ONLINE CALCULUS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
Please read carefully upon starting the course
If you registered for the course in advance, you will be sent an email with your WebWorK account login information and another welcome email with information regarding course procedures sometime during the first day of classes. If you register after classes start, or do not receive this at your Umail address by the end of the first day, please email the professor, Bob Palais (``Bob'', bp AT math.utah.edu) with your full name, the course number (1210-90, 1220-90, 2210-90), your uID and your @utah email address which is now required for all academic email use, and we will set up your account and send you the login information and welcome email. . If you need to register for the course, go to UOnline for the procedures.
CONTENTS:
GENERAL (webpages, book, personnel, etc.), WEBWORK ACCOUNTS (and administrator),WEBWORK EXERCISES, EXAMS
GENERAL
What is the address of the COURSE HOMEPAGE? (BOOKMARK IT!)
For Calculus I
For Calculus II
For Calculus III
Most of the information for a particular semester should appear shortly after the previous semester is over.
How do I register for the course, drop the course, etc.
Almost everything pertaining to registration is handled through the Technology Assisted Curriculum Center (TACC) a.k.a. UOnline. They have a great deal of helpful information on the UONLINE WEBSITE which is also linked from the course homepage:
University of Utah Online (UOnline)-Technology Assisted Curriculum Center (TACC)
Here is the direct link to the registrar's office.
IF YOU DROP THE COURSE PLEASE ALERT US SO WE CAN TAKE YOU OFF OF THE MAILING LIST.
Where do I get the textbook?
The textbook is the same one used by all of the math department's calculus classes:
Calculus, by Varberg, Purcell and Rigdon, Prentice-Hall, Ninth edition. ISBN-10: 0131429248 Student Edition.
You can find both new and used copies at the University Bookstore. The `Supplementary materials', online notes by Prof. Hugo Rossi, which include practice problems with detailed worked solutions, cover all the material for the course and are strongly recommended to supplement the text.
Math 1210 also makes use of POLYNOMIAL CALCULUS NOTES, referred to as "PC" in the schedule page. They are linked from the course homepage and syllabus page.
Who is the instructor for this course?
Dr. Bob Palais, JWB 104, 581-7664, bp AT math.utah.edu. Office hours: Tu 11:00am-12:30pm, Th 2:00pm-3:30pm.
What is the address of the WEBWORK LOGIN PAGE for the course? (BOOKMARK IT!)
For Calculus I WebWorK Login Page
For Calculus II WebWorK Login Page
For Calculus III WebWorK Login Page
BOOKMARK THE LINKS TO THE HOMEPAGE AND WEBWORK PAGE FOR YOUR COURSE RATHER THAN DEPENDING ON LINKS FROM UONLINE OR OTHER PAGES WHICH MAY BE UNAVAILABLE AT SOME TIMES WHEN THE MATH DEPARTMENT SERVERS ARE STILL WORKING.
WEBWORK ACCOUNTS
How do I get my webwork account?
Aside from exams, webwork assignments form the bulk of your coursework for credit. The webwork system is administered by the math department, so YOUR CAMPUSWIDE LOGIN AND PASSWORD WILL NOT WORK ON WEBWORK.
Because the webwork administrators wish to build the course directories with the most complete information, THEY DO NOT CREATE THE COURSE WEBWORK SITES, SET UP ACCOUNTS, AND EMAIL YOU LOGIN INFORMATION UNTIL SOMETIME ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES. As soon as directories are built, sometime on the first day of classes, you should receive an email with your webwork login name and initial password. It is recommended that you change your password as soon as you log in for the first time. If you forget your password, it can be reset by the course webwork administrator. We will also send an email welcoming you to the class with some helpful information for getting started. Sometimes the login information will be included in this email.
If you do not receive an email with your account information and welcoming you to the course sometime on the first day, it could be due to several reasons. One of the main reasons for this is that the email has been sent, but it is not where you expect it to be, in your main email account inbox!
Sometimes, our first emails have been flagged by your email program's spam filter! Take a LOOK IN YOUR JUNK MAIL FOLDER and if this is the case, and you do not consider our mailings spam and junk mail, please tell the program that this is the case and you should receive future mailings where you want them. (In these situations, students often email us repeatedly, and we reply over and over, but they do not see our replies accumulating in their junk mail folders!)
Sometimes, the email we were provided by the registrar is not the one you wish to use for the course or check regularly. You can CHECK OTHER ACCOUNTS, and if our email is being sent there, please contact the course webwork administrator to have it changed.
Sometimes, the email we were provided is not a valid email address at all, in which case it will come back to us. In this case, we will try to find the correct one through UOnline or the registrar, but if we can't, we will have to wait for you to contact us with the correct one.
If you registered too late for your information to be included in the initial database, no email would have been sent. IF YOU CAN NOT FIND ANY EMAIL FROM US AFTER CHECKING THESE POSSIBILITIES, PLEASE EMAIL THE WEBWORK ADMINISTRATOR AND COPY ME IN ORDER TO OBTAIN AN ACCOUNT IF ONE HAS NOT BEEN CREATED, AND YOUR LOGIN INFORMATION.
