MATH 1030, COLLEGE ALGEBRA SYLLABUS Section 004 (INT 14141) COURSE TITLE: College Algebra CREDIT: 3 credit hours SEMESTER: Spring 2011 TEXT: Algebra and Trigonometry by Blitzer, 4th edition SOFTWARE: MyMathLab COURSE DESCRIPTION: This is a course in Algebra. The course is computer-assisted, which means students will use the computer (along with the instructor) to complete the course. Topics include linear, quadratic, and rational equations and inequalities, the algebra of functions (including polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic functions), the graphs of some of these functions, and systems of equations. INSTRUCTOR: Emily Ross Office: 345 ESH Phone: (314)516-6432 E-mail: ross@arch.cs.umsl.edu OFFICE HOURS: M, W 8:30 am 9:15 am; 12:30 pm 1:15 pm Tues 11 am 12 pm or by appointment *Virtual Office Hours will be scheduled weekly via MyGateway PREREQUISITES: You must have a score of 22 or higher on the ACT Math sub-test; or a grade of C or better in a two or four year college intermediate algebra course; or a score of 22 or higher on the UMSL Math Placement Test, obtained in the six months prior to enrollment in this course. If a record of your prerequisites is not in the UMSL computer system, you will be asked to provide verification by the end of the first week of classes; otherwise you will be removed from class. E-MAIL REQUIREMENT: All correspondence will be made through the e-mail address that you register with in CourseCompass or your student e-mail. Make sure to check your e-mail frequently. If you use your UMSL email address please be aware that your mailbox is limited in size. If your mailbox is full you will not receive the instructor s e-mails containing important course information. Please check your mailbox capacity and empty it when it is full. CourseCompass (http://www.coursecompass.com) This is a computer-assisted course. Students will use the computer to do homework, get help, and prepare for the tests. You will register using the access code that accompanies your textbook and the course ID ross05394. You must register your name as it appears on MyGateway. Please do not switch your first and last names. Register with an e-mail address that you check frequently as most communication from the instructor will be via e-mail. Weekly reading assignment, worksheets, solutions, reviews for the tests, and a copy of the syllabus are among the material that will be posted in the Course Documents folder on this site. Please note that these documents are created using an equation editor. Your home computer may not have the ability to read these equations. However, every campus computer does have this ability, so you may want to view and print documents from campus.
HELP: (1) CourseCompass (2) Online lectures (3) MTLC -- You can do homework and get help from the TAs and instructors from 8 am 5 pm Monday through Thursday. (4) Regular office hours (listed above) and virtual office hours via MyGateway (announced weekly). (5) Email your instructor with any questions. This can be done using the Ask your Instructor button on CourseCompass or sending a message to ross@arch.cs.umsl.edu (6) Free tutoring is available in the Math Lab in 425 SSB in the daytime, evenings and weekends. Visit (http://www.cs.umsl.edu/lab/mathlab.html) or call 516-5190 for more details. STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE Lecture: You must view each lecture by the time in which the homework is due. Viewing of lectures is tracked by username. Failure to view a lecture will result in a deduction of 2 points from that week s quiz. Lectures can be found on CourseCompass under the Course Document tab. HOMEWORK:Working homework problems is the best preparation for quizzes and tests. You will use CourseCompass to do your homework. The problems are similar to the problems presented in the online lectures. Each problem can be completed as many times as needed. Simply click on the Similar Exercise button and redo the problem until you have a perfect score. You may practice the problems as many times as you need to in order to master the knowledge and skills to do well on the tests and quizzes. The score from the last attempt is kept as the grade for that section. Use the GRADEBOOK if you want to review a problem once you have completed it. The immediate feedback, guided solutions, and examples are great help. You can ask questions from your instructor, teaching assistants, or other students. It is recommended that you print the completed homework so that you can use it to study for the quizzes and exams. The homework grade will be calculated by taking the average of all the homework assignments. Late homework is not allowed. The homework should be done gradually and not on the due date. Make sure to redo the problems on your own once after getting help. Some students complain that they can do the homework but fail the quizzes. In the majority of those cases, the grade on the test and quizzes will drastically increase if you redo a problem after getting help. You need to have a notebook with the homework problems you are doing prior to keying your answer in the computer. This will help you with preparations for quiz and test reviews. At the time of each hourly exam, the notebook is checked and 20% is subtracted from your final homework grade if you don t maintain this notebook. You can print the homework assignment and show your work in the provided space. You may keep these notes in a binder instead of a showing your work in a notebook. In case you have done the problem correctly but the computer counted it wrong, click on the Ask My Instructor button. Write down that you have the problem correct in the body of the message. Your grade will be changed if it can be verified that you have the correct answer and only after the due date for the homework assignment. You can also print the message showing your answer and the correct answer and show it to your instructor. The weekly homework will open Sunday morning and close on Saturday night. The official due date for the homework is at 5 p.m. on the indicated dates. The homework and take home quizzes will remain open until 11:58 p.m. but computer related problems after the 5 p.m. deadline will not be considered.
