Syllabus

NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE

COURSE SYLLABUS

 

 

COURSE AND INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

 

 

 

Course title:  Pre-Calculus Math

 

Course prefix, number, and section number:  MATH 2412 0311

 

Semester/Year of course:  Spring 2024

 

Semester start and end dates: 1/16/2024 – 5/11/2024

 

Modality: Asynchronous online

 

Class meeting location, days, and times: Online

 

Semester credit hours:  4 (Lecture hours: 80)

 

Course description:  In-depth combined study of algebra, trigonometry, and other topics for calculus readiness.

 

Course prerequisites:  MATH 1314 College Algebra with a grade of “C” or better, or the equivalent preparation

 

Required course materials: 

Thinkwell’s Precalculus 2nd Edition – Online Package, Burger, Thinkwell Corp.

Calculator - TI-30X IIS or equivalent.

 

Name of instructor: Ravi Kumar

Office location: Corinth 206

Telephone number: 940-498-6282, ext. 6355

E-mail address: rkumar@nctc.edu

Office hours for students:

On campus- Monday & Wednesday: 9:55 am- 10:55 am  (by appointments only)

Off campus:  Tuesday & Thursday(online): 9:00 am- 1:00 pm (by appointments only)

 

STUDENT HOURS (OFFICE HOURS)

Each week instructors have time set aside to meet with students outside of class. (Traditionally these times have been called “office hours”.) This is a time when a student may ask questions regarding the class, or discuss a particular problem/topic with an instructor one-on-one.  Student hours may be held in-person or online.  See below for instructions on where/when/how instructors will offer student hours in this class.

 

For online office hours, students can schedule an appointment by selecting the Cisco Webex option in Canvas and navigating to the “Office Hour” tab.  The times that the instructor is available will be displayed there and a student may schedule a meeting by choosing a time and selecting “Confirm Meeting” at the bottom of the page.

 

MATH TUTORING LAB

 

Students who need help with any math class can visit the NCTC Mathematics Lab to receive assistance.  There are math tutors available on every campus and online.  This service is free for all students enrolled in an NCTC math class. Sign up for an appointment or see the most current tutoring hours for all campuses at https://www.nctc.edu/math-lab

 

SYLLABUS CHANGE DISCLAIMER

 

 

The faculty member reserves the right to make changes to this published syllabus if it is in the best interest of the educational development of this class. Any such changes will be announced as soon as possible in person and/or writing.

 

SUMMARY OF COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

 

 

List of graded assignments: 

Assignment Type                 Number of graded elements                 Percentage

      Homework                                    36                                                          15%

 

      Quizzes                                           14                                                         10%

 

      Exams                                              4                                                           60%

 

      Final Exam                                       1                                                          15% 

 

Final grade scale:  90 – 100% = A;   80 – 89% = B; 70 – 79% = C;  60 – 69% = D;  Below 60% = F

The final exam may also be used to replace the lowest unit test grade.

 

HOMEWORK POLICIES

Homework Assignments & Quizzes

There will be a graded homework assignment for each section we cover.    All assignments (homework & quizzes) will be available from the first day of the semester, but must be done by the posted due date at 11:59 p.m.  Students may work ahead as far as they like.  Manage your time & schedule so that you can complete the assignments ahead of time when necessary.  There will be no make-up assignments.

The number of times you can take each assignment is unlimited prior to its due date.  Each assignment will consist of approximately 10 – 20 questions. The entire assignment must be submitted all at once; however, each time you attempt an assignment, you’ll only have to rework the problems you missed on the previous attempt.  You should definitely try to take each assignment until you get every problem correct.  Since notes are not allowed when taking exams, you should work on the assignments problems until you can do them without notes.

The links to the graded assignments, along with the corresponding due dates, are all found under the Assignments link on the left-hand navigation bar in our course Canvas site.

 

LEARNING PROCEDURES

After you’ve read through this entire syllabus and the other documents, click on the Thinkwell content link on the left-hand navigation bar of our Canvas course site.  Thinkwell is the publisher of the online text we will be using.  The first time you do this, you’ll be asked to purchase access with a credit or debit card (cheapest option), enter an access code you’ve already purchased at the NCTC bookstore, or get temporary access for 14 days.

