Lecture 1 Intro to Biological Anthropology Part 1

Summary

In this introductory lecture for a biological anthropology course, the professor emphasizes the importance of integrating lecture and lab components for a comprehensive learning experience. He candidly discusses the challenges of online learning, his academic background in paleolithic archaeology, and the course's structure, which includes units on evolution, human skeletal anatomy, primate anatomy and behavior, and the human fossil record. The lecture also encourages students to engage in discussions and read the syllabus, highlighting the use of open educational resources for textbooks.

Takeaways

• 📚 The lecture is an introduction to biological anthropology, covering topics like human growth, development, genetics, physiology, anatomy, and evolution.
• 🔄 The instructor is re-recording some lectures to update content, including jokes and political references, to keep the material relevant and engaging.
• 🔬 The course integrates lecture and lab materials, emphasizing the importance of practical application of theoretical knowledge, despite the challenges of a virtual learning environment during a pandemic.
• 🏫 The speaker criticizes the college's structure for allowing lecture and lab components to be taken separately, advocating for their co-requisite nature to reinforce learning.
• 👨‍🏫 The instructor introduces himself as an adjunct professor with a background in paleolithic archaeology, having worked on various international excavations and projects.
• 🎓 He holds an ABD (All But Dissertation) status for his Ph.D., with two master's degrees and a bachelor's degree, and clarifies that he should not be referred to as 'doctor'.
• 💼 The script touches on the challenges faced by adjunct professors, including job insecurity, lack of benefits, and exploitation within the higher education system.
• 📝 The importance of reading the syllabus, checking emails regularly, and participating in discussions on the learning platform (Canvas) is emphasized for students.
• 📘 The course utilizes open educational resources (OER) for textbooks, making them freely available to students, which is highlighted as a positive aspect of the course.
• 🤝 The instructor encourages students to engage in discussions, use complete sentences, and strive for clear communication, acknowledging the challenges of non-native English speakers.
• 📈 The course is structured into four units focusing on different aspects of biological anthropology, including neo-Darwinian theory, human skeletal anatomy, comparative primate anatomy and behavior, and the human fossil record.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the lecture?

The main topic of the lecture is the introduction to biological anthropology, covering aspects of human biology such as growth, development, genetics, physiology, anatomy, and evolution.

Why does the lecturer mention re-recording some of the lectures?

The lecturer mentions re-recording some of the lectures because they wanted to update the content, remove outdated jokes or political references, and provide a new version of the lecture.

What is the relationship between the lecture and lab components of the course?

The lecture and lab components are intertwined and are meant to reinforce each other, with the lab serving as a way to apply the knowledge gained in the lecture through practical exercises.

How does the lecturer feel about the college allowing students to take lecture and lab components separately?

The lecturer believes that taking the lecture and lab components separately is not an ideal plan, as they are meant to complement each other, and this separation can detract from the learning experience.

What challenges does the lecturer identify with virtual labs during a pandemic?

The lecturer identifies that virtual labs lack the hands-on experience and face-to-face interaction that are important aspects of learning, making it difficult to fully engage in practical exercises and intellectual discourse.

What is the lecturer's stance on the use of technology in the classroom, such as digital whiteboards?

The lecturer believes that using technology like digital whiteboards can be useful for teaching, as it allows for visual aids and can enhance the learning experience.

What is the lecturer's academic background and experience?

The lecturer is an ABD (All But Dissertation) PhD candidate with two master's degrees and a bachelor's degree. They have worked as a paleolithic archaeologist, excavating sites, and analyzing stone tools, with experience in various countries.

What does the lecturer think about the current state of higher education?

The lecturer believes that higher education is being perverted into vocational training and that the focus should be on developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills rather than just job skills.

What are the lecturer's opinions on the use of open educational resources (OER) for textbooks?

The lecturer supports the use of OER for textbooks as they are free and accessible, allowing students to save money and have more resources for their education.

How does the lecturer plan to conduct office hours?

The lecturer plans to conduct office hours flexibly, offering them by appointment on various platforms such as Zoom, phone, or text, and is open to students' preferences regarding privacy during these sessions.

What expectations does the lecturer have for student participation in discussions and emails?

