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Math 52 Elementary Algebra

Spring 2012

Instructor: Bob Prior

Watch an overview of the syllabus

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> Are you ready to take this course? Is your computer ready? Do you have the time it takes to be successful in this class? (See Course Requirements)

> This course moves quickly, so be prepared to put a lot of time into it this semester, at least 10 hours per week. (Most of this time is not on-line; a lot of it is reading the book, watching the videos, and doing exercises. See Lesson Routine)

> There are 16 lessons in the course, and each lesson covers 2-3 sections in the book as well 1 or 2 quizzes and tests . (See Calendar for "soft" deadlines and content.)

> This course requires two on-campus exams at Norco College, a Midterm and a Final. (See Exams)

> The Midterm and Final combine to be 60% of your course grade. (See Grading)

> The other 40% is made up of quizzes, tests, and participation. (See Quizzes and Tests)

> This course is based on a textbook I wrote; you can't do the course without it. (See Textbook)

> There are lots of videos that supplement this course. Some are YouTube videos that explain about the course, and there are tutorial videos that explain the material. (See Videos)

 

 

How to Buy the Text	Course Calendar
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What else do you want to know about this course?

Services Available to Students

Disabled Student Services

Student Resources

Math Lab Hours

General overview of Math 52

Course Description

Learning Outcomes

Important things to know

Using the Textbook

About the textbook

Homework

Calculators

So how does it all work?

Lesson Routine

Tutorial Videos

Making the Grade

Grading

Exams

Quizzes and Tests

Miscellaneous

About the instructor

Dropping the Course

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS: ARE YOU READY?

To be successful in this (and any) on-line course, you will need to be self-motivated and self-disciplined in setting your study schedule. Some students are more suited to this type of distance learning experience, but others are not. I encourage you to ask yourself these questions to help determine if you are prepared to be in an online course:

Am I able to manage my time without distractions? (You need to devote at least 10 hours per week for this class.)
Do I have a quiet, safe environment where I can study with little or no interruptions?
Am I able to consistently meet deadlines? (Refer to the course calendar for "soft" deadlines.)
Will I continually check the course calendar and complete assignments on time?
Am I able to learn new material on my own?
Do I have a reliable computer that I am experienced with, and a back up computer I can use if my computer crashes?

Based on your personal responses to each of these items, I'll let you decide if this on-line course is for you.

Once in the class you will find a lot of on-line support from me and from the other students, and I encourage you to take advantage of this support.

I tend not to answer questions that are not asked.

 

The most important things to know about this course:

• You will need to devote at least 10 hours per week on Math 52; this includes
  • reading the text
  • watching tutorial videos
  • doing exercises
  • taking on-line quizzes and tests
  • participating in "classroom" discussions
  • taking the Midterm and the Final Exams at Norco College

   

• I might drop you for inactivity. However, if you want to drop the course you should do it yourself; do not rely on me to do it for you.

 

A Computer is Required:

• You will also need a computer with an internet connection. Many of the tools used in this class will require a fast internet connection so please make sure you have all the required material for the course.
• Computers have a habit of failing at important times.  So having access to another computer, such as a computer on campus, or at a library, or a friends, or one of your own, is a good idea and highly recommended. 

 

If you don't have a reliable computer or reliable internet access, then you might want to consider whether taking this course is a good option for you.

 

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DISABLED RESOURCE CENTER (DRC)

If you have a physical, psychiatric/emotional, medical, or learning disability that may impact your ability to carry out assigned course work, I urge you to contact the staff in Disabled Resource Center. You can find information about contacting them on the campus of your choice by going to DRC. All information and documentation is confidential.

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INSTRUCTOR

My name is Bob Prior. I am a math professor at Norco College. I have been teaching at Norco College since it opened in 1991, and I have been teaching on-line courses since 2000.

