from this website by clicking on the far right tab at the top of the screen.

By the time you read this, we will have probably already met at the first of our onsite meetings, so you will have seen many of this site's features in action. Therefore, I won't give you long, drawn-out instructions. The best advice I can give is to just explore. I hope that everything on this site is organized intuitively, so spending an hour or so just clicking around should be time well spent.

Once you're settled and you've passed the browser check-up with flying colors, it's time to get to work. Here's what I want you to do:

1. Leave a comment to this blog post by clicking on the Comments link below. In your comment, introduce yourself, tell me what your goals are in taking this course, and whether or not you've taken an online or hybrid course before. When you leave your comment, make sure you include a working e-mail address so I have a way to keep in touch with you and so I can train my junk mail filter to not trash your messages!
2. Then, it's on to the class material. This is Week 1 – a section I call Preview and Review. You can access this material by clicking on the big Week 1 icon on the right. It will take you to the Week 1 page, where you'll see a summary of what's going on and a link to the Reading Guide for this week. Work through the Reading Guide.
3. When you've finished the Week 1 Reading Guide, practice answering some of the Self-Assessments. These are recommended questions from the end of the chapter, as well as links to activities in A&P Place, the open-access website maintained by our publisher.
4. When you feel ready, take the Week 1 Quiz in WebCT. These weekly quizzes count as extra-credit points towards your grade. You won't be penalized for not doing them, but they are only available for a restricted period of time. No crying at the end of the semester!

That's it for now. Please let me know if you have any questions.