Fall 2015 Distance Learning course

Help with the course. .

Are you likely to succeed in a Distance Learning course? Take this survey and think carefully about the result.

Do you have the technical skills needed? Technical Skills Checklist

What skills do you need to succeed in this course in math, technical reading, and thinking about the world? Please read this before the class begins: https://sites.google.com/site/mpstat22/

Course materials: See the beginning of the Syllabus/First-Day Handout.

Computer requirements and other requirements:

You must learn to use professional statistical software in this course. The chosen softwware is Minitab 17 for Windows or Minitab Express for Macs. (30-day free full-featured demo available. $30 to rent for the semester)
Windows computer requirements:  http://www.minitab.com/en-us/products/minitab/system-requirements/
Mac computer requirements: http://www.minitab.com/en-us/products/express/system-requirements/

Footnote: LaunchPad includes a copy of JMP software, which is also a professional software package. More about this.

Other materials:

Also, you should have a notebook notebook (or organized set of file folders) to keep your work in this course organized. I suggest that you have a front section for general information and Test Review documents, and then a section for each week's homework. You will find this very useful when you take your quizzes and as you study for your tests. Because the material in the later part of the course depends on the material in the earlier part of the course, this will be useful to you all the way through, and particularly for the Final Exam..

I will tell you at times to "print" things. If you don't have a printer easily available, then make a folder on your computer to which you save those files, and think of it as another folder that you will look into just as you would look in your notebook.

Orientation: There are three parts to the Orientation. (Find these about 5 or 6 days before the class begins.)

• Part A: (Please fill it out after you read the syllabus/first-day handout and BEFORE classes begin.)
  (If you add the class after that, please prepare your answers to this on the day you add, and fill out the form as soon as you have been added in Blackboard - which is the day following the day you add.)
  Find the orientation form link in Blackboard in the Announcements. (You can get into Blackboard approximately one week before classes begin.)
  (Some of the questions have answers that say you haven't read the appropriate material, etc. Obviously, I want you to have read the material first. If you must answer "No" to any of those, please also send me an direct email message asking me for help with that.)
  
  
• Part B: Submit this in Blackboard in the same way that you will submit each weekly quiz, Part 2. In this part of the Orientation, you will show that you can prepare and submit an appropriate file in Blackboard and can include output from Minitab in it. To do this, you must have either installed Minitab on your computer (the free version is fine) or else go to an ACC Learning Lab to use it there. Submit this by Friday of the first week of school.
  
  
• Part C: Submit this in LaunchPad in the same way that you will submit each weekly quiz, Part 1. This is your opportunity to practice doing Part 2 quizzes without getting a poor grade if you do something incorrectly. Submit this by Friday of the first week of school.

Required work in the course:

1. Follow the calendar for the course. It's available in Blackboard, from just under the Syllabus.
   
   
2. From the weekly Lesson (see link in Blackboard) find the material for the week.
   
   
3. For each chapter in the week's work either read the textbook OR look at the overview video of the chapter in StatTutor in LaunchPad and then look at enough other things to be able to do the assigned homework problems each week. (Most of the assigned homework problems have fairly detailed solutions available in the text.)
   
   Students differ in whether they find it easier to watch quite a few videos to get a thorough explanation or to skim over the examples in the textbook. Personally, I find reading the textbook quicker, but you may not.
   
   
4. Work every assigned homework problem and check your solution with the answer in the back of the book (or right after the problem in the e-book.) Participate in the Blackboard Discussion Board about this.
   
   
5. Read all the problems in Quiz, Part 2 and then review your work on the homework with those in mind as you work on Quiz, Part 1, which is mostly just from the homework problems that were assigned.
   
   
6. Work on the Quiz, Part 2 problems. Submit SOMETHING for them by Thursday night of the week.
   
   
7. Review the homework you did and polish your solutions to the Quiz, part 2 problems. Work on the Learning Curve for the chapter, which will help you solidify your knowledge of the material.
   
   
8. Complete the required participation in the Discussion Board each week.
   
   
9. Use Minitab statistical software to do many statistical calculations.
   
   
10. Take four paper-and-pencil tests in an ACC Testing Center.
    The last test also has a "take-home" part to be done using Minitab. That part is worth between 15 and 30 points of the final exam. More about it will be posted in the Test Information section of the course about three weeks before the end of the semester.
    

Timing: This is NOT a self-paced course. In order to effectively learn the material in this course, you must stay caught up with the calendar, which is at the end of the syllabus/first-day handout. Students who miss as much as three weekly quizzes (missing either part counts as a miss,) one test, or three weeks of Discussion Board participation during the semester may be withdrawn.

Websites needed:

1. Blackboard: Links to weekly lessons, Discussion Board, self-selected Study Groups, Grades on Tests, Discussion Board Forums, and Quizzes, Part 2.
2. LaunchPad (Available Wednesday before classes begin. Copy link from Blackboard, and then bookmark it to get to it without going through Blackboard) e-book, StatTutor videos, Learning Curve, Quizzes, Part 1, and, many other learning resources
3. ACC 1342 data website: Use this to find textbook data when you are not logged in to StatsPortal. Occasionally you will be asked to use non-textbook data which may be provided here. Organized by chapters of the text, and there are also brief descriptions of how to use the software here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Mary Parker: mparker@austincc.edu

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Last updated August 16, 2015 . Questions or comments?