Online College Algebra

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Fall 2013 Syllabus

Course Information

Catalog Number: 20-804-212 Class Number: 33518

Dates: 8/26/2013 - 10/18/2013 Credits: 3

Website: http://blackboard.madisoncollege.edu Publisher Website: http://pearsonmylab.com Pearson Course ID: bannen05805

Instructor Information

Instructor: Sarah Bannen

Email: [email protected] Phone: (608) 246-6071

Skype: sarah.bannen

Google: scbannen.madisoncollege

Office hours: M/W 4:30-5:15pm, T/Th. 2-2:45pm Office: West Campus Room 320

Description

College Algebra includes fundamental topics covered in Intermediate Algebra with a more careful look at the mathematical details and a greater emphasis on the concept of function. It covers quadratic, polynomial, rational, exponential and logarithmic functions, equations and inequalities; the use of matrices and determinants in solving linear systems of equations, solving non-linear systems; sequences and series. For a list of course competencies, please see the Outline of Instruction at http://wids.madisoncollege.edu/20804212.pdf

Pre-requisites: Intermediate Algebra 20-804-201 or 20-804-203 with a grade of “C” or better, OR Compass: Algebra 66-99 or College Algebra 1-45.

Online Learning Expectations

This is an online course, so it requires you to use a computer extensively. It is also condensed from 16 weeks down to 8 weeks, so you should think of it as two courses in terms of the time you will spend on it each week. This course may not be right for you if you do not have about 15-20 hours each week to complete the course work between August 26 and October 18; you do not like working with computers, the Internet, or technology; or you do not have unlimited, high-speed access to the Internet. Here are the technology recommendations for Madison College:

http://madisoncollege.edu/in/technology-recommendations. Please note that technical issues are not an excuse for incomplete work in this course. If you are having technical problems, you can contact the Madison College Help Desk at 608-243-4444 or use computers located on any of our campuses.

Course Format

There are weekly deadlines in this course – every Friday and Monday at 11:59pm. See the schedule below. You will participate in discussions and turn in worksheets on Blackboard. Since the worksheets will require writing out mathematical expressions, you will need to scan or take a digital photo of your work. You will do homework and tests on the MyMathLab course website. The website requires Adobe Flash Player. You should plan to spend about 3-4 hours per day, 5 days per week, on this class. It is better to spend the time each day than to cram it all in before the deadline.

Netiquette

Please read the online etiquette guidelines at http://madisoncollege.edu/online-etiquette-guide. You will be expected to follow these guidelines when you post to the discussion board and when you send emails related to this class.

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Getting Started

Step 1: Buy access to the textbook together with the MyMathLab course website.

The required textbook is College Algebra, 1st edition, 2012, by Kirk Trigsted. Publisher: Pearson. ISBN: 0131744690.

The textbook is an e-book; it only exists online. It is included as part of the MyMathLab course website. An optional workbook is available. Please choose one of these options:

MyMathLab access (includes e-book) MyMathLab access + paper workbook You can get free access for 17 days,

but after that you must pay or lose access.

http://pearsonmylab.com

ISBN: 0-321-81807-5

Madison College Bookstore, or http://mypearsonstore.com

Step 2: Register on the course website.

Location: http://pearsonmylab.com Course ID:

bannen05805

Step 3: Do the introductory assignments.

These assignments are due on August 26, the first day of class:

• Attend a kick-off meeting with Sarah, your instructor (information on possible online and face-to-face meeting times will be sent in an email)

• Do Homework 0 (on MyMathLab), a tutorial on how to enter answers for your homework and tests

• Participate in Discussion 0 (on Blackboard), in which you will introduce yourself to the class

Step 4: Obtain a calculator.

We will use a graphing calculator extensively in this class. The TI-83 or TI-84 graphing calculator is recommended.

Step 5: View the weekly checklist, and get going!

The weekly checklists will tell you exactly what learning activities to do and what assignments to complete each week. Every week, you will be required to post on the Discussion Board by Friday at 11:59pm and do the rest of the week’s assignments, which will include homework, tests, discussion responses, and worksheets, by Monday at 11:59pm.

Step 6: Stay in touch.

