************************************************************************* date: Thu, Dec 20, 2012 at 1:34 PM subject: Results for our lecture sections To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: Have a look at http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Fall2012/fall2012effclassflip.txt to see how our sections compared to the others. The results are good, and especially good if you restrict attention to students "in good standing". Thanks for all your hard work. Enjoy the holidays. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 3:12 PM subject: Time, date and location of final exam To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: The final exam will be on Friday 14 December, 1:30pm-4:30pm. If you are in my 10:10am lecture, then the location is Physics 150. If you are in my 3:35pm lecture and if your TA is Jiguang Shen or Jason Owens, then the location is Physics 166. If you are in my 3:35pm lecture and if your TA is Kathleen Storey, then the location is Physics 170. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 5:09 PM subject: Cheating To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs, the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Math, and OSCAI: Some of you may know that, a week ago, I ran a kind of "sting" operation my the 10:10am lecture that caught seven students cheating. They had given their clickers to collaborators for use during the lecture quiz that day. One of the collaborators was also caught. All of these students faced an "F" grade in the course. The office that deals with scholastic dishonesty cases is the Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (OSCAI), see http://www.oscai.umn.edu/ Because I did not address this particular kind of cheating (and its consequences) in my syllabus, OSCAI asked that I reduced the penalty from an "F" in the course to zeroing out all the lecture quiz scores of the offenders. I have deferred to OSCAI's judgment on this issue, but have also altered the syllabus to make it clear that any *future* incidents will meet with course failure for the students involved. See http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/syllabusMATH1271.pdf for the syllabus. This issue is also noted in the course expectations page at http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/expectMATH1271F12.html If you let someone use your clicker during a lecture quiz, and if you are caught, you will fail the course. I keep the option open of running another such sting operation during one of my morning lectures and/or one of my afternoon lectures. Please take heed -- the risk of losing a semester's worth of hard work isn't worth the minuscule point value of any one quiz. Also, it's wrong to cheat. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 2:17 PM subject: review 0480-0520; class on Wednesday; final exam review To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: The good news is that we've finished the most difficult part of the course: Topics 0480, 0510 and 0520. They are extremely time consuming, but you'll be rewarded if you learn them well. In particular, if you can find time to review those three videos, then I'd recommend it. The rest of the course, while not easy, is a bit easier. Do keep working hard though! We will have class on Wednesday the 21st, the day before Thanksgiving. As always, attendance is expected. Thursday and Friday are University holidays. Enjoy your Thanksgiving! Starting Monday the 26th, the Monday *after* Thanksgiving, I'll be working through old final exams. You can see these (with or without solutions) at http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/SampFinals/ I'll start with the exam at the top of the website (Fall 2005) and work my way down. By the end of the semester, I expect to finish at least two final exams (Fall 2005 and Spring 2005), and maybe a bit more. If you could print out these two exams and work through the first one over the coming weekend, it would help a lot in your preparation. Any time you work through a problem (or, at least, try to), it "primes the pump", so to speak, so that, as you see me work through the same problem, the things I say will likely be more meaningful. In general, anything you can do, at this point, to bring your learning from passive mode to active mode will help you greatly. One caveat: There are still a few videos left to watch, so, as you work through a final exam, you may find that a few of the problems are unfamiliar to you. If so, just let them go until Friday 30 November, at which point you should be finished with all of the videos. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 10:23 AM subject: Grade lines on second midterm To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: This is a tale of two classes: 27% of the class scored 90 or above on the second midterm, and 27% of the class scored below 70. Key ingredients to doing well in this course: Mastery of precalculus, effort on homework, attendance (and punctuality), careful attention to the videos and, quite simply, total time spent learning the course material. By the way, I've never seen so many perfect scores on one exam: 12 (out of 330) scored a perfect 100. I'm not sure if *I* would have gotten a perfect score, so keep up the good work!! As with the first midterm, I've set the grade lines very high. I remind you that, in the end, they are not binding. The midterm grade lines reflect my attempt to guess at how the distribution of grades will come out for the final exam (and, therefore, for the course grades). I hope that, on the final, we'll do better than I expect. If so, I'll be able to give out better course grades. However, my experience has been that my guesswork is fairly close, and, of course, I always have to worry that we may, as a class, do worse on the final than indicated on the midterm grade distributions. Also, I don't want students to feel that, after a high score on the midterms, they can relax and assume that the final exam will be easy. It won't. Remember, that, since I write the midterms, I can very carefully explain exactly what you need to know to do well on them. I feel that the teaching tools I use are effective at helping better students to achieve unusually high midterm scores. I believe this is true also for the final, but less so, because different teachers focus on different kinds of problems, and even on different ways of phrasing problems. We'll soon start looking over old final exams in class, and you'll be able to see this for yourself. If you want to sneak a peek, see http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/SampFinals/ Thanks for all your effort, keep working hard, and I'll see you tomorrow. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 9:45 AM subject: Codes for grading of Midterm 2 To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: We hope (and expect) to have you graded midterms returned to you on Tuesday. Here are the codes I used, in grading Midterm 2: If on your exam, you see, in red, "2-A", it means: "You're supposed to find the derivative, not the logarithmic derivative. You need to multiply by the original expression." If on your exam, you see, in red, "2-B", it means: "Use the product rule. The derivative of the product is not equal to the product of the derivatives." If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-A", it means: "It's not enough just to compute the slope. We need an equation of the tangent line." If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-B", it means: "Your equation is not linear. You want the slope of one tangent line, not the slopes of all of the tangent lines." If on your exam, you see, in red, "4-A", it means: "Use l'Hopital's rule. Do not use the quotient rule or the product rule." If on your exam, you see, in red, "4-B", it means: "You need to exponentiate at the end, in order to go back from the logarithm of the limit to the limit itself." If on your exam, you see, in red, "5-A", it means: "According to the Extreme Value Theorem, a global maximum and a global minimum both exist on the given compact interval." If on your exam, you see, in red, "5-B", it means: "If f''(a) = 0, we get no information about local extrema. The second derivative test (for local extrema) doesn't work in this case." If on your exam, you see, in red, "5-C", it means: "We seek values of f, not of f' and not of f''." - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 3:00 PM subject: Optional problems To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: I have now made several optional problems available to all of you for practice, through WeBWorK, the same system that is handling the Gateway. Unlike the Gateway, these problems are not required, and they do not affect your grade in any way -- they are there for practice only. To access these problems, start by pointing to http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/optprobs.html The problems are organized into six sets: Graphing_Problems (Topics 0480-0500) Related_Rates (Topic 0520) Optimization (Topic 0510) Chain_Rule (Topics 0370-0380) Integration_by_substitution (Topic 0660) Newtons_Method (Topic 0530) When you get into WeBWorK, the titles (like Graphing_Problems) appear, but not the topic numbers. So you may want to keep this email message for reference. Be aware that, at the moment, most of these problem sets are for topics that we haven't yet covered, but as we move forward, if you do want extra practice, this is one way that you can get it. Another completely separate source of optional problems is at "Our Khan Academy". Point to http://math.umn.edu/~adams/KA/MATH1271-exercises/exercises/ Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 10:55 AM subject: Gateway Exam update The good news is that, of the 363 students who are signed up to take the Gateway Exam, the number who have passed is now 158. The bad news is that 109 students still have not made their first attempt at Gateway. REMEMBER THAT, EACH TIME YOU FINISH THE TEST, THERE'S A 12 HOUR DELAY BEFORE YOU CAN TAKE IT ANOTHER TIME. So, if you're plan is to "pull an all nighter" the day before the due date, you'll be disappointed. Please keep in mind that at 12:59am on 27 October, the exam will close, and you will not be able to take it after that. Students who have not passed (with a score of at least 8 / 10) should, at that point, drop this course; ALL OF THEIR MOODLE SCORES WILL BE SET TO 0, so they cannot pass. If you're unsure of whether you've passed Gateway, please follow the instructions at http://math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/gatewayMATH1271.html with the title "If you want to see your Gateway Exam score: ..." If you have a score that is 8 / 10 or higher, you might want to save or print a screen shot, as certification that you've passed. If you want help with Gateway, do come to my office hours, or see your TA. Probably best to bring a copy of your latest attempt at the test, and we can go over it. Please don't delay. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 3:04 PM subject: Gateway exam To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: The Gateway Exam is now open, and YOU MUST COMPLETE IT SUCCESSFULLY BY FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER (one and one half weeks from now). You may take it several times. You only need to pass once. Note that the last day to drop our course (without petition) is Monday 29 October; see http://onestop.umn.edu/calendars/cancel_add_refund_deadlines/fall_2012.html If you don't complete the Gateway by F 26 Oct, you should drop the course immediately, since you will not receive a passing grade. So please start on the Gateway as soon as you can. This is one situation where procrastination can really lead to disaster. Here are the instructions for taking the Gateway Exam: ======================================== 1) Go to roy.math.umn.edu 2) Click on 'math-1271-f12' 3) Log in with your x.500 id + Password. Your initial password is your 7-digit student ID number. After the initial log in, you may change your password. You are now about to begin your gateway exam, to proceed... 4) Click on 'Take Differentiation Gateway test' 5) After you have clicked on 'Take Differentiation Gateway', a clock will appear in the upper right corner, counting down from 50:00. 