Welcome to Calculus! I'm Robert Talbert, a professor in the Mathematics Department, and I am grateful that you are signed up for the course and am looking forward to working with you this semester.
Before reading any further, here are some first things to know:
- My highest priority this semester is your success in this course. I am committed to helping you be successful in MTH 201 this semester. "Success" means more than just good grades. It means that you are being challenged to grow as a learner, that you are engaging actively with tasks that feed your growth, and that you are creating excellent work in mathematics by completing challenging Calculus-related tasks with a appropriate level of support. It also means that you are building your lifelong learning skills so that once the course is over, you are better and stronger as a learner and can continue to learn new things independently, and especially go on to success in courses that have MTH 201 as a prerequisite.
- College level mathematics is more than just computation. On the pathway to "success" as outlined above, you will be asked to do more than just perform computations. You will be working on explaining the meaning of mathematical processes and results in oral and written forms to different audiences; working on realistic applications of basic skills to authentic problems; extending basic ideas to more advanced concepts; and seeking true understanding of underlying concepts. In fact, many of the computations you might do with algebra in high school level mathematics will be automated through computers in MTH 201, and your work will mostly focus on these higher-level tasks.
- You can expect to be challenged intellectually throughout this course. None of these elements of "success" come easily. They require dedicated devotion of time and energy to wrestling with the concepts and tasks in the course. This will require you to leave your comfort zones on a regular basis. You may find that you need to rewire your entire process for learning things. You will need to stay constantly engaged with the course through participation in class meetings and on the class discussion board --- asking questions, seeking understanding, and giving help.
- Intellectual struggle is normal and healthy in a challenging course. Since none of this is easy, you can expect at times to feel like you are really struggling with the material --- even if in your earlier math courses you might never have experienced struggle. This is normal and healthy. Legitimate struggle is actually a sign you are doing things right, and it's a signal you're about to experience explosive growth. When you are building physical muscles, the point at which you are growing the most is the moment you experience the greatest strain and fatigue. Our class is a safe place for you to experience those struggles.
- You have a lot of help available to you as you work. Throughout the semester, you will be challenged but also given a lot of support to help you rise to the challenge. I will be readily available to help in several channels; your classmates will be available for help through structured and informal support groups; and the GVSU Math Department provides free help through the Math Center. Everyone in the course has your back.
- You will find MTH 201 to be very enjoyable if you embrace the challenge. Although hard work doesn't always feel good in the moment, by embracing the challenge and committing to learning Calculus, I think you will find that growth is fun and Calculus is really interesting stuff.
Instructor: Robert Talbert, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics. Email: [email protected]. Phone: 616.331.8968.
Office: My office is Mackinac Hall C-2-513. However, all student meetings this semester will be conducted online unless you have a specific need that requires a physical meeting.
Open drop-in hours: Monday through Thursday, 1-1:50pm, using the link http://gvsu.edu/s/1qX and password growthmind. You do not need an appointment. If you cannot attend open drop-in hours, you can contact me by email, through a Campuswire direct message, or by scheduling an appointment at http://rtalbert.youcanbook.me.
Availability: I typically only check email and other messages between 6am and 6pm on weekdays and once on Saturday mornings. If you send a message that needs a response during those times, you can expect to get a response within 6 hours. Otherwise you can expect one when I am back online.
Face-to-face Meetings: Your section is split into two groups ("Red" and "Blue") and the different groups take turns meeting face-to-face (F2F) and working online. The time and location of your F2F meetings depends on your section and group:
| Section | Red group | Blue group |
|---|---|---|
| 02 | Monday/Wednesday 10:00-10:50am, Mackinac Hall D-1-135 | Tuesday/Thursday 10:00-10:50am, Mackinac Hall D-1-135 |
| 04 | Monday/Wednesday 3:00-3:50pm, Mackinac Hall A-1-165 | Tuesday/Thursday 3:00-3:50pm, Mackinac Hall A-1-165 |
Textbook: Active Calculus (2018 edition) by Matt Boelkins. The textbook is freely available online at https://activecalculus.org/ACS.html. This online version is preferred. There is also a PDF version available, and instructions for ordering a printed copy, at https://activecalculus.org/.
Course website and discussion board: All course announcements, assignments, and grades will be communicated using the course Blackboard site available at http://mybb.gvsu.edu. All other course communications will be available through Campuswire, our class discussion tool; to join, go to https://campuswire.com/p/GAD2DF67E and use the code 7913.
Course calendar: A Google Calendar, will all due dates and other important time-sensitive information posted on it, is available on Blackboard in the left sidebar. Be sure to check the calendar once daily for upcoming events. The calendar is kept up-to-date constantly and in cases of apparent conflicts in times or dates, the calendar is considered to be correct always.