Please check your Madison College email address at least twice a week so that you don’t miss important announce- ments. Seek help early if you are falling behind! I am always happy to hear from you. You are welcome to visit me during my office hours, or to set up a Skype or phone appointment with me.

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Instructor Schedule and Availability

S u n A u g 2 5 – S a t A u g 3 1 , 2 0 1 3 ( C e n t r a l T i m e ) M a d i s o n C o l l e g e

Elem. Alg. @ W e s t 1 3 6 1 1 : 3 0 a m - 1 : 5 5 p m

Office Hour @ W e s t 3 2 0 2 p m - 2 : 4 5 p m

Office Hour @ W e s t 3 2 0 4 : 3 0 p m - 5 : 1 5 p m

I n t . A l g . @ W e s t 2 1 8

5 : 3 0 p m - 7 : 5 5 p m

I n t . A l g . @ W e s t 2 1 8

5 : 3 0 p m - 7 : 5 5 p m T u t o r i n g @ W e s t 4 3 7

3 : 3 0 p m - 4 : 2 0 p m

S u n 8 / 2 5 M o n 8 / 2 6 T u e 8 / 2 7 W e d 8 / 2 8 T h u 8 / 2 9 F r i 8 / 3 0 S a t 8 / 3 1

1 0 a m

1 1 a m

1 2 p m

1 p m

2 p m

3 p m

4 p m

5 p m

6 p m

7 p m

8 p m

9 p m

I try to reply to emails as quickly as possible. During the week, you can expect a response within 24 hours of the sent time. Over the weekend, I will not guarantee this response time, but you will see a reply early Monday morning.

Grading

Component Point Value Number Total Percentage

Kick-off meeting 10 1 10 1%

Discussions 20 7 140 14%

Homework 5 40 200 20%

Tests 50 7 350 35%

Worksheets 30 5 150 15%

Final Exam 150 1 150 15%

Total Possible 1000 100%

A [92% , 100%]

AB [88% , 92%) B [82% , 88%) BC [78% , 82%) C [72% , 78%) D [65% , 72%) F [0% , 65%)

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Kick-off Meeting

I am asking each of you to meet with me before the course officially starts, or at the latest during the first week. The goals are to establish contact so you know I’m a real person, and to get you off to a running start in this condensed 8-week course. You will receive 10 points for participating. I will send an email with possible face-to-face and online meeting times.

Policies for Homework

You will do your homework, tests, and final exam on the MyMathLab course website. The homework is designed as a learning activity. There are no time limits on the homework, and there are many ways to get help while you are working on it, including links to the e-book and other multimedia content from the publisher, links to instructor videos, access to “Ask My Instructor” which allows you to send me an email showing me where you got stuck, and

“Help Me Solve This” which takes you through the problem step-by-step.

Policies for the Tests and Final Exam

The tests and final exam are open book, open notes, but you must do them on your own with no help from other people. You must finish the tests by the due dates (always on a Monday at 11:59pm)– they will be closed afterwards.

Before the due dates, you may take each test twice. Your highest score will be counted. This re-take option does not apply to the final. The tests will be timed and you must finish them after you start them. The time limit for each test is 2 hours.

It is imperative that you keep up with the pace of this course, so the test due dates are hard deadlines. However, you may have one test extension during the course, as long as you ask for the extension before the test deadline.

Note that MyMathLab does not give partial credit, so you should read the instructions carefully for each question before you enter your answer. However, if you submit supporting work, I may give you partial credit on certain problems. The supporting work must be submitted on Blackboard within 24 hours of submitting the test. You will write it out by hand and then take digital photos, inserting all photos into a single document. The work must be legible, orderly, and clearly labeled with the problem numbers.

The final will be like the tests, with the same types of problems and the same time limit of 2 hours. The only differences are that the final is cumulative, it is due on a Friday, and you can only take it once.

Policies for Discussions

Every week you will be required to post once in the discussion board on Blackboard by Friday at 11:59pm and respond to two of your classmates’ threads by Monday at 11:59pm. On the discussion board there are no right or wrong answers and no minimum number of words or sentences, but your post must have some substance. Examples of acceptable responses include asking a question; answering a classmate’s question or providing a clarification; pointing out something you found interesting, surprising, or confusing; suggesting an extension or connection; posting a link to a real-world application; or posting a link to an explanation you found helpful. Each week’s discussion will be worth a possible 20 points. The instructions will specify how the points will be allocated; if you follow the instructions and participate in all of the discussions on time, you will receive full credit. You will not get credit for late posts.

