CLAS 230-J30: Medical and Scientific Terminology

A Distributed Learning Course

Prof. Mark Beck

911 Welsh Humanities Office Bldg.

Office ph. 777-4883

email: [email protected]

[email protected]

Course description:
In CLAS J230, a three credit-hour course, we will study word roots, suffixes, prefixes,
and terms basic to the scientific and health professions.

There are no prerequisites for this course. No prior knowledge of medical and scientific
terminology or Greek and Latin roots/word origins is required.

Learning Outcomes for this course (specific learning outcomes for each unit are
posted in each modules.

After completing CLAS 230-J30 you should be able to:

• Explain the principle of associative learning and its importance as an aid in quickly
increasing the student’s pre-existing medical lexicon.
• Analyze the meanings of unfamiliar words and terms throughout the course and in
your future education and professional activity.
• Understand and analyze the “mechanics” of “medical morphology” by identifying
word roots, combining vowels, prefixes, noun, adjectival and verbal suffixes.
• Utilize his or her knowledge of word root definitions to create “picture meanings”
of familiar and unfamiliar terms.
• Demonstrate an improvement in self-motivated study habits, better reading
comprehension skills, and an increased familiarity with deciphering technical case
studies.
Units and modules are grouped according to the various anatomical systems.

Textbook and Course Materials:

All course materials, including the textbook, word lists, exercises and exams are available
on the Med-terms website (https://www.med-terms.co/page/manual_signup/1).  The
Med-Terms site is a learning platform that has the digital textbook in modular form, the
exercises and exams. There is a fee for use of the site for the semester ($115). You may
purchase the QR code in the Russell House Bookstore or sign up directly on the website
for immediate access. You may access this site at any time in the future to review this
material if you choose. If you have any technical problems with the website you should
contact the support team at [email protected].  We will use Blackboard only for
email communication and announcements. Final grades will be posted on Self Service
Carolina.

Course Website
You can sign up for the course at
https://www.med-terms.co/page/manual_signup/1
If you have technical difficulty contact the site administrators at
[email protected]

We will only use Blackboard for email communication and announcements.  

Our course is based on the Textbook that has fourteen Learning Modules. Be sure to keep
up with the module assignments schedule. Don't fall behind. Each of our Learning
Modules are lexicon-intensive, meaning there are a lot of terms to learn and understand.
It will be very difficult to catch up if you do not stick to course schedule.

Any course that involves a substantial amount of memorization requires persistent and
frequent work, and it is best to spend a little time nearly every day familiarizing yourself
with the terms.
To do well in this course I suggest that you first view the text slides, read the word lists
and then make notes that you can study conveniently. Once you have spent some time
studying the terms, complete the exercises, making sure to spend extra time with any
terms which gave you difficulty. Try to make use of the words you have learned in your
daily life, if possible (although I understand that this will not necessarily be easy given
the nature of the topics we are studying).
Finally, browse through medical dictionaries (Taber’s, Stedman’s, Mosby’s, and
Dorland’s are all excellent) to find similar, or related terms to help you build a broad
understanding of the terms.
If you do this you should not have any problems with this course, and you should gain a
lot of valuable knowledge and insight into modern medical and scientific terminology.

Tests and grades:

After we complete a certain number of Learning Modules and exercises, you will take a
scheduled test. Some test questions are taken directly from the textbook and word lists,
while others are based only on the exercises.

There will be four tests and each test will count equally for 20% of your grade.

The assignments (modules, word lists, exercises) count for 20% of your grade. Please
Note!: The assignments are graded based on completion only.

The final exam (Exam Four) will be cumulative and cover material introduced in
Modules One through Fourteen.

I will keep the test window open several days to assist you.

Your semester grade for the course will be determined by computing the average of
four unit tests and the total score received on the exercises as indicated below:

EXAM 1                     20%

EXAM 2                     20%

EXAM 3                     20%

EXAM 4                     20%

EXERCISES       20%
To reiterate:  the tests may be taken at any computer terminal with internet access at the
stipulated date and time. Make-up testing will be allowed but only sparingly and when
mandated by extreme and extraordinary circumstances that the student can provide
documentation for (grave illness, death in the family, etc.). If you are having difficulty
with the material in this class or have issues with the learning process, please contact me
by email.

