Dear Students,
I can't wait to meet you all on Tuesday July 6th to start our Multivariable Calculus class during Summer Session II! Don't forget we meet mostly Monday-Thursday from 7/6/2021 to 8/5/2021 for 2 hours and 50 minutes each night starting at 6:30PM sharp. Please note, that Week01 is strange as July 4th is a Sunday, so we will meet Tuesday-Friday.
My Blackboard site is up and running but Nassau Community College (NCC) is not allowing access until Tuesday 7/6/2021. So, I thought I'd give you a few pointers ahead of time:
Please download the SYLLABUS from BlackBoard, read it carefully and pay very close attention to:
Page 1:
Math Learning Center Zoom link
Page 4:
Required Textbook
Page 5:
Student Responsibilities
Page 6:
Academic Dishonesty Policy
Page 7:
Copyright Statement, Assessments and American with Disabilities Statement
Pages 8-12:
ClassWork, HomeWork Assignments and Exams
Please download the WELCOMEBIO from BlackBoard, fill it out and return to me via college email ASAP. My email address is listed in the SYLLABUS.
3) HARDWARE
We will be using a Free, Online Computer Algebra System (CAS) called Jupyter hosted on https://colab.research.google.com rather than a Graphing Calculator. So, please make sure you have a second device during class and tests, such as a tablet or ChromeBook, for calculations in addition to your primary device for viewing our lectures via Zoom. Here's some sample Jupyter code from the first class!
I typically have 3 Chromebooks running during class: one for zoom lectures, a second one to monitor the zoom session and another one to read my notes and lesson plans. You may be able to get by with multiple tabs on one device. Please feel free to make your own choice. Pick whatever works best for you!
You will find 3-4 screencasts of our lessons in each of the 4 units on our BlackBoard. These screencasts are hosted on the college's Kaltura cloud service which is much like a private YouTube server just for NCC students and professors. See a sample recording above. I recorded these videos during Summer 2018 when I was using a similar CAS called SAGE hosted on https://sagecell.sagemath.org/ You may use SAGE or Jupyter or even a good old fashioned Graphing Calculator. Again, please feel free to make your own choice. Pick whatever works best for you!
5) SOFTWARE
In addition to Zoom, Blackboard, Kaltura and Jupyter, I will be using the Squid and CAMScanner apps and recommend you use them too. I'm using AndroidOS, but these apps, or something similar, should be available for iOS too.
Squid is great for taking notes on a tablet or writing your solutions on a pdf such as a test on your tablet with a stylus. The free version of Squid is great, but you need to pay a monthly fee or a one time lifetime fee for pdf markup. I also paid a fee for the geometry tab which makes drawing diagrams with your stylus easier! The monthly fee is not much if you only want to use Squid for a few months. I paid the lifetime fee instead for a couple of extra features as I use this app all the time but I don't need the entire feature set.
CAMScanner is great for converting handwritten work to pdf format so you can email your Exams to me.
Typically during my Zoom lecture I will be sharing notes with you using Squid (handwritten notes) and Jupyter (python coding).
6) EXAMS
When you take an exam, you have a choice. You can download and print the test so you can complete it with pencil and paper in a more traditional manner. Then you can use CAMScanner to convert your handwritten work to a pdf and email your test back to me. Alternatively, you can download the test onto your tablet, markup the pdf with your solutions using Squid and just email the new pdf with your work. Again, please feel free to make your own choice. Pick whatever works best for you!
That's it for now. I hope you find this note is helpful and I hope that you will learn a lot this semester in my class!
Sincerely,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math & CS
Nassau Community College
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
https://www.patreon.com/calcpage2020
Well, that's all folks.
www.patreon.com/calcpage2020
2015 NYS Secondary Math PAEMST Nominee
MATH 4H, AP CALC, CSH: SAGECELL
RECOMMENDED AP COMPSCI REVIEW:
REVIEW BARRONS BOOK (see me)
REVIEW BARRONS ONLINE
REVIEW APCENTRAL (past FRQs)
REVIEW EDX REVIEW MOOC01
REVIEW RUNESTONE
AUDIT CS50
