************************************************************************* date: Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 3:55 PM subject: Some new optional problems Students in Math 1271 Lectures 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) I just added some problems for Integration by substitution l'Hopital's rule Newton's method to the sets of optional problems. Start at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/optprobs.html and then click on "click here" to go to the online problems. These are purely for practice -- they are not required and do not affect your grade. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 1:29 PM subject: attendance Students in Math 1271 Lectures 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) I just ran some attendance figures, and verified two facts that I have long suspected, just from looking at classrooms: Attendance drops toward the end of the semester. Attendance drops on Fridays. (I looked at attendance this semester on the dates 1/30, 2/3, 2/27, 3/2, 3/21, 3/23, 4/2, 4/6, 4/16, 4/18 and 4/20.) The expectations for our course are: full attendance at every class, from beginning to end, including both lectures and recitations thorough knowledge of precalculus before starting MATH 1271 work every homework problem by its due date watch every video from beginning to end by its due date. Watching the videos is *crucial* in this class. Not to do so is to court disaster. Occasionally a student will tell me that there's a general belief that teachers at the U are requested not to cover essential material on Fridays. This is simply untrue. There is NO understanding that Friday classes are optional. The material we cover in MATH 1271 at the end of the semester is harder (and tends to be tested more) than the material early in the semester. So attendance becomes more and more important as the semester comes to a close. Some students also feel that skipping a class somehow causes them to learn more. This doesn't make sense, and isn't supported by any evidence I can find. In fact, it appears that the correlations run the other way, see, e.g., http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Fall2011/fall2011attendance.txt I am VERY motivated to help you prepare for the final exam. It depends largely on you, but do let me know how I might help. Keep in mind that I won't be writing the final, so you should not count on the problems being similar in style or content to the midterm problems; different exam writers have different focuses. I think that your best bet in preparation is to go through the old MATH 1271 final exams that are posted. Have a good weekend. See you on Monday. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 10:35 AM subject: plan for the rest of the semester Students in Math 1271 Lectures 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) Starting on Friday, we will be spending almost all of our time in lecture going over old exams. Quizzes will become very short, or we may even skip them on some days. On Friday, I plan to go over the second midterm (the one you took on Th 29 March). After finishing that, I'll proceed to the final exams at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/SampFinals/ I'll start with the most recent exam (Spring 2005), and work toward the earliest exam (Spring 2003). Be sure to keep watching the required videos, but, if you can find time, I strongly recommend working through these exams yourself BEFORE I start on them, and it might be a good idea for you to time yourself. One warning: There are some problems that you may encounter that rely on material that you won't see until the end of next week, so it's of course understandable if you don't know how to handle those right now. Nevertheless, if we can get a jump on final exam preparation, it will serve us very well, and the best way to prepare, I believe, is to work as many problems as possible. If you try to work them actively, yourself, you'll very likely find that that process helps you to formulate where you have questions or lacuna. That can help you to focus your attention, when you're watching how I work through the problems. As always, I welcome your questions. Generally, the more active you can be in problem solving, the more you'll learn. ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 10:05 AM subject: solutions for old midterms are available Students in Math 1271 Lectures 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) Please note that solutions for old midterms are available. If you point to the class website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ and then look in the right column under "ARCHIVE", you'll see, e.g., a link titled "Fall 2011 Midterms" . If you click on that link, you go to http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/archF11.html and you'll see each of the midterms (1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D), both with and without solutions. ************************************************************************* date: Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 9:58 AM subject: Midterm review Students in MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) Following the class diary http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html we will Review for Midterm 2 (covering all material up to and including Topic 0480) on this coming Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The midterm is on Thursday during recitation. On Monday and Wednesday, I will go over earlier midterms. Some of the problems on those