The lecturer expects students to write in complete sentences, use proper spelling and grammar, and make an effort to be understood, regardless of whether English is their first language.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Biological Anthropology Course

The speaker reintroduces themselves and outlines the structure of their biological anthropology course, emphasizing the interconnectedness of lecture and lab components. They express dissatisfaction with the college's policy of allowing students to take these components separately, arguing that they should be taken concurrently for reinforcement. The speaker also addresses the challenges of conducting labs in a pandemic and the importance of social interaction in learning. They mention their teaching style, which includes a mix of narrative, polemics, and Socratic questioning, and the use of slides and videos. The speaker also discusses the need for a new version of the lecture due to outdated content, including political jokes about Trump no longer being president.

05:02

🏫 Reflections on Higher Education and Adjunct Life

The speaker delves into the realities of being an adjunct professor, describing the part-time, non-salaried nature of the role with no job security or benefits. They critique the allocation of educational funding towards non-educational aspects like cafes and athletic programs instead of supporting instructors and materials. The speaker identifies themselves as an ABD (All But Dissertation) PhD candidate with two master's degrees, explaining the historical significance of the term 'doctor' in academia. They also touch on the importance of critical thinking and logical reasoning in higher education, expressing concern over the shift towards vocational training at the expense of intellectual development.

10:05

🌍 Adventures in Archaeology and Fieldwork Experiences

The speaker shares personal anecdotes from their career as a paleolithic archaeologist, discussing their work in excavating Neanderthal caves and analyzing prehistoric technology across various countries including France, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and Ethiopia. They describe the challenging yet rewarding nature of field archaeology, often involving long hours of work for little pay, and the personal sacrifices made in pursuit of academic careers. The speaker also provides contact information and office hours, emphasizing flexibility and the importance of student engagement for academic support.

15:05

🧗‍♂️ Combining Climbing Skills with Archaeological Exploration

The speaker recounts specific experiences where they applied climbing skills to archaeological work, such as accessing sea caves and mapping sites in high, difficult-to-reach locations. They share images of their work in various settings, from the Sahara Desert to the mountains of South Africa, highlighting the diverse techniques and tools used in the field, from simple digging to high-tech equipment. The speaker also humorously mentions the physical demands and occasional need for rest during strenuous fieldwork, emphasizing the hands-on and immersive nature of archaeological practice.

20:06

📘 Course Syllabus and Expectations

The speaker directs students to the course syllabus on Canvas, outlining the required textbooks, which are open educational resources available for free download. They stress the importance of regular communication through Canvas and email, advocating for clear and complete sentences in written communication. The speaker sets expectations for participation in discussions, encouraging students to challenge themselves and contribute thoughtfully to the academic discourse. They also introduce the course outline, which includes units on evolution, human skeletal anatomy, primate anatomy and behavior, and the human fossil record, and invite students to engage in introductory discussions to shape the course's social contract and group norms.

Keywords

💡Biological Anthropology

Biological Anthropology is the study of human biology, evolution, and variation. It is the theme of the video, as the lecturer introduces the course and its components. The lecturer mentions that it includes the study of growth and development, genetics, physiology, anatomy, and evolution, which are all integral to understanding human beings from a biological perspective. An example from the script is the discussion of the interconnection between lecture and lab components in reinforcing the knowledge of biological anthropology.

💡Lecture and Lab

The terms 'lecture' and 'lab' refer to two different but intertwined educational components. Lectures are traditional classroom teaching sessions, while labs are practical, hands-on sessions. The lecturer emphasizes the importance of both in reinforcing each other, with the lab applying concepts learned in the lecture. The script mentions that the college allows students to take them separately, which the lecturer disagrees with.

💡Pandemic

The 'pandemic' refers to the global outbreak of a disease, in this case, COVID-19. The lecturer discusses the impact of the pandemic on education, specifically the shift to virtual learning environments. This has affected the way labs are conducted, making hands-on experiences and face-to-face interactions more challenging, as highlighted in the script.

💡Evolution

Evolution is a fundamental concept in biology, referring to the change in heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. The lecturer mentions the modern synthetic theory of evolution as one of the units of study in the course, emphasizing its importance in understanding human biology and our place in the natural world. The script also includes a discussion of how our biology changes over time, which is evolution.