For my Math 52 courses I use my own textbook (see below), one that I wrote myself. I have had a lot of positive comments from the students in each of my on-line classes about the readability of the books. Some of you may have used my books in previous classes, maybe Arithmetic or Pre-Algebra. The Math 52 book has more challenging material than the Pre-Algebra text, so you may need to read a section more than once.

You cannot do this course without the book, so please get it as soon as possible.

My wish for my students is that they enjoy the class, enjoy learning math and come away with a new attitude about math and how it works. Please feel free to contact me through my school e-mail address.

Bob Prior

My campus e-mail is bob.prior@NorcoCollege.edu

My website is bobprior.com

 

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will start you off learning about the foundations of algebra, positive and negative numbers, and the Order of Operations. We then move into Equations, Polynomials, Factoring, Rational Expressions, Quadratic and Rational Equations, Graphing Lines, and square roots.

Now, don't let any of those topics scare you. My text will take you through one step at a time, and I think you'll find the explanations fairly easy to understand and apply. However, math doesn't come through a closed book, nor does it come through last minute cramming. You'll need to keep on top of the daily assignments so that you don't get behind.

This class moves quickly, so you must stay on top of it on a regular basis.

 

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STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

The principle objective of this course is for the students to learn the mathematics of Elementary Algebra so that they can apply it to a variety of problems and applications.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Perform arithmetic operations on real numbers and polynomial, rational, and radical expressions.
  
• Evaluate algebraic expressions.
  
• Solve equations involving linear, quadratic, rational, and radical expressions.
  
• Graph linear equations and inequalities given the equation and find the equation given the graph.
  
• Factor polynomials.
  
• Apply algebraic principles and techniques to the solution of applications.
  
• Use the symbols and vocabulary of algebra to communicate mathematical concepts.

Many question the value of learning algebra, asking, "When am I ever going to use this stuff?" Even if a student never again uses algebra in the workplace or at home, being successful in algebra makes one smarter and opens more doors to job and educational opportunities.

This class moves quickly, so you must stay on top of it on a regular basis.

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ABOUT THE BOOK ­ READ THIS!

The text is actually three books, shrink wrapped together. It has ten chapters (but we skip Ch. 9 in this course). (See How to Buy the Book.)

Elementary Algebra: A First Course in Algebraic Thinking (2007), Version 2.03, By Robert H. Prior.

 

You can view all of Chapter 1 on-line

while waiting to get your book!

I have spent many hours thinking about ­ and writing about ­ the mathematics that you will be studying in this course. I have designed the text so that you can learn as you read, oftentimes learning without the assistance of an instructor.

As the instructor, I will be available through e-mail and on-line discussions, but most everything relates back to the book.

Lastly, this Math 52 textbook does contain some sections that we will be skipping in this on-line course. The sections that we do cover are listed in the course calendar.

 

I have also written a Chapter 0 (not required) ­­ that includes pre-algebra topics with which you should already be familiar. This class does not cover Chapter 0, but you may want to look through it in case you are not sure of topics like fractions or percents.

If you want to, you can view all of Chapter 0 on-line.

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HOW TO BUY THE TEXT BOOK

You may purchase the book (see above) on-line or in person at the Norco College bookstore (951) 372-7085.

Using the bookstore's web site, you can reserve the textbook and pick it up yourself, or you can purchase it on-line and have it shipped to your home:

Norco College Bookstore

Shipping time is not guaranteed.

As mentioned above, you can view all of Chapter 1 on-line while you wait for the arrival of your textbook.

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VIDEOS

I have prepared two types of videos for this course:

1) Tutorial videos that cover most of the book material. These are QuickTime videos.

2) Course explanation videos that help explain how the course works. These are YouTube videos.

You can access these videos separately from the embedded links shown. There are also links to these pages in our Blackboard class.

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LESSON ROUTINE

A typical lesson will be as follows. On Blackboard (our host server for on-line classes) ...

