MATH 99/ Algebra II

SCC Winter, 2005

Online, Section N1 in Blackboard

INSTRUCTOR: John Taylor, Foss 5310

Home phone: 425-885-4077

Email: jtaylor@shoreline.edu (answered within 4 hours typically)

Office Hours: 4:00 – 5:00 pm daily via email.

Math Learning Center: You may use the Math Learning Center, Room 2202, on the campus at Shoreline Community College as a place to work on this class. You can access the web pages and Blackboard there (as well as from any internet connection). The Learning Center staff can help you, and there will be answers to some or all of the homework problems there.

Materials:

Blackboard: This is the class software on the internet.

Access it via http://shoreline.blackboard.com/

Text: "Understanding Intermediate Algebra"

Calculator: I recommend the TI-83 or better. TI-83's are available for rent from the SCC bookstore for $25 per quarter.

Homework problems

Notes for many homework problems are on the internet:

http://jtaylor1142001.net/calcjat/Courses/Ma99/Ma99W05Index2HWTables.htm

http://jtaylor1142001.net/calcjat/Courses/Ma99/Hirsch_PurpleMath.htm

Prerequisite: Math 80 with a grade of 2.0 or better, or an appropriate score on a math placement exam. You should know how to solve linear and quadratic equations algebraically and graphically. You should be able to translate words into mathematics and solve word problems. Please email me if you are unsure whether you are qualified to take this course. To check on your preparation, Test 1 will be given on Jan 6, and it will count as 5% of your grade for the course. A sample of the test will be made available in advance. If you decide you are not ready for this course, you may be able to transfer to a section of Math 80 or Math 97 on campus.

Study Skills: Our textbook has many hints about Study Skills. You will find them in
Ch1: p 11, 24, 34, 43, 53, 62
Ch2: Prep for Exams: p 70 , 83, 95, 105, 107, 113

Ch3: Exam Skills: 126, 136, 152, 163, 171

Ch4: Review Exam: 210, 224, 239
Many students find these to be very practical.

Course Description: Math 99 is the second course in the two-course sequence designed to prepare students for precalculus. You will gain confidence in problem solving using linear and quadratic equations.

The class uses the Blackboard software system on the internet. You have been enrolled in the Blackboard portion of this class. (You also must enroll with the Registrar in the usual way.) Use http://shoreline.blackboard.com/ to access the course as Math 99 Section N1. Basically, your username is your 9-digit Student ID and your password is scc. Update your email address and change your password when you first log in to Blackboard. For complete instructions, go to http://success.shoreline.edu/distance/loginbb.htm (be sure to scroll all the way down this page).

Email: If you don't currently have an email address, you can get one from the College at http://mail.shoreline.edu/register/asp/defaultpolicysecure.asp, or

from a company such as Hotmail at https://registernet.passport.net/reg.srf?id=2&lc=1033&sl=1.

I urge you to use a web-mail type of account such as those above so that you can access it from any computer via an internet browser. If you change to another account during the term, you must change the record in Blackboard by clicking on Tools, Personal Information, Edit Personal Information.

When you send email from within Blackboard, a copy will automatically be sent to you so that you have a record in your email account of what you sent. Blackboard does not keep any information about what you send.

Reading assignments: In this online class, you will get almost all your information by reading. For each assigned section of the book, you should carefully read the material and the examples. In addition, your instructor may list links to additional material in the assignment table or in an email. There may be an email or announcement about each section of the book.

"Attendance": This class is more demanding than a regular class. You need to schedule yourself for 15 hours of work on it per week. It is your responsibility to study the material and do the homework. You need to check the Blackboard site daily for announcements. Also check your email daily. If you send me email during the day, I may be able to answer it within a couple of hours. I try to answer everything before 9PM each day, or early the next morning.

Homework and Homework Quizzes: There is a schedule of sections of the book, examples, and suggested homework problems. There is a homework quiz, with HWQ in its name, for most sections. This is a multiple-try quiz and is my way of knowing if you are doing the homework. Together, they count as 10% of your grade. See the Chapter Quiz information below.

Chapter Quizzes: We'll also have quizzes on every Chapter. These will be announced and will be available for 24 hours on Blackboard. Together, they will count for 10% of your grade for the course.