6) You should enter your answers in the spaces provided. You may use scratch paper to work out the answers by hand before entering them on the computer. You do not need to simplify your answer, but doing so may save you some typing. 7) At any time during the exam, you may hit 'Preview Test'. This will not end your test, but will show you how the computer is interpreting your answers. You may go back and make corrections until... 8) When you are ready to end the test, hit 'Grade Test'. YOU SHOULD DO THIS BEFORE THE CLOCK GETS TO 0:00. In fact, you should leave a little time (say 1 minute) so that even if your internet connection is slow, your info gets to the server before the clock expires. Once you have clicked 'Grade Test', your test will be scored. You will not be allowed to change your answers at this point. You will be told immediately what your score is. If your score is 8 or more out of 10, well done, you have passed. If your score is 7 or less, you must take the test again. You must wait 12 hours before attempting the test again. ======================================== Please let me know if you have any questions. Good luck! Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 11:55 AM subject: Grade lines are posted To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: Grade lines are posted, see http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ExamAndGrades1271/gradesmidterm01Y12M10D04MATH1271.txt As usual, many of you are doing very well, and some are not. Overall, I was happy with the results. Please remember that the letter grades on the midterm are not used in figuring your final course letter grade. Your final course letter grade is determined by a system that I described in an earlier email message. The letter grades for Midterm 1 are simply my best guess as to what kind of letter grade you should expect on the final exam, assuming you don't work any harder through the rest of the semester than you have so far. This kind of guesswork is, by its nature, subject to a lot of error, but it's been my experience in the past that, if someone gets scores of, say, 93 on my midterms, they often end up with an "A-" on the final exam. So that's why I set the grade lines so high. Keep in mind that, if I'm wrong, the system will self-correct: If, for example, more students get an "A" on the final than on my midterms, then I'll end up with more "A" course grades to give out. A reminder of course expectations: Students will enter this course with a mastery of precalculus, including algebra, trigonometry, geometry and analytic geometry. Students will attend every class (both lectures and recitations), arriving on time and staying until the end, paying attention. I may not be able to end every class exactly on time, but I should not run over by more than a minute or two, at most. Students will watch every course video, from start to finish, by its due date, paying attention. I recommend watching these videos, without interruption, in a place with no distractions (e.g., at a library). Students will turn in every homework assignment, by its due date. If you are not meeting these course expectations (especially if you are not watching the videos), then you are courting disaster. EVEN IF YOU DID WELL ON THIS EXAM, YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT THAT WILL CONTINUE. The course gets progressively more difficult (but also more interesting) as the semester continues. Let me say again, that, overall, I thought you performed well as a group on the midterm, so keep up the good work! See you tomorrow. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 9:04 AM subject: Codes for grading of Midterm 1 To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: We hope (and expect) to have you graded midterms returned to you on Tuesday. Here are the codes I used, in grading Midterm 1: If on your exam, you see, in red, "1-A", it means: "the square root of x^2 may equal -x". If on your exam, you see, in red, "1-B", it means: "the square root of x^4 is never equal to -x^2, unless x=0". If on your exam, you see, in red, "1-C", it means: "horizontal asymptotes, NOT vertical". If on your exam, you see, in red, "1-D", it means: "answers need to be equations of lines, NOT numbers". If on your exam, you see, in red, "2-A", it means: "functions must satisfy the vertical line test". If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-A", it means: "answer should be a number, not a limit problem". If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-B", it means: "show more work". If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-C", it means: "why can you ignore sin^2(x)?". If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-D", it means: "transcendental expressions don't have highest order terms". If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-E", it means: "sin(x) has NO asymptotics as x --> \infty". If on your exam, you see, in red, "3-F", it means: "generally, asymptotics don't add". If on your exam, you see, in red, "4-A", it means: "no need to say -\infty < x or x < \infty". - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 5:29 PM subject: 80% of success is showing up, and other similar matters. To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: We are now in the part of the course were attendance starts to drop off, especially on Friday. (The 10:10am class wasn't too bad, but a significant number of students were missing from the 3:35pm class today.) It appears that there's a myth that teachers at the U are not supposed to cover important material on Fridays, so that students may skip Friday classes. This is simply untrue. I leave open the possibility that, on some Fridays and/or Mondays, I might give two quizzes, so those dates would count double toward your lecture quiz grade. A basic course expectation (as stated in the first lecture) is that you will attend *every* class, from start to finish. This includes both lectures and recitations. Attendance is highly correlated to performance. You can find some information about my experience with this at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/learnstats.html I haven't