• In the Course Menu, click on Lessons
• Click on a lesson and read the different parts of a lesson (start with the Introduction);
• From the lesson's Assignment, read the related textbook material, watch the related video tutorial, read the text again, and do the exercises as they appear;
• In the Assignment part of the lesson, there might also be some on-line activities for you to do to strengthen your understanding of the topic;
• In the Discussion part of the lesson there might be a discussion topic that you are to write a response to and post it on the Discussion Board in that lesson's Discussion folder;
• You can also use the Discussion Board to post any questions you may have, or answer any questions that have been posted by others (this will be how I measure course participation); and then
• For each lesson, there is always at least one quiz and, at the end of the chapter, a test. Information about the quizzes/tests is found within either the Discussion portion of the lesson or a special Assessment portion. Take the quiz and/or test offered at the end of each lesson.

These routines will be explained further at the introduction to each lesson on the course website.

 

Our pace will need to be about one lesson every 5 to 6 days, including weekends and holidays. Each lesson will typically include two or three sections in the book. (See Course Calendar for the schedule of Lessons.) Don't fall behind! It's important that you keep up with the lessons according to the schedule. It's a good idea to write the lessons' schedule on your personal calendar.

 

You can move faster through the lessons if you wish. When you complete the quizzes/test in a lesson, the next lesson will open up for you. (Please refer to my videos about Spring-Loaded Lessons.)

 

Furthermore, you should be spending at least 8 hours per lesson (10 hours per week), possibly more. These 8 (or more) hours include

• time reading the book and doing the exercises,
• time watching the tutorial videos,
• time on-line doing the Discussion part of the lesson, and
• time taking quizzes and tests.

This class moves quickly, so you must stay on top of it on a regular basis.

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HOMEWORK

You are expected to do all of the exercises in the book, but I will not collect the homework. You must do it because that's how you're going to learn the material you will be quizzed and tested on.

There are exercises built right into the reading so that you can do them as you read. The answers to these exercises are at the end of that particular section. There are also Focus Exercises at the end of each section; the answers to the Focus Exercises are posted on-line at bobprior.com. You can also get to these from the home page of our course.

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CALCULATORS

This course does not require or allow the use of a calculator, nor should you use one in your studies, quizzes and tests. Just so you know, the Midterm and the Final do not allow the use of calculators.

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STUDENT RESOURCES

You are encouraged to take advantage of all of the learning resources available to you:

Math Lab: On the Norco Campus, the Math Lab is located in the new Learning Resource Center (LRC). The LRC is in the bottom floor of the Library Building. (There are also math labs on the Moreno Valley and Riverside campuses.) For Math Lab hours on Norco College, click here.

The math lab is an invaluable resource for students who would like extra help from both math tutors and math instructors. The Math LAB is available to any student enrolled in a math course. Please contact the Norco Math Lab if you have any further questions 951-372-7008.

Tutorial Services: RCC offers up to three hours per week of free tutoring to each student.

Often a tutor makes all the difference in your understanding. Information about Tutorial Services can be found on-line here.

Instructor: I am here to help you in anyway I can. Make sure you reach out to me for assistance.

Unfortunately, with an online class, I can't tell if you are having difficulty with the material unless you contact me via e-mail.

Classmates: In an online course, we have the discussion board.

This is a great place to reach out to your fellow students. Post your questions and within hours you will have me or a fellow student respond back with help or support.

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MATH LAB HOURS

Here is a table showing the Math Lab hours of Norco College.

NORCO MATH LAB HOURS - SPRING 2012

NORCO (Street map to campus) Bottom floor of the Library (map of campus buildings)
Day	Feb 13 - Jun 7
Monday	9:30 AM - Noon 1:00 - 5:30 PM
Tuesday	8:30 AM - Noon 1:00 - 5:30 PM
Wednesday	9:30 AM - Noon 1:00 - 5:30 PM
Thursday	8:30 AM - Noon 1:00 - 5:30 PM
Friday	9:00 AM - Noon
Saturday	Closed
Sunday	Closed

 

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GRADING

Wouldn't it be great if students could learn for the sake of learning without having to be concerned about grades? Unfortunately, most courses don't operate that way, so I have developed a grading system for our class.

