As this is an entirely online course, you will need to have regular internet access. While cell phones and tablets will allow you to view all our material, the quizzes and exams are best completed on a computer (laptop or desktop is ok).

You will not be required to have a camera turned on at any point this semester.

You may find it handy to have a calculator this semester, though you do not need to purchase anything special -- your cell phone or computer are perfectly fine for the calculations we will do!

Technology Needs:

• Computer

• Internet access

• Calculator (nice, but not required)

• Camera: not needed

Statistics is something we need software to help us with when we handle large amounts of information. Software is the name given to computer programs. Two such programs we will use this semester are Microsoft Excel and R.

As a Palomar student, you have access to Excel for free! R is also an entirely free program too.

Don't worry, you don't need to have any special skills or prior knowledge with either; we will learn along the way this semester!

• Find your access to Microsoft software for free by clicking here.

• For R, we will cover accessing and using this software within our course (no need to do anything now).

A traditional rule of thumb says that a 4-unit class typically comes with an expectation of 12 hours of work per week (four hours of class time plus eight hours of study/work time each week). Realistically you will likely have some weeks where the material is more interesting/easier for you than other weeks, so your time needs may fluctuate.

Our class is also asynchronous, meaning we do not have any scheduled live class sections. While this provides maximum flexibility, it can also be difficult to manage your time. I highly recommend picking three days per week where you schedule time for this class (as if you were actually in a classroom).

I will be offering regular virtual Office Hours this semester to help you in your learning. Office Hours are simply the fancy way of saying I will be online and available to video chat and help you in any way I can.

• Canvas Available: January 23

• Course Begins: February 1

• Course Ends: May 29

• Spring Break: March 29 - April 2

Life can be uncertain, especially these days. If you get to a point this semester where you are thinking about dropping the course, please reach out to me first! I'm here to work with you and support you in your learning journey. Please also note the following important dates:

• Drop with a Refund: February 14

• Drop with No Notation: February 16

• Apply for graduation: February 28

• Scholarship deadline: March 8

• Change to Pass/No Pass: March 15

• Drop with a W grade: April 4

Palomar College 2020/21 Academic Calendar

First Week Due Dates:

It is important that you plan on regularly checking our course Canvas page. To ensure that everyone registered is actually participating, you will have some small requirements due by February 5th.

The course will be arranged in weekly Modules on Canvas. Each module will begin on a Saturday and conclude on the following Friday. You will be guided through the week's topics with easy-to-read pages and mini video lectures.

This is an asynchronous course, meaning you will be free to progress at your own pace. The division of each week's module into topic-specific pages also allows for natural pauses in your learning process.

Each Module will conclude with a quiz and occasionally we will have some hands-on assignments to practice our statistics skills in Excel (and R). You will see more specifics in our Canvas page!

As a fellow human with extensive experience as a student, I know this one is a category of interest. So to be specific: you're totally gonna be graded this semester, and there will likely be extra credit opportunities throughout too!

Oh, you actually wanted real specifics? Lol.