Comparative Animal Physiology - BIOL 353
Comparative Animal Physiology - BIOL 353
Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course
Common Course ID: BIOL 353
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait
Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a biological sciences course for undergraduate or graduate students by Dr. George Brusch IV at California State University San Marcos. The open textbook provides students with accessible, affordable, and customizable learning resources that enhance their educational experience. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to reduce the financial burden of educational materials, making high-quality resources more accessible to all learners. Most student access the open textbook in their university Canvas page and through the internet.
Comparative Animal Physiology - BIOL 353
Brief Description of course highlights: Animal Physiology is the study of how animals function at all levels of biological organization. To understand function we need to integrate processes that occur at the molecular and cellular level, tissue and organ system level and whole animal level. All animals share the challenge of acquiring resources (e.g. nutrients, oxygen, water) and removing waste (e.g. unused food, carbon dioxide) to maintain homeostasis, but there are many different pathways to achieve these needs. Comparative Animal Physiology will cover the major physiological systems and how they are integrated to achieve homeostasis. The course will explore the diverse physiological adaptions used by different animal taxa to function in a variety of environments. Lectures will focus on physiological function, including nervous control, metabolism, thermoregulation, respiration, circulation and ionoregulation, and labs will give hands-on experience to test the principles learned in class. Prerequisites: For BIOL majors: BIOL 210, 211 and 215 with grades of C or better, or enrollment in the Biological Sciences graduate program. For BIOCHEM majors: BIOL 210, 211, and CHEM 275 with grades of C or better.
Student Population: Most students who take this course are junior or senior biology or biotechnology students. For BIOL majors: BIOL 210, BIOL 211, and BIOL 215 with grades of C (2.0) or better, or enrollment in the Biological Sciences graduate program. For BIOCHEM majors: BIOL 210, BIOL 211, and CHEM 275 with grades of C (2.0) or better.
Learning Outcomes for the course: Students who successfully complete this course should:
- Understand basic principles of the major physiological systems
- Understand how animals meet their energy demands and respond to environmental changes
- Appreciate the diversity of physiological mechanisms present in a wide range of animal taxa
- Apply physiological principles to understand different situations that animals may encounter
- Be able to articulate their knowledge of animal physiology to others
- Gain an appreciation for collaboration and discussion with fellow students
- Be able to discuss some of the bioethical dilemmas associated with modern molecular biology research and develop scientifically informed opinions/arguments about these issues.
Key challenges faced and how resolved: I completely removed any type of textbook from this course. We cannot, however, cover absolutely everything in detail during our ~3 hours of class time each week. It is much easier to just assign extra textbook pages or chapters but to make this course no-cost I’ve needed to spend considerable amounts of time creating detailed supplementary materials for the students to access. Because I aim to make this no cost, this also means I need to make the material from scratch so there is no licensing issues. This took time and I had to be very patient. I had planned to make this course no cost the first semester I taught it and I needed to slow down, breath, and admit that it was going to take more time to truly make this a quality, no-cost course.
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Comparative Animal Physiology
Please provide a brief description of the textbook, OER or Low-Cost option (including anything relevant to your choice) I created lecture presentations, handouts, worksheets, practice quizzes, and study-guides from scratch. All of these materials are available to students enrolled in the course and there is no expiration date on the Canvas container, although students might lose access once they graduate. I also made all files downloadable so students can keep them indefinitely if they wish.
Please provide a link to access the resource: Please email George Brusch (gbrusch@csusm.edu) if you want access to any of the course materials.
Student access: I provide detailed power points, study guides, practice exams, and critical thinking questions to students through their Canvas website.
Supplemental resources: I provide detailed power points, study guides, practice exams, and critical thinking questions to students through their Canvas website. There is also a class set of The Dissection of Vertebrates available in the lab for students to use.
Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook. I used to ask students to purchase the 5th edition of Animal Physiology by Hill. That textbook was typically ~$130 new or ~$70 to rent for the semester.
License: For access to the classroom resources, interested parties can contact George Brusch directly via email: gbrusch@csusm.edu
OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Please provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost. My major motivation for using an open-source textbook is because it is free. This alleviates the financial burden on students, making education more accessible and equitable.
How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I was trained as an animal physiologist so I was fortunate to know the important information going in. It took a fair amount of time going through other textbooks to pick and choose the type of information and how to deliver the content. I used other professors lectures as a guide for the major topics and built up my resources from there.
Sharing Best Practices: Be patient! This process can take a significant amount of your time. Don’t push it too much and remember that once you’ve made your materials, they are 100% yours to edit as you see fit.
Describe any challenges you experienced, and lessons learned. The time it took to create all of the resources students would need was significant and much more than I anticipated. I learned to slow down. I didn’t want to rush it and create a lower-quality no-cost course. I am very glad that I took a ~year to develop all of the materials so that my students were getting the highest quality of educations while still being no cost.
Instructor Name - Dr. George A Brusch IV
I am an Assistant Professor at the California State University San Marcos. 
Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.csusm.edu/profiles/index.html?u=gbrusch
Please describe the courses you teach: I teach introductory biology courses, animal physiology, and a variety of upper division physiology electives.
Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching. I love teaching and have dedicated my career to it—I get to educate and learn at the same time. I believe that my ultimate goal as an educator is to inspire a love of learning, foster critical thinking, and keep students engaged throughout the process. I have found, through trial and error, that the best way to avoid glassy-eyed students during a course is a mixture of content delivered via slides, models, drawings, and discussion, intermixed with videos, songs, and corny jokes delivered in a way that edu-tains students (i.e., educates and entertains). I have learned that to effectively reach students I need to remain malleable in my teaching style, and I rely on a variety of techniques in and out of the classroom to engage my students, including potentially embarrassing myself as we work through difficult concepts. Some students need contact in office hours, others thrive in the laboratory, and I have to respect that everyone can have a slightly different learning style.