Academic Conduct: Your conduct in this course, as with all CAS courses, is governed by the CAS Academic Conduct Code. Copies of the code are available here.
Some rules are obvious ("Don't copy from your neighbor's exam"), while some are, perhaps, unexpected ("Do not submit the same work in more than one course without permission") so it is worthwhile to review the code
The "Golden Rule" of academic conduct is to "Give Credit Where Credit is Due". That is, if you use or consult a source, including a book, journal, web page or person, then cite that source (i.e., give sufficient information so that someone reading your work could determined what information you used and be able to find the source). The details of the form necessary in citation varies greatly from subject to subject.
If you have any doubt about any aspect of proper citation or academic conduct, ask.
There is no text specifically required for this class, are required to sign up for and complete the ALEKs computer review system for Pre-Calculus (see Grades below).
The 6 week license to use ALEKS is 30 dollars. You sign up by going to here. Click on "SIGN UP NOW!" and enter course code 6QVX4-VFHN6. GET STARTED IMMEDIATELY.
Grading Criteria: Your grade will be based on the following:
Technology: You will need web access for course materials and you will been to be on the registrar's email list to receive course information. You will NOT be allowed to use calculators on the final for this class and you will only be allowed to use a calculator on part of the MA 123 exams, so avoid using a calculator on homework except for the most tedious numerical calculations.
Help outside class: There are mony sources for help on course work (in addition to my office hours). Begin immediately to use these resources. Your courses will get harder as the semester continues and being in the habit of using the resources available will make the difference.
Common Questions and Philosophy: This class is not a sieve. The purpose of the class is to be a first step in preparing you for Calculus 1,2,3 and beyond. Here is what is going to happen--Calculus will start out easy. You will review a small amount, then start discussing limits and slopes. The new ideas you will learn will be intuitive and the homeworks and quizzes will be straightforward checks that you have been paying attention. Then, all of a sudden, Calculus will get very hard. What will happen is that you will be expected to use all of the math you have learned before Calculus, along with what you have just learned in Calculus, to do problems.
This is what makes mathematics effective and useful. Each new idea and technique is added on the top of what you have already learned allowing you to solve more and more difficult problems. This is also what makes mathematics hard. YOU CAN NOT FORGET ANYTHING. You must have all of the tools ready at all times. We have found that ability with Pre-Calculus (algebra, trigonometry, geometry) are a very good indicator of success in Calculus. Learning the new tools is fairly straight-forward. Using those new tools along with all of the ones you have already studied is hard unless you are ready.
You have all seen this material before. The main goal of this course is to start the process of making this material instinctive--so that you can concentrate on the new Calculus skills you are learning and not be bogged down or stopped by the pre-Calculus computations.
In addition, we will cover topics like "How to set up story problems", what facts you should have at your fingertips about geometry, trigonometry, algebra, etc...
ALEKS: The ALEKS system is a key part of your preparation for the material to come. It is also very annoying. It never says "Oh, OK, you understand the idea...Oh OK, you just made a silly error..."--it just keeps asking you questions until you consistently answer them correctly. ALEKS takes a great deal of time--start NOW and KEEP UP. This class ends in 6 weeks and you must be proficient at the end of that 6 weeks.
Study groups: I encourage you to form study groups and to spend some (not all) of you study time with your group. You may discuss homework problems with anyone you like, however you must keep a list of those you discuss a problem with and include that list as a reference. For example, at the end of a problem you can write--"I dicussed this problem with Jane Smith and Joan Jones" or " The key idea in this solution was told to me by Mary Kelp." Provide these acknowledgements even when you do the talking. Helping another person do a problem helps you organize your thoughts on the problem.
Most of the writing on work sheets you do will be done in class, but for work you do outside of class, be sure to "write up" your work on your own. While I encourage you to discuss problems with fellow students, you should work alone when you write up your homework. This means that while the key ideas may be the same on two papers, the overall organization, and the details of computations will always differ. Working together on the ideas helps everyone--copying doesn't help anyone. Repeated violation of this rule will be an Academic Conduct matter.
Teaching: I can't reach inside your head and insert new neurons (and thats a good thing). Teaching means organizing and presenting the material, providing exercises which challenge you and evaluating your work. What you learn depends on what work you do--if you get a good grade, don't thank me, thank yourself.
When I evaluate your work, I can not look inside your head--I must judge what you can say and, especially, write. When I hear someone say "I understand the material, but I can't do the problems." I know that it means "I have a superficial understanding of the material, but I have not yet mastered it to the level which will allow me to do the problems." Be professional about your written work (there is no excuse for sloppy work).
Final comment: Too many students consider their courses hoops that they must jump through in order to reach a degree. This philosophy implies that you only need to keep the material in your head until the final. This is just wrong. In fact, the material of this course is material you have already seen in high school that you will need to have ready at a moment's notice when doing problems in Calculus.
The point of taking a course is to change the way you think. Part of this is to aquire certain facts and skills used to solve problems and answer questions. It is also aquiring the ability to decide when to use these new skills. As such, when you look at a problem you should see it in a new way. This implies a change in your view of the world--a change in how the cells in your brain are wired and this change should be permanent. University rules do not allow me to hunt you down several years form now to give you the "final" (too bad), but I will do everything I can to make sure that these permanent changes occur.