Your grade will be based on your work in the following areas

• a Midterm Exam*: 30% of the total
• a Final Exam*: 30% of the total
• 8 chapter tests: about 25% of the total
• 28 Quizzes: about 11%
• Participation, about 4%

*Special Note: The Midterm Exam and the Final Exam are proctored tests that will be given on the Norco Campus.

Extra Credit:

There are two ways to gain extra credit (a maximum of 20 points):

1) The Extra Credit Quiz (It covers Section 6.6, an optional section in this course); and

2) In Test 6 (It has two problems from Section 6.6).

Participation includes taking the Syllabus Quiz, reading messages, posting original messages (including asking math-help questions), replying to messages, and answering the questions in the Discussion part of each lesson. The number of participation points (100 maximum) will be calculated by a formula (in my grading program) at the end of the semester.

The Syllabus Quiz is 10% of your participation grade. It does not count toward your quiz grade.

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QUIZZES AND TESTS

Within the course there are 28 quizzes, worth 10 points each. All on-line quizzes are multiple choice.

There are also on-line multiple choice chapter tests. Most are worth 100 points. Test 7 is worth 50 points and Test 3 is a paper test (25 points) that you must mail in.

The Midterm and Final exams are paper tests that are given at Norco College, and these tests are not multiple choice. Instead, you must show your work on the test to receive full credit.

Each lesson usually includes one or two quizzes.

You get two chances (attempts) at each quiz and at each test. If you get a great score the first time, you don't need to take it a second time. However, if you take a quiz twice, you always get to keep the highest score. (You generally have 60 minutes to take each quiz.)

The on-line program should automatically grade the quiz right away. If it doesn't, let me know (through our Blackboard class e-mail), and I'll fix it as soon as I can. Don't let glitches like that keep you from reading the material in the next lesson.

The on-line tests are to be taken at the end of each chapter in the book. You will be told when it's appropriate to take the tests. You also get two attempts at each test, so, if you make mistakes the first time, you have an opportunity to correct them for the second time. (You generally have 3 hours to take each test.)

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EXAMS (MIDTERM AND FINAL)

We have both a Midterm Exam and a Final Exam for this course. The Midterm is graded out of 150 points, but it is worth 30% of your course grade (it is scaled to a total of 750 points). The same is true of the Final.

Both of these exams are to be taken at Norco College. The Midterm covers Chapters 1 - 5, and the Final covers the whole course. These exams are no-book, no-notes exams; also, no calculators, computers, or cell phones allowed.

Because they total 60% of the course grade, these exams should be your primary focus. However, the way you do well on these exams is to

1) Study the material and do well on the exercises in the book, both the "in-reading" exercises and the Focus Exercises;

2) do well on the on-line multiple choice quizzes and tests;

3) prepare for the Midterm by going to the Midterm web page (it has a practice test with video explanations); and

4) prepare for the Final by going to the Final Exam web page (it also has a practice test with video explanations).

 

Again, the Midterm and Final exams are paper exams that are offered at Norco College, and these exams are not multiple choice. Instead, you must show your work on each problem to receive full credit.

You can start practicing for the Midterm and the Final exams from the first day by going to those respective web pages (links embedded above).

 

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Course Calendar

When you finish one quiz, the next quiz, test, or lesson becomes available. (Refer to the 3-part Spring-Loaded Lessons videos.)

There are only two restrictions to this semi-self-paced nature of the class:

• You must complete Chapter 5 (Lesson 11) and the Midterm by the date shown in the Course Calendar (see below).
• You must complete the entire course (Lesson 16 and the Final Exam) by the last day of the course (see below).