Important information:

1. After taking each of the four tests, you may find out your score by logging
into med-terms.co website. 
2. You must take every test.  It is imperative that you do very well on each and every
one of the four unit tests, for each one represents 20% of your final grade. To do
poorly even on one can seriously affect your semester average.
3. Your grade for the course will be based solely on the average grade of your four
tests and the assignments average. 

No test grades will be dropped.  There will be no extra credit assignments. 

4. No incompletes will be given, except in the most extraordinary circumstances. You

may not make up a test unless accepted excuses according to the above
stipulations, and a 0 will be used for that test to compute your semester average.  
5. You must check your University email account for any correspondence from me. If
you primarily use another email account, you should forward University email
messages to that account. Go to https://web.mail.sc.edu to log into this account. It
is your responsibility to ensure that your email accounts work properly in order to
receive mail. 
6. Please check Blackboard regularly for any announcements. Be sure to check under
View All. 
7. The grading scale is: 
90-100 A 
87-89 B+ 

80-86 B 

77-79 C+ 

70-76 C 

67-69 D+ 

60-66 D 

59 and below F 

Office and testing hours:

This course is designed as an independent study course. Course work is done on your
own time using materials on the Med-Terms website. You must keep to the schedule of
Learning Modules, and the testing schedule is rigid. You must log in and take the test
on the day in question. You may take the test on any computer with reliable high
speed internet access. You will have at least one hour to complete the test and you
will not be able to go back and correct your answers or log in again once you have
logged out.

The test window will extend from 6:00AM on the first test day-11:00PM on the last
test day.

To reiterate: the tests may be taken at any computer terminal with internet access at the
stipulated date and time. Make-up testing will be allowed but only sparingly and when
mandated by extreme and extraordinary circumstances that the student can provide
documentation for (grave illness, death in the family, etc.). If you think you cannot take
the test on the regularly scheduled day, you must contact me immediately.

1. Contacting Me

You can contact me at [email protected]

I do my best to answer questions as quickly as possible, so if you have any problems,
please send me an email.  If I have not responded within 48 hours, please send another
email to make sure that I saw your original question.
On exam days, I tend to only respond to technical questions about exam procedures or
problems with the website.  If you have questions about the material, or about specific
questions on the exam, please hold those until the next day.

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS AND TESTS

Unit One: Modules 1-4:

WEEK 1  classes begin Thursday, August 19th-August 27

Introduction to course.  Please read the syllabus!

Basics, Roots, Vowel Combinations, Suffixes, Associations, Latinate Plural,

Diminutive Suffixes)

Module 1      

Exercises 1-5

WEEK 2 August 30-September 3th 

Introduction Continued

Module 2

Exercises 6-10

WEEK 3 September 7th -10th

Assimilation, Prefix, Number Prefix, Weight & Measure

Module 3

Exercises 11-15
WEEK 4 September 13th-17th

Body Geography, Cytology

Module 3 cont./Module 4

Exercises 16-20

EXAM 1 (September 17th-19th)

Unit Two: Modules 5-8

WEEK 5 September 20th-24th

Musculo-skeletal System
 
Module 5 
 
Exercises 21-25
 

WEEK 6 September 27th-October 1st

Digestive System

Module 5 cont./Module 6

Exercises 26-30

WEEK 7 October  4th-8th (October 7th-8th Fall Break)

Respiratory System

Module 7
Exercises 31-35 

WEEK 8 October 11th-15th 

Circulatory System

Module 8

Exercises 36-40

EXAM 2 (October 15th-17th)

Unit Three: Modules 9-12

WEEK 9 October 18th-22nd  

Integumentary System

Module 9

Exercises 41-45

WEEK 10 October 25th-29th 

Nervous System, Brain

Module 10

Exercises 46-50
WEEK 11 November 1st-5th

Endocrine System

Module 11

Exercises 51-55

WEEK 12 November 8th-12th

(Sense Organs-Eye, Ear)

Module 12

Exercises 56-60

Exam 3 (November 12th-14th)

Unit Four: Modules 13-14

WEEK 13 November 15th-19th

The Urogenital and Reproductive Systems

Module 13 

Exercises 61-65

Review material in Modules One through Four!

WEEK 14 November 23-25th (Thanksgiving Recess from November 24th-

28th) 
The Urogenital and Reproductive Systems, continued

Module 13 

Exercises 61-65

Review material in Modules Five through Eight!

