BIOL 2025 Medical Terminology

The sciences have their own unique language and over ninety percent of the vocabulary comes from Greek and Latin roots. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the Greek and Latin elements used to construct biomedical terminology in order to gain a better understanding of the words etymologies and meanings. Students will leave this course with: a basic knowledge of medical and clinical terminology broadly relating to human anatomy and physiology, including terminology pertaining to diagnosis and pathophysiology; an understanding of biomedical roots, suffixes, prefixes, and combined forms; a knowledge of how to construct biomedical terms; distinguish common medical abbreviations and acronyms; develop an active vocabulary of selected medical terms. This course will be a 100% on-line, asynchronous experience. Evaluation of successful mastery will include weekly, pre assigned exercises and quizzes. There will be 2-3 presentation assignments using Flip Grid software translating case studies, and a final exam.

Course overview

Department
Biology
School
MCAS
Credits
2
Level
Undergraduate
Offered
Annually

Course evaluations

Response-weighted averages from Boston College’s official course evaluations (Avalanche/Blue).

Course rating
4.24 / 5 · Very Good
51 responses
Instructor rating
4.44 / 5 · Very Good
51 responses
Terms evaluated
4
Most recent: Summer 2025

Scales: overall ratings run from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent); agreement questions from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); weekly effort from 1 (up to 1 hour) to 5 (10 or more hours).

Evaluations by term and instructor
TermInstructorCourse overallInstructor overallWell organizedClear learning objectivesIntellectually challengingHelpful assignmentsApplicable beyond courseAttendance necessaryWeekly effortResponses
Summer 2025Lynn Dibenedetto4.44.54.74.84.44.54.93.44–6 hrs/week14 of 18
Summer 2024Lynn Dibenedetto4.44.74.74.94.24.54.73.97–9 hrs/week17 of 21
Summer 2023Lynn Dibenedetto—————————14 of 19
Summer 2022Lynn Dibenedetto3.74.43.74.04.04.24.83.57–9 hrs/week6 of 13

Data freshness

Course and evaluation data last updated 2026-10-09. Source details and limitations are documented in Data Sources and Methodology.

Instructors

  • Lynn Dibenedetto
    Summer 2026, Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022 · Official rating 4.44/5

Sections

  • Section 01
    Summer 2026 · Lynn Dibenedetto · On-line Asynchronous · Offered
  • Section 02
    Summer 2026 · Lynn Dibenedetto · On-line Asynchronous · Offered