Exams: We will have three proctored exams, each counting for 15% of the final grade. If you miss an exam, make arrangements with me on or before the day of the exam. A 2-hour Final Exam will be given on March 16th. It will count as 30% of the Final grade. If you are distant from the campus, please make arrangements during the first week of the term with a local person (a teacher or library nearby, perhaps) to proctor your exam. Have that person contact me by email.

Summary of grade components:

Test 1	Homework Quizzes	Quizzes	3 Exams	Final Exam
5%	10%	10%	45%	30%

Proctoring information: Exams will be given on the Shoreline Community College Campus, in the Math Learning Center located in the 2200 Building. You will get an email announcing when the exam is available. Depending on how many students are enrolled and whether we can agree on a time, I may also arrange to have a classroom available on campus at a particular time to give the tests to those who can come at that time.

If you need a proctor at a remote location, contact your instructor as you make arrangements.

Late and Makeup Work: I do not accept any late work, and I do not give makeup quizzes or tests of any kind. It is your responsibility to get all the materials to me on or before their due dates. If you have an emergency that prevents you from submitting something on time, contact me immediately upon your return to class activity. In particular, if you take an exam with an off-campus proctor, you need to allow some extra time to get your completed exam to me by the expiration date.

Cheating Policy: Do not cheat. Homework and the homework quizzes may be collaborative, and I expect you to use each other as resources. But for much of the required work, collaboration is not allowed. In particular, on the chapter quizzes and tests, the work you submit must be your own. Plagiarism is also not allowed. I reserve the right to give you a zero on any submission where I believe you have been cheating.

Dates:. The Registrar has rules and dates about changing your registration. You are responsible for getting this information and paying attention to the calendar.

Emergency School Closure: If Shoreline Community College is closed (inclement weather, earthquake, broken water main, etc.), we will take up where we left off at the next class meeting. In particular, if the College is closed on the expiration date of a quiz or an exam, the expiration date will be extended one day. Please be patient with me on this, as I may not be able to react immediately if the College is closed.

Students with disabilities: Students with disabilities have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodations to ensure access to programs and facilities at Shoreline Community College. To receive reasonable accommodations, students are responsible for requesting accommodations and documenting the nature and extent of their disability in a timely manner. Students should direct their requests for reasonable accommodation to the Services for Students with Disabilities office. (State of Washington Laws of 1994, Ch. 105, Washington Core Services.)

Math in Email and Discussion Boards: It's hard to type math. It's OK to be creative. If you need the cube root of 64, you can type something like

cuberoot(64).

Be sure to use lots of grouping symbols, such as ( ), { }, [ ] and make sure that they balance.

To show exponents, you can do what the TI -83 calculator does on its display: use the "^" symbol to indicate an exponent. If the exponent is more than a letter or a positive number, use parentheses. Here's an example:

a + sqrt[b ^ (-2) + c^(2+d)].

For multiplication, use the * or the word "times":

x times (y + 2) or x * (y + 2). Note x * y + 2 is different. Use lots of grouping symbols: ( ), [ ], or {}. These can be nested: {3 + x[y-3] * (h-r+2) }. They must balance.

General Instructions for Quizzes
Deadlines: Each quiz must be completed by midnight (Seattle time) of the day shown in its description. I strongly recommend that you don't wait until the last minute; you never know when a technical problem might arise. You may drop one quiz score from your grade.

How to take the chapter quiz: Click on the link for the chapter quiz. Say "yes" when Blackboard asks you if you want to take the assessment now. You will have an hour for the quiz. Before you hit the submit button, double-check that you have entered all the answers exactly the way you wanted to -- once you hit submit, you can't change them.

What sources are allowed during the quiz? During any quiz, you may consult with your textbook, the materials available to you in this course on Blackboard, your notes, your calculator, and a dictionary.

Any other source is not OK to consult during a quiz. This includes (but is not limited to) other people, other (external) websites, other reference books. Consulting with a forbidden source during a quiz is considered cheating.

If you have any question about any quiz, please email your instructor. You should get a response quickly, but it won't be immediate. (This is another reason not to wait until the last minute to take the quiz.)

Required evaluation of the course: You will be required to anonymously fill out surveys at the end of the course to help evaluate this online course. Your response is required before you can get a final grade for the course.