WEEK 15 November 29th-December 3rd

Psychiatric Terms

Module 14

Exercises 66-70

Review material in Modules Nine throughTwelve!

Exam 4, Cumulative (December 3rd-5th)

Contacting Me
My contact information can be found in this syllabus.

Prof. Mark Beck

911 Welsh Humanities Office Bldg. (closed for repairs)

Office ph. 777-4883
email: [email protected]

Diversity and Inclusion

The university is committed to a campus environment that is inclusive, safe, and respectful for all
persons, and one that fully embraces the Carolinian Creed. To that end, all course activities will be
conducted in an atmosphere of friendly participation and interaction among colleagues, recognizing and
appreciating the unique experiences, background, and point of view each student brings. You are
expected at all times to apply the highest academic standards to this course and to treat others with
dignity and respect.

Accessibility, Disability, and Triggers

I am committed to ensuring course accessibility for all students. If you have a
documented disability and expect reasonable accommodation to complete course requirements, please
notify me at least one week before accommodation is needed. Please also provide SDRC
(https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/student_disability_resource_center/) documentation to me
before requesting accommodation. Likewise, if you are aware of cognitive or emotional triggers that
could disrupt your intellectual or mental health, please let me know so that I can be aware in terms of
course content. 

Diversity, Ethics, and the Carolinian Creed

This course works to foster a climate free of harassment and discrimination, and it values the
contributions of all forms of diversity. The decision to enter university and pursue advanced study is a
choice that entails commitment to personal ethics expressed in the Carolinian Creed
(www.sa.sc.edu/creed): “I will discourage bigotry, while striving to learn from differences in people,
ideas and opinions.” Likewise, the Student Code of Conduct (STAF 6.26
(http://www.sc.edu/policies/ppm/staf626.pdf) stresses, “The University of South Carolina strives to
maintain an educational community that fosters the development of students who are ethical, civil and
responsible persons.” 

Title IX and Gendered Pronouns

This course affirms equality and respect for all gendered identities and expressions. Please don’t hesitate
to correct me regarding your preferred gender pronoun and/or name if different from what is indicated
on the official class roster. Likewise, I am committed to nurturing an environment free from
discrimination and harassment. Consistent with Title IX policy, please be aware that I as a responsible
employee am obligated to report information that you provide to me about a situation involving sexual
harassment or assault. 

Values
Two core values, inquiry and civility, govern our class. Inquiry demands that we all cultivate an open
forum for exchange and substantiation of ideas. Strive to be creative, to take risks, and to challenge our
conventional wisdom when you see the opportunity. Civility supports our inquiry by demanding
ultimate respect for the voice, rights, and safety of others. Threatening or disruptive conduct may result
in course and/or university dismissal. Civility also presumes basic courtesy: please be well rested, on
time, and prepared for class, which includes time for a restroom stop before (not during) class and
silencing all personal devices. 
My perspective is that we never cease being students of this world, so I believe that attentive, reflective
people always have something to learn from others. Good discussions can be energetic and passionate
but are neither abusive nor offensive. Vibrant, vigorous inquiry derives from discussions that:
· challenge, defend, and apply different ideas, theories, perspectives, and skills, 
· extend a body of knowledge into different arenas and applications, and 
· result in a synergy that compels us to seek resolution to these discussions. 
Course Communication:

I will be communicating with you regarding grades and assignments. If you need to get in touch with
me, the best method is via email. Generally, I will reply to emails within 24 hours and will provide
feedback on assignments within 48 hours.

If you are having trouble with this course or its material, you should contact me via email to discuss the
issues ([email protected]).

Emails will be sent your email address. In addition, announcements may be posted in Blackboard. If
you primarily use another email account, you should make sure that the Blackboard account is linked to
that address. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email account works properly in order to receive
mail.

Disability Services

Student Disability Resource Center (http://www.sa.sc.edu/sds/): The Student Disability Resource

Center (SDRC) empowers students to manage challenges and limitations imposed by disabilities. 

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me to discuss the logistics of any accommodations
needed to fulfill course requirements (within the first week of the semester). In order to receive
reasonable accommodations from me, you must be registered with the Student Disability Resource
Center (1705 College Street, Close-Hipp Suite 102, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-6142). Any student
with a documented disability should contact the SDRC to make arrangements for appropriate
accommodations.