midterms may go beyond Topic 0480, but I plan work through them anyway. I'll start with Version A of the Thursday 10 November 2011 Fall 2011 Midterm #2 which is at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Fall2011/midterm02AY11M11D10MATH1271.pdf If time permits, I'll continue with the Thursday 31 March 2011 Spring 2011 Midterm #3 which is at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Spring2011/midterm03Y11M03D31MATH1271.pdf If time permits, I'll continue with the Wednesday 6 April 2011 Spring 2011 Make-up Midterm #3 which is at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Spring2011/midtermmkup03Y11M03D31MATH1271.pdf I doubt I'll have enough time, but, if I do, then I'll proceed to Midterm #2 of Spring 2010. I recommend that, over the weekend, if you have time, you print these midterms out, and and work through them, timing yourself. If you've already actively tried to solve a problem, then, even if you have difficulty, you're, in some sense, "primed" to learn. When you see how the problem is worked correctly, it means a lot more than if you're watching, passively, for the first time. See you Monday. ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 12:16 PM subject: More optional online problems have been added Students in MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) I have added 60 more problems to the optional problems, see http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/optprobs.html Of these, 20 are graphing problems, 20 are for optimization and 20 are for related rates. Topic 0480 is graphing problems, Topic 0510 is optimization and Topic 0520 is related rates. By popular acclaim, these are the hardest topics in MATH 1271, so extra practice may be helpful. As I said before, I'm open to suggestions if you'd like me to add other problems. Also, please do have a look at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/studentsite.html esp. at the link to http://interactmath.com/home.aspx which contains many more calculus problems. ************************************************************************* date: Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 3:15 PM subject: Topics 0480, 0510 and 0520 Students in MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030, (copying TAs) I hope you've had a good Spring Break. I wanted to give you a "heads up" that the next two weeks are probably the most intense of the semester, particularly Topics 0480, 0510 and 0520. (We're skipping Topics 0490 and 0500.) Those three topics (0480, 0510 and 0520) cover problems which really don't lend themselves well to simple clicker quizzing, because they require using many different skills at once. Consequently, it's more important than ever that you watch these videos. If you can find the time, you might even want to go through them twice. This material (0480, 0510 and 0520) is usually worth a great deal of credit on the final exam, so it's really crucial to learn it, and not watching these videos is really courting disaster. I will try to help with in class presentations (not so much clicker quizzes, though), and the TAs can help though homework problems. However, all of this is predicated on the assumption that you'll have watched the videos closely, and are faithfully working homework problems. Just a reminder of some of the expectations of this course: Watch every video by its due date, according to the schedule on the class diary. Attend every class (lectures and recitations) from start to finish. Work all of the assigned homework. In general, for most freshman calc students, it's extremely difficult to succeed without doing all of this (and sometimes more!). I know that the videos are time consuming, but not waching them is really courting disaster, and this is especially true for Topics 0480, 0510 and 0520. For the next couple of weeks specifically, as the course reaches a crescendo, even students who may have gotten by without full effort will really need to focus. The upcoming material really is quite a bit harder -- but also more rewarding if you can master it. See you tomorrow. ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 2:19 PM subject: More calc problems available Students in Math 1271 Lectures 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) Since the beginning of the semester, I've been posting my in-lecture slides at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/lectQuizzesMATH1271S12.html I just finished organizing them by topic. To see this, point to http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ and look down the left hand column of links for Problem Bank and click on that. Alternatively, you can point directly to http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/probBankMATH1271.html Also, a student in the class, Abraham Hjelle (hjel0057), mentioned that he's found a helpful website http://interactmath.com/home.aspx that has a large number of calculus problems. He wrote: [This] is an online interactive calculus module that covers pretty much everything, and is very comprehensive. The drop-down menu you will see is just the list of textbooks to choose from but the one I've been using is "Hass: University Calculus with Early Trancendentals". As far as I can tell, it doesn't really matter which one you choose, so I settled on that one simply because it has the greatest amount of problems and therefore the most practice to offer, most of the others have far fewer problems to do. It's nice for me though because one of the things it does, is to generate new numbers/values for each problem, randomly