Who is the course webwork administrator?
During the summer, Bob Palais handles webwork issues. If you have account related problems (as opposed to mathematical questions) please email him and he will be able to help you. This includes primarily account setup issues and on rare occasions, webwork problems which do not display correctly.
To create an account, we need you to include: THE COURSE NUMBER, YOUR FULL NAME, YOUR UID NUMBER, AND PREFFERED EMAIL ADDRESS you wish to use for webwork and course correspondence. ALWAYS INCLUDE THE COURSE NUMBER (1210, 1220, 2210 or Calculus I, II, III) IN ANY CORRESPONDENCE with any of us (except for webwork problem help (`Email instructor ') emails (see below) which include this information automatically. We typically have approximately 150 students among these three classes, and if you say "I need to add `The Class'" or "When will the scores for The Exam be posted?" we have no idea which class to add you to, or which class' exam you are referring to. If you missed the initial emailing and receive your account information later, you can find copies of the welcome email and any other important emails you may have missed throughout the semester by following the "CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE" link from the course homepage.
Does the course use WebCT?
The course uses a system called WebWorK (see below) and only uses WebCT for intrastudent communication (mail and discussion boards not supported by WebWorK. We may try to use WebCT for Office Hour chatrooms for remote students and those that cannot make it in person. However, WebCT only supports one class's chatroom at a time, so we can't have 1210, 1220, 2210 students access one simultaneously. I have requested the creation of a WebCT pseudo-course including students from all three classes to make this work, but so far it has not been done for us. PLEASE USE THE WEBWORK `Email instructor' BUTTON TO EMAIL US WITH MOST COURSE RELATED QUESTIONS, EVEN IF IT IS NOT REGARDING A SPECIFIC WEBWORK PROBLEM (We do not regularly check WebCT for email from students).
WEBWORK PROBLEMS
I have tried a webwork problem, but I'm not getting the correct answer. What should I do?
The first thing you might try is to CHECK YOUR SYNTAX. You can view how webwork interprets your answer by clicking the preview button. One of the most common mistakes is writing something like 1 - 2a in the form 1/2a which will not work, because webwork interprets it as (1/2)*a, in other words a/2. To get the desired result, you must write 1/(2a). The preview button will show you this error.
Another common reason for wrong answers is roundoff errors. Students will make a computation on their calculator, and transfer a few decimal places of the answer, which might not be within webwork's tolerance. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU ENTER YOUR ANSWERS IN SYMBOLIC/NUMERICAL FORM! Webwork will perform the calculations for you and retain the accuracy which it needs. Also, if you want us to look at your answer in case it is still not right, we can see what you have tried. If it is just a number, we have no idea how you got it, but if you have entered the formula, it is easy for us to spot errors and help you correct them.
WeBworK IS CaSe SeNSiTiVE! Sometimes students have had perfectly correct answers but used `X' instead of `x' and WebWorK called them wrong.
After you have tried these options, if webwork is still not accepting your answer, CLICK THE WEBWORK `Email instructor' BUTTON from the specific problem that you are having trouble with. It sends an email to us and our teaching assistant with a link directly to your specific version of the problem. It also allows you to send us a note describing what you have tried and what if anything you do not understand about the problem. Try to be specific rather than just asking `How do I do this problem?' (We have received that question, literally!) Remember, if you enter your answer as a formula with numbers and symbols from the problem, it is more likely that you will get a correct answer, and if not, that we will be able to easily spot any errors, syntactical or conceptual. WE WILL NO LONGER RESPOND TO WEBWORK PROBLEM QUESTIONS SENT BY OTHER MEANS, as it means we have to click through several web pages to arrive at your particular problem, rather than getting there immediately.
I have been working on a webwork set since well before the due date but I still need more time to get a better understanding of the material. What should I do?
Email me and/or the teaching assistant with the circumstances and we can probably arrange an extension as well as offer some advice on the topics or arrange a time to get together to go over the material and the problems. As a general rule however, plan to complete your assignment two days before the closing time. If the system goes before then, you still have time to submit answers. If you wait until the last night, you will not have that time.
How much does the WEBWORK DEMO set count toward my grade? When is it due?
The Webwork Demo set is a great introduction to the webwork system and syntax for first time users, and a great review for previous users. It is not for credit, but it closes at the same time as the first assignment as incentive to try it soon. Those who do not work through it always have difficulties with syntax later in the semester.
Do I get penalized for incorrect attempts on a webwork problem?
No, you may try each problem as many times as you wish without penalty. Some problems are multiple choice, and you could do a problem of matching five formulas with five letter options by trying all of the possibilities in no more than 5!=120 (permutations) tries.
Is there a `quick reference' page describing webwork syntax?
Yes, here is link:
Webwork Help Page: http://www.math.utah.edu/online/ww/help/
and here is a slightly more detailed version:
Webwork Format and Syntax Page: http://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/online/WWFormat.html
I think I need some additional help on the class, can I find tutors or fellow students to work with me on it?