💡Skeletal Anatomy

Skeletal Anatomy is the study of the structure and function of the skeletal system. It is one of the key areas of study in the course, as understanding the human skeleton is crucial to biological anthropology. The script mentions it as part of the course outline, indicating its importance in learning about human biology.

💡Primate Anatomy and Behavior

This concept refers to the study of the physical structures and behaviors of primates, which includes humans and our closest relatives. The lecturer mentions comparative primate anatomy and behavior as a unit in the course, which helps students understand the similarities and differences between humans and other primates, as well as our evolutionary history.

💡Human Fossil Record

The 'human fossil record' consists of the physical evidence of human evolution found in the form of fossils. It is a significant part of the course, as it provides direct evidence of our ancestors and helps reconstruct the history of human evolution. The lecturer describes it as the 'payoff' of the course, indicating its importance in understanding our biological past.

💡Adjunct

An 'adjunct' is a part-time faculty member at a college or university, who is not on a tenure track and typically does not receive benefits. The lecturer identifies himself as an adjunct, explaining the nature of adjunct positions in higher education, including the lack of job security and benefits, which is a reality for many instructors.

💡Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are freely available for use, adaptation, and distribution. The lecturer mentions OER when discussing the required textbooks for the course, which are freely downloadable PDFs, making education more accessible and affordable for students.

💡Syllabus

A 'syllabus' is a document outlining the content, objectives, and structure of an academic course. The lecturer emphasizes the importance of reading the syllabus, which is available on Canvas, to understand the course requirements, expectations, and organization.

💡Discussion Forums

Discussion forums are online platforms where students can engage in academic discussions, share ideas, and collaborate. The lecturer encourages students to actively participate in the discussion forums, particularly the 'meet and greet' and 'group norms' discussions, to foster a sense of community and set expectations for the course.

Highlights

Introduction to Biological Anthropology course, emphasizing the intertwined nature of lecture and lab components.

Critique of allowing students to take lecture and lab courses separately, arguing for their co-requisite structure.

Discussion on the limitations of virtual labs during a pandemic, highlighting the importance of hands-on experience.

Instructor's personal anecdotes about re-recording lectures to update content and jokes, including political references.

Emphasis on the importance of socializing and intellectual discourse in higher education, despite online challenges.

Introduction of the instructor's background as an ABD PhD candidate with a focus on paleolithic archaeology.

Description of the instructor's fieldwork experiences in various countries, including excavations and surveying.

Critique of the adjunct system in higher education, discussing the lack of job security and benefits.

Clarification of the term 'ABD' and the instructor's academic credentials, including two master's degrees.

Discussion on the practical applications of anthropology, including the instructor's work with prehistoric technology.

Insight into the challenges and rewards of field archaeology, including physical labor and academic debt.

Introduction of the course syllabus and its importance, with a call to action for students to read it.

Emphasis on the use of open educational resources (OER) for required textbooks, making education more accessible.

Instructions for students to engage with the course platform (Canvas) and the importance of regular communication.

Expectations for student participation in discussions, including the use of complete sentences and proper grammar.

Course outline detailing the four main units of study: Neo-Darwinian theory, human skeletal anatomy, comparative primate anatomy and behavior, and the human fossil record.

Encouragement for students to participate in meet and greet discussions to foster a sense of community.

Instructor's commitment to flexible office hours and various communication methods to support student needs.