for that particular question question so you can try the practice question /concept over and over again, but with different values (and therefore answers) until you really "get it". It also offers comprehensive step-by-step examples for most questions and will even walk you through many of the questions step by step if you're having trouble, getting through it yourself. It's completely free to use, you don't even have to register or put in an email address or anything. You go to the site and start. I posted this on the student site, see http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/studentsite.html ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 3:40 PM subject: Optional extra problems Hi, With some help from one of my colleagues, I've posted a few optional calculus problems using an open-source homework system called WeBWorK. These problems are not for credit and they are not assigned. They are there only for those of you who want additional practice with certain kinds of calculus problems. Right at the moment, I only have a few chain rule problems and a few product rule problems, but I will probably add to this, once I'm sure everything is working. To access the problems, go to our course website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ and then look down the left column until you see the link Optional problems and then click on that. This will take you to a website with a few instructions, and, at the bottom, a link to the WeBWorK login site that will, after login, take you to these optional calculus problems. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. If there are particular types of calc problems you'd like to see added, let me know, and I'll see if any are easily available. I hope you find this helpful. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 11:56 AM subject: Gradelines are posted Students in Math 1271 Lectures 010 and 030, (copying TAs and PAL coordinator) The gradelines for the first midterm are posted. See http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ExamAndGrades1271/gradesmidterm01Y12M02D16MATH1271.txt Please remember that these letter grades are only my own imperfect estimate of what kind of letter grade each of you might expect to get on the final exam, assuming that you continue to work at the same level as you've shown on the first midterm. Most students find the final exam to be much harder than the midterms, so the midterm gradelines are correspondingly strict. Please remember, also, that our course distribution of letter grades will match our final exam distribution of letter grades. If we, as a class, do well on the final, then most students will likely find that their course grade is higher than they expect, based on midterm letter grades. On the other hand, the opposite could also happen. Let's hope we score well on the final exam! The scores on this midterm were very good, I thought, with three perfect scores and almost 15% of the class scoring a 95 or above. The median was 84, and 60% of the class scored 80 or above. This presents me with a dilemma, as I would like to congratulate you, as a class, for doing well, but I don't want to give any signal that you can now coast to victory -- in fact, nothing is punished faster than complacency. Bear in mind that the material in the course gets progressively more and more difficult. So please keep working hard! (And ... if you haven't been, then it's crucial that you start NOW.) - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 9:11 AM subject: Info on how Moodle will compute your total course points One of you wrote: > Each lecture quiz, according to moodle is worth 100 points, and > there are a total of 20. If there are only 1000 points to be earned > for the lecture, what happens to the 10 extra quizzes? I'm not sure if there will be 20 lecture quizzes or not -- that's what we planned for, but, if not, then we'll adjust the Moodle site at about the time of the last class. Let's say that there are 20, though. You drop the lowest three scores, giving 17, each worth 100 points, for a total of 1700 points. Moodle will then multiply that number by 1000 / 1700 to get the course points for lecture quizzes. That way the total course points for lecture quizzes is 1000, or 10% of the total 10000 course points. Similarly, each midterm is worth 100 points. Moodle will multiply your score by 2000 / 100 to get the number of course points for that midterm. Each midterm is worth 20%. The final is worth 300 points. So Moodle multiplies that score by 3000 / 300 . The final is worth 30%. There's a similar adjustment for recitation quizzes; they are worth 10%. Finally homework will also be scaled; it's worth 10%. Let me know if you have questions about this. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 11:52 AM subject: Re: Gradelines on the midterms Hi, A couple of you have written to me to ask if anything besides your grade on the final exam will count toward your course grade, and the answer is yes -- quizzes, homework, midterms and the final all count. Each person has the possibility of getting 10000 total points in this course. Of those, 1000 are for homework, 1000 are for recitation quizzes, 1000 are for lecture quizzes, 2000 are for the first midterm, 2000 are for the second midterm and 3000 are for the final exam. At the end of the course, everyone in the class will be ranked by their total points. Suppose 30 of the students in our class get an "A" on the final exam. Then I'm allowed to give out 30 "A"s for the course. Actually, I have the freedom to change that by 1 or 