WEEKLY REVIEW WORKSHEETS: The review worksheet problems supplement the homework problems. We are restricted in the problems that are available for us to use on CoursecCompass. You are responsible for the material in the review worksheets and will see similar problems on the quizzes, tests and final exam. Review worksheets can be found on CourseCompass under the Course Document tab. The weekly review worksheets will be collected prior to taking each exam. QUIZZES: There is a quiz over the material from the homework assignments each week. There is a total of 15 quizzes, including the syllabus quiz. No make-up quizzes will be given, however, your lowest quiz grade for the semester will be dropped. The quizzes are all online and can be taken either on campus or from home. Quizzes must be taken during the designated period. Each quiz will open at 12 a.m. Sunday morning, immediately after the homework closes. The official due date for quizzes is 5 p.m. on Monday but the quizzes will remain open until 11:58 p.m. However, it is strongly recommended that you complete the quiz BEFORE the 5 p.m. deadline as any computer related issues you encounter while taking the quiz after 5 p.m. will not be considered and will result in a zero grade for that quiz. TO TAKE AN ONLINE QUIZ 1. You will need to make sure that you have done the appropriate downloads for CourseCompass and TESGEN. To check this, visit: http://www.mymathlab.com/system.html and select Blitzer: Algebra & Trigonometry, 4e from the dropdown menu. 2. You must show all of your work for each quiz on a separate sheet of paper with the name of the quiz clearly written on the top. Each problem must be clearly numbered with all work shown. Quiz papers must then be kept in your notebook and will be checked before each test. Points will bed deducted if you do not show work or using the correct notation. Quiz grades without corresponding quiz papers will be changed to zero. 3. Go to CourseCompass. Click on QUIZZES AND TESTS and then on the specific quiz. SOME GENERAL RULES FOR TESTS AND QUIZZES NO CALCULATORS ALLOWED FOR EXAMS!! The reason for this is that we have found that the use of such devices tends to exacerbate student weaknesses, particularly regarding basic skills. For that reason, you might consider not using one on your homework unless it s an absolute must. You may use a calculator for t the quizzes. However, we encourage you not to do so, as these quiz problems may also appear on exams. Since calculators cannot be used on exams you will need to be able to complete all quiz problems without a calculator. YOU HAVE TO SHOW YOUR WORK FOR THE EXAMS AND QUIZZES Your work from the quizzes and tests will be turned in before each test. You must show your work in a readable and logical manner. Points will be deducted for problems with correct answers but no supportive work. Do not hit the backspace button during online QUIZZES or EXAMS!! Hitting the backspace button during the online tests and quizzes will end your work without saving anything. We will then have to rely on your written work for a grade.
