Important notice for students using Academic Systems Developmental Math materials

Click on the number of your course below to see a picture of the book/package you need to purchase.

You must buy a new book from one of the authorized dealers in order to be able to use the software in the course. The authorized dealers at ACC are the on-campus bookstores. At Rio Grande, the bookstore is not on campus, but is at 817 W. 12th St. I believe the price is about $126 before taxes. Neither the Bevo's bookstore or the University Co-op Bookstore is an authorized dealer for these materials.

Books for the Distance Learning classes are stocked only at Rio Grande. If there is an on-campus course using the same books at a different campus, then you can probably find the books at that campus too. (Summer 08: Pinnacle is the only campuses using these books for the three developmental courses on campus.)

Otherwise, you'll have to go to Rio Grande, or order them from the online through the ACC bookstore. Find that through http://www.whywaitforbooks.com/ . When you follow the links for ACC, you get to our bookstore's online division.

When you buy the book, it will be shrink-wrapped and come with a piece of cardboard in it with an authorization number on the cardboard. That piece of cardboard is the most important part. You must use that number to activate your account in the software. You have about a 10-day grace period from the beginning of the semester to use the software without giving the validation number. You should wait until you are certain you intend to stay in the course to give it, but also be sure that you keep that number available until you give it. No one else knows what number you have, so no one can help you if you lose it before you enter it into the software to activate your account.

You may enter your validation number at any time you are using the software by clicking on the button