2, up or down, but let's say I decide to give exactly 30 "A"s. The top 30 students in our class (in total points) will then get "A"s for the course. A few of these 30 may well not have "A"s on the final exam, but the other components (midterms, quizzes and homework) are so good that their total points put them in the top 30. Similarly, if, say, 25 students from our class get an "A-" on the final exam, then I'll be giving roughly 25 "A-"s for the course. Those "A-"s will go to the next 25 or so students in the ranking (of total points), after those that get "A"s. Let's say I give exactly 25 "A-" grades for the course. Some of those 25 students may have an "A" on the final, but the other components (midterms, quizzes and homework) aren't good enough to keep them in the top 30 students, in terms of total points. Such a student will get an "A-" for the course, even though he or she got an "A" on the final exam. Etc. I hope this clarifies the system. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 4:09 PM subject: Gradelines on the midterms Hi, The midterm is this coming Thursday, the 16th, during recitation. BE SURE ***BOTH*** TO PRINT ***AND*** TO SIGN YOUR NAME ON THE FRONT OF THE EXAM, or I won't grade it. I hope that you'll get the exams back the following Tuesday, the 21st. Shortly after the midterm grades are entered into Moodle, I'll work out the gradelines (the dividing lines between "A", "A-", "B+", etc). A website with the distribution of grades and the gradelines will be linked from the main course website, and that link will appear in the middle column, near the top. Based on my experience last semester, I expect that we will see very high scores on the midterm, and that I will set the gradelines very high as well. So, for example, a 92 / 100 might turn out to be a "B+", instead of the more typical "A-". Some of you may find this troubling, but please do keep in mind that the midterm gradelines really don't ultimately impact your final course grade -- in fact, the system works like this: Our class takes a common final exam with all the other classes taking MATH 1271 and the gradelines on that final exam are set during a meeting shortly after the final is graded. A key point to remember is: The grade distribution for our class on the final exam is required to be very close to the grade distribution of our course grades. Thus, for example, if *all* of the students in this class get "A" grades on the final exam, then all of you will get "A" grades for the course. On the other hand if *all* of the students in this class get "F" grades on the final exam, then all of you will get "F" grades for the course. If 25% of the students in this class get "A" grades on the final exam, then 25% of you will get "A" grades for the course. If 50% of the students in this class get "C+" grades on the final exam, then 50% of you will get "C+" grades for the course. Etc. I'm not required to follow that rule to the letter, but I also can't deviate from it very much. So, in this sense, only the gradelines on the final exam will matter in the end, and not the midterm gradelines. The only reason I even set gradelines on midterms is so that students will get some sense of how they're doing in the course, and will understand if they're in danger of getting a lower grade than they want. I set very strict gradelines in part because it's better to be pleasantly surprised with your final course grade than unpleasantly surprised, but there's a more important reason: I won't be writing the final exam, and the style of writing and style of problems may be different than what I would put on my own exams. To some extent calculus problems are calculus problems are calculus problems, but it's inevitable that, because I'm training you to do my own preferred problems written in my own preferred way, when you get to the final, you will probably find it to be a more difficult exam than the midterms. Thus, the high gradelines on the midterms, in my experience, give a realistic assessment of what you can expect your grade to be like on the final, and, therefore, give a more realistic assessment of the grade distribution on the final, and, a fortiori, of the grade distribution for the course. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 9:50 AM subject: clicker registered? This is a reminder that you need to be using a registered clicker for your scores to be recorded in the Moodle gradebook. The software has noted that some people are using unregistered clickers, and they simply won't get credit that way. In fact, I have no way of knowing who they are, because they haven't registered their clickers. If you have received a three-digit code, then your clicker is registered. If not, then something is probably wrong. Also, as I said earlier, if you notice an irregularity in a clicker quiz score, you have 24 hours after the quiz to report it. (I post scores within an hour or two after class.) So do keep a close eye on your scores in Moodle. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 4:01 PM subject: Re: for-credit clicker quizzing to begin on Monday addendum REMINDER: Your clicker quiz grades will be posted shortly after class -- probably within an hour. If there's any difficulty, you need to let me know within 24 hours of class. Otherwise, in most cases, the score will be final. So do check your on your quiz scores regularly. ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 3:51 PM subject: for-credit clicker quizzing to begin on Monday MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030 students (copying TAs): Barring unforeseen circumstances, for-credit clicker quizzing will begin on Monday 30 January, this coming Monday. If your clicker is not registered, you won't get credit. If your clicker is registered, you should have a three-digit code. (These three-digit codes are on the Moodle website, in the gradebook, and I gave instructions about that in an earlier message.) If you have not registered your clicker, you will need to come to see me during office hours to do the registration. Please remember that I may need, sometimes, to discard all the scores, if there is an irregularity in the quiz. If I do, then, typically, I'll ask many of the same questions again on the following quiz. Have a good weekend. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 4:37 PM subject: Three-digit codes are now posted at Moodle MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030 students (copying TAs): Your three-digit codes are now posted on Moodle, and the online clicker registration system is turned off. (If you have not yet registered your clicker, you'll need to bring your clicker to office hours, and we'll register it manually.) How to find your three-digit code: Please go to your Moodle site, and click on "Grades" (on the left column). You should see a row titled "Three-digit code". (First, please don't worry that this will count toward your grade. This particular item is weighted at 0% of your total grade.) Ignore the columns that read "Range", "Percentage" and "Feedback". Under the column "Grade" you will see a number between 1 and 200. If, for example, it reads "17", then your three-digit code is 017. If it reads "8", then your three-digit code is "008". If it reads "127", then your three-digit code is "127". Etc. Again, please don't worry that this will count toward your grade. This particular item is weighted at 0% of your total grade. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 2:35 PM subject: clickers, statute of limitations, student contributions, chat during online office hours MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030 students (copying TAs): Several items: -------------------------------------------- Clickers are finally available at the bookstore. Pick one up and register it at the Moodle website. Then check the Moodle website for your three-digit code. Deadline for registering your clicker if you want to test it is NOON ON THURSDAY THE 26th. I'll close down the online registration system shortly after noon on Thursday. I'll put three-digit codes on the Moodle site by 5 pm. After that, you will *only* be able to register your clicker by bringing it to me during office hours. We'll test clickers on Friday. You'll need your three-digit code, which you can get from the Moodle site after 5 pm on Thursday. The first for-credit quiz will probably be on Monday. -------------------------------------------- If you take a clicker quiz and your clicker doesn't work, you have 24 hours to let me know. We can test out your clicker and we'll also decide how to handle the score on a case by case basis. However, if you wait more than 24 hours after the quiz, then the score will stand. I'll post lecture quiz scores immediately after class, so check your Moodle site every day. -------------------------------------------- I'm thinking of starting a "student contributions" link to the website. If you have some materials that you think might be helpful to share with the entire class (and you're willing to attach your x500 identifier to it, so that people can ask you questions about it), please feel free to send it to me in electronic form. I'll do a minor amount of vetting, and, if it does seem useful, I'll post it. If you receive questions you can't answer, I'll try to help. -------------------------------------------- If you go to the UMConnect site and start to chat with me, I won't see it until my next office hours. Better just to send me an email message. -------------------------------------------- Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 4:38 PM subject: Changes to office hours and clickers to arrive on Tuesday MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030 students (copying TAs): I had to make a few changes to my office hours. They're posted on the syllabus at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/syllabusMATH1271.pdf (You may need to clear cache and/or refresh your browser to see the new version of the syllabus.) Also, I just heard from my contact at the bookstore that the clickers *should* arrive next Tuesday. He'll let me know when they arrive, and then I'll let you know. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 4:41 PM subject: Watch the videos! MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030 students (copying TAs): Sorry to be sending so many email messages -- they'll taper off quickly once the semester gets underway, and everyone gets used to the system. I wanted to remind you that, following the class diary, http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html you should, by class time tomorrow (Friday), have watched all the videos up to Topic 0130, with the possible exception of the optional Topics 0070 and 0100. To watch a video, point to http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/topicsMATH1271.html find the topic of interest, and either click on "InstPlay" or, if you prefer to download, click on "DwnLoad". A large amount of time is spent this week on videos, but no homework is assigned. At the class diary http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html look at "WEEK 01: TIME