This syllabus and all supporting documents are available on my webpage:  web.mnstate.edu/elhill

Course Description:  Exponents, factoring, equations, inequalities, systems of equations, functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, polynomials and rational functions. Must have successfully completed Intermediate Algebra or have an acceptable placement score.  Prerequisite:  MDEV 127 (C- or better) or an appropriate test score.  Some prior knowledge of algebra is expected.

MSUM's standard is that one semester credit hour for undergraduates is meant to represent three hours of academic work per week during a regular length semester for the average student who has the expected preparation for the courses that he or she is enrolled in.  This means that you are expected to do algebra for nine hours a week, only 2.5 hours of which are in class.  The remaining 6.5 hours are expected to be outside of class time.  Spending time reading the book, doing homework and labs, and studying for exams is meant to be a significant part of this (or any college level) course.

Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to do the following:

• Solve a variety of algebraic equations.

• Create and understand graphs.

• Work with a variety of functions.

• Apply a variety of algebraic techniques to real world problems and applications.

• Illustrate historical and contemporary applications of mathematical/logical systems.

• Clearly express mathematical/logical ideas in writing.

• Explain what constitutes a valid mathematical/logical argument(proof).

• Apply higher-order problem-solving and/or modeling strategies.

Class Activity:  Each regular day of class the period will be divided into two parts.  The period will start with a lecture period, followed by a lab period.  The lab will contain the same material as the lecture.  Review days will be all-period reviews, and exam days will be devoted to the exam for the entire 50 minutes.  For regular days, the lecture is intended to be somewhere between 25% and 75% of the 50-minute segment, depending on the amount of material to be covered, and will likely vary.  I will provide you with guided notes for each lecture.  The guided notes are basically an outline of what I will cover during that day, the details of which you will have to fill in during the lecture.  They save some time in copying the problems from the board, but still serve to keep your attention on the lecture and help with being able to think about why I am solving problems as I am, instead of just routine copying. 

After the lecture period, I will pass out a lab activity.  This will be basically a worksheet over the material that I had just gone over during the lecture.  Problems will range in difficulty from basic "skill-drills" to more in-depth problems.  The labs will be due at the beginning of the next day's class, although I reserve the right to collect it the same day if either everyone finishes it or if people aren't actually working on it during the lab period.  The labs are meant to be started and worked on in groups during the period and finished outside of class.  You should feel free to ask questions either during the period or outside of class.  You can ask me questions in my office or go to the tutor lab for help.  I will not, however, answer questions in class on lab problems on the day that the lab is due.

In addition to the lab assignments, there are homework assignments for each section.  It is in your best interest to do all the homework even though it is not graded.  You will find that the labs do not give you sufficient practice to do well on the exams.  I will also answer questions on the book homework in class, and expect a certain number of them.  Some topics will likely only come up through the book homework, and I will expect you to know them.  Most, but not all, of these topics you will probably not have any trouble with, but almost every student has trouble with at least some of them.

Attendance:  Attendance is mandatory in the sense that you will not be given an opportunity to make up work from class that you miss, and it is up to you to learn the material on your own.  I will not give you the lecture on a one-on-one basis in my office.  Regardless of why you miss, missing class will likely mean that you won't understand the material as well as you should and your homework, lab, and exam grades will likely suffer as well.  Unfortunately this statement is true whether you miss class because you just didn't want to get up that morning or if you miss class because you had a major emergency (in fact, the better the reason for missing class is, the more students tend to not understand the material no matter how much they try to make it up, since they are distracted by other concerns in their lives).  Missing class is strongly discouraged.  It will not be directly penalized, however, except for exam days, and I do not take a formal attendance each day.  Note that any labs due will not be excused if you are not in class.  You must turn them in on the day that they are due, even if it is to my office or sent with a friend.

There are certain excused absences that will justify a makeup exam.  For illnesses, I expect that if you are ill enough to miss an exam, you are also ill enough to go to the doctor, and I will want to see a note from the doctor's office indicating that you should miss class/work (most doctor's offices have such generic notes).  It does not have to say what you were seen for.  For family emergencies such as funerals, I expect to be informed as soon as possible and will expect some kind of appropriate paperwork (such as an obituary notice).  Other emergencies are similar.  For family or personal events, I expect that you will schedule them around exam days or that such events are already planned.  If a family or personal event is already planned and will cause you to miss an exam, it will be excused only if you notify me by Wednesday January 18 of the conflict.  For other absences that you should know about prior to the absence (e.g. jury duty, National Guard duty, approved university absences, etc.), I expect to be notified as soon as possible (generally at least two weeks in advance of the absence), and will expect appropriate paperwork.  If you miss an exam due to an excused absence, the makeup exam will be on Study Day.  This semester, Study Day is Wednesday May 2.

If you do miss a regular day, you will need to not only turn in the lab (in advance) but get blank copies of the lab and guided notes that are due the next class day.

