What you can expect from me:

1. I will provide you with a clear, organized course that is designed to ensure you meet our course outcomes in a meaningful manner.

2. I will provide a variety of assignments to ensure your learning needs are met.

3. I will be actively present in your learning.

4. I will provide a supportive and safe environment for you to share and discuss ideas with your peers.

What I will expect from you:

1. You will strive to be an active participant in this course and aim to meet due dates.

2. You will maintain an open line of communication with me so I understand how to support you. 

3. You will contact me if you have concerns with the course. 

4. Take good notes from the lectures, and ask questions!

5. Continuously participate in discussions and keep up with assignment homework.

How to Study For Mathematics:

Mathematics is learned by putting a conscientious effort into studying and practicing problems assigned to you. Essentially, understanding is learned by doing, failing, correcting, and trying again. The way in which you study could be hindering your learning potential. Solutions to almost every assigned problem can be found on several websites. Whether it be Chegg, Symbolab, Photomath, Desmos, etc you need to know how to use these resources in an effective manner.  The amount of resources available makes it too easy to use frequently and can give you a false sense of learning the material. Understanding the solutions themselves is not the same as learning the material. Here are some suggestions to follow as you study this semester. 

• After completing a problem, check your answers in the back of the book. If your answer is incorrect, try the problem again or try to find your mistake. Do not refer to the other solution guides to find the mistake for you. 

• Before you refer to solution guides for help, look over your notes. It is why you take them in the first place. 

• Understand that you will struggle through homework problems. This is a reality. It may take a couple of tries to figure out the problem. The struggle is part of the learning process.  

• If you are struggling after a couple of minutes, go on to the next problem.

•  If you need a solution guide for assistance, be sure to return to this problem a second time and rewrite the solution on your own. Make sure you can solve the problem without any guidance or help.  

• If you find yourself looking up solutions more than 10% of the time, you should come to me for help. There may be some prerequisite material that is preventing you from learning the course material. 

Course Policies:

Discussion Participation: Students are required to participate in weekly online discussions on Canvas (at least one entry per week unless the prompt requires more than two). Participation must be meaningful and substantive. Merely voicing difficulty with the subject matter is not considered substantive. Merely retyping a homework question without including what you do understand and where your understanding fails is not considered substantive. Please provide specific information regarding your concern so that it can be addressed either by classmates and/or your professor (again, merely lamenting about what you find difficult is not considered substantive and discussion credit will not be awarded in these instances). When referring to questions in the homework, you should always include the question and not just a reference to the section and question number. Use Canvas’s equation editor for typing mathematical symbols.  Prompts for these weekly discussions may be found in the Discussion area of the Canvas course. Feel free to start a discussion thread with a question or a comment by clicking on ‘Reply’ to the weekly discussion prompt.  

Questions, concerns and comments should be posted in the Discussion at least once each week. All or no credit will be awarded (partial credit is not awarded for weekly discussion responses) each week based on whether the prompt response is complete. Also feel free to email me with issues you are not comfortable posting in a public forum. Discussion Board participation will account for 5% of the overall course grade.Three of your lowest scores will be dropped in this category at the end of the semester. 

Homework: Weekly homework assignments will be due and it is your responsibility to make sure you complete them before the due date. Any late homework assignments will be deducted by 15%. Students will be allowed unlimited attempts for each question. Homework assignments may be partially completed, closed and reopened repeatedly as long as it is before the submission deadline to receive full credit for work submitted.  Additional practice problems can be found in corresponding sections of the ebook as well as in the Study Plan; these exercises may be completed for your own benefit, but will not affect your overall course average. Assigned homework accounts for 25% of the overall course grade. Three of your lowest scores will be dropped in this category at the end of the semester. 

Quizzes: Quizzes will be taken online for each chapter covered during the class. Equally weighted quizzes will be required as part of your online assignments. These quizzes should be completed and submitted online by the posted due dates. Quizzes can be taken at a later date with a 15% deduction. You will be given 2 attempts to take the quiz, and the highest score will be recorded. Quizzes are essentially a practice for the exam containing that chapter. Quizzes are generated DIRECTLY from the homework questions. Quizzes account for 15% of the overall course grade. If you believe that your quiz has been graded/scored in error or if your error is typographical not computational/conceptual, please contact me within one week of the due date. It can be determined whether you may be entitled to credit/partial credit for that question.One of your lowest scores will be dropped in this category at the end of the semester. 

Exams: Exams will be given ON CAMPUS throughout the semester. Each exam will be given from 5:00 PM-6:50 PM on the following dates: Feb 19, and April 10 2026. The exam room at IVC campus will be announced at a later date. To study for the exams, you should take excellent notes and keep track of difficult homework problems. Additionally, I will provide a review for each exam. The reviews are optional and will NOT count towards your overall grade.  Exams account for 30% of the overall course grade.

Final Exam:

A comprehensive final exam will be given at the end of this term on May 18, 2026.  This final exam will account for twenty‐five percent (25%) of the overall course grade. This is a significant portion of your overall course grade, so be sure to study!  Your final exam replaces your lowest exam score!

Weighting:

Discussions: 5% Homework: 25% Quizzes: 15% Exams: 30%  Final Exam: 25%

Grading Scale:

A: [90,100] B: [80,90) C: [70,80) D: [60,70) F: [0,60)

Math Center Details 

Spring Tutoring: TU 301 CRN: 34158 

You may access the Math Center in person in B363. In-person assistance is available at the Math Center during open hours. Please login and log out at the attendance computer in room B363 each time you use the Math Center. 

Math Center Hours         

Monday - Thursday           8:00 AM - 7:00 PM             

Friday and Saturday   8:00 AM - 2:00 PM          

Academic Dishonesty and Withdrawal Policy 

Withdrawal Policy: Although an instructor may withdraw a student for poor attendance, it is the student’s responsibility to withdraw if the student does not continue to attend. If your name appears on the roster at the end of the semester, the instructor must give you a grade. Failure to withdraw from the course may result in a failing grade.  

*Last day to drop without a “W” recorded on transcripts is Feb 1, 2026.

**Last day to drop with a “W” recorded on transcripts is April 18, 2026.

Students who are still officially enrolled past the withdrawal deadline (65% point/Drop with a “W” Grade) and who have been excessively absent per the attendance policy may be assigned a FW grade.  The FW counts the same as a F grade in the grade point average, but denotes you stopped attending class and did not fail due to lack of mastery of the course material. The FW grade may impact eligibility for some types of financial aid. See the Financial Aid Office for more information.

Academic Dishonesty: Students are expected to be familiar with and abide by the Academic Honesty Policy stated in the college catalog. Instances of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will only hurt your long-term future. Cheating includes getting answers from another student during a test or turning in someone else’s paper and/or quiz for them. You must show all your work when answering a problem on an exam or quiz. Students are encouraged and allowed to discuss material related to assignments but writing down the assigned work must be done individually. Cheating on a test will result in a non-replaceable zero for that one exam/quiz and your name will be forwarded to student services/admissions and records for further disciplinary action. SOCCCD Administrative Regulation 5401 describes academic dishonesty as, “including, but not limited to falsification, plagiarism, cheating or fabrication, which compromises the integrity of an assignment, a college record or a program.” Cheating