ON TASKS", and you'll see 6.43 hours on videos, but no time on homework. Starting next week, there will be less time on videos and more on homework -- see, e.g., "WEEK 02: TIME ON TASKS", which lists 3.33 hours on videos and 4.5 hours on homework. Still no word from the bookstore on clickers, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 4:40 PM subject: Online office hours For your convenience, I now offer online office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays in the afternoon, 4:30pm - 5:20pm. Point your browser to https://umconnect.umn.edu/scotfinmath/ log in as a guest, and then follow the (handwritten) instructions to call me. The phone call is directly to my office. If the line is busy, please send me a message at adams@math.umn.edu let me know your phone number, and I'll try to call you as soon as I can. If there is too much trouble with people not being able to reach me because of a busy signal, then I'll set up conference calling. I am *also* available in my office (Vincent 354) at those times for in-person office hours, if that's preferable to you. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 9:29 AM subject: miscellaneous comments about MATH 1271 MATH 1271 LEC 010 and 030 students (copying TAs): ============================= Some of you have asked about homework policies. The due dates are in the class diary at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html For example, under WEEK 02: THURSDAY RECITATION, you'll find Homework is due on Topics 0130 and 0150 All other policies about homework (e.g., which problems are due, whether problems from a textbook due, what formats are acceptable for sending in homework, etc.) are up to the TAs. ============================= I know a lot of you haven't been able to get clickers yet, but, once you have yours, be sure to register it as soon as you can. Once the online registration system goes down (probably toward the end of next week), the process of getting registered becomes more complicated and slower. If you are in the 8:00am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=24506 If you are in the 11:15am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=24539 To register your clicker, go to your Moodle website, look on the right side of the page, near the top, for the link Administer TurningTechnologies and click on it. Then follow the instructions there. If you don't register your clicker, you won't get credit for clicker quizzes. For-credit clicker quizzing will probably start sometime next week. (Up to now, all the clicker questions have been "anonymous" meaning not-for-credit.) ============================= Keep a close eye on the class diary at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html since it tells you what you need to do to prepare for each class (both lecture classes on MWF and recitation classes on TTh). In particular, note that, under WEEK 01: FRIDAY LECTURE, it says Before lecture, watch Topic 0060 (38:12), Topic 0080 (13:38), Topic 0090 (28:00), Topic 0110 (44:08), Topic 0120 (11:33), Topic 0130 (37:39) This week is unusual: It has a lot of time (5.62 hours) spent watching recorded lectures, and no time spent on homework. In a more typical week, you'll spend about 3 to 4 hours on recorded lectures and 4 to 5 hours on homework. Following U policy, the mythical average student will spend an average of 12 hours per week on a four credit course like ours. ============================= Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 5:11 PM Subject: Initial remarks about MATH 1271 Lecture 050 (from Prof. Scot Adams) To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 010 (8:00am) and 030 (11:15am), copying TAs: Hello! I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday in our first lecture. You will meet your TAs in recitation on Tuesday. I hope to cover most course organizational issues by email, to free up class time to spend on material. If you have questions, please feel free to write to me. Typically, if you ask a question about organization in class, I'll ask you to write to me about it, unless it concerns something imminent. If the question and its answer are pertinent to the entire class, I'll respond by a group email message, like this one. Several comments: -------------------------------- 1. We will not have traditional lectures during class time. Instead, lectures have been recorded, and are posted at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/topicsMATH1271.html These lectures have a mixture of theory and problem-solving, and BOTH are very important for your understanding. During the MWF classes, we spend most of our time on skill training; only a small amount of class time will be devoted to deeper, more theoretical issues. We are "flipping the classroom". You can read about this on the web. This teaching system seems to have worked very well last semester. For more information, see http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Fall2011/fall2011effclassflip.txt You should watch the first five videos (Topics 0010, 0020, 0030, 0040 and 0050) by class time on Wednesday next week (18 January), and even by Tuesday, if you have time. The main textbook for the course is by Stewart, but, because of copyrighting issues, I was not allowed to reference Stewart in my slides. The recorded material instead references a different text, which can be downloaded for free, from http://sites.google.com/site/whitmanmathematics/ Summaries for each topic appear at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/summaryMATH1271 Much miscellaneous