Student Success Center

In partnership with USC faculty, the Student Success Center (SSC) offers a number of programs to
assist you in better understanding your course material and to aid you on your path to success. SSC
programs are facilitated by professional staff, graduate students, and trained undergraduate peer leaders
who have previously excelled in their courses. Resources available to you in this course may include:

· Peer Tutoring: You can make a one-on-one appointment with a Peer Tutor

(www.sc.edu/success). Drop-in Tutoring and Online Tutoring may also be available for this
course. Visit their website for a full schedule of times, locations, and courses.

· Supplemental Instruction (SI): SI Leaders are assigned to specific sections of courses and hold
three weekly study sessions. Sessions focus on the most difficult content being covered in class.
The SI Session schedule is posted through the SSC website each week and will also be
communicated in class by the SI Leader.

· Peer Writing: Improve your college-level writing skills by bringing writing assignments from
any of your classes to a Peer Writing Tutor. Similar to Tutoring, you can visit the website to
make an appointment, and to view the full schedule of available drop-in hours and locations.
 · Success Consultations: In Success Consultations, SSC staff assist you in developing study
skills, setting goals, and connecting to a variety of campus resources. Throughout the semester, I
may communicate with the Student Success Center regarding your progress throughout the
semester, which indicates your instructor is concerned about your progress in this course. If
contacted by the Student Success Center, please schedule a Success Consultation right away.
Referrals are not punitive, and any information shared by your professor is confidential and
subject to FERPA. Student Success Center services are offered to all UofSC undergraduates at
no additional cost. Please call 803-777-1000, visit www.sc.edu/success, or come to the Student
Success Center in the Thomas Cooper Library (Mezzanine Level) to check schedules and make
appointments.

SSC services are offered to all USC undergraduates at no additional cost. You are invited to call the
Student Success Hotline at (803) 777-1000, visit the SSC website (www.sc.edu/success), or stop by the
SSC in the Thomas Cooper Library on the Mezzanine Level to check schedules and make
appointments. 

Writing Center

Writing Center (http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/write/university-writing-center)

This course has many of writing assignments. The University Writing Center is an important resource
you should use! It's open to help any USC student needing assistance with a writing project at any stage
of development. The main Writing Center is in Byrnes 703.

University Library Resources

University Libraries Resources (sc.edu/libraries)

· University Libraries has access to books, articles, subject specific resources, citation help, and
more. If you are not sure where to start, please Ask a Librarian!  Assistance is available at
sc.edu/libraries/ask. 
· Remember that if you use anything that is not your own writing or media (quotes from books,
articles, interviews, websites, movies – everything) you must cite the source in MLA (or other
appropriate and approved) format.

Counseling Services

Counseling Services (https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/student_health_services/medical-

services/counseling-and-psychiatry/index.php): The University offers counseling and crisis services as
well as outreach services, self-help, and frequently asked questions.

Mental Health
If stress is impacting you or getting in the way of your ability to do your schoolwork, maintain
relationships, eat, sleep, or enjoy yourself, please reach out to any of our mental health resources.
Counseling & Psychiatry offers individual and group counseling and psychiatric services. You can
schedule an appointment at (803) 777-5223 or on MyHealthSpace. You can also call after-hours for
crisis counseling. Wellness Coaching can help you improve in areas related to emotional and physical
wellbeing, such as sleep, resiliency, balanced eating and more. Wellness Coaching appointments can be
made by calling 803-777-6518. or on MyHealthSpace. Most of these services are offered at no cost as
they are covered by the Student Health Services tuition fee. For all available mental health resources,
check out sc.edu/mentalhealth.

Academic Integrity

You are expected to practice the highest possible standards of academic integrity. Any
deviation from this expectation will result in a minimum academic penalty of your failing the
assignment, and will result in additional disciplinary measures. This includes improper citation
of sources, using another student's work, and any other form of academic misrepresentation.

The first tenet of the Carolinian Creed is, "I will practice personal and academic integrity."

Below are some websites for you to visit to learn more about University policies:

Carolinian Creed (http://www.sa.sc.edu/creed)

Academic Responsibility (http://www.sc.edu/policies/staf625.pdf)
Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (https://www.sa.sc.edu/academicintegrity/)
Information Security Policy and Standards
(https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/division_of_information_technology/security/policy/
universitypolicy/)