Technology: To use the course tools, you will need to have access to the following:
- A laptop or tablet device, preferably one with a touchscreen that allows writing on the screen with a stylus. Please plan on bringing this device with you to all F2F meetings.
- A modern web browser. Chrome is preferred, but browsers such as Firefox and Edge are also fine.
- Reliable access to high-speed internet.
- An active GVSU network account so that you can access email, Blackboard, and Google Docs.
If you have any issue with accessing any of the above, please let me know as soon as possible.
Learning objectives: By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Use functions and other pre-Calculus mathematics proficiently.
- Calculate, use, and explain the concept of limits.
- Explain and interpret the meaning of the derivative of a function.
- Use shortcuts to calculate derivatives efficiently.
- Use derivatives to solve authentic real-life application problems.
- Use definite integrals and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus to find areas and total change.
A full list of official departmental objectives for MTH 201 can be found here.
Your progress toward these course objectives will be tracked using Learning Targets. There are 23 individual Learning Targets covering all the major skills in the course; a complete list of these is at the end of this syllabus.
Structure and flow of the course: Your work in the class will follow a pattern that will involve you before, during, and after our meetings:
- BEFORE each class: You'll complete a Daily Prep assignment in which you'll get familiar with the basic concepts of the upcoming lesson. Daily Prep assignments will typically be due by 11:59pm ET the night before the lesson; you'll be able to work ahead if you want.
- DURING each class: Class meetings will typically start with 10 minutes for going over the Daily Prep assignments and fielding questions. Then we will spend around 30 minutes doing activities together on the harder concepts from the material. Then we will typically spend 10 minutes wrapping up, going through some of the main points of the activity, taking short ungraded quizzes to give you feedback on your learning, and getting your feedback on the lesson.
- AFTER each class: Only about half the lesson is covered during the in-class session. The rest of the lesson is learned through Followup Activities that you will do asynchronously (outside of class on your own schedule).
This pattern repeats for each F2F meeting that you have with your group. Finally, there is ongoing work outside the flow of class meetings, such as online homework and application/extension problems.
Student expectations: All students in the course are expected to do the following:
- Check email, Blackboard announcements, and Campuswire posts at least once a day --- preferably more often --- for information, hints, questions, and engagement opportunities. Especially, given the unpredictable nature of the ongoing pandemic, it's imperative that you stay consistently up to date on course information. All important announcements will be posted (and sent to your GVSU email and cross-posted to Campuswire) as soon as possible; you're responsible for seeing these announcements and taking action. "I didn't see the announcement" will not be accepted for missed work or other inactions!
- Check the calendar daily for upcoming due items and other events.
- Asking for help when you need it through drop-in visits or Campuswire posts; also giving help to others when you see a question on Campuswire that you can answer.
- Be kind to each other and help each other. These are rough times and the course material can be difficult. Let's all agree to be civil, helpful, positive, and productive all semester long.
You will be engaging with several different kinds of activities in the course, both to learn the material and to demonstrate how well you have learned it. These include:
- Daily Preparation (DP): You will complete these before each of your F2F meetings. Each Daily Prep assignment involves reading, video-watching, or interaction and then working exercises on basic learning objectives.
- Followup Activities (FA): Followup activities will complete the lesson for each part of a module and are done after a F2F meeting. They're the equivalent of a second class meetings' worth of active learning tasks, only they're done asynchronously online.
- Learning Target Checkpoints: A major part of the course is your demonstrating progress toward the 23 different Learning Targets. The main way you'll do this is through occasional take-home assessments called Checkpoints. Each checkpoint contains one problem per Learning Target that has been covered up to that point, focusing only on that Learning Target. More details on Checkpoints, how they are constructed, and how they are graded are given in the "How your work is graded" section.
- Application/Extension Problems (AEPs): AEPs are more extensive problems that require applying or extending the basic course knowledge from the Learning Targets.
- Practice and Engagement (PE): It's very important to practice with the basic material and stay involved in the course. To help you do this, you'll earn "PE credits" (not to be confused with gym class) by completing many different small activities through the semester. Most activities will earn 1 PE credit. In particular: Every "check" on a Daily Prep or Followup Activity earns 1 PE credit. There will also be weekly online practice homework set up using the WeBWorK online homework system (https://webwork-math.gvsu.edu/webwork2/), with typically 16 problems available in each module worth one PE credit each, for a total of 192 PE credits available from WeBWorK. There will be several other opportunities in the semester to earn PE credits.