information about each topic appears at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/miscMATH1271 The miscellaneous information includes number of slides, the time of the recording, the section(s) covered in Whitman and the section(s) covered in Stewart. Also, errata appears at this website. -------------------------------- 2. You will need to purchase a student response device (a.k.a. "clicker") at the bookstore. Physics uses a different kind of clicker, and their clickers will not work in our class. You'll need a Turning Point clicker for our class, and the staff at the bookstore can help you to get the right one. You'll need to register your clicker, as follows: First, point to your Moodle site, as follows. If you are in the 8:00am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=24506 If you are in the 11:15am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=24539 You can also access your Moodle site from the main course website via a link near the bottom of the left column. Look in on the right side of your Moodle site for the link that reads Administer Turning Technologies Click on that link and the follow the instructions. Please register your clicker as soon as possible. Please bring your clicker to every class, including the first class on Wednesday 18 January (this coming Wednesday). Frequently there will be in-class clicker quizzes testing the material in the videos that you are supposed to have watched. If you don't bring your clicker, you'll lose credit for those quizzes. Your three lowest clicker quiz scores will be dropped, and there are no makeups on clicker quizzes. There will be no for-credit quizzing on Wednesday 18 January, but please do bring your clickers. We will test them to make sure that they're working, and we'll use them for skill-training exercises. -------------------------------- 3. The daily plan for the entire course is set out in the course diary at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html -------------------------------- 4. The syllabus is at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/syllabusMATH1271.pdf The syllabus has my office hours. It also has textbook information, dates of midterms and final exam and our course grading policies, among other things. -------------------------------- 5. The course website is http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ If you are in the 8:00am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=24506 If you are in the 11:15am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=24539 Grades will be posted at the Moodle site. -------------------------------- 6. Homework (a.k.a. NEW homework) for the course is at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/hm2wrkMATH1271.html Almost every NEW homework problem is modeled on a problem that appears in the OLD Homework at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/hmwrkMATH1271.html You can look at solutions to those OLD problems as an aid to solving the NEW problems. This should help you quite a lot, but be aware that sometimes a small change to a problem can cause the solution to change in a significant way. Due dates for homework appear at the diary website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html but it may happen that not every problem is assigned. TAs will be responsible for telling you which problems to do, and will also be responsible for grading policies, including handling of late homework. TAs may also choose to assign some problems from the Stewart textbook. -------------------------------- 7. Most Thursdays (but NOT this coming Thursday, 19 January), there will be a written recitation quiz designed and graded by the TAs. What material is covered on each quiz appears in the diary at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271S12.html You can drop your three lowest recitation quizzes, and there are no makeup quizzes. -------------------------------- 8. Observe, in the course website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ on the right hand side, there is a column labeled "Archive". This contains a number of old midterms (each one appearing twice, once without solutions, once with). You may find this to be a useful study guide. Be aware, however, that our pace this semester may not be exactly the same as in earlier semesters, so there is no guarantee that each midterm this semester will cover exactly the same material as the corresponding midterm from an earlier semester. -------------------------------- 9. I highly recommend Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/ as another source of lectures, and to get extra practice. Khan Academy also has much precalc material, for review. However, please do not view Khan Academy as a substitute for the recorded lectures at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/topicsMATH1271.html The clicker quizzes will be based on these course topics, not on Khan's lectures. -------------------------------- 10. I seek your feedback. Please don't hesitate to write to me with comments, questions and suggestions. I will try my best to respond individually, although, the volume of email could reach a point where I have to write to groups of students simultaneously. I'm happy to hear about all issues, large and small. In particular, please let me know about typographical errors you may find; however, if you do find a mistake, please review the errata at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/miscMATH1271 to see if it has already been noted, thanks. -------------------------------- See you Wednesday! - Scot