Transcripts

record good day

everybody how's everyone doing hope

you're all doing well uh i'm back

and uh i've actually got a full-on

proper lecture here for you now uh i

think i've

uh posted already some of my earlier

lectures but i'm re-recording some of

them

uh because i think i wanted to do them a

little bit different or just do them

again

or just kind of give you a new version

of it because uh

i probably made some outdated jokes or

some political references

uh unfortunately trump's no longer

president and so some of those jokes

don't make any sense anymore

because uh yeah now we actually have

somebody qualified for the job

uh sorry for all you trump voters out

there but not not not sorry

actually so let's talk about

uh our course right this is the

introduction of biological anthropology

now

if you haven't caught on by now

sometimes i mix and match my lecture in

lab materials because guess what

even though lecture and lab are separate

courses with different crns and

different permission numbers and

different grades and different

registrations

the fact is they're intertwined

officially they're co-requisites but for

some really dumb reason

or a set of kind of misguided reasons to

be

actually specific and precise about it

uh our college lets you take them

separately i think that's a bad plan

uh lecture lab components should

probably go together because they're

meant to reinforce each other or rather

the lab is a way to apply

with some practical sort of like

exercises the knowledge that we're

working on building in lecture

and of course during a pandemic in a

virtual environment

especially one that everybody's actually

really that well prepared for

let's face it labs are kind of weird

they don't make as much sense

nobody likes doing computer labs or if

you do that's cool but like you're not

getting what you're supposed to be

getting out of it which is hands-on

experience

with our material and also some

face-to-face interaction with each other

because guess what socializing working

in groups working together talking to

people

having substantive intellectual

discourse and debate those are very

important skills that are much more

difficult to do online

but this is where we are in any case i'm

mixing things

our first few lectures maybe one two and

three they're really

literally the same for both of my

courses lecture and lab because

it's important to get the framework set

up for everybody and not everybody in

lab is in lecture so there needs to be

some kind of remedial material available

to them

as we progress lectures are going to be

more kind of

our typical narrative sort of situation

i'm going to be

doing some polemics and some socratic

stuff i'm going to be talking over some

slides we're going to watch some videos

i might

write some things on a whiteboard or on

a digital uh

like digital whiteboard um which i'm

about to kind of try to set up

i just bought a new laptop because my

laptop died just got a new phone because

my phone died

um just got a new webcam because my

laptop died and i needed to kind of get

some things going

but uh i gotta get my laptop set up and

connect that new digital whiteboard so

i'm gonna draw some things for you at

some points and write some things on the

board

because i actually think that's really

useful uh for now we're gonna do some

talking

talking over some slides you can read

these slides you can listen to the

talking

uh you can watch it multiple times you

can play it fast you can play it slow

[ __ ] you could re-edit it into a tick

tock video for all i care

though maybe let me know if you're gonna

do that um

so let's get going intro to

bioanthropology intro to biological

anthropology

biological meaning things that have to

do

with our biology as humans so growth and

development

uh genetics physiology anatomy

skeletal anatomy uh things that have to

do with our biology

include like trauma injury disease

forensics it includes

uh the way in which we reproduce which

is sexual reproduction which also

includes cellular biology

and fertilization and a variety of

related things it includes

uh how we age it includes how we

organize

our biologies in social groups

because that's a thing uh it includes

how our biology changes over time

which is kind of evolution and uh not

kind of it

is evolution uh i don't i don't ever

know where to look i'm not even sure

where my camera is okay my camera's

right here

but it's hard to look at the camera and

look at screen at the same time because

i'm trying to look at what i want to

read to you or what i want to talk about

so here little image here is actually

part of our

family tree i think it's homo habilis

us floresiensis erectus

one of our robust australopithecines and

then

looks like heidelbergensis and

neanderthals over there it's sort of a

little weird

there's a weird exaggeration there of uh

how tall and slender heidelbergensis is

versus how

short and stout neanderthal instances is

and a little bit weird there how

uh erectus is depicted in terms of his

uh

hairdo and facial features and a little

bit strange

kind of how modern humans are depicted

but you know whatever

like it's just a weird drawing i told

it's a little bit kind of like a usual

suspect sort of thing

uh since we can't really talk too much

about usual suspects because that's

canceled because

kevin space is an absolute piece of [ __ ]