Additionally, we will have a Final Exam consisting of two parts. The first part focuses on big-picture questions on the overall ideas of the course. Your performance on this part contributes to the plus/minus grade in the course. The other part of the final exam will be one final Checkpoint to give you the chance to meet additional learning targets that have not yet been mastered. The Final Exam will be done asynchronously; it will be assigned on Monday December 14 and due on Wednesday December 16.
Our course uses a mastery-based grading system in which most graded work does not have a point value but is instead graded on the basis of whether or not it meets standards of acceptable work or not. This is not exactly "Pass/Fail", because if you submit work that does not meet the standards, you'll usually have a chance to revise it and resubmit for regrading, as often as needed until you're happy with your grade (or until the end of the course). But, like "Pass/Fail", your work will be evaluated on a two-level or a four-level rubric. How this works, depends on the work being graded:
Daily Prep and Followup Activities: These are graded either with a "check" or an "x". A "check" is given if the work is turned in on time, and if every item has a response that represents a good-faith effort to be right. Actual correctness is not factored in, so you should feel free to make honest mistakes and present your best understanding of the concepts, even if it's flawed, as long as you do a thorough job of it. An "x" will be given to work that is late, incomplete (there's at least one item that has no response), or shows insufficient effort (for example just putting down "I don't know" without trying).
AEPs: These are more involved, and are graded using one of four labels: E (Excellent/Exemplary), M (Meets Expectations), R (Revision Needed), or N (Not Enough Information/Not Assessable). Those labels are assigned using this flowchart:
Learning Targets and Checkpoints: There are 23 Learning Targets in the course, which together form an outline of all the important concepts in Calculus. Eleven (11) of these are designated as Core targets due to their central nature in Calculus, and the other 12 are designated as Supplemental.
An important goal for you in the course is to demonstrate proficiency, and eventually mastery, of all the Core targets and as many of the Supplemental targets as you can. Accordingly, there are two levels of achievement on the Learning Targets: Proficiency and Mastery. Each time you provide a piece of evidence that shows you know how to perform the task in a Learning Target, you will earn a "check" on that Learning Target. You can earn a check on a Learning Target in four different ways:
- By completing a problem on a Checkpoint that pertains to that Learning Target. (Most students will earn most of their checks this way.)
- By scheduling an oral exam (through Zoom/Google Meet) during which you'll be given a problem similar to one on a Checkpoint for the Learning Target, and completing the problem satisfactorily along with followup questions I may ask.
- By creating a video of yourself in which you work out the solution to a problem similar to one on a Checkpoint for the Learning Target (that I will provide), then submitting that video and answering followup questions via a video meeting.
- By using work on an AEP that, in your view, shows evidence that you know how to perform the task on a Learning Target. In this option, you'll schedule a video interview with me and make the case for your work, and I'll listen and then ask some followup questions that you'll need to address.
As you earn checks on Learning Targets, you'll earn a rating on that target. There are three possible ratings:
- No rating yet (NRY), which means you have not yet successfully provided evidence of mastery of the Learning Target. (All students start the semester at this rating on all 23 Learning Targets.)
- Proficiency, which means you have earned one check.
- Mastery, which means you have earned two checks.
Checkpoints will probably be the primary means by which you earn checks on Learning Targets and gradually improve your ratings.
- Each Checkpoint is cumulative. Checkpoint 1 will contain problems for 1-2 Learning Targets; Checkpoint 2 will contain new versions of those problems plus brand-new problems for the next 2-3 Learning Targets; Checkpoint 3 will contain new versions of all the previous problems plus brand-new problems for new Learning Targets; and so on.
- On a Checkpoint, you only need to attempt problems you feel ready to take. If you believe you need more time to study a Learning Target, you can skip the problem for that target on the Checkpoint and wait till the next round (usually 2 weeks later). You can skip an entire Checkpoint if you need to. But, there are only 10-11 of these planned for the semester, so make every effort to make some progress on each one.
- On a Checkpoint, you only need to attempt problems if you still need or want to improve your rating on the Learning Target. For example if you've earned a Mastery rating on Learning Target D.2, you do not have to attempt the problem for D.2 any more during the course.
As mentioned, Checkpoints are not the only way to earn checks. For example, you might earn Mastery on a Learning Target by doing two successful Checkpoint problems; or one Checkpoint problem and a video; or by using some AEP work followed by doing a Checkpoint problem successfully. You have options. However, to keep the logistics from being overwhelming, there are just a few restrictions on those options:
- A Mastery rating must include at least one check earned through a Checkpoint problem or oral exam. For example, you can't earn Mastery by doing two videos, or an AEP plus a video.
- No more than one check per week can be earned through oral exams, videos, and AEPs. A "week" for us is defined to be the time period from 12:01am ET on Monday through 11:59pm ET the following Sunday.
