Summer I 2008 College Algebra
Course Orientation
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Course: |
Math 1314.1W1-1W2 |
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Instructor: |
Denise Brown |
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Email: |
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Phone: |
972-881-5880 |
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Fax: |
972-881-5619 |
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Office: |
J106 - Spring Creek Campus |
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Office Hours: |
W-R 1pm-3pm, Other times by appointment |
Thinkwell Registration:
Registering at Thinkwell
is quite simple.
·
Go
to the Thinkwell Website http://www.Thinkwell.com
·
Choose
Register
·
Select
Distance course
·
Select
·
Select
Collin County Community College District
·
·
Enter
Authorization code if you purchased one at the bookstore, I you are purchasing
one from Thinkwell, they will ask for a credit card
later.
·
Click
to accept the License Agreement. This
has to do with the CD-Roms that were required . Now the videos are streaming. No CD's are required.
the
option to purchase the CD's and companion workbook, both optional.
·
If
you already have a Thinkwell account, you are
repeating the course, enter your login and password, otherwise enter the
required information
·
You
will have a chance to edit your login information and if you have not paid you
can now enter your credit card information .
·
Once
you have registered go to the support
section and make sure you have the necessary plug-ins. You will need Flash, Acrobat Reader,
Quick-Time and Java.
The
class home page has many choices on the left-hand side of the page and across
the top. Below is a short paragraph
explaining each choice.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Every
time you log on to the Thinkwell Site you should
check the Announcements Section. I will post announcements for the class
there. When a new announcement has been posted you will see a
blinking red bell. If the announcement
is important, It will be displayed as soon as you login.
COURSE HOME
Course
Home is the home page for the class. It
contains the course calendar . Each
entry is dated and will be either a due date for a quiz or exam, or a chapter
to be completed for the week. Each
chapter is divided into subchapters, you can view them by placing the cursor on
a particular week. For example Week 1,
or chapter 1 (June 9-June 17) has thirteen subchapters (1.1- 13). Each subchapter is divided into several
topics. To access the topics you must
choose a subchapter. For example
subchapter 1.1 has one topics(1.1.1), subchapter 1.2 has three (1,2,1-1,2,3)
Included with each subchapter is a list of terms in the glossary that pertain
to the subchapter, a set of notes and transcripts for each topic in the
subchapter, and possibly animations, and or a list of formulas. Each topic has a tutorial, a page of notes,
several sample problems, Practice
Exercises, and additional materials including a written transcript of the
tutorial and any additional notes that I may post.
CHAPTER CHECKLIST
The
Chapter Checklist keeps track of what notes, animations, sample problems, and
videos you have accessed and completed. Practice Exercises and Quizzes are not
referenced on the Chapter Checklist.
VIDEO LIST
The
video list is a compilation of all of the tutorials. The are listed in order by chapter and weeks
according to course home. Each topic is
referenced with the length in minutes.
From
here you may choose any of the videos to watch.
DISCUSSION BOARD
The discussion board is where you can post
questions on the course and either you or I can posts answers to questions
posted. I have set up folders, on the Discussion Board, for posting
questions. There is a Welcome folder where each of you can introduce yourself
to the class. Once you register at the site please visit the discussion board
and leave a message introducing yourself to the class. There is a Syllabus
folder for questions about the syllabus and I will post information about the
ANIMATIONS
The
animations section contains a list of animations for the course along with its
location in Course Home. Each animation
is designed to complement a portion of certain topics.
RESOURCES
The
resources section contains documents and supplemental materials. I will be posting extra notes, Labs and exam
reviews here. These files are in pdf format.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.
GLOSSARY
The
glossary contains definitions of terms used in the course. Terms are also defined within each
subchapter. You can access the glossary
by either typing the word desired or choosing the first letter of the word and
finding it on the list.