Yes to both. The T. Benny Rushing Mathematics Center (and Tutoring Center) is a great resource. Here is a link to their website, with their location, hours, services, etc.
http://www.math.utah.edu/ugrad/mathcenter.html
Also, you can contact other students in the class through the basic WebCT site I have added for these courses. In addition to a link to the course homepage, they provide intraclass email, discussion board, and chat room functions. Finally, some students sit in on lectures of regular calculus classes. Most faculty members are happy to share their insights with interested students registered in different sections.
I cannot make it to your office hours, either on a particular day or ever because I am taking the class remotely. Is there any way I can participate?
We are experimenting with the WebCT chat rooms mentioned above to allow students who cannot attend office hours in person to participate through a chat room. We will try to open the one for each class called `Office Hours' during each of my office hours. If you cannot get in, or we are not in the room, you can try to call my office at 801-585-7664. I will also try to use this if we are away at meetings or for other reasons during my office hours. Since this is the first time we have tried to offer this, and it is experimental, please be patient with us if you or we have problems using it.
EXAMS
How and when do I register for exams?
Almost everything pertaining to exams except for creating and grading them is handled by the Technology Assisted Curriculum Center (TACC) a.k.a. UOnline. They have a great deal of helpful information on the UONLINE WEBSITE:
University of Utah Online (UOnline)-Technology Assisted Curriculum Center (TACC)
The key requirement is that you must REGISTER FOR ALL EXAMS AT LEAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE THAT EXAM! You can register for any and all of your regular exams by the beginning of the course, and at some point during the semester, for the final exam. UOnline will let us know when this is, and we will let everyone know by email. Direct all other questions concerning scheduling of exams to their office.
I can't take the exam when I registered for it due to an unforseen emergency or conflict or I cannot make it to the location I registered for. What do I do?
First consult UOnline's policies regarding taking exams at times or places other than where and when you have registered. You may be able to arrange an alternate testing site if there is one that meets their proctoring requirements. You may also be able to arrange a different standard testing time, or if not, be able to take it at a non-standard time although this requires paying an additional fee. When you have fully read the policies and procedures on their site, email me with the circumstances as soon as possible, and `carbon copy' (cc:) to Jeff Hullinger at UOnline. His email is jeff.hullinger@m.cc.utah.edu and we will determine among ourselves what option to take. if you are going to miss an exam or have already missed one for a legitimate reason, let us know preferably before, but no later than one day after the exam. Only in exceptional circumstances, shall I give a make-up exam.
When do I receive my exam grade?
Because regular exams are given on Thursday and Saturday, and some exams arrive from remote locations, we often do not receive them in our mailboxes until the middle of that next week. Since grading is done with the assistance of expert graders based on our solution sets and scoring instructions, it can take a couple or a few days to collect the graded and totalled exams. As soon as that is done, either just before or after the weekend following the exam, we will email your score through the webwork system, and alert you that the solutions have been posted on the Recent Exams page.
Can I just enter the correct answer to an exam problem?
No! Show your work! You do not have to repeat the derivations of formulas and background material that I try to provide in the detailed solutions, but at the same time, if you just put down a numerical answer from your calculator, you will receive little or no credit. Use your judgement, but it is best to explain what method, procedure, or formula you are using, based upon the information in the problem, and the results of that method, procedure or formula, often supplemented with a diagram or verbal explanation. It is not uncommon for us to give full credit if the method is correct even if there is an arithmetic error! And to give little or no credit if the answer is correct but there is no explanation or work. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Can I use a calculator, graphing calculator, computer, or notes on an exam?
You can use any resources you find helpful to learn the material in these courses as well as you can, calculators, graphing calculators, computer algebra, calculus, and general math software systems like Maple, Matlab, or Mathematica; also other books, teachers, tutors, students, etc. The only restriction is for the tests.
The exams are not open book, and you cannot bring a note sheet such as the practice exam solutions we provide with our own discussion of many of the key concepts and techniques we wish you to learn for each exam. Because of this, we will include right on the test any formulas other than those that you should reasonably be expected to know as part of the course material. For instance you will be expected to learn the rules and formulas for basic differentiation and integration, but if we want to use (as opposed to derive) an involved integral formula like those in the integral tables in the back of the book, we will provide it for you.
There are reasons we have restricted the unsupervised use of computers in the testing sites (calculators and graphing calculators are permitted.) We tend to make most of the exam questions not require major numerical calculation, so you could probably get away without even a calculator for that. For the homework, as noted above, webwork has its own built in calculator and it works better to enter answers as a formula and let webwork do the calculation to avoid roundoff if you transcribe a numerical answer. Our shared feeling is technology should be used wisely and appropriately as a companion to conceptual approaches, not as a substitute for understanding or developing a facility for computations that provide insight.
Here are some links to information about some popular calculators:
Texas Instruments Calculators
Hewlett-Packard Calculators
One more option: I've often been using the Google Calculator as my calculator lately!