Course Syllabus

Course description

Advanced plant propagation techniques, emphasizing native plants, propagation for restoration projects, and unique problems associated with providing appropriate plant material for restoration or conservation purposes. Emphasizes greenhouse and fieldwork, and includes lectures, field trips, and a class project. Recommended: ESRM 411, which may be taken concurrently.

Instructors

Professor: Dr. Jon Bakker
Office: Room 036, Merrill Hall, Center for Urban Horticulture
Phone: 206-221-3864
Email: esrm412@uw.edu
Office Hours: Fridays, 10:30 am to noon.  Access via Zoom.

TA: Arthur Hsu
Email: hwhsu@uw.edu
Office Hours: Please make an appointment via email 

Course Goals

The goals of this course are that:

1. Students will recognize and appreciate the many facets of the plant production process.
2. Students will develop skills necessary to set up and operate a low-cost native plant production system.  Nursery and greenhouse skills and techniques will be discussed.
3. Students will become familiar with information resources about native plant propagation. 

Course Structure

This is a hybrid course: videos, readings and notes must be studied ahead of time, allowing class time to build directly on them.  We meet on Zoom every Wednesday afternoon.  Our class is scheduled from 1:30 to 4:20 pm Pacific time, but I anticipate that we will only meet for a portion of this time each week.

Course Webpage

This Canvas site will be updated as necessary.

Course Text and Other Resources

There are two required texts:

Dumroese, R.K., T. Luna, and T.D. Landis (editors). 2008. Nursery manual for native plants: a guide for tribal nurseries. Agriculture Handbook 730. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC. 302 p. Online at https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_series/wo/wo_ah730.pdf.

Wilkinson, K.M., T.D. Landis, D.L. Haase, B.F. Daley, and R.K. Dumroese (editors). 2014. Tropical nursery manual: a guide to starting and operating a nursery for native and traditional plants. Agriculture Handbook 732. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC. 376 p. Online at https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_series/wo/wo_ah732.pdf.

Much material is the same in both texts.  We will primarily use the newer one (Wilkinson et al. 2014) but some elements that are less relevant in the tropics receive more attention in Dumroese et al. (2008).

We will also use articles from the primary literature.  A list of additional recommended resources is available here.

Grading / Assessment

Since students learn in a variety of ways, we use a variety of assessment techniques:

• Written Responses - 20%
• Quizzes - 20%
• Online Participation - 20%
• Plant Propagation Protocols (3) - 30%
• Final exam - 10%

Grades will be posted in Canvas.  Grading uses the standard grading scale available here.

Written Responses: Students will periodically be responsible to prepare a short written response based on asynchronous elements of the course. These responses will be due at the end of the calendar week focused on that topic. Late reports will be penalized ten percent per day.

Quizzes: We will begin classes with a short quiz to assess understanding of the assigned notes and readings.  Canvas provides a discussion board and chat window that you are welcome to use to prepare by discussing concepts together (you are also welcome to use them for other course-related items).

Online Participation: Active engagement is important during the synchronous class sessions.  There will be periodic short polls to keep you engaged (these also provide variety and feedback).  Some polls will ask opinions (no wrong answers) and will be graded 0 (did not do it) or 1 (participated).  Other polls will be factual (there is a correct answer) and will be graded 0 (did not do it), 1 (did it,  but wrong answer), or 2 (did it, correct answer). 

Plant Propagation Protocols: Each student will develop propagation protocols for three species of their choice. Protocol details are available here. Late protocols will be penalized ten percent per day.

Final Exam: The final exam is scheduled for Monday, June 8, from 6:30 to 8:20 pm. It will cover the entire course, including readings.  Format is still being determined.

Course Policies

Academic Integrity—At the University level, you must do your own scholarly work.  Presenting anyone else’s scholarly work (which can include written material, exam answers, graphics or other images, and even ideas) as your own, without proper attribution, is considered academic misconduct.

Plagiarism, cheating, and other misconduct are serious violations of the University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478‐121). I expect that you will know and follow the university’s policies on cheating and plagiarism. Any suspected cases of academic misconduct will be handled according to University of Washington regulations. For more information, see the College of the Environment Academic Misconduct Policy website and the University of Washington Community Standards and Student Conduct website.

Attendance and Participation—This course is designed to maximize your learning of the subject matter and advance your skills through a variety of activities. Therefore, my attendance policy is aimed at supporting these educational goals.

• Assignments designed to help you prepare for class (e.g., readings, homework due in class) will not be accepted after the due date and time.
• Work scheduled to be presented or performed in class (e.g., presentations, leading discussions) will not be accepted after the due date and time.
• Writing and assignments (turned in late without prior approval) will incur sanctions of 10% for each day late, starting from the due time. For example, an assignment handed in on the due date but after the appointed time will incur a late penalty of 10%. I do not accept assignments later than nine days after the due date.
• Excused absences. My attendance policies are flexible only under specific circumstances. Excused absences are religious holidays, pre-approved professional activities, injury or illness of student or immediate family member. Verification of these events will be needed. Notification of anticipated absences must occur as early as possible.

Access and Accommodations—Your experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.

If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

Religious Accommodations—Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

Online Privacy—The UW is committed to respecting individuals’ privacy. By choosing to continue to use this UW website, you agree to the UW’s collection and use of personal information and non-personal information as described in UW's Online Privacy Statement (Links to an external site.). 

Website Usage—The UW website terms and conditions of use statement is available here.