EXAMS
The
Exams section will contain the labs, and
exams. The due dates are on Course Home and the Course Calendar. Each
lab will referenced by an availability date. This is not the due date. I will post the solutions to labs after lab
grades have been posted.
RECENT ACTIVITY
Recent activity lets you know the most recent
date you have accessed, notes, transcripts, animations, and documents from the resources section.
CONTACT US
This section contains information on how to contact Thinkwell Technical support. They are available by email. techsupport@thinkwell.com.
MYGRADES
All of
the grades that count towards your final grade will be posted in MyGrades. There will be a section for labs, exams, the final exam and
practice exercise points. Remember that
your final grade points will be calculated by adding the exams, the average of the best 6 labs, the practice
exercise points, and the final exam. Your
final grade will be determined from the scale given on the Course
Syllabus. Your grades will also be
posted in the WebCt gradebook.
MY ACCOUNT
My
Account has information pertaining to your account information such as your
user name, and password change.
COURSE INFORMATION
Course
Information contains the college, course name and professors name.
Think
about what is available to you in a regular "lecture" College Algebra
class.
Usually
the professor will lecture on a certain topic.
The class will practice with a few examples and you will have assigned
homework to complete for the next class.
At the beginning of the next class the professor will ask if there are
any questions about the homework.
The
following sections below explain how Thinkwell duplicates the classroom
TUTORIALS
The
tutorials replace a lecture that you would normally receive in a classroom
setting. From Course Home choose the
week, then the subchapter then the topic you need to view. Once you have choose
a topic you can watch the lecture
SAMPLE PROBLEMS
Each topic has a sample problem set. After viewing a tutorial you can choose to
view the sample problems. Several problems are posted with their
solutions. You would usually see these
type problems in any textbook.
NOTES
Each
topic has a set of notes that accompanies each tutorial. The key points and examples are included in
each set of notes
PRACTICE EXERCISES
There are a set of Practice Exercises, up to
10 problems, for each topic. These are
problems that I have chosen form a list that goes with each topic. Once you have viewed the tutorial, looked
over the sample problems and notes you may begin working on the Practice
Exercises. This is how it works. You will be given a problem. Work the problem and choose the best
answer. If you are stuck, several hints
are provided. You can skip that problem
and come back to later. Once you choose
an answer, the solution will be provided.
If you have any questions about a particular Practice Exercise problem you can either post your
question to the discussion board or please email me. Please refer to the chapter, subchapter,
topic, problem number format so I can easily locate the problem. For example problem number 2 on 1.2.3 is chapter 1, subchapter 2, topic 3. Remember that you will receive up to 15
points for COMPLETING the Practice Exercises for each unit.
How does
one proceed through the course? That
depends on your needs. Some students
might prefer to view the notes and look over the sample problems before
watching the tutorial or vice versa. You
may not need to view the tutorial at all after looking over the notes and
sample problems. If you look at Course Home
or the Course Calendar the semester has been divided into weeks. Each week there are chapters to
complete. Some weeks there will be exams
to take and labs to complete.
EXAMS
I have posted a set of review problems on the Resource Section. There are also some review problems in the Companion Worktext. I have listed suggested extra problems for your review on the Course Calendar.
You have the
following choices for taking exams.
1. You may take all exams including the final online. They will be in the Exams Section. These exams are timed. All exams and the final are 2 hours in length. I am given the length of time spent on each exam. If you go over the time limit you will lose points. For example suppose that an exam has 25 questions and you spent 2.5 hours instead of 2. 150minutes/25 questions = 6 min per question. 120 minutes/6 min/question = 20 questions. You will get zero points for the last 5 questions. Set a timer, and make sure you have a good connection. Most of the problems will be multiple choice with some short answer. You must answer the questions in the order given. You may not go back to any question . You must take each exam in one sitting. i.e, you cannot start the exam, work on it, log out and finish it later. No partial credit will be given. I have access to the day and times you are on Thinkwell and which sections you have open. Do not have any section open when you are taking an exam or I will assume that you are cheating and you will receive a zero for a grade. Forty eight hours after the due date I will assign the short answer points. You will be able to access you grade in MyGrades and in the gradebook on WebCt
2. You may take all exams at the Spring Creek Testing
Center Please email me and let me know if you plan to take exams at the Spring Creek Campus testing Center. Check the Discussion Board for the
3. If you do not live the vicinity of any of the CCCC testing centers you may take your exams, for an addtional cost, at another local college that has a testing center. You must contact them and give me the name and phone number of the person in charge.
