Calculus:
Syllabus
On-line Math 21 Syllabus
The idea of this course is to give as complete a presentation as possible
of the standard Lehigh Math 21 course, over the Web. The syllabus,
amount and types of requirements, and level of presentation is taken
from the on-campus course; this course should neither be harder nor
easier than the on-campus version. The ``lectures'' you will be
reading, and the examples and animations that accompany them, are
taken from my lecture notes, and the sorts of examples and presentations
I give in lecture.
The differences are, of course, obvious. You will not be in lecture,
and will not have easy access to me either there or in my office to
ask questions. More importantly, you will not be around other students
taking the course as well. Exams cannot be administered in a common
room, and turning in homework is not just a matter of leaving it on
the table at the beginning of class. On the other hand, you are not
locked in to coming to lectures Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 11, and
you can go over them as many times as you need.
1 Communication
Trying to learn calculus will generate a lot of questions. You need
to be able to get prompt answers to them, and you need to be able
to talk through the ideas - not just with your instructor, but with
other students as well. We're going to push to make sure you can get
your questions answered quickly and completely, and that you have
opportunities to ``talk'' about the material with others in the
course. We'll do that through e-mail and phone calls, discussion groups,
and chat sessions.
1.1 Web Site
The main Web site for this course is the easy-to-remember location:
https://ci.lehigh.edu/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2594_1&frame=top
You can always get to this website by first going to the main ``Blackboard''
site, http://ci.lehigh.edu , if for some reason you can't
remember the specific address of the course.
All of the course materials will be available on that Web site. Your
``Webwork'' homework assignments are actually run through another
server, but you can access that from within the main site.
1.2 E-mail and telephone
I am always on the net (one of the reasons I'm teaching this course),
and easy to reach by e-mail, david.johnson@lehigh.edu. (This
is really the same account as the address you see in Blackboard, dlj0@lehigh.edu).
You can call me at:
office: (610) 758-3759
home: (610) 828-3708
car: (610) 506-6919
All of these numbers have voice-mail, in case you can't reach me.
You can certainly call my office any time, but I'm only likely to
be there during the day (and not every day). Feel free to call me
at home as well. However, since I have two teen-age daughters, it
is sometimes difficult to get through (the voice-mail will answer
if someone is on the phone). Calling me on my car phone may reach
me in situations where I won't be able to provide much help, but as
a last resort, or if the matter is urgent, it's better than not reaching
me at all.
There is a list of e-mail (only) addresses of everyone in the class,
and Web pages you can individualize if you want, so you can contact
your fellow students. You can also ``interact'' with other students
on the discussion groups and the chat room.
1.3 Discussion Groups
The main course Web page will have links to ``Discussion Board''.
I will start out topics, called threads, on a number of subjects.
Each of you should feel free to add messages regarding any of these
topics. It works something like USENET, for those of you
who know about that. I have to start the ``threads'', but each
of the discussions can branch into sub-topics. I want to encourage
you to use the discussion groups, since such discussions are important
to learning mathematics. Thus, their use will be required (at least
one individual post, and two follow-ups to someone else) as part of
your class-participation grade.
There is a chat room available from the Web page, called the Virtual
Classroom. We will be using this for regular ``class meetings'',
at a time that is convenient for all of us. [We may substitue alternate
software for the chat sessions that offers more capabilities, but
that will be arranged later.] Meeting times will be determined as
class gets underway, and will be announced. In addition, any of you
can start a chatroom discussion at any time. The chat room has a whiteboard
as well as text, and everyone can use the whiteboard. We will begin
with two class meetings per week, but will drop down to once per week
if the amount of discussion does not warrant continuation at a twice-per-week
schedule.
Since the on-line chats are an important part of the course, attendance
will be required. However, since students' needs and
schedules both vary, attendance will only be required at a minimum
of 5 such sessions. If your schedule precludes your attending even
that many chats, alternate arrangements can be made.
1.5 Announcements
The main course Web page will have announcements posted regularly.
I expect you to check the page often - which you should be doing
anyway, as you work through the course.
2 Requirements
2.1 On-line exercises
As you read through the ``lectures'' you will come across, from
time to time, exercises contained in the lectures that you will have
to solve, and submit answers. Those answers will be automatically
e-mailed to me for grading. I will send back my comments and grade
on each exercise-set. The purpose of these exercises is to give you
rapid feedback about your understanding of the material, and to allow
me to make sure you are keeping up with the course. These exercises
will form a part of your class grade, as indicated below.
2.2 Reading and Homework
With each chapter, there are reading assignments in the text, and
a large number of homework problems to solve in the text. Some of
these homework problems are Web Work problems, which are accessible
from the Web (as the name implies). These are very similar to the
HW in the text, but are customized for each individual student (no
two get precisely the same problems). For these, you submit your answer
through the Web and a machine determines whether or not the answer
is correct. It cannot explain what you did wrong, but you will know
when you get the right answer. You can re-work the problem until you
get it right. Other problems will be written work, most of which will
be done by hand (Web Work can't handle either proofs or graphs
very well). Some of these problems will require the use of the computer
program Maple, which you received along with the rest of your
course materials. Most of the written assignments will be problems
out of the text, but some will be separate problems or Maple
worksheets (A Maple worksheet is a computer file you will download
and then ``open'' within Maple).
The specific homework assignments for each chapter, along with links
to Web Work for your Web Work assignments, are available under
Assignments within each chapter. The Chapters are all available under
Course Materials at the main Web page.
The reading is meant to give you an alternate perspective about the
topics discussed in the virtual lectures (I need a better term for
that). The sections listed can be read along with the lectures, but
the order will not be precisely the same as in the virtual lectures.
Also, since each section in the text is made to be delivered in a
one-hour lecture, they are sometimes shorter, or longer, than the
virtual lectures (and sometimes split into two or more sections).
The paper problems, and completed Maple worksheets (printing them
out is preferable to submitting them electronically) should be mailed
to:
David Johnson
Department of Mathematics
Lehigh University
Christmas-Saucon Hall
14 E. Packer Avenue
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015-3174
The due dates will be listed with the assignments for each chapter.
Homework should be postmarked by that due date. In most cases, homework
for a given chapter will be broken up into more than one assignment,
due approximately once per week. You can certainly submit your homework
early, when you are ready (up until the due date). Your homework will
be graded and mailed back to you.
It is a wise idea to make a photocopy of your homework, or exams,
before mailing them in.
There will be 6 chapter exams that will be available on-line, and
a final exam that will be a standard paper-and-pencil exam. The timing
of these exams will be individual, but there will be deadlines imposed
so that you do not fall too far behind the course. The final exam,
covering the entire course, needs to be completed and mailed by May 5. The final
exam will be comprehensive, covering all the material in
the class. That exam will need to be proctored, by either a parent
or teacher who will need to be in contact with your instructor to
clarify arrangements.
Details of exam deadlines and material to be included will be posted
on the Web page.
3 Grading
Your grade will be determined based on the total number of points
scored on all of these requirements. Virtual class participation (discussions
and chats) will be a formal part of your grade.
The points will be awarded based on the following total possible points:
| Possible points |
|
|
| On-line exercises | 50 |
| WebWork Homework | 50 |
| Written Assignments | 50 |
| Chapter Exams (6 exams) | 300 |
| Final Exam | 200 |
| Total | 650 |
Your final grade will be determined on a percentage basis, with:
- 90% of the total (585 points) guaranteeing you at least an A-,
- 80% (520) will guarantee at least a B-
- 70% (455) guarantees a C- (required to enroll in Math 22)
- 60% (390) guarantees a passing grade.
Your grades on each part of the course (in-progress grades on homework
averages, of course) will be available to you on the Web site.
