The Basics

This is the “home page” for the class blog project.  Each student will create their own individual blog that will be linked to this page.  You will visit some “site” where a microbe can be discovered (sites are discussed below), you will take pictures (the more the better!), you will identify the species of the microbe and you will write four seperate blog posts about your microbe.  Each post having its own topic and instructions.

The four posts (more instructions will be given in the future about the length, topics and criteria of each post):

• First post: You will document your field experience at the site, talking about your experience, why you chose the microbe, and include pictures you took of the experience.
• Second post: This post documents the cell structure or your microbe.
• Third post: This post documents the life cycle of your microbe.
• Fourth post: This post documents one final aspect of your microbe.  This could be the ecology of the microbe/industrial application/etc (for non pathogens), or the disease and treatment (for pathogens).

Each post will be worth 15 points, and more info will be given about each assignment and what is expected.  10 points are available for the overall “look” of your blog, how much work you put into designing the page (pictures, videos, etc).  5 points are available for comments.  A student can earn 1 point per MEANINGFUL comment that they make on a classmate’s page (comments like “nice post” or an emoji do not count).  Comments can include statements or questions about either the microbe, or the blog post itself (ie, questions about how the blog was constructed)

The Sites

What sites can I visit? Excellent question!  Part of this project is to get out of your comfort zone and visit a “field site” where you can discover a microbe.  The following sites are pre-approved and you can pick any one you like (I may add more sites in the future as students suggest them – so keep checking!)

You only have to visit the site once.  While there, you’ll need to “find” a microbe.  Take a selfie so I know you were there, and as many pictures as you like of the site and of the microbe.  Talk to the people that work there about the microbe and collect information.  This will be your microbe for the research part of the project (details coming soon).  If you don’t know what species the microbe is, you can do a GIS to find microbes that match its appearance (good for identifying mushrooms!)

1. The CDC museum.  Didn’t know the CDC had a museum?  It does, and its pretty cool.  There is a permanent exhibit that tells the history of the CDC and has a lot of cool artifacts from some of their investigations, and there is a rotating exhibit … which right now is about EBOLA!  Admission is free.. but please be aware that they have some rules for entry.  You must have a state issued photo ID, go through a metal detector, and have the trunk of your car inspected (so take anything weird out!) This would be a good place to “discover” a pathogen.  You can also try on BSL 4 suits!  Here’s me in one:
2. The Georgia Aquarium.   This is a good place to discover marine microorganisms like algae, kelp, and the little protozoa that live inside coral.  Tickets = 39.95, and you can get a student discount at 29.99.  More info herehttp://studentcenter.gsu.edu/services/discount-tickets/
3. Fernbank Museum.  I HIGHLY recommend this site, as right now they are having a whole exhibit about the microbes found on and in the human body.  The Secret World Inside You runs until May 6, and its really amazing.  The Nature Walk would be a good place to discover mushrooms, lichens, molds, etc.  Tickets = 33.00.  
4. Stone Mountain, Arabia Mountain, or any other state park. Mushrooms, molds and lichens abound!  Tickets = free to several dollars (parking).
5. Tour a local brewery.  Yes, you heard me right… you are allowed to do your project at a brewery, provided that you can talk to someone there about their microbes. You may want to call ahead to see if they offer tours or if the brewmaster is there for questions.   We have a lot of locals to choose from: Sweetwater.  Three Taverns.   Blue Tarp.  Any other would be fine too.

If you would like to propose an alternative site, please just let me know and I will review it for approval

The Due Dates

• 3/22/18:  You must have completed your site visit, have your microbe chosen, have set up your blog and connected it to this page (instructions about blog setup are below)
• 3/29/18:  First Blog Post due 
• 4/5/18: Second Blog Post due
• 4/12/18:  Third Blog Post due
• 4/19/18:  Fourth Blog Post due
• 4/26/18:  All comments and adjustments to blog must be done.  Nothing will be graded past this date.

Creating Your Blog

Here are instructions to create your own blog:

1. Sign into sites.gsu.edu using your GSU email and password
2. Create a PERSONAL blog, and come up with a name for your blog (keep it clean please!). Do NOT leave your blog called “namenumber’s blog”
   1. If you already have a GSU personal blog, you can use that one for this project.
3. On your GSU blog, open up the dashboard
4. Click on “my class”
5. Click on “join a class”
6. Search for 3880blogproject in the search engine
7. request to be added to the Microbiology blog project page … I will accept you!

If you have never blogged before, it can be overwhelming.  Keep it simple at first, you can always add more later.  There are tutorials available here.

Feel free to ask any questions, you can also send an email to help@gsu.edu for tech support.