Once you’ve passed the purchasing part, expand the third chapter, Orientation and Getting Started Materials, by clicking on the triangle to the left of the chapter title.  Once you have looked through all of the Orientation and Getting Started Materials, you are ready to start learning the course material.

Each chapter will expand to sections, each section expands to subsections, and each subsection expands to reveal the learning materials for that subsection (Book pages, Video Lesson, Video sample solutions, & Interactive Practice).  

I highly recommend you watch each video lesson and do interactive practice.  Each video lesson is done by Professor Ed Burger, the author of the text, and averages about 7 minutes in length.  Interactive Practice consists of 1 – 4 problems that can be done unlimited times.  These are not part of your grade but will give you feedback as to whether or not you understand the material.  The Book pages are just what they say – online text pages.  You may find that you like reading through these in addition to watching the videos.  The Video sample solutions are a handful of additional examples you can view for each subsection.

At the end of each section, you will find a Practice Quiz (Not for Grade) and Practice Book Exercises.  Both of these are always available and may be done unlimited times.  The Practice Quiz problems will change some on each attempt.  The Practice Book Exercises are static – they never change.  I recommend you attempt the Practice Quiz at the end of each section and read the solutions for feedback before you try the corresponding Graded assignment for that section. 

The accessibility statement for Canvas is available at http://www.canvaslms.com/accessibility (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site.Links to an external site. .

Thinkwell runs on the same Canvas platform, so this statement also applies to Thinkwell.

If you have any additional needs to access the course content, please contact me.

 

EMAILS

I will check emails periodically Monday through Friday and will try to respond within 24 hours.  Email will not be checked over the weekend, holidays, or after 5 pm on any weekday.  Keep in mind if there are any emails that are urgent over the weekend TRY not to panic.  The solution probably can be resolved quickly at the beginning of the week. 

 

Be mindful of the tone that is presented in emails.  If it is aggressive, unprofessional, or academically offensive in anyway, the professor will not reply.  Know that the student’s name may be given to the Associate Dean of Denton County Campuses for further review. 

 

 

RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY

In an effort to keep everyone within this class on an equal playing field regarding IT issues, everyone will be held to the same process and standards. 

Be sure that you are doing all of your assignments on a reliable computer with sufficient battery life and appropriate Internet connectivity.   The instructor cannot help instances of computers “shutting down,” “crashing,” “running slow,” or “electrical outages due to a storm,” etc.  Be mindful of this before you begin any assignments.   The burden rests solely on the student if there is a problem mid-assignment and it truly rests with someone other than the student, you will have to:

1.Create an e-ticket at  http://www.nctc.edu/eLearning_Department/Support.aspx (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Links to an external site.

Select “submit a request.” 

Describe the problem to the e-Learning Department and produce the evidence to support your technological issue.  Include screenshots via computer or phone of the error message or issue.  In addition, include dates and times within the screenshots or photos.

 

2. Forward the emailed response to the instructor from the e-Learning Department if there is evidence to support your claim.  That includes the response that the Canvas help desk delivered with the overwhelming amount of data regarding your issue to indicate that the technical difficulty was through no fault of the students.  Do not email the instructor if the e-Learning Department cannot verify your technical difficulty.  Please include your “request number” in parenthesis which can be found in the email from e-Learning.

3. Then the instructor will gather all evidence from the student, e-Learning, and from the student activity from within Canvas to make an appropriate decision in moving forward with the request to re-open assignments.  If students do not provide a good defense, the instructor will not likely re-open any assignments. 

 

4. Finally, THE INSTRUCTOR WILL LOOK AT THE ENTIRE RECORD OF THE STUDENTS’ ACTIVITY ON CANVAS.  If the student makes a false claim regarding technical difficulties, they should expect to be dropped from the course at the point of the offense.  This is child’s play to look at students’ Canvas activity so avoid being inventive of any fictitious IT stories.

On a personal note:   This syllabus is our contract; it cannot and will not be amended by students for personal issues.  This is not limited to birthdays, deaths, hospital/incarceration stays, or minor holidays.  Everyone is held to the same standard in this class.