- Video submissions will need to adhere by standards of video creation that will be posted to the course website.
Your grade for the semester is not based on points because most items in the course don't carry point values. Instead, your grade will be based on the quantity and quality of evidence you can provide of across-the-board mastery of Calculus --- the basic skills found in the Learning Targets, the applications found in AEPs, and your daily work and engagement elsewhere.
To determine your course base grade (the letter A/B/C/D/F without plus/minus modifications), use the following table. To earn a grade, you must complete all the requirements in the column for that grade; your base grade is the highest grade level for which all the requirements have been met.
| Category: | D | C | B | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Learning Targets (11) | 5 Proficient | 5 Proficient, 5 Mastered | 10 Mastered | 11 Mastered |
| Supplemental Learning Targets (12) | 3 Proficient | 6 Proficient | 6 Proficient, 2 Mastered | 6 Proficient, 4 Mastered |
| AEPs (8+) | 2 M+ | 5 M+ | 2 E, 4 M+ | 4 E, 2 M+ |
| DP + FA (48) | 24 | 34 | 39 | 44 |
| PE | 100 | 170 | 190 | 210 |
Notes on the table:
- The requirements shown are the minimum to meet the grade level; exceeding those requirements also meets the level. For example, Mastering 10 Supplemental Learning Targets satisfies the Supplemental Learning Target requirement for an A.
- "M+" means a grade of M or E.
- "DP+FA" is the sum of the number of checks earned through either Daily Prep or Followup Activities. There are 24 possible for each.
- A grade of "F" is given if not all of the requirements for a D are met.
Important note on PE credits: There will be at least 240 PE credits available: 48 total through Daily Prep and Followup activities plus 192 through WeBWorK. Other PE credit opportunities will be available but probably not more than 50 credits' worth. Therefore, it may be impossible to earn a C in the course (requirement of 170 PE credits) without doing at least 130-150 points of WeBWorK.
Plus/minus grades: Your base grade may be modified with a plus or minus, according to these guidelines:
- A "plus" is added to the base grade if all requirements for a base grade are satisfied, and the LT (both the Core and Supplemental) or AEP requirement for the next level up is also satisfied; and the big-picture portion of the final exam is passed.
- A "minus" is added to the base grade above if: (1) All requirements for a base grade are satisfied except one, and that one is no more than two levels below the others; or (2) You meet the minimum requirements for a base grade (i.e. none of the requirements for higher levels are met) and you do not pass the big-picture portion of the final exam. In the first case, if the deficient area is more than two levels below, the penalty will be either a minus or a full letter grade, at my discretion.
The most significant and challenging work you do in the course --- Checkpoints and AEPs --- can be revised and resubmitted to allow you to improve on previous attempts and raise your grade. Your course grade is therefore based on what you eventually show that you can do, not just the results of a single moment. The process of revision/resubmission depends on the item:
Learning Target check attempts can be revised by reattempting the item on a later Checkpoint or through one of the other means described earlier. For example, if you attempt a Checkpoint problem on a target and don't do good-enough work, you can reattempt it on a later Checkpoint, or through an oral exam, or a video, or an AEP. Remember, though, only one check per week can be earned through non-Checkpoint methods, and Mastery level on a target requires at least one check earned by a Checkpoint or oral exam.
AEPs earning M, R, or N can be revised and resubmitted at any time. They will be regraded using the same standards as originally used. There are two important limitations on your revision and resubmission of AEP's:
Two-submission-per-week rule: No more than two submissions of AEP sets may be made per week. This can be two new sets, two revisions, or one of each. A third submission can be purchased with a token (below) but four or more submissions in a week are not allowed under any cirumstance.
Revision of N grades rule: Students have to spend a token (below) in order to revise any AEP that was graded at "N" (Not Assessable).
Daily Prep and Followup Activities may not be revised; these are graded on the basis of completeness and effort only and are intended to be done once.
Tokens: Tokens are a fake currency that are used to "purchase" exceptions to course policies and other advantageous items in the course. Every student starts with five of these. One token can be spent for any of the following at any time:
- Attempt a second Learning Target in a given week through non-Checkpoint means
- Submit a third AEP (either revision or new submission) in a given week
- Revise an AEP graded "N"
- Extend the deadline on a Checkpoint by 12 hours (request must be submitted prior to the original deadline)
- Extend the deadline on a WeBWorK set by 24 hours (request must be submitted prior to the original deadline)
- Purchase 3 PE credits
With the exception of the last item, tokens may not be "stacked", for example by spending 3 tokens to get a 72-hour WeBWorK deadline extension. You can stack tokens to purchase PE credits (e.g. spend 3 to get 9 EC's).
Opportunities to earn more tokens may be given during the semester.