Academic Honesty: You are expected to do your own work.  You may certainly work with others and get help on homework assignments and labs, but the work you submit should be your own work.  Note that during exams you will not be allowed to get help from others.  Make sure that you learn the material while you do the homework and labs - that is the purpose of the assignments.  Then during the exam you can demonstrate your knowledge - that is the purpose of the exams.  Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated in any college course (or any course at any level).  See the MSUM Academic Honesty policy for more information and possible consequences of cheating.

Special Accommodations:  Students with disabilities who believe they may need an accommodation in this class are encouraged to contact Greg Toutges, Director of Disability Services at 477-4318 (Voice) or 1-800-627-3529 (MRS/TTY), Flora Frick 154 as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.

Course Requirements:  You are expected to complete daily homework, complete and submit the labs, and take and pass all the exams on the scheduled date.

Evaluations Standards: Your course grade will include lab and exam grades.  For more details, see the grade page.

Course Outline:  See the course schedule.

Calculators:  A large part of working with variable expressions in algebra is connected to very similar skills in working with numerical expressions in arithmetic.  If you don't know how to add fractions of numbers, for example, it is very hard to learn how to add fractions of polynomials.  Therefore, calculators are not allowed on the exams in the early part of this course.  However, when we get to exponential and logarithmic functions and their applications, a calculator will be necessary, so a scientific, non-graphing calculator will be required for the later part of the course, in particular, on Exams 4, 5, and the final.  Calculators may occasionally be used throughout the course on the labs, and will occasionally be necessary on early labs.  The first three exams will be written so that a calculator is not allowed and not necessary.  As for graphing calculators, I have found that they provide a significant advantage to those students who have them.  However, I also find them too expensive to feel that their use is justified, particularly since in real life you wouldn't use them - you would use a graphing program on a computer that would be much more accurate and visually appealing.  Therefore, I will not allow graphing calculators.  This provides everyone a level playing field and is the fairest solution that I have been able to come up with.

A basic scientific calculator costs $15-$25 at Target, Kmart, CVS, Office Depot, or some similar store.  You do not need to have any particular model, but you do need one with "ln" and "log" keys, and I would suggest that you get one with an "ANS" key and a two-line display.  (A two-line display has a line for what you type and a separate line for the answer.) 

General Comments:  For all graded work in this class, you must show work for credit and give exact answers (unless you are specifically told to round).  In general, if you have to write it down, you have to show it to me.  My rule of thumb when grading is either whether I could do a similar calculation in my head and not make a mistake or if the point of the problem is being met (in other words, if the point of the problem is to show a known result, you have to show it in some detail).  If I feel that you needed to show more work, I will indicate it.  I want to emphasize that showing work is a lesson you would much rather learn on the labs than on the exams.  My criteria is the same for both.

I do not curve courses of this level.  I have given a class average of a B+ in a course of this level, and I have also given a class average of a D+.  I grade you as individuals, and by whether or not you personally have mastered the material.  I also very rarely give extra credit, and when I do it is to the entire class.  If you come to my office at the end of the term and ask if you can do extra credit to improve your grade, my answer will be no.  The grading scale and weights for the homework and exams are given here.

I will in general return any work the next class day.  If you are not there, I will not give it to friends, roommates, or spouses, nor will I give out grade information on the phone or via email.  (These restrictions are not arbitrary - they are based on federal law regarding student privacy.)  Normally, I include any old assignments with any current ones, but I do not try to pass them back a second time unless you have turned in the most recent assignment.  I will bring the old assignments with me every day, so if you ask at the end of class you can get them then.

I expect you to be responsible for yourself as far as getting notes from a classmate if you miss class.  You may get a blank copy of the guided notes from me.  I also expect you to turn in any labs early if you know that you will miss class.  This includes those instances when the absence is due to an official university activity, an illness, or a legal obligation.

Cell Phones:  Turn off your cell phones when you go to class (this class or any other class).  Cellular phones and other distracting devices generally have no place in a formal or semi-formal setting, such as a classroom.  If your phone rings audibly during class, I reserve the right to require you to leave the classroom for the remainder of the period.  I will likely exercise this right if your phone rings during an exam.  Hence, if your cell phone rings during an exam, you will have to turn in what you have completed up to that point.  No extra time will be given.  I strongly suggest that you always remember to turn off your phone.  (You are free to return to class the next day, and there will be no other consequences.)  Note:  I have found that cell phones on vibrate, when in a backpack next to a textbook, are still quite loud since they reverberate against the book.  If I can hear it at the front of the room or if most of the students next to you react to it, it is still an audible ring.  Keep it on something soft or on your waistband or in your pocket.  Or better yet, turn it off entirely.

In addition, during exams, your cell phone (or any other electronic device other than a calculator) may not be visible at all - you must put it in your closed bookbag or something similar.  If you use it for your watch, you will have to bring a different clock to exams or use the classroom clock.

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