worked through the details on this, but my own general guess is that, if you miss 10% of the 42 lectures (so, about four lectures), then (assuming that you're the mythical "average student") your grade would be expected to drop by about 10%. That could easily be, for example, the difference between a C and a D. There's no meaningful way to track who is watching the videos (and, more to the point, who is watching them while paying close attention), but I firmly believe that a similar correlation exists here. If you've seen a lot of this material before, you may have been able to "coast", but, for the vast majority of students, the remainder of the course concerns skills and concepts for which they have not yet achieved mastery, and the videos can be a huge help. Keep in the mind that the course gets progressively harder as the semester goes on, and you may have to adjust how you approach the course as the material gets more difficult. Homework is closely correlated to performance, and this is also documented at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/learnstats.html Finally, mastery of precalculus is a big ingredient, too. Again, see http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/learnstats.html for my own efforts to document this. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 3:07 PM subject: preparation for the first midterm To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: On Thursday of next week, 4 October, during recitation, we'll have our first midterm, covering all of the material up to and including Topic 0280. Be sure to watch all of the videos from 0010 to 0280 in preparation. No homework is due next week, and there are no videos to watch next week, until Friday. All your time for this course can be put to getting ready for the exam. One study suggestion: Go to the course website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ and look in the third column, headed "ARCHIVE:". If you click on the link Spring 2012 archive you'll go to http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/archS12.html and, there, you can see the first midterm from Spring 2012, or the first midterm with solutions. (It comes in Versions A,B,C,D, but they are all pretty similar.) I recommend printing out Version A of that midterm, without solutions, and simply working through it over the weekend. On Monday, I'll start working through those same problems, and, if you've already thought about those problems, it'll have more impact when you see me working them. When you finish Spring 2012, go to Fall 2011, and, again, work through Version A of the first midterm. I'll do the same thing, in class, though I might not get to it until Wednesday. I'll work through as many archived Version A midterms as I have time to do, in reverse chronological order. The TAs may also work through some old midterm problems, in recitation, but you should ask them about that. Another good study aid is at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/probsbytopicMATH1271.pdf where I've collected lots of old midterm problems, with solutions, and have ordered them by Topic number. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 2:47 PM subject: Clicker registered? To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: This is a reminder that you need to be using a registered clicker for your scores to be recorded in the Moodle grade book. 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 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: Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 9:20 AM subject: difficulties with Media Mill Hi, Media Mill is the server farm that hosts our videos, and it was down on Sunday, but up again Monday morning (yesterday). One of you noticed ongoing problems, after Monday morning. I've been able to access the videos myself recently, so I suggested trying using a library computer, thinking that it might just be the student's laptop. However, just recently, a second student complained, so I wrote to my contact at Media Mill (MM). He wrote back: > We are still having issues. Turns out it was the recent iOS6 and > iPhone5 launch that is causing issues. iOS6 is over loading the > media mill / magnet delivery servers. MM is back up now and we are > working on a permanent solution. This same problem happened about a > year ago when iOS5 launched with an updated version of iTunesU. I > will be sending out a message to all MM users today regarding the > issues and a plan for a fix. The videos do seem to be working right now, but please let me know if you continue to have trouble accessing them. I'll let you know if I hear any more information that might be useful to you. I expect that they'll get the problem solved quickly, if not already. Sorry for the trouble. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 2:58 PM subject: Clicker policies To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: Today is the first day of for-credit clicker quizzing. Some policies: First, a correct answer is worth the number of points listed on the slide, and an incorrect answer is worth half as much. So if a question is worth 10 points according to the slide, then you get 10 for a correct answer, 5 for an incorrect answer, and 0 for no answer at all. Second, I will post your grades on Moodle as quickly as I can, right after class, typically within an hour, assuming there are no technical problems. You have 24 hours after grades are posted to let me know if something seems wrong; otherwise the grade stands. So do keep a close eye on your Moodle site for your clicker grade scores. If, at the end of the semester, you have 0 for every clicker quiz, it'll be too late to do anything about it. Third, I reserve the right to cancel a quiz for any reason, and/or to give a second clicker quiz. In particular, if you finish a quiz and then leave class, keep in mind that there might be a second quiz coming. As I mentioned before, one of the expectations of students in this course is full attendance, at every class (both recitations and lectures) from the start of class to the end. - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 2:10 PM subject: Expectations for questions about homework and recitation quiz problems To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: I generally suggest, if you have questions about homework and recitation quizzes, to talk to your TA. This is particularly true if you have issues with how the grading was done, but also if you're unsure about how to solve one of these problems. Usually, *my* focus is on lecture quizzes and exams. On the other hand, if, during my office hours, you want to ask me about homework or recitation quiz questions, it's fine, but I do have some requests. Basically, I ask that students make a good faith effort to solve a problem before asking me questions about it. More specifically: If you have a question about a NEW homework problem, then go to the corresponding OLD homework question, copy it down in your own handwriting, and copy down the solution, in your own handwriting. Double check your copying. If you're unable to understand the OLD homework solution, be prepared to tell me the first step that doesn't make sense to you. It might actually be the first step in the problem, and that's fine, but I might choose only to help you past that one step, and then ask you to think about the rest, returning, if necessary, with more questions later. If you're able to understand the OLD homework solution, but it doesn't help you to solve the corresponding NEW homework problem, be prepared to explain why you see the two problems as being substantially different. Similarly, if you have a question about a recitation quiz problem, copy down the question in your own handwriting, and copy down the posted solution, in your own handwriting. Again, be prepared to tell me the first step that doesn't make sense to you. KEEP WATCHING THE VIDEOS! The material presented there is crucial for you to succeed in the course. Moreover, for many of the homework problems, there's a video that features a solution to a similar problem. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 1:57 subject: Three-digit codes are now posted at Moodle To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), 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.) Be sure, when you come to class from now on, you know your three-digit code. 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". 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. If you don't have a three-digit code, it's probably because your clicker is not registered. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:55 AM subject: Re: More clickers to arrive at the bookstore by Thursday, the 13th UPDATE: One of the two shipments (of clickers) mentioned below has just arrived at the bookstore in Coffman. It has 42 clickers, and they're now on the shelf, for purchase. The other (with 80 clickers) should arrive on Thursday. ... On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 10:51 AM, Scot Adams wrote: ... FYI: Some of you may have had trouble getting a clicker at the bookstore ... ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 10:51 AM subject: More clickers to arrive at the bookstore by Thursday, the 13th To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: FYI: Some of you may have had trouble getting a clicker at the bookstore. I've just been told by my bookstore contact that two new shipments of clickers are arriving, and both should be at the bookstore by this coming Thursday, the 13th. If, by Friday, the 14th at 10am, you're unable to get a clicker, please do let me know, and I'll write to him again. If he confirms that there are still people unable to buy clickers, then I'll extend the registration deadline. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 9:33 AM subject: Some reminders To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: Just a few reminders: Please register your clicker as soon as possible, if you haven't already. If you register it by 10am on Friday of the second week of classes (September 14), you will receive full credit (100 points) for Lecture Quiz 0. Those who miss this deadline will receive 0 points. Also, remember that your first recitation quiz is this coming Thursday, September 13. It is a for-credit written quiz. No calculators or handheld devices are allowed on any quizzes or exams in this course. There is no partial credit on multiple choice or T/F problems. The first homework is also due on Thursday, September 13. See http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/email.txt for our email record, with information about course organization. See http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271F12.html for the course diary, which has information about what's covered on quizzes, and also has homework due dates. See http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/lectQuizzesMATH1271F12.html for the slides that have been used in lecture. See http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/syllabusMATH1271.pdf for the syllabus for the course. See http://math.umn.edu/~adams/KA/MATH1271-exercises/exercises/ for some extra practice problems, using the Khan Academy format. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 1:04 PM subject: clicker testing To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: One of you wrote: > I believe I bought the older version of the clicker (it does not > have the miniature screen or light). Is this acceptable, or shall I > exchange it for a newer/better one? Also, I had no indication of it > functioning at all, even though I successfully registered it. Do you > have a way of knowing if my clicker answers were logged into your > system yesterday? I believe that the older Turning Technologies clickers will work, but clickers from other companies will not. If the green light lights up on your clicker when you use it, then it's probably working. You can take it to Tech Stop (at 101 Coffman) if you'd like it to be tested more thoroughly. Also, on Monday of the 3rd week of classes we'll run a test that will indicate whether each specific clicker is or is not working. I'll explain how that works, when we get to that date. For-credit clicker quizzing won't begin until _Wednesday_ of the 3rd week, the 19th at the earliest. (I may have said Monday the 17th in an earlier message, but that's really when I'm planning to do the last clicker testing.) Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 11:04 AM subject: Whitman text To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: One of you wrote: > So as far as the Whitman book goes, do I need it or how do I access it? > Also, the problems at the end of your videos from Whitman, are they > optional for practice or assigned homework? To access the Whitman text, point to the main course website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ and look down the left column of links until you see "Whitman (optional)" and click on that. The problems mentioned at the end of each video are optional problems. They are not assigned and will not be graded. The homework for this course appears at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/hm2wrkMATH1271.html - Scot ************************************************************************* date: Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 3:00 PM subject: Online office hours To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), copying TAs: For your convenience, I now offer _online_ office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays in the afternoon, 2:20pm - 3:20pm. For more information, point your browser to http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/onlineoffhrsMATH1271.html If you join the meeting, then you can see what I'm writing, and we can talk by phone, at 612-625-5507. 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. Also, I have in-person office hours at various times, and the schedule is in the syllabus at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/syllabusMATH1271.pdf Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 12:05 PM subject: ACTION ITEMS from the last message ACTION ITEMS from the last message: FIRST, be sure to buy and register your clicker. NOTE THAT YOU RECEIVE SOME COURSE CREDIT FOR REGISTERING YOUR CLICKER BY THE DEADLINE. See Point 2 from the preceding message for more detail. SECOND, be sure to watch Topics 0010, 0020, 0030, 0040 and 0050 BY CLASS TIME ON WEDNESDAY 5 SEPTEMBER. See Point 1 from the preceding message for more detail. Best, Scot ************************************************************************* date: Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 12:03 PM subject: Initial remarks about MATH 1271 Lectures 020 and 070 (from Prof. Scot Adams) To students in MATH 1271 Lectures 020 (10:10am) and 070 (3:35pm), 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 fall, though we only "tied" in the spring. For more information, see http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Fall2011/fall2011effclassflip.txt http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ArchiveMATH1271/Semesters/Spring2012/spring2012effclassflip.txt You should watch the first five videos (Topics 0010, 0020, 0030, 0040 and 0050) by class time on Wednesday next week (5 September), 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 10:10am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle2.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=10554 If you are in the 3:35am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle2.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=11142 You can also access your Moodle site from the main course website http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/ 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 TurningTechnologies. Click on that link and the follow the instructions. Please register your clicker as soon as possible. If you register it by 10am on Friday of the second week of classes (September 14) will receive full credit (100 points) for Lecture Quiz 0. Those who miss this deadline will receive 0 points. As soon as you get your clicker, please bring it to every class, including, if possible, the first class on Wednesday 5 September (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. Have your clicker out and ready to use at the start of each class. The first for-credit clicker quiz will be on Monday 17 September. We will likely have several clicker quizzes before that date, but they will not count for credit. However, please do get and register your clicker as soon as you can. The more times you can test it in class before the for-credit quizzing, the better the chance is that you'll discover if there is any problem with it. Once the for-credit quizzing starts, clicker quiz grades will be posted within a couple of hours of the quiz itself, and you'll only have 24 hours to notify me if you notice a problem with your clicker quiz grade. If you wait until after that 24 hour deadline, the quiz score will stand, though, of course, we'll work to troubleshoot the problem. Your four lowest clicker quiz scores will be dropped, and there are no makeups on clicker quizzes. -------------------------------- 3. The daily plan for the entire course is set out in the course diary at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/diaryMATH1271F12.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://moodle2.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=10554 If you are in the 11:15am lecture, then your MATH 1271 Moodle site is https://moodle2.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=11142 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 at http://www.math.umn.edu/~adams/MATH1271/solnsMATH1271.html These solutions can be 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/diaryMATH1271F12.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, 6 September), 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/diaryMATH1271F12.html You can drop your two 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. Note that there are some problems (in the Khan Academy format) that you can use, for practice, at http://math.umn.edu/~adams/KA/MATH1271-exercises/exercises/ These problems are not assigned and will not count for credit. -------------------------------- 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 *************************************************************************