Eight weeks. Online. Built to make it possible.
This is your course home for BIO 304 Human Anatomy and Physiology. The pace is real and the design is built to scaffold the effort. Four pre-work days a week (reading, fill-in-the-blank notes, video, then flashcards), one lab-and-discussion Wednesday, and a quiz that opens Friday and closes Sunday. Start with the syllabus, then take it one week at a time.
Course
BIO 304: Human A&P
Institution
American River College
Format
Fully online, asynchronous
Term
Summer 2026, 8 weeks
First day
Monday, June 8, 2026
Last day
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Instructor
Dr. Sharilyn Rennie
Textbook
OpenStax A&P 2e (free)
Three habits that make this work.
Block 22 to 24 hours a week on your calendar
Treat them like shifts. Split between scheduled work and outside study.
Print the workbook before you sit down
Hand-labeling is the whole point. Printing mid-session kills the flow.
Email me before a deadline, not after
Solutions exist before. They do not exist after.
Same rhythm, every week.
Four pre-work days, one Wednesday lab-and-discussion day, one Friday-to-Sunday quiz window. Spaced recall practice runs in the background every day.
The cardiovascular and renal weeks have more moving parts than the others. Schedule them with extra runway.
The whole course, week by week.
Each card carries the week's topics and quick jumps to the pre-work hub, the discussion thread, and the lab workbooks. Click into the syllabus for the day-by-day flow grid.
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01Week 1 · Jun 8 to Jun 14
Foundations, Cell, Membrane Transport
Levels of organization, anatomical terminology, body regions, homeostasis and feedback, cell structure and organelles, membrane transport.
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02Week 2 · Jun 15 to Jun 21
Tissues & Integument
Epithelial tissue classification, connective tissues, muscle and nervous tissue overview, skin structure and layers, skin functions and accessory structures.
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03Week 3 · Jun 22 to Jun 28
Skeletal System
Bone tissue and bone growth, the axial skeleton, the appendicular skeleton, joints and body movements.
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04Week 4 · Jun 29 to Jul 5
Muscle & Nervous System Intro
Skeletal muscle microanatomy, motor units and muscle mechanics, sliding filament and the cross-bridge cycle, neurons and resting membrane potential, action potentials and synaptic transmission.
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05Week 5 · Jul 6 to Jul 12
Nervous System & Endocrine
CNS organization, PNS and autonomic nervous system, reflexes, hormone mechanisms, and the major endocrine glands. Special senses are not covered this term. The endocrine lecture posts later this week.
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06Week 6 · Jul 13 to Jul 19
Blood & Cardiovascular
Blood composition and hemopoiesis, hemostasis and blood typing, heart anatomy and the cardiac cycle, cardiac conduction, blood vessels and hemodynamics.
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07Week 7 · Jul 20 to Jul 26
Immune, Respiratory, Digestive
Lymphatic system and innate immunity, adaptive immunity, respiratory anatomy and mechanics, gas exchange and transport, GI anatomy and motility, digestion and absorption.
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08Week 8 · Jul 27 to Aug 2
Renal, Fluid Balance, Reproductive
Kidney anatomy and glomerular filtration, tubular function, fluid electrolyte and acid-base balance, male and female reproductive systems, basics of pregnancy A&P.
Four components, four kinds of learning.
Pre-work engagement, lab workbooks, weekly discussions, and weekly quizzes. Full breakdown, weights, and grading scale are in the syllabus.
Three deadlines, every week.
Mark them on your calendar before week one. Late work earns zero points. DSPS letters in week one set up testing-time adjustments before your first deadline.
Friday 11:59 PM
Initial discussion post
Sunday 11:59 PM
Weekly quiz closes
Sunday 11:59 PM
All lab workbooks + discussion replies
In an 8-week course, falling one week behind is roughly equivalent to two weeks behind in a regular semester. The policy exists to protect your pace, not to punish you.
Where you actually do the work.
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Daily · one hub per week
Weekly pre-work hubs
Eight hubs, one per week. Each hub has the four pre-work days with topic links, the Wednesday catch-up note, and the weekend quiz window. The 40% engagement grade lives here. Pick the week from the cards below.
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Weekly
Discussions
All eight weekly discussion prompts in one place. Post Friday, reply Sunday.
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Reference
Textbook (OpenStax 2e)
Free, online or PDF. No purchase, no access code.
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Reference
Reading map
Which textbook section supports each topic, by day.
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Setup
Tech setup & Honorlock
Browser, webcam, microphone, quiet space. Do this before your first quiz.
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Setup
Submission directions
How and where to turn things in. Filename convention is here.
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Support
How to reach me
Forum, email, or Zoom. Three channels, three purposes.
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Read first
AI policy
What AI use is allowed, what isn't, and how detection works. Read this before the contract.
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Week 1
AI Honor Contract
Required, due Tuesday June 9. Sign and upload via Canvas.
Ready to begin? Open the syllabus.
The syllabus has the day-by-day flow grid, the full grading detail, every policy, and the resource index. Read it, open Week 1, and we begin June 8.
Open the syllabusLooking forward to a great summer with you. Dr. Sharilyn Rennie