Orientation for College Algebra

Orientation and General Information for College Algebra in Accordance with Harry's Aims

This page contains links to Orientation Tasks and other Information for getting started.

Overview

This course is foundational to Trigonometry, Calculus, upper-division mathematics, and laboratory science.

I think the videos, linked, below, will get you rolling very nicely.

There are 4 Grade Categories

5% - Send me an e-mail from the e-mail you intend to use for the course, and I will
30% - WebAssign - Daily Work
30% - Written Work - Approximately one Assignment per week. This is where we patch the holes that WebAssign has, things that automated systems can't assess or properly give feedback.
40% - Written Midterm and Final Open Dates: You will take your tests in-person, either at one of our campuses or at a school closer to you. Arrangements will be made with the institution in question. There may be a $20-$30 fee for using another institution's testing service.
There is a 2-day window for each test during the relevant weeks. I will reach out to you in e-mail well in advance as to the actual test dates. You'll have two days from which to choose in the week of 10/12-10/16 and two days in the 12/7-12/9 window, for the Midterm and Final, respectively.

Contact me!

If you want instant help, call Me - 970-290-0550. I'm available 24/7. Otherwise, e-mail me at hmills1@online.aims.edu.

Orientation Video covers basic course navigation, where the assignments are, on both WebAssign Homework (pure online) and Written Assignments (Hand-written work, obviously), and the general idea of what work you'll be doing, and be able to get rolling by diving in.

Orientation Handout. The Handout is basically just a PDF of the information on this page.

Kick-Start Videos

Registering for and Using WebAssign Video.

"Start Strong" with WebAssign. This web page comes from the WebAssign folks at Cengage. It explains how to register for our course on their server.
Please, when you register, use your full first and last name, as they appear on the Classlist in D2L.
If you use a maiden name or some made-up name, your work will not be recorded, and you will fail the course. I'm counting on the same name on WebAssign as I see on D2L and my roster. If I don't, I'll just kick you out as some stranger who sneaked in, somehow.
WebAssign is a great tool for online learning of concepts and basic skill-building. It's not enough, by itself, which is why there are weekly Written Assignments and two Written Tests. But there is instant feedback on your answers, and there is extensive built-in help on WebAssign, itself, and I have built an archive of videos and notes that show you how I would work every single exercise, and you can find the video for your particular question with about 2 clicks of the mouse, because of the way it's organized.
Simply go to harryzaims.com and click on our course. Browse the resources there. You will see a link to Homework Notes and Videos. For the first section of the WebAssign homework, you want to go to Chapter 1 and then click on the "1-01" link in that directory. It will whisk you to a complete set of written notes and a separate set of videos, broken down by the problem number.
Find the exercise you want to ask about in the notes. Then find the corresponding video in the videos directory. Most of the exercises are in perfect, 1-to-1 correspondence with the WebAssign. Occasionally there's some drift, so your #11 might be my #12. The way to do it, then, is to find the problem in the notes, see what number the notes give it, and click on the numbered video in the videos directory. If it's not an exact match, it will be one or two exercises away, and pretty easy to find in the notes.

Weekly Written Assignments Video

Each Week (approximately), you will submit your written work for the exercises listed. These questions will be graded by a human, with partial credit awarded. The Weekly Written Assignments are the finishing touch on the course, where you not only learn how to get answers, but you learn how to communicate your answers and the supporting work in a clear and convincing way.

Written Midterm and Final Video

This is the last grade category, and this video explains how to prepare for them. If you hit your back button on your browser, right now, you'll see links to Midterm and Final Test Preparations.
Midterm and Final Test are drawn from the type questions you encounter on WebAssign and especially on the Weekly Written Assignments.

More Resources:

Homework Extensions for Late Work on WebAssign.
- This explains how to submit an extension request for WebAssign Homework. If you're in a hurry, use the Automatic Extension Request for a 30% deduction. If you have some time, put in a Manual Extension Request, because I'm a lot nicer than WebAssign, especially in Chapter 1, where I rarely deduct any points for late work, tthe first month.
- For Written Homework, there's the "Late Edition" version of the Assignment on D2L. 50% deducted for Written Assignments that are late.