 

The deadlines in this Course Calendar are "soft" deadlines and indicate the recommend completion date. This means that, if you fall behind schedule on one Learning Module, then you still have up to one week to complete it, but you'll need to make up the time in future Lessons.

Each Lesson includes which sections to study in the textbook and quizzes/tests to take.

If you finish a lesson (and its quizzes/test) before the recommended completion date, then you may begin work on the next lesson.

*Notice that Sections 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 7.2, 7.4, all of Ch. 9, and Sec. 10.4 are skipped in this course.

COURSE CALENDAR - SPRING 2012

Learning Modules	Sections	Quiz/Test	Recommended Completion Dates
Lesson 0	Introduction	Syllabus Quiz	ASAP
Lesson 1	1.1 - 1.5	Quiz 1 & 2	Complete by Feb 18
Lesson 2	1.6 - 1.9	Quiz 3 & 4 and Ch. 1 Test	Complete by Feb 24
Friday, Feb 24	The last day to add this class
Sunday, Feb 26	The last day to drop with a refund
Lesson 3	2.1 - 2.4	Quiz 5 & 6	Complete by Feb 28
Lesson 4	2.5 - 2.6	Quiz 7 and Ch. 2 Test	Complete by Mar 4
Lesson 5	3.2 - 3.3	Quiz 8 and Ch. 3 mini test	Complete by Mar 9
Lesson 6	4.1 - 4.2	Quiz 9	Complete by Mar 14
Monday, Mar 12	The last day to drop without a W
Lesson 7	4.3 - 4.5	Quiz 10	Complete by Mar 19
Lesson 8	4.6 - 4.7	Quiz 11 & 12 and Ch. 4 Test	Complete by Mar 25
Lesson 9	5.1 - 5.3	Quiz 13	Complete by Mar 30
Lesson 10	5.4 - 5.6	Quiz 14 & 15 and Ch. 5 Test	Complete by Apr 6
Apr 8 - 14	SPRING BREAK (Time to catch up and/or prepare for the Midterm.)
Midterm Exam at Norco College Mon, Apr 16 - Fri, Apr 20 (Refer to the Midterm web page for the testing schedule.)			After Test 5, On or before Fri, Apr 20
Lesson 11	6.1 - 6.3	Quiz 16, 17, & 18	Complete by Apr 23
Lesson 12	6.4 - 6.6	Quiz 19 & 20 and Ch. 6 Test	Complete by Apr 30
Lesson 13	7.1*, 7.3*	Quiz 21 & 22 and Ch. 7 Test	Complete by May 6
Wednesday, May 16	The last day to drop with a W	If you are enrolled after this day, you will receive a letter grade for the class.**
Lesson 14	8.1 - 8.4	Quiz 23 & 24	Complete by May 15
Lesson 15	8.5 - 8.7	Quiz 25 & 26 and Ch. 8 Test	Complete by May 22
Lesson 16	10.1 - 10.3*	Quiz 27 & 28	Complete by May 31
Final Exam at Norco College Mon, Jun 4 - Thur, Jun 7 (Refer to the final exam web page for the testing schedule.)			Last day for exam is Thursday, Jun 7
___________________	______________	_________________	__________________

*Notice that Sections 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 7.2, 7.4 Ch. 9 and 10.4 are skipped in this course.

**If you stop logging in but are still enrolled after the last day to drop, then you will receive a grade of F.

 

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DROPPING THE COURSE

If you are unable to keep up with the weekly routine, or if something comes up so that you can't complete the course, then you might consider dropping the course for this semester.

If you decide to drop the course, please take care of the necessary paperwork yourself, or use WebAdvisor, whichever is most convenient.

If I believe that you have fallen too far behind, or if you haven't checked in to the website for a while (two weeks or more), then I might drop you from this course. (And I might not -- don't rely on me to do the drop for you.)

If you are still enrolled in the class after the second drop deadline (see course calendar, above), you will receive a grade.

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