Course Syllabus

Course Syllabus for Math 171 Online: Calculus I

• Topics to be covered • 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. You receive the same college credit as students taking courses by traditional methods because you will be learning the same course material. Primarily, you will be able to learn at a pace controlled by both you and your instructor. That is, you will need to comply with your instructor's guidelines and schedules, but because you will not be spending as much drive time commuting to campus, you will have that time to spend with studies at home or even during breaks in your office.

Topics To Be Covered

review of pre-calculus, functions, graphs, limits, continuity, derivatives and anti-derivatives of algebraic and transcendental functions; techniques of differentiation; applications of derivatives, polynomial approximation; indeterminate forms, L'Hopital's rule; applied maximum and minimum problems; curve sketching; the definite integral, the fundamental theorem of calculus, integration by substitution.

Components of Course

  "Textbook": Thinkwell, Calculus ISBN: 1-60538-006-7. Text is interactive on the World Wide Web at www.thinkwell .com. (Authorization code is bundled with your box of Text). The lectures are on the Videos.

Access to the Thinkwell website. This is where practice interactive exercises are available with lecture notes as well as transcripts of the lectures on Videos.

  Canvas: 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 Material bundle at the College bookstore. 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.

Step 2. Log in to Cavas. Briefly, the process is: go to http://ccp.instructure.com, enter your entire MyCCP email address as your username and then create your password. After you are in, click on the Modules tab to see what the course looks like. Click on some links. Be sure to click on the Self-assessment link and answer the 10 questions. It is self-scoring. This exercise is to help you and test that Canvas is working correctly for you. The score is an indicator of whether online distance is suitable for your learning style.

If you have trouble with this, Please contact Office of Distance education at distance_ed@ccp.edu.

Step 3. Use the Thinkwell Authorization code to register yourself on the Thinkwell website for the calculus course. That registration is only good for this semester. Be sure to choose my name (Dr. Ji Gao) as the instructor. 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 on Thinkwell.Com. If you do not have Quicktime, it will be installed for you.

Step 5. You are now ready to begin. Return to Canvas and look at the assignment for the week.

  View the Videos on Thinkwell.Com for the week. Try working some examples on paper. Do not just view the video passively.

  Work the exercises on Thinkwell.Com. There is no printed text as such. 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 Canvas. There are seven exams. They are equally weighted.

Time Management Ideas

Taking a course independently can take from 15 to 20 hours of work per week. This includes all activities from watching the videos, taking notes, working exercises and taking exams. The trick is to fit that in with your schedule. The best way is to split it up. Decide how many days you can work on Algebra -- the more you spread it out, the better. For example, if you decide to work 5 days, allow three hours per day. If you are keeping up to schedule with less time----great. This is just a reasonable estimate. Adjust based on your background and abilities.

Do not fall behind the syllabus schedule. Do not wait until the last minute to take assigned exams. Exams are due on the indicated DUE DATE, but you are given a two day grace period to retake the exam at my office for technical problems. Doing the homework on Thinkwell is preparation for the exams. Do not be afraid to repeat exercise on which you did not do well. That is a good way to prepare.

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 Canvas 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 if you need to or if you are on campus, stop in and make an appointment.

USE CANVAS MAIL (see envelope icon at the top) FOR ALL COURSE COMMUNICATIONS UNLESS YOU FEEL IT IS AN EMERGENCY.

This course is NOT self-paced. It is flexibly paced. However you must complete
exams by the deadline or they expire and you get a zero. No makeup. No exceptions.

Any question? Need suggestions? E-mail Dr. Ji Gao at jgao@ccp.edu