Decreased stress for this class can be traced back to utilizing a calendar system (for all assignment due dates), working on a reliable computer, and not waiting until the last minute to get started on assignments (cheating, plagiarism, creating fictitious I.T. stories, and sloppy work can get the very best under these conditions). 

Overall, I would respect a student more if they honestly could not complete an assignment rather than invent creative stories, blame others, recycle assignments or copy other work.  In short, these issues just waste my time and could get the student in more academic trouble and potentially expelled from college.

 TEST POLICIES & PROCEDURES

The exams are not online.

They are pencil & paper and must be proctored. You must bring to each exam:  pencils, a scientific calculator (non-graphing), and a photo ID. No notes of any kind will be allowed during exams. See canvas for tentative exam schedule.

Late work policy: There will be no make-up exams or quizzes. Students who are unable to attend the above primary exam dates & times may, with the instructor’s approval, test on another day.  These alternate testing arrangements must be communicated to the instructor at least 1 week prior to the primary testing date and may be approved at the instructor’s discretion.  If your final exam score is higher than the lowest of the 4 intra-semester exams, then the final exam score will replace the lowest of the 4 exam grades. 

SEE CANVAS FOR THE COMPLETE COURSE CALENDAR, OUTLINE, DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF GRADED WORK, AND OTHER RELATED MATERIAL.

 

 

COURSE POLICIES

 

 

Academic Integrity Policy:

Scholastic dishonesty shall include, but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, academic falsification, intellectual property dishonesty, academic dishonesty facilitation, and collusion.  The use of online math solvers with submitted work is considered academic dishonesty.  Faculty members may document and bring charges against a student who is engaged in or is suspected to be engaged in academic dishonesty.  See Student Handbook, “Student Rights & Responsibilities: Student Code of Conduct ([FLB(LOCAL)]”.  

Consequences for academic dishonesty may include:

  1. Zero on the assignment
  2. Failing grade for the course

 

Attendance Policy:

Regular attendance is expected and necessary for student success in this course. For more information on attendance regulations please see the 2022-2023 NCTC Catalog.  (https://www.nctc.edu/catalog; Click on 2022-2023 CATALOG and go to page 138 to see Attendance Regulations)

 

Withdrawal Policy

A student may withdraw from a course on or after the official date of record. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate and complete a Withdrawal Request Form.

 

Last day to withdraw from the course with a “W” is: Monday, April 1, 2024

 

Student Learning Outcomes:  At the successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate and apply knowledge of properties of functions.
  2. Recognize and apply algebraic and transcendental functions and solve related equations.
  3. Apply graphing techniques to algebraic and transcendental functions.
  4. Compute the values of trigonometric functions for key angles in all quadrants of the unit circle measured in both degrees and radians.
  5. Prove trigonometric identities.
  6. Solve right and oblique triangles.

 

Core Objectives:

X           Critical Thinking

X           Communication

X           Empirical and Quantitative

Teamwork

Personal Responsibility

Social Responsibility

 

COLLEGE POLICIES

 

 

STUDENT HANDBOOK

Students are expected to follow all rules and regulations found in the Student Handbook. To access Student Handbook go to NCTC homepage (www.nctc.edu), scroll to bottom and click “Student Handbook”.

 

ADA STATEMENT

NCTC will adhere to all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the Office for Students with Disabilities to arrange appropriate accommodations.  See the OSD Syllabus Addendum.


STUDENT SERVICES

NCTC provides a multitude of services and resources to support students.  See the Student Services Syllabus Addendum for a listing of those departments and links to their sites.

 

 

QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, or COMPLAINTS

 

 

 

The student should contact the instructor to deal with any questions, concerns, or complaints specific to the class.  If the student and faculty are not able to resolve the issue, the student may contact the chair or coordinator of the division.  If the student remains unsatisfied, the student may proceed to contact the instructional dean.

 

Name of Chair/Coordinator:  Ben Owens

Office location:  Corinth 174

Telephone number:  940.498.6209

E-mail address:  bowens@nctc.edu

 

Name of Instructional Dean:  Mary Martinson

Office location:  Gainesville 1403

Telephone number:  940.668.7731 ext. 4377

E-mail address:  mmart inson@nctc.edu

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