Now we're ready to get down to business. You should know that we think learning, especially math learning, is a spiral and not a straight line. What that means is that you may be working on a couple of things and once, and move back a forth between concepts and even between lessons. You may submit any work at any time. Don't wait for things to be perfect, just send what you have when you are ready for comment. Then begin to work on the next section. Then when you get your work back, you may go back there for a while, and then move forward again. Sometimes you will feel like you are going around, instead of going ahead. That is how you should feel. We will always expect that you are working, never waiting, because there is always new material to begin to explore, old material to go over, or current material to practice. Here is an outline of how a lesson may work. As you read it, remember that you may be moving back and forth between lessons as well.
Find your computer and get comfortable. Go to the CROSU Student page on Socrates. You can go there and follow instructions in the Early Itenerary syllabus when you are actually ready to start. You will get them by downloading them on to your machine. You'll be given directions on how to do this from your site coordinator or one of the mentors. If you have problems, contact the Hotline or your mentor.
When you start a new lesson, you should start with the Basics. Read them on the computer and then again from the text. Think of the notebooks as a tool with which you can investigate ideas in your own way. They are not a passive text to read, but an active, electronic text to manipulate. Try experimenting in the notebooks on the computer. Talk to your group. Do not stop if you can't grasp a concept or two. If you are really stuck, contact the Hotline. Never ever give up. This type of activity will help you solve your own problems as well as formulate good questions.
Move on to the Tutorials once you've done all you can for now with the Basics –- even if you are still sketchy on some concepts. Maybe the Tutorials will present the ideas so that they become more accessible or understandable. Like the Basics, the Tutorials are interactive electronic texts that you can experiment in.
After working through the Tutorials (again, there is nothing wrong with going through the section more than once), go to the GIAT. You may work on this with your group. Our expectation is that your group will all work on all problems. Some groups make the mistake of assigning certain problems to certain people, who go off and work alone and then bring problems together. Very efficient, but nobody learns anything that way. It is not a good idea to cut up problems from the GIAT.
Send GIAT modules electronically for comment and grade. The GIAT module is like any other assignment for school: do the best you can, and be timely completing your work and turning it in. Don't wait until it is all done and done perfectly. Turn stuff in for comment as you get it done. Since you can re-do things that you don't understand the first time, there's no reason not to "bounce" your ideas off your mentor regularly to see how you are doing.
Remember that you need to have your LitSheets by your side ALL THE TIME as you work through the electronic lessons. You will use paper and pencil for them, and work on them and think about them as you go along.
Go over, polish and be sure you understand the LitSheets after you have sent in the GIAT, and have received and discussed the comments left by the grader.
The LitSheets, which you will submit for comment and which represent part of your grade, are very important, because they represent your individual knowledge and your ability to work things out by hand. You can talk about them with anyone, but you must submit a copy of your individual work. In other words, share ideas, not answers. Mastering the LitSheets is integral to doing well overall. After you hand them in, move on to the next lesson. What you just learned will be the underpinning of what you do next.
We hope that all students will have other students to collaborate with on this course. Groups will discuss, work through, and argue about every aspect of the lessons. The C&M team at OSU likes to imagine lots of students huddled around computers together, discussing the concepts of the lesson. Well, at any rate, we hope all students can work cooperatively on the lessons and the homework assignments.
The Give it a Try modules are done in "group mode" and is graded as such. You will soon discover that working in groups and tackling the sections together enhances the understanding and retention for everyone involved.
A group assignment that is handed-in should be a culmination of everyone's thoughts and efforts. Everyone in the group should understand and agree with what has been handed in. If someone understands but disagrees, then their differing viewpoint should also be represented in the work that is submitted.
Remember: Everyone needs to understand everything that is said in completing the group assignments. Some quizzes may be done as a cooperative effort as well. Your mentor or Tony Nance will tell you which ones.
Of course, you will need to demonstrate individually that you have learned the material in the course you are taking, so there will also be individual work and individual grades. Individual does not mean "run home and hide in the closet while completing this assignment." It means that you analyzed, wrote, and believe the work that is submitted. The ideas and experiments expressed are generated through lots of discussion, but the work you hand in must be your work based on the thoughts and ideas you formed while working on and discussing the section. If you think the problem should be answered in a different way than everyone else, then do it differently!
Some of your most brilliant moments will come when you take chances and make mistakes, so your individual assignments may be re-done. Writing your own personal answers is the best way to measure your own understanding. If you've simply copied another student's solution, who will know what you do and don't know? How will mentors know what to prepare you for before a quiz if what they think you understand from the homework are just other people's solutions? Your individual work on quizzes will be monitored by your coordinating teacher, but your notebook assignments will not. Therefore, work together, think alone, and all will be well.
The C&M courses do follow the time honored convention of requiring assignments from students for the purpose of grading them. There are two kinds of assignments which are graded, GIAT modules and LitSheets modules. The GIAT are done on the computer, and the LitSheets are done entirely by hand with pen and paper. Here is the process for sending your work to your mentor. Below are five methods of turning in the GIAT modules. They are listed in order of preference.
Students submit their homework through the Course Management Site. Here's how:
If that does not work, use our webmail. This method is very, very simple. Simply open your web browser and go to our webmail site (socrates.math.ohio-state.edu/webmail). Log in using your username and password for your socrates account and write a small e-mail to your mentor explaining what you’re doing. Finally, before you send it, choose to send an attachement with your message. To do so, simply click the “Browse” button and look for the notebook you wish to send, then click on the “add” button and wait until your notebook is uploaded. You will know the notebook is uploaded because below that bar, the filename of the notebook you uploaded will appear along with the size of the document. Finally, click the “Send” button.
If all Internet tools fail, put your work on a diskette and mail it to:
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Start a new lesson
Start a new lesson Hints
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The one key to success in your remote Calculus class is communication. Communicate with your group members, communicate with your coordinating teacher, communicate with your technological support person, and above all, communicate with us. The mentors will expect to hear from you every day.
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If you have questions regarding handing in your home work, faxing back and forth, using long distance to call your mentor, or other such procedural topics, here is how you handle it.
If you have questions or problems that have to do with people: getting along with your group, getting along with your mentor, differences of opinion with your mentor, here is how you handle it.
