Dear Students: PLEASE NOTE: You must either: attend the Thursday orientation session this week (the 16th) or log onto CourseCompass by Friday the 17th at noon or contact me in some other way by Friday at noon OR I will administratively withdraw you from the course. This is the second time that this letter is being sent; there may be some changes from the first time you saw it. This letter provides a basic introduction to the workings of Math 143, section 425, the online section of College Algebra. This letter is not a substitute for the course syllabus, though it contains much of the same information. You can now look at the course syllabus at http://math.boisestate.edu/~holmes or on CourseCompass if you have already set up your access to MyMathLab. If you receive this letter and you do not intend to take this class, please take a moment to get on BroncoWeb and drop the class, as there are desperate students e-mailing me constantly trying to get in! If you read this letter and there is some question that you feel is important that I have not answered, please feel free to contact me at once. As students in this section of MATH143 you will learn college algebra (the algebra component of precalculus college mathematics) in a non-traditional way. Instead of coming to class for three lectures each week, you will study the text book and use internet-based materials. Please realize that this is basically an independent study course, though the instructor is available by electronic mail or at weekly class meetings on campus, and you must be able to organize your own time so as to study and master the material in the book by the scheduled exam dates! UPDATE: I am planning to supply weekly lecture notes of my own and to encourage conversation via e-mail. You need to buy the textbook: Pre-Calculus Graphs and Models, second edition, from Addison-Wesley. The book should be available in the BSU book store. The book comes with the computer materials you need to create and access an account on Addison Wesley's MyMathLab.com system: Required Textbook Package (please make sure you have the correct book, as there are other very similar titles from Addison-Wesley): Precalculus: Graphs and Models, second edition, by Bittinger, Beecher, Ellenbogen, and Penna, ISBN: 0-201-61674-2, Addison-Wesley Publishers, 2000, MML Software Package. UPDATE!!! This is not the ISBN of what they have at the bookstore: ISBN 0-201-70403-X is correct for you - it contains an additional graphing calculator manual, which you may find useful. This is a surprise move by the publisher. If you get ISBN: 0-201-61674-2 from some other source, it should be right -- make sure it includes the MML software. FURTHER UPDATE: the package they sent did not include the MML software, but as of now the bookstore should have fixed this (at no extra cost to you). If you are one of the 4 people who bought the package without the software, go into the bookstore and they will give it to you. If you have trouble with this, contact me. MyMathLab.com is an internet based system to provide information about courses to students, including announcements of tests, the tests themselves (though tests in this course are taken in person only, I may provide quizzes online), streaming video based lectures on the course content and more. Your grades on exams will be posted in MyMathLab.com as well. MyMathLab and CourseCompass both effectively refer to the same thing; MyMathLab is the name of the site and CourseCompass is the name of the software they are using (a version of Blackboard. By the way, you do not need a university Blackboard account to access this course, and it is not found on the university Blackboard server. You should install the MyMathLab.com software on your computer. Then you can log into MyMathLab.com. You will need the MyMathLab Course ID: HOLMES71871 I will use MyMathLab (= CourseCompass) to provide announcements about the exams and help sessions. I will also provide a syllabus for the course, which will be accessible on CourseCompass or on my web page (URL at the end of this letter). A copy of this letter will also be on my web page. Let me know if you have trouble accessing MyMathLab.com = CourseCompass. Do note that a certain amount of computer competence is an implicit prerequisite for taking this course. You must be working on a Windows platform, or MyMathLab's plugins will not work (no Linux, sorry), and Netscape probably will not work well for you. ============ This class is scheduled to meet every Thursday from 7:40 to 8:30 in MG124. You are expected to show up on the first Thursday, January 16, for an orientation session. This is your chance to make sure that you know how to access the web site. MG124 does not have computer access, but I will try to get us into a math lab nearby for troubleshooting (only up to the level of logging in, I am afraid, as our lab is Linux-based -- but we might go to the Mathematics Learning Center instead, which is set up to use the MML software). You are required to show up at the university for four exams, on dates which appear below. The exams are on Thursdays, from 7:40 to 8:30, in MG124. There is also a cumulative final exam whose date and time is given below. Please note that YOU MUST PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID OR YOUR STUDENT ID (WITH PHOTO) TO TAKE THE EXAMS!!! The four hour exam dates are February 6, March 6, April 3, and May 1, 2003. The final exam will be on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 in Math/Geology Room 124 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Please note the different day of the week and make arrangements well in advance! We will meet on Thursdays while the university is in session for help sessions, which are optional. I will also be available to provide help by e-mail. All class meetings and exams will be in room MG124 on the main BSU campus. ============= The four exams will each last fifty-five minutes, from 7:40 am to 8:35 am, and will be held in MG 124. The types of problems and the material covered on the exams can be found on the syllabus. Most (but not necessarily all) of the exam problems will closely resemble problems from the book. ============== The final exam will contain problems from the whole course. ============== The syllabus is available on MyMathLab under Course Information; it is also available on my web page, http://math.boisestate.edu/~holmes. The syllabus has a list of suggested problems you should be able to work. It also describes how I will compute a course grade for you at the end of the semester and what material will be covered on each of the hourly exams. ============== There is probably a section of Math 143 offered on the Knowledge Network (I'll update this information when I'm sure about it); look into this if you have cable TV, as it will allow you the opportunity to watch Math 143 lectures on TV. ============== I hope to see you for our Thursday meetings or have the opportunity to work with you by e-mail. Please read your university e-mail regularly or look at CourseCompass, if you have already been able to log in, to keep up with any announcements about the course, and do try to make the January 16 class meeting. Sincerely, Randall Holmes office phone 426-3011 e-mail holmes@math.boisestate.edu Web Page http://math.boisestate.edu/~holmes