Course Manual for Math 118 Online: Intermediate
Algebra
• How to begin • How to study • How to use the
materials provided
• How to use your time • How to succeed
Overview
This
online course is a mixture of printed text, digitized videos and online facilities
for course management, learning direction and testing of acquired skills. This
course should not be attempted by anyone learning algebra for the first time
but is intended as a convenient way to improve or relearn skills previously
learned but forgotten or just out of practice.
Components of Course
·
“Textbook”: Thinkwell: Intermediate
Algebra Bundle ISBN: 1605380172. Text is
interactive on the world wide web at www.thinkwell
.com. If you make your purchase at the bookstore, using your financial aid
credit, you will purchase the Bundle which will be the worktext
and the access code to register for the correct section at Thinkwell. Be sure you select the correct section and do
not register as an independent student You will need that access code. You may also go directly to Thinwkell.com and
register for the correct section and pay online with a credit card. This is the most cost effective. If you do this, you will need to order the
companion worktext and it will be sent to you. Your lectures will be accessed thru streaming
video at the Thinkwell website. This is very
convenient and works well with a high speed connection (DSL or Cable)
·
Access to the Thinkwell website. This is where practice interactive
exercises are available with lecture notes, sample problems as well as transcripts
of the video lectures. You will also be
taking quizzes at the Thinkwell site. They will be announced at the Thinkwell site and at WebStudy. Look for those announcements.
·
WebStudy: a course management system to guide you in moving
through the course, provide communications with your instructor and other
students in the class. Some supplementary materials and links to help enrich
your experience are also available.
Getting Started (*Do not Put This Off or you May Fall
Behind!*)
Step 1.
Purchase your Intermediate Algebra Bundle w/ companion workbook at the College
bookstore or at the Thinkwell website
(Thinkwell.com). I strongly urge you to purchase
the bundle which includes the workbook but you can simply purchase the access
code/license at the Thinkwell.com website. You will need to have Adobe Acrobat
Reader to read the lecture notes and Apple Quicktime
to view the lectures properly installed on your computer. There are links to download these at the
Thinkwell.com website if you do not have them already on your computer
Step 2. Log in to WebStudy. Go to http://www.ccp.edu/de then click on the WebStudy Login Portal link located under the Links section.
On the WebStudy Login Portal page, enter the following information where indicated:
· Username: Enter your 9-digit JID#.
(Example: If your JID# is J123456789, Username will be J123456789)
· Password: Enter the word PASSWORD.
After entering your Username and Password, click Login and you will get to the WebStudy homepage. At the top right of the screen, you will find the course selection drop down menu box. Click on the box and select your course.
This
brings you to your course homepage. On
this page you will find introductory information about your course (Please
verify that you are in the correct class and that all information is correct). On the right side of the page are TABS (similar to notebook tabs). Click on the Timeline
TAB and the About TAB to
get started working on your course.
Explore. Read carefully the information provided. Click on some links.
If
you have trouble with this, e-mail your instructor, Geoffrey Schulz at gschulz@ccp.edu
and tell him your name and JID# and
what happened.
Step 3.
Use the Thinkwell Authorization code to
register yourself on the Thinkwell website for
the intermediate algebra course. That registration is only good for this
semester. Be sure to choose my name (Geoffrey Schulz) as the instructor and the
correct section. Do not register as an
independent student.. Once this is done, you will be
able to see the exercises online and any custom material that I may create
there for you.
Step 4.
Make sure you can view the videos. When you try to install the CDs make sure
that you are also online. If you do not have Quicktime,
you will be prompted to install it.
Step 5. You are now ready to begin. Return to WebStudy and look at the assignment for the week.
·
View the Videos
on CD or streamed for the week. Try working some examples on paper. Do not just
view the video passively.
·
Read/Study/Work
exercises in the companion workbook for the sections listed in the Timeline on WebStudy
·
Work the exercises
on Thinkwell.Com. It is all interactive and online. (You may print out the
lecture notes from Adobe reader if you wish for review).
·
Examinations are
taken in WebStudy. There are four exams. The grade
for each exam is determined by what you score on that exam along with what work
you have done in preparation for that exam (Thinkwell
exercises). 20% of each exam score is
derived from the work done at the Thinkwell site (exercise sets).
·
Department
Exam – there is now a requirement that all students taking Math 118 take a
proctored Department Exam (a comprehensive Final Exam) on campus during final
exam week. This is a Community College
of Philadelphia Mathematics Department policy.
For a student to earn a grade of A, B, C, or D in this course, the student
must take the Department Exam
Time Management Ideas
Taking
a course independently can take from
Do
not fall behind the syllabus schedule.
Do not wait until the last minute to take assigned quizzes and exams. Quizzes
and Exams are scheduled so that you have two or three days in which to take
them. Your Timeline in Web Study is your
best guide for exams. Announcement of
quizzes (taken at Thinkwell) will be made at the Thinkwell site. Do
not ignore these announcements.
Use
what helps you the most.
Not
all the materials available for this course will be equally helpful to you, depending
on your learning style. Ask questions by sending e-mails inside WebStudy to your instructor. If you are having a technical
problem do not wait for it to vanish. It won’t. Get it resolved immediately.
Don’t
forget about help.
As a
registered student you are entitled to peer tutoring. Make an appointment with
a tutor by calling the Math Learning Lab (215-751-8481) if you need to or if
you are on campus, stop in (M2-36) and make an appointment.
This course is NOT self-paced. It is flexibly paced.
However you must complete
exams or quizzes by the deadline or they expire and you get a zero. No makeups. No exceptions.