LABS
There are 8 Lab assignments. I have put all of the labs in the Resources
section. On the Course Calendar I have assigned due dates for labs. Labs will
be completed online. After choosing a lab from the resources section,
print it out and complete it. When you are ready to enter the solutions
choose the appropriate Lab from the Exam section and enter your
solutions. You do not have to
complete the lab in one sitting. Once
you submit the lab you cannot go back and make any changes. If you need to make changes after submitting
it you can retake it, but you will have to enter all of the answers again.
Forty eight hours after the due date, I will assign the points. Once the
grades have been posted, I will allow you to review the solutions to the lab.
All you need to do is choose the lab and select show results. I have
also included extra notes for some of the labs and calculator instructions in
the resources section. Note: Please complete
the labs by the due date on the syllabus. Once the solutions have been
posted, you will not be able to make up
the lab. The due dates are on both the Course Home or the Course
Calendar. I want you to be able to access any of the labs after the due
date, to see the solutions. The availability dates are NOT the due dates.
The lab grades will be posted in the Thinkwell
grade book which you can reference by choosing MyGrades,
and the WebCt gradebook
HELP
As
mentioned above online help is available by posting a question on the
Discussion Board, or e-mailing me. I may forward questions e-mailed along with
the answer to all if I feel that everyone will benefit. You are also invited to
answer a question someone posts. You can also come to my office during office
hours or go to the Math Lab at any of the three Campuses. If you cannot
come to my office during office hours, contact me and we can make an
appointment. There is an online tutoring service that has a 24 hour
online tutoring service called Smart Thinking. You will receive an email
from me and Michelle Bovarie about enrolling in this
service.
The Math
Lab hours are:
Spring
Creek Campus (J228) 972.881.5921
TBA
TBA
Preston
Ridge (U136) 972.377.1639
TBA
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
If you
are experiencing any technical problems, including problems with the disks,
check the Help section on the Thinkwell
website. You may contact them by email.
techsupport@thinkwell.com.
OTHER
STUFF
It is
very important that you stay on schedule. The COURSE CALENDAR is dated . You
may get ahead of the calendar, but not behind. You must take the exam by the
due date or contact me on or before the due date with a REALLY good reason if
you require an extension. If you want to take an exam earlier than the week the
exam is due, I will need by Wednesday of the week before. Remember
If you do fall behind and feel that you
cannot keep up the last day to withdraw is Thursday July 3rd. Withdrawing
from a class is a procedure that you yourself must implement. I cannot do it
for you. Students who fall behind and do not drop by the drop date will receive
a performance grade, which is usually an F. You have to following choices
to drop the course:
·
in
person: Visit any of the at any campus. Go to http://www.ccccd.edu/register.html
for addresses. Students will fill out a
withdrawal
ticket and
have it processed at the Admissions counter.
·
by
mail: The withdrawal request should include: student's name,
CWID number, phone number, class/classes about to
withdraw, and
reason for
withdrawal. Student's signature is required on mailed requests. For mailed
withdrawals, the postmark date is the
official
drop/withdrawal date. Go to
http://www.ccccd.edu/register.html
for mailing addresses.
Note:
Students cannot drop or withdraw by phone or online (Webline) after
classes have started. Remember that this
course can be repeated only once after receiving a grade, including a W. The last day to drop without receiving a
grade is Thursday June 12.