as a human uh

i thought this was kind of a fun image

because it's kind of like a cool lineup

of a bunch of your old relatives

uh these guys are probably more

interesting at parties than your real

relatives are

well maybe at least the ones who could

talk

uh we don't really know i bet most of

them could talk at least

some of them or probably neanderthals

certainly could talk somehow

anyway uh let's look at some of this

if i can figure out how to make my

computer work so this is both our first

lecture and our first lab talk

i just want to talk some introductions

some ideas some anthropology some

science and evolution i've already

touched on these things a little bit

you're reading canvas pages which is

great you're doing discussions which is

awesome

uh where are you well during the intro

bio anthropology lecture in lab there's

the crn numbers for 300 and 301 this is

a virtual online distance learning

college life experience sort of ish

maybe

i'm really very clear about my opinions

on this i really don't think online

learning is legitimately

at the level that higher learning should

be

at for a variety of reasons pertaining

to the ways in which we can and

can't dig deeply into critical thinking

logical reasoning

and our discursive sort of like back and

forth exchange of ideas

i think those things abstract and sort

of you know

amorphous as they are are in a sense the

core

the absolute essential business of

higher learning

meaning college and university you're

not here necessarily

to learn job skills you're here to learn

thinking skills and the problem is we're

perverting higher education

into vocational training which

is not a bad thing right vocational

training is super important trust me

i've had a lot of

really amazing vocational experiences

right i do all sorts of like vocational

training programs i've got certificates

certifications credentials licenses and

permits for a variety of things

i've worked in many blue collar jobs

many trades

many crafts and uh i still do in fact

have side gigs doing things like that

with a variety of different kinds of

media

and i think that's not the point

the point is that this could be a thing

that it isn't because we're stuck in

this format and the thing that it could

be is actually a really important thing

which is flexing our brains in a way

that's above and beyond what we do in

certain other environments

or different than we do in certain other

environments

so who am i well i've talked a little

bit about this i'm your adjunct

i'm your professor i'm your instructor

well what's an adjunct i'm part-time

i'm not salaried right i get an hourly i

don't have benefits my job is never

guaranteed

right i get laid off from semester to

semester because like

things are under enrolled or on the low

guy on the totem pole at whatever campus

on that

i'm only paying for my classroom time

you should understand how higher

education works because

graduate students get exploited adjuncts

get exploited

uh administrators boards of trustees

endowments those

that's where all the money goes right

the money goes to cafes

cafeterias and gyms and athletic

programs not

to educational materials not to

educational tools

not to classroom spaces and certainly

not to our underpaid instructor core

i'm an abd phd candidate i'm not

actually a doctor so don't call me

doctor because i'm not a doctor and if

you were following the

ridiculous conservative media attacks on

jill biden not being real doctor well

i'm sorry

historically phds are the real doctors

medical doctors used to be called all

surgeons right

professional degrees like in medicine

and nursing

physical therapy um those doctorates

those were considered kind of a

vocational doctorate not

right a philosophical doctorate not a

scientific

or sort of intellectual academic

doctorate so actually joe biden's the

real doctor

uh and most of your medical doctors are

are the fake doctors

actually and uh medical doctors are only

called doctors mostly in the uk

and the us in other words commonwealth

places

uh most of say like the rest of the

world

treats phds as real doctors in any case

i'm not a doctor

i'm an all but done that's what abd

stands for phd candidate i do have two

master's degrees and a bachelor's

you can see those at the bottom from

upend and davis um

i used to be a functioning actual

practicing legitimate real world

paleolithic archaeologist i studied the

old stone age

i dug neanderthal caves literally not i

dig those they're cool but i literally

dig them like i excavate them right

uh i study prehistoric technology i'm a

stone tool analyst

right i've worked with neanderthal and

early modern human sites i've looked at

their various hunting behaviors and tool

technologies

um i've worked in france

morocco egypt south africa

ethiopia i've worked a little bit here

in the us too but that's just not like

really where my focus is i just did that

for money

and um i've run people's projects for

them i've supervised

sites and excavations i've done

logistics for expeditions and

excavations i've lived out of a tent

in the dirt in dorms and hostels and

uh cars and trucks more days than most

people

and uh i've probably spent cumulatively

several years of my life literally on

site in other countries doing this

probably for a four-year stretch between

i always forget when now maybe 2005 6

7 and 8 i was actually out of the