TESTS: Four tests will be given during the weeks shown on the calendar. The tests are 75 minutes each and have to be taken on campus in the MTLC (UC 50) during one of the given time periods for each designated week. The tests are very similar to the homework, review worksheets, and quizzes. Test Reviews will be posted before each exam. Please refer to the course calendar for the test schedules. NOTE: Your binder containing the following MUST be turned in before you can take each test: 1. Scratch work from homework 2. Work for the quizzes 3. Completed weekly Review Worksheets 4. Completed Test Review FINAL EXAM: The mandatory FINAL EXAM will be comprehensive and worth 200 points. The final exam will be given on during the time periods given below. The final exam is not online and will be graded manually. Your course grade cannot be more than one letter grade higher than your final exam grade, i.e. the best grade you can get will be a D if you fail the final exam. There will be practice exam questions provided prior to the final exam. Please refer to the course calendar for the test schedules. NOTE: You be required to show photo ID before taking each test and the final exam. COURSE GRADE: Your course grade will be based on: The grade scale is as follows: Homework 100 Points Quizzes 100 Points 4 Test (100 pts each) 400 points Final Exam 200 Points Total 800 Points 720 800 A A or A- 640 719 B B+, B, or B- 560 639 C C+, C, C- 480 559 D Below 480 F You muat follow the proper procedure for dropping this course. A grade of F will be assigned to a student whose name is still on the final class roster and has not dropped the course officially. This grade will not be changed retroactively. Delayed grades can be given only for a situation where a student has completed all the work, with a grade of C- or above, and has to miss the final exam because of an emergency. Delayed grades have to be approved by the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: When one takes credit for another s work or uses unauthorized devices (such as calculators) in the course, when they are expressly forbidden, it is cheating. This may occur during in class exams/quizzes or takehome exams/quizzes in this course. The code of student conduct is in the UM-St. Louis Student Handbook. According to the University s Collected Rules and Regulations (Chapter 200: Student Conduct), the term Cheating includes but is not limited to: (i) use of any unauthorized assistance in taking quizzes, tests, or examinations; (ii) dependence upon the aid of sources beyond those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems, or carrying out other assignments; (iii) acquisition or possession without permission of tests or other academic material belonging to a member of the University faculty or staff; or (iv) knowingly providing any unauthorized assistance to another student on quizzes, tests, or examinations. When cheating is determined, a zero grade will be given on the specific exam/quiz and the student(s) who is/are involved in the cheating will be reported to the Department of Mathematics and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
COURSE OUTLINE START OF THE SEMESTER Register with Coursecompass using the MyMathLab student access code and your course ID. Thoroughly read the syllabus. Your first quiz will be over the material contained in the syllabus. This quiz is due Monday January 24th at 5 p.m. Start viewing the first set of Lectures, available on CourseCompass under the Course Documents tab. You should then begin the first set of homework problem by clicking the HOMEWORK tab on Coursecompass. This first set of homework assignments is due Saturday, January 22 nd at 5 p.m. You will also need to do the first review worksheet, also available on CourseCompass, under the Course Documents tab. WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS Links to the lectures are posted on CourseCompass at 12 a.m. Sunday. You will need to view each lecture before attempting the corresponding homework. The online homework opens at 12 a.m. Sunday and is due the following Saturday at 5 p.m. The homework will remain open until 11:58 p.m., however, computer related problems encountered after the 5 p.m. deadline will not be considered. Review worksheets are available at 12 a.m. Sunday. You must complete these worksheets prior to taking the weekly quiz. Solutions to the review worksheets will also posted so that you can check your worksheet before taking the quiz. The weekly quiz opens at 12 a.m. Sunday and is due Monday at 5 p.m. The quiz remains open until 11:58 p.m., however, computer related problems encountered after the 5 p.m. deadline will not be considered. TESTS and FINAL EXAM There are 4 exams that must be taken during the scheduled times listed in this document. Make note of these dates and times. You are required to take the exams at these specific times. There is a comprehensive final exam that has to taken during the scheduled times listed in this document. The final exam is NOT optional.