Policies for Worksheets

The five worksheets are intended to help you make connections between major course themes and improve your overall conceptual understanding of algebra by applying skills to practical, real-world applications. The worksheets will be graded out of 30 points according to a pre-defined rubric. You will need to print out the worksheets, do the math by hand, and then scan or take a digital photo of each page and insert the photos into a Word document. It is okay to use your phone to take the pictures as long as they are legible. You will submit your completed worksheets on Blackboard. If you miss the deadline, you will lose 2 points for every day that the worksheet is late.

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Disability Act Statement

Madison College complies with all provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and makes reasonable accommodations upon request. Please contact Disability Resources Services at 246-6716 (Students who are deaf via Relay 711), room 159 at Truax or email [email protected]. If you have an accommodation card from their office indicating that you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present it to me so we can discuss the accommodations that you might need in this class. It is best to request these accommodations at the beginning if not before class so there is ample time to make the accommodations.

Student Responsibilities

Students are expected to be familiar with Madison College policies and procedures. Many of the important policies and procedures are on the Madison College website, located at http://madisoncollege.edu/student-rights- responsibilities.

Academic Integrity is an expectation in all Madison College classes. Plagiarism, cheating and collusion are prohibited at Madison College. Plagiarism is defined as passing of another person’s work as your own. Students who fail to observe these standards are subject to disciplinary action. Madison College has a strong policy on Academic Misconduct which is published on the Madison College website. Please refer to this page on the Madison College Website to review all Academic Integrity and Misconduct policies located at http://madisoncollege.edu/academic- integrity.

Withdrawal Policy

If a situation arises that prevents the successful completion of this course, please note that it is each student’s responsibility to formally withdraw from this course.

Syllabus Changes

As your instructor, I retain the right to make changes based on the timeline of the class, feedback from learners and/or logistical issues and will inform you as soon as a change is made.

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Course Schedule and Assignments

In order to cover all of the material in 8 weeks, we must do about 6 sections of the textbook each week. I strongly recommend that you do one or two sections per day, rather than trying to do it all the day it is due.

WEEK OF… SECTIONS COVERED ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE WEEK

AUGUST 19 (Preview Week) Read the Syllabus

Discussion 0: Introduction (on Blackboard)

Homework 0: Orientation to MyMathLab Meeting with Sarah either face-‐to-‐face or online Due August 26

AUGUST 26 (Week 1) 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 (Equations and Inequalities)

Discussion 1

Sections 1.1-‐1.6 Homework and Test Due September 2

SEPTEMBER 2 (Week 2) 1.7, 1.8, 1.9

(Equations and Inequalities) 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

(Rectangular Coordinates, Lines, and Circles)

Discussion 2

Sections 1.7-‐2.4 Homework and Test Due September 9

SEPTEMBER 9 (Week 3) 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6

(Functions) Discussion 3

Chapter 3 Homework and Test

Worksheet 1: Application of a Linear Function Model Due September 16

SEPTEMBER 16 (Week 4) 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6

(Polynomial and Rational Functions)

Discussion 4

Worksheet 2: Application of a Quadratic Function Model Due September 23

SEPTEMBER 23 (Week 5) 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6

(Exponential and Logarithmic Functions and Equations)

Discussion 5

Worksheet 3: Exponential and Logarithmic Function Models

Due September 30 SEPTEMBER 30 (Week 6) 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

(Conic Sections) 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

(Systems of Equations and Matrices)

Discussion 6

Sections 6.1-‐7.3 Homework and Test Worksheet 4: Conic Sections Due October 7

OCTOBER 7 (Week 7) 7.4, 7.5, 7.6,

(Systems of Equations and Matrices) 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

(Sequences and Series)

Discussion 7

Sections 7.4-‐8.3 Homework and Test Worksheet 5: Matrix Operations and Inverses Due October 14

OCTOBER 14 (Week 8) FINAL EXAM DUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 18