Syllabus for MAT-231
CALCULUS I
Description | Objectives | Materials | Structure | Assessment | Grading | Strategies | Integrity
Calculus I is an intensive, higher-level course in mathematics that builds on courses like Precalculus for Technology. The course aims at serving the needs of a wide student audience, including students in engineering, mathematics, the physical and life sciences, and economics. It is constructed around multiple focal points with the intention of helping students become creative and efficient problem solvers.
The course uses technology as a means of discovery for numerical, graphical, and analytical solutions to problems. It also emphasizes communication skills and requires students to interpret, describe, discuss, justify, and conjecture as they search for solutions to problems. Real-life applications provide links with students' everyday life.
Topics covered include the Cartesian plane, limits and continuity, problems of tangents, velocity and instantaneous rates of change, rules for differentiation, implicit differentiation, maxima and minima theory, antiderivatives and the indefinite integral, exponential and logarithmic functions, and the area between curves.
Calculus I has as its overall objective to assist you in acquiring high-level skills in problem solving, the use of technology, communicating mathematics, and real-life applications.
You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. These materials are available from the College's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.
Required Textbook
Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions, 4th ed., by Robert T. Smith and Roland B. Minton (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012)Student Solutions Manual
Calculus I is a four-credit online course, consisting of six (6) modules. You are required to participate in four (4) Study Group activities, complete six (6) written assignments, and take two proctored online examinations—a midterm and a final.
Modules comprise a list of topics, study materials (including readings, commentaries, video tutorials, and self-check exercises), and activities (generally a study group activity and a module-ending written assignment).
Consult the course Calendar for activity due dates.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to complete written assignments, participate in online study group forums, and take two proctored online examinations. See below for more details.
Consult the course Calendar for activity due dates.
Written Assignments
You are required to complete six (6) written assignments. The written assignments draw on even-numbered exercises from the textbook. For each assignment, answer all assigned exercises, and show all work. Assignment sheets, with all questions typed out in advance for you, are provided in rich text format (.rtf) for each assignment.
Assignments must be prepared electronically with a word processor, preferably using whatever equation editor comes with your word processing software. However, if your word processor is not compatible with your mentor's word processor, you will need to save your document as a rich-text file (.rtf) before submitting it. Check with your mentor first to determine file compatibility. (Important: Use the equation editor to insert equations into your word-processed document, not to create the document itself.)
When preparing your answers, please identify each exercise clearly by textbook section and exercise number. Be sure to include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled. To receive full credit for your answers, you must show all work and include complete solutions.
For help regarding preparing and submitting activities, see the Student Handbook located within the General Information page of the course Web site.
Online Study Group Forums
Online participation in Calculus I counts 8 percent toward your final grade in the course. In addition to an ungraded "Introductions" forum in module 1, you are required to participate in four (4) graded online Study Group activities.
The Study Group activities in this course provide an opportunity for you to practice and apply analytical and computational skills within an interactive group setting. In so doing, you can benefit from the help of your classmates and share your understanding of chapter concepts. These activities take place in two phases: group problem solving (or groupwork) and posting worked-out solutions to selected exercises.
Phase 1: Groupwork
Phase 1 (Groupwork) involves group problem solving and discussion and counts 60 percent toward your activity grade. Participation in groupwork entails posting draft solutions to textbook exercises and discussing them with other group members on the Groups page of the course Web site.
Phase 2: Posting Solutions
Phase 2 (Posting Your Solutions) involves posting worked-out solutions to the study group exercises and counts 40 percent toward your activity grade. Participation in phase 2 entails posting your worked-out solutions to the exercises selected in phase 1 and discussing them on the class Discussion Board.
For posting guidelines and help with discussion forums, please see the Student Handbook located within the General Information page of the course Web site.
Examinations
You are required to take two (2) proctored online examinations: a midterm exam and a final exam. Both exams require that you use the College's Online Proctor Service (OPS). Please refer to the "Examinations and Proctors" section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course Web site) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures. You are strongly advised to schedule your exam within the first week of the semester.
Online exams are administered in the Tests & Quizzes area of the course Web site. Consult the course Calendar for the official dates of exam weeks.
Midterm Examination
The midterm exam is worth 25 percent of your course grade. It is three hours long and covers all assigned material from modules 1–3 of the course. The exam consists entirely of multiple-choice questions.
The exam is open book, but not open notes. In this regard you are permitted to use only a scientific (nongraphing) calculator and the authorized textbook. But you are not allowed to consult a solutions manual, notes of any kind (including graded or ungraded activities), or any other reference sources or sources of information. The use of blank scratch paper for doing math calculations is permitted during online test administrations.
Final Examination
The final exam is worth 25 percent of your course grade. It is three hours long and covers all assigned material from modules 4–5 of the course. The exam consists entirely of multiple-choice questions.
The exam is open book, but not open notes. In this regard you are permitted to use only a scientific (nongraphing) calculator and the authorized textbook. But you are not allowed to consult a solutions manual, notes of any kind (including graded or ungraded activities), or any other reference sources or sources of information. The use of blank scratch paper for doing math calculations is permitted during online test administrations.
Statement about Cheating
You are on your honor not to cheat during the exam. Cheating means:
- Looking up any answer or part of an answer in an unauthorized textbook or on the Internet, or using any other source to find the answer.
- Copying and pasting or in any way copying responses or parts of responses from any other source into your online test. This includes but is not limited to copying and pasting from other documents or spreadsheets, whether written by yourself or anyone else.
- Plagiarizing answers.
- Asking anyone else to assist you by whatever means available while you take the exam.
- Copying any part of the exam to share with other students.
- Telling your mentor that you need another attempt at the exam because your connection to the Internet was interrupted when that is not true.
If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in your exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
| A | = | 93–100 |
| A– | = | 90–92 |
| B+ | = | 88–89 |
| B | = | 83–87 |
| B– | = | 80–82 |
| C+ | = | 78–79 |
| C | = | 73–77 |
| C– | = | 70–72 |
| D | = | 60–69 |
| F | = | Below 60 |
First Steps to Success
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
Study Tips
Consider the following study tips for success:
