Getting Started - A Checklist
Before you register for a distance learning math course, you need to ask yourself some questions and then follow the instructions below carefully. This is a check-list that will walk you through making sure you are in the right class and getting started with this class. (Keep coming back to this list until you have checked everything off.)
- Is this the right type of class for you? Some people are more successful in distance learning courses and some are more successful if they attend a class regularly. It's better to find that out before you start the course. Please take this survey and think carefully about the results. I want you to succeed in whatever class you take and there are several in-class sections available you could take if distance learning isn't a good fit for you.
Taking this course by Distance Learning requires good reading skills. If you are TASP/THEA - mandated in reading, you must have my permission, before the class begins, to be in this class.
In this course, you will have to do a lot of work on the required computer software. If you decide you don't want to learn math this way after starting the course, you will have to drop the course and lose the money you paid for your materials and tuition, so you need to decide this beforehand.
- Is this class at the right level for you? Your ACC Assessment Test result should have told you which math course you are supposed to enroll in. If it did not recommend this course, then please contact me to discuss this before enrolling. If you enroll in a course you were not placed into, you may not be able to continue in it. Please read the information on Advising before you register to make sure you are in the right course level.
- Learn about the course structure. Read the course policies (page 1 and page 2) and any informational handouts about the course very carefully so that you are sure you understand the requirements. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Notice that there are strict requirements about how you must purchase the required software and license to use it and how you must prove to me that you purchased it from the authorized dealer. You must be able to enter the validation number at the end of the second week of classes when asked for it. NO LATER!! If you can't afford to buy the software/license during (or before) the first week of class, don't sign up for this course.
This is not a textbook course. It is a software course. There are not explanations in a book to read. The explanations are in the software and you are required to use the software.
- Get an email address. Most communication in this course is by email. If you are not already familiar with email, please work on that before the course starts. Find a friend to communicate with by email and make sure that your account works and that your computer is set up to send and receive email correctly. (You can often use webmail if you need to check it on different computers from time to time.)
Also, many email accounts and email programs today come with "anti-spam" (or "anti-junk mail") filters. Normally, this is a very good thing. However, I have had a few cases where these filters have blocked my email to students in the course. There are two things you should do to try and avoid problems with this:
a. Sometime early in the course, be sure you send me an email from your normal account with a question (or just asking for a reply) and be sure that you get a reply back from me. If you don't hear back from me within 3 or 4 days, you need to look into this right away. First, check and see if there is a message from me in your "junk" or "spam" or "trash" folder (in your email program). If there is, see if there is a way to add me to your filter's "white list" (see below for more details). If there isn't, call and leave me a message (go here for contact info) with a call-back phone number and we can figure out what is going on.
b. If you email program (or you email server) has something like a "white list" or "safe list" or "friends list" for email addresses that will never be marked as spam/junk mail, then add my email address (mmcguff@austinc.edu) to that list. That way, you should safely receive any messages from me.
- Enroll in the course through the usual ACC process. Go to my page on Registration for more information on this. After that, in order to enable me to communicate with you by email, IMMEDIATELY fill out the Orientation Form, Part 1.
- Take the Review for the Elementary Algebra Pretest. This won't count towards your grade (except as part of your first homework assignment), but if you are able to understand
and work correctly at least 30 out of the 42 problems on this review,
then you are probably ready to take Elementary Algebra. The answers are included, but work the whole thing through first without looking at the answers.
After you finish, go back and check your answers. If you cannot
work correctly and understand at least 30 of these problems, then
you should enroll in Basic Math Skills (MATD 0330). (A kindly warning: "Fudging" your answers on this will only hurt you; if you aren't really ready for this course but sign up for it anyway, you will just waste your own time and money. Every semester, I find a very large number of students who sign up for the course even though they aren't ready for it and they wind up dropping or being dropped from the course before the semester is over. So, the next semester, they are right back where they started, without much of anything to show for it. Please treat this seriously.) If you find all of these problems really easy, you should consider taking the Intermediate Algebra pretest (see my Advising page for more info on this) and contact me.
- Complete the online orientation. Before you purchase your course materials, read through everything and fill out the Orientation Form, Part 2. Be sure to do this by the posted deadline. Go to my page on Orientation for more information.
- Buy the textbook/software license from the ACC Bookstore. The textbook/license can only be found at the official ACC bookstore (not at Bevo's or other bookstores.) Materials purchased from any other source will not meet the requirement. After you unwrap it, the textbook/license is NOT RETURNABLE. Go to my course Policies page for complete information on this. You might also want to pick up the other required supplies for the course while you are there.
IMPORTANT WARNING: We are using a different edition of the textbook/software for the course this semester than the other online classes are. It is the same material and company, but a newer, more up-to-date version. You must be sure to get the correct version to take the course. To get the correct version, you must do the following:
- The only place you can buy the textbook/software we are using is at the Rio Grande ACC Bookstore, at 817 W. 12th St. in Austin. I'm sorry, but this is the ONLY bookstore where you can get the book this semester. (It's a long story, and I apologize for the inconvenience, especially for those of you coming from out of town, but this is really the only way we can be sure there will actually be books there when you go to purchase one.)
- It should be available starting around Friday, Feb. 1. (If you are coming from out of town, you might want to call before coming in.)
- You MUST ask for the book for MATD 0370, synonym 14943. This is IMPORTANT - You need to be sure they give you the one for this section (be sure to check the synonym number). No matter what anyone at the bookstore tells you, do not buy a different version of the book. Your book should look like this (click for larger picture):
- If you have already bought the other edition of the book, do not open the cellophane wrapping. Please go back to the bookstore to exchange it for the correct version. (If you have already opened the cellophane wrapping or already have the book, from taking the course last summer or fall, please contact me right away to find out what to do.
- Receive your username and password from me for the online software. I will send these out on or before the first day of class to each student on my official roll sheet for whom I have a working email address from Orientation Form 1. See the course policies section for full details.
- Set up the software on your computer, log in, and learn how to use the software. (You can't use it until you have your username and password.)
- Work Lesson 1.1. For information on how to use the software go to my Policies page. To find the homework assignment, go to the Homework page.
- Complete the Orientation form, part 3. After you have done Lesson 1.1, go through this checklist and then fill out the Orientation Form, Part 3. This is to make sure that you have found the important parts of the software. You must do this by the end of the first week of class, unless you enrolled very late. In that case, you must do it by the middle of the second week of school.
- Sign on to the Blackboard system, check for course announcements, and post your personal introduction on the message board. (Posting your personal introduction is not required, but it does satisfy part of the class participation requirement for the first week. Read through the examples I have posted if you aren't clear about this.) Go here for more information on Blackboard and discussion groups.
- Enter the validation number into the software when the computer won't let you continue without it (usually at the end of the second week of classes; before that, you can just click on "Remind me later" to continue working without entering your number).
- Have a good semester. You are now ready to really work on the math. I realize this seems like a lot of stuff to do to get started, but if you take care of these administrative details now, you can spend the rest of the semester working on more useful things (and things should go pretty smoothly as a result). Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from each of you.
- Go to an ACC campus to get a new ACC student photo ID card. Starting in Fall 2006, ACC has changed the way student ID cards are issued. Go here for more information about this. (You will need this ID card when you go to take your first test.)
