Syllabus for Intermediate Algebra (MATH 0103) with EAST/EMPACTS component

Contact Information 

    Division of Science and Mathematics         

Class Meetings

CRN 11196 meets MWF, 10:30 am - 11:50 am,  in room SC-338A Computer Lab on third floor of Student Center. 

 Important Dates for 16-week Classes

Breakdown of EAST/EMPACTS PROJECT percentages:

BE AWARE:  THIS CLASS REQUIRES EXTRA TIME ON CAMPUS.  YOU WILL BE MEETING WITH YOUR GROUP OUTSIDE OF CLASS AND SPENDING TIME OUTSIDE OF CLASS IN THE EAST/EMPACTS LAB AND IN THE LIBRARY.

• INITIAL_PROPOSAL (Mon, Sept. 22) -- 5%.
  Initial Powerpoint Presentation (Mon, Sept. 22) -- 5%
• All weekly Group Progress Reports together count 3%, and three can be dropped. 
• All weekly Individual Progress Reports count 3%, and three can be dropped.  In the Individual Progress Reports, you will be grading yourself and your team mates on attitude, attendance, punctuality, productivity, etc. 
• Group Participation -- 4%
• FINAL REPORT -- 5%
• POWERPOINT PRESENTATION to show to class and guests -- 5% points.

Attendance:  5%. Obviously, if you do not attend class, you cannot learn math and you will be letting down your group.  However, you can miss two or three classes and still earn perfect attendance.  If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to catch up on the material you missed by getting the handouts, completing assignments, and getting an update from a classmate.  No late work will be accepted for ANY reason.  If you miss a class, you will be expected to have the assignments completed for the next class. 

Quizzes:  10%.  Each chapter is followed by a Chapter Quiz. 

2 Exams:  15% each.  Each exam will contain questions similar to the homework problems.  You may replace your lowest exam score with the percent score earned on the final exam.  Note that this means there are no make-up exams!  If you miss an exam for any reason, that will be the exam score replaced with the final exam percentage.   

Final exam:   20%.  The final exam is cumulative!  It is required and cannot be made up.  The requirements for and Incomplete (I-grade) are: 1) you must have completed 67% all the class work, and 2) your overall percent grade must be higher than 70% at the time of your request for an I-grade. 

Homework:  5%.  Homework will be assigned every day, and I expect you to have most to all of it done by the next class.  I will answer questions about the HW during the first 10 – 20 minutes of each class. 

Make-up Policy:  No make-ups are allowed for any reason.  If you miss an exam for any reason, that will be the exam score that is replaced with the final exam.  If you miss your project presentation you will receive a score of 0 for that portion of your grade.  Missed quizzes are not made up, but there are usually a few extra ones that will allow you to still make a good score even if you miss a few.  Obviously, exceptions can be made for people with documented learning disabilities and people in the military services and reserves; official papers must be shown..

Missed classes including class cancellation due to weather:  If you miss class for any reason including class cancellation due to bad weather it is your responsibility to catch up on the missed material by the next class period.  If an exam or presentation is scheduled for a particular day and the previous class period or the day scheduled for the exam or presentation is canceled due to inclement weather, come to class prepared to take the exam or present your project the first class day school is back in session.

If I must miss class for some reason I will send an email early that morning or sooner to your NWACC address, so get in the habit of checking that email regularly.  We will have class all days that NWACC is in session unless announced otherwise.

Cell Phones and Pagers:  Please, please, please turn off your cell phones and pagers before class!  If you absolutely must have them on for childcare or work reasons I ask that you set them on vibrate mode.  Please do not begin talking until after you have left the room.  You must not accept or make calls during an exam.

Special Services:  If you are a student with a disability who will be requesting accommodations, you should contact the Office of disability Services at the Student Information Center in the Central Education Facility at 619 – 4384.  The director of disability Services will meet with you and recommend appropriate accommodations and services after you have submitted the required documentation.  After you have met with disability Services and receive your registration card it is your responsibility to contact the instructor to make the appropriate arrangements.  You must let me know at least a week prior to taking an exam if you need disability accommodations for the exam.

Academic Dishonesty:  CAUTION:  Directly copying someone else’s work or allowing someone to copy yours will result in the loss of that score and will be dealt with according to the policy on Academic Dishonesty as outlined in the NWACC catalog.  DO NOT ask to copy and say NO if someone asks to copy from you.  Using unapproved technology or formula sheets including inappropriate calculators, calculator programs, or unapproved formulas stored in your calculator is cheating and will be dealt with accordingly.

FERPA:  NWACC is committed to your right to privacy as outlined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.  This means that I can only communicate with you in person or on My NWACC Connection.

Credit Hours:  3 credit hours counting toward most AAS degrees 

Required Instructional Activities: 

The content of the course should be taught with graphing calculator usage when appropriate.  However, no TI-89, TI-92, or comparable calculators are allowed.  There will also be a project component of the course.  While the online sections may do individual projects, the lecture sections will participate in the EAST (Environmental, and Spatial Technology) initiative. 

Required Forms of Assessment:  Each instructor must include a set of 6 departmental final exam questions on his or her final exam. These questions will be in direct support of the specific objectives stated in the Core Course Objectives, will be based on material covered in the Required Text Coverage section. These questions will compose at least 10% of the students' overall grade in the course and will be graded according to a standard grading rubric. The results of these questions and overall student performance will be reported when final grades are turned in.   Please note that no resources other than a graphing calculator and instructor supplied formula sheet are allowed for use by students during the final exam (e.g., no formula sheets, no notes, no index cards, etc.)

Learning outcomes for general education

 Associate of Applied Science degrees train students

for specific careers. The primary educational outcome

associated with this degree relates to this purpose.

Students are prepared to enter, continue to work or

advance within their fields of study.

As members of a learning community, students

should demonstrate professional behavior in their

interactions with others and in their approach to academic

work. Professionalism is valued by employers

and appreciated by all. The development of professionalism

is a reflective process that often requires changing

behavior. To encourage this process, faculty and staff

will model professionalism and establish standards that

students are expected to follow.