country more than i was

in it something like i already forget 17

out of 24 months during those four years

i was at or

or rather you know for a two year period

i think it was like 17 out of 24 months

and then the other

the other two years it was like 12 out

of the 24 months so something like 29

out of 48 months for four years i was

out of the country

uh it's a rough but very rewarding life

field archaeology we don't get paid very

much we're glorified hole diggers in a

lot of ways

um and most of us when we do academic

archaeology

we if we're lucky get fed and housed

housing often just being a space put up

your tent

we maybe have a shower uh we maybe

have somebody cooking for us

but a lot of us are really there on our

own dime so to speak

right if you're in a supervisory

graduate student research or scientific

team position

then maybe your airfare is paid maybe

you get a tiny stipend but for many of

those years i just worked six or seven

days a week for months on end

for no pay just for food and a place to

pitch a tent and maybe a plaintiff

which is its own kind of privilege in a

way but

a lot of us go into deep debt over that

trying to make our needs

in in our own academic careers

and i definitely did go into debt over

that so here's my contact info on office

hours

that's me steve schwartz m a abd phd

candidate

email i have my los rios and my cr

college emails on here because i'm

teaching in multiple places in different

semesters and i just need to change the

slide

use my los rios email i'm checking that

more often

office hours i'm going to probably set

some standard ones but for now i'm just

going to kind of change them up every

week

uh because i want more people to be able

to come to them

i'm going to do some optional zoom

office hours they've given us

instructions about distance learning

which tell us that

all live zoom should be optional we

should only do asynchronous stuff

everything should be recorded so that's

what i'm doing

i'm happy to do office hours by

appointment on zoom on phone

on text whatever it is you guys want i

really don't care

uh i'd rather you just take advantage of

the help if you need it but you're gonna

have to come get me for it right

um if you're on zoom it's cool if you

put your

screen on because that's one cool way

for us to get to know each other but

if you don't want to have your screen on

for various reasons of like privacy

that's

fine i don't care like i don't need you

to do any of these weird like things

that some instructors are forcing you to

do i'm not going to make you use

proctorio

i'm not going to like nang or baby or

parent you because that's not my job

uh my pronouns are there i'm a he him

his cis hetero white

guy but i am very sympathetic to

or and to some extent empathetic with

uh whatever needs and concerns we all

have around these things

we're going to talk about some of these

issues in our course so it's important

that we kind of get some of those things

out there

uh here's me i don't know clockwise from

top left that's morocco

france france france this is also france

that's france that's mexico that's

morocco

a lot of archaeology is sitting on

buckets working on laptops staring at

artifacts some of it's using

complicated optical laser computer

technology some of it's building

scaffolding and this was me taking the

fun way down from the scaffolding which

you shouldn't do

it's not osha compliant and um

you know i was just showing off because

i was in the 20s

and you know doing ego stuff uh buckets

and shovels and dental tools and hole

digging and sometimes it's power tools

and breaking rocks

very flat to make nice clean sections

and sometimes we escape

and go rock climbing if that's your kind

of thing that's my thing this is the

alps

that's mexico uh this is california

here's the owens river valley outside of

bishop

here's me using my climbing skills in an

archaeology context i was brought on

this project in part

to be in charge of some of our high

angle access and rigging

to get into some sea caves this is me

here

in this upper right in cape town south

africa

at the top of lion's head i think

looking over the bay

here's me using climbing gear and

climbing skills to do some mapping on a

site to get back

up high on the cliff where we can no

longer get

even with a ladder because we wanted to

tie our excavations into an older

excavations

grid so that we could have comparable

data here's us

surveying in the sahara desert in egypt

you can see there's not much around for

miles out there and we've got a bunch of

portable gear with us

backpacks technology computers gps

we're surveying stuff we're looking

around we're sort of plotting things in

uh and some days at the end of uh this

might have been the end of a 20

kilometer walking day

which really isn't that much 20k that's

probably 12 13 miles or whatever it

works out to be but we were doing some

work

and uh i don't know i look pretty beat

in that photo i also look a lot

younger and skinnier that's a bummer huh

so some more me i don't know egypt

taking a look at our

portable computers like thinking about

things trying to get things mapped in

here

digging in some really loose sand in

south africa

studying some artifacts here in egypt in

the desert i like this photo because i'm

not even sure what's going on here i

appear to have two phones and mp3

players some portable speakers

a pencil in my hair and a marker and a

pen in my hand

i have no idea what's going on here but

i'm doing some serious work

um archaeology is not always comfortable

you can see how cramped i am here we're

working on our hands and knees we're

laying down we're tied in we got helmets

and gear

sometimes we get kind of tired and we're

sleeping on the job this was me

facilitating a tour of a very famous

site uh for a bunch of

the crew and i've been there many times

and so i was taking a siesta and they

pumped me

and here's me showing off again because

that's what we do

so enough about me let's talk about the

course

then let's talk about you so the course

we have a syllabus

it's on canvas i want you to kind of

pause go to the canvas

syllabus page read it the canvas

syllabus outlines some important points

thank you thank you thank you thank you

very much for actually reading the stuff

and now i'm going to go through some of

it so you can pause this here read it

come back

restart me and we'll talk about it so we

have some required books

whoa i don't know what just happened

there i'm trying to move

me and i just screwed up here we go

we're back so required textbooks if

you're in the lecture

you should have explorations which is an

open invitation to biological

anthropology it's insanely long it's

like 700 pages i don't expect you to

read a cover to cover

but it's open educational resources

which means

oer which means free downloadable pdf go

to that link

get it it's zero dollars you're welcome

uh the lab also has a free book it's

autumn cahoons version

of a lab manual that was previously

something you'd have to pay for when it

was written by samantha hens which is

what i

what i used to use your bookstore

probably has the hins book

the cahoon lab manual is printable you

can print it

uh you can download it you do whatever

you want with it

um just don't sell it these are open

access open educational resources they

don't cost anything

so now you have more money to buy poke

balls with and coffee you're welcome

canvas and email download canvas put the

app on your phone set up your

notifications

check it regularly check your email

every

damn day i don't understand people who

don't check their email every day

it doesn't make any sense to me it's

2021

i know gen z has different game plans

than

millennials and y'all together have

different plans than gen x does but

i don't know when email became something

we didn't check regularly

this is a job school is a job right it's

a job that you don't get paid for but

it's a job and at jobs we got to check

our communication streams

um when you write on discussion when

you're writing emails please write

full thoughts complete sentences uh

makes sense so i know what you're

talking about so that your colleagues

and classmates know what you're talking

about

spelling and grammar i understand can be

difficult for some people

they're going to be more difficult if

you're working in a second or third

language

i've done a lot of work in french i've

tried to work in spanish

uh working in french is hard writing

french is hard i've given tours i've

done simultaneous translation i've

edited things for french-speaking

colleagues

it gets harder when you're working in

the second language and i'm sympathetic

i understand that so

you know if english isn't your first

language i don't expect perfect grammar

and spelling

i just want you to make an effort to be

understood right so

do your best if you're a native speaker

do your best

like try to be understood right don't

write in text

speak don't write like it's a twitter

feed

don't write like it's a marketing an

exercise in marketing ad copy

right that's not what this is this is

science this is education this is

academia

challenge yourselves in the discussion

bring your a games

be smart be smarter show effort

um here's our course outline yeah that's

what i want

right this course has four units or

areas of study

right we've got the uh neo-darwinian

uh modern synthetic theory of evolution

um hold on one sec

we've got human skeletal anatomy we've

got the comparative primate anatomy and

behavior and the human fossil record

right the human fossil record is maybe

the punch line it's the payoff

but we gotta build up to it we got to

understand some evolution

get some vocabulary with the bones look

at the full evolutionary history of

primates

and then deal with the fossil record

what are we doing well

uh here's what we're doing right um

we're gonna do some intros and goals

talk about the social contract

look at our teaching philosophy talk

about anthro and evolution

do a little intro to science and then do

some cell biology and dna review

that's kind of like our high school

biology review that's our first week

right there

so who are you i want you guys to go hit

the meet and greet discussion room

add your thoughts to our group norms

discussion take an active role in

steering and shaping your own discussion

forums

then come back and i'll run through some

deep thoughts about what we're doing

here and do some goals and questions

i'm going to stop this video here and do

a second part to it just to keep it a

little shorter and

i really want to enforce that you guys

go to those meet and greet

and group norm discussions and fill

those out go get

acquainted with uh canvas and get that

stuff done

all right uh thanks everybody i

appreciate it

and i'll see you soon