Course Syllabus

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Course Description

This Pre-Calculus course is designed to prepare students for a Calculus course. It is taught so that students will acquire a solid foundation in algebra. The course concentrates on various functions that are important to the study of calculus. Emphasis is placed on understanding the properties of linear, polynomial and rational functions, including inequalities and complex numbers. Students will learn to work with various types of functions in symbolic, graphical, numerical and verbal form.

All of the lessons and learning materials for this course are embedded in the online software ALEKS. There are no lectures for this course, but there are numerous short topic videos and instructional items.  In ALEKS you will have a pie which represents your knowledge of pre-calculus. It will start out partially filled with the math knowledge you already have. Your goal is to completely fill this knowledge pie by the end of the course. For more information on how to use ALEKS, please see the 'ALEKS' portion of the course website.

Text and Software

For this course, we will be using the text Precalculus by Barnett, Ziegler, and Byleen. A loose-leaf version of this textbook, packaged with ALEKS software is available from the UCI bookstore. (Note: They will ship books!)  The ALEKS software is mandatory for this course; however, the textbook is optional.  You will not be able to access the assignments or exams without the ALEKS software. You can either buy the software bundled with the text from the UCI bookstore or if you opt not to use the book, you can buy the ALEKS software directly from the company website at www.aleks.com.  But note: be sure to buy it using the ALEKS Course Code for this course, which can be found under the 'ALEKS' portion of the course website.

Course Homework Assignments

All of the homework assignments for this course will be done with the software system called ALEKS. In ALEKS, you will be able to assess your current Pre-Calculus knowledge and then work through problems covering the content material of this course. All of the lessons and learning materials for this course are embedded in ALEKS. There are no lectures for this course, but there are numerous short topic videos and instructional items. In ALEKS you will have a pie which represents your knowledge of pre-calculus. It will start out partially filled with the math knowledge you already have. Your goal is to completely fill this knowledge pie by the end of the course. There will be six intermediate objectives to help you pace your learning and make sure you complete the material on time. For more information on how to use ALEKS, please see the 'ALEKS' portion of the course website.

• The course is broken down into six Intermediate Objectives to help you pace your learning and make sure you learn the material on time.
• You will receive a grade for each objective, which is the percentage of the objective that you complete by the deadline.

Quizzes

There will be four quizzes for this course. Each quiz will be taken in ALEKS. You will have a 19-hour window in which to take your quiz. Once you start the quiz you will have 30 minutes to complete it. The quizzes are not proctored, but students are expected to work independently on the quizzes. The quizzes provide practice to solve pre-calculus problems in a timed setting in preparation for the midterm and final exam.

Exams

• There will be one midterm and one cumulative final exam for this course. Both exams are online using ALEKS and require a computer and webcam.
• The majority of students will take the exams via ProctorU (an online test proctoring service).  A small number of students will be given permission to take the exam in-person at the discretion of the instructor.  Details about this option will be emailed prior to each exam and spots will be filled on a first come first serve basis.
• An ALEKS practice midterm and practice final will be provided.  These can be used to get comfortable with the computer exam format and interface.
• The problems on the midterm and final exam will be just like those you will be working on in ALEKS throughout the quarter.
• Since the ALEKS assignments can be used to prepare for problems on the exams, no study guides will be provided.
• More details about the dates and logistics for taking these exams can be found under the 'Examinations' portion of the course website.

Course Grade

Grades in this course will be determined based on the following breakdown:

            3%     Course Logistics Quiz

            30%   ALEKS Intermediate Objectives (6 intermediate objectives worth 5% each)        

            12%   Quizzes (4 quizzes worth 3% each)

            20%   Midterm Exam

            35%   Final Exam

Letter grades will be assigned based on the student's total percentage according to the following scale:

            97+ : A+,  93-97 : A,  90-93 : A-,  87-90 : B+,  83-87 : B, 80-83 : B-, etc.

Topics

In this course, you will be learning about the following material. Note that each student may work through the material at his or her own pace and not every student will follow the topics in exactly this order. The first midterm, however, will cover all the material prior to that exam on this list.

Academic Integrity

Students in this course are expected to follow the UCI Academic Honesty policy found at www.honesty.uci.edu. All quizzes, midterms and final exams must be done independently without any outside assistance including texts, internet, calculators, etc.. The intermediate objective assignments are to be done independently by the student. Violations of the UCI Academic Honesty policy may result in loss of credit on the work involved, a failing grade in the course and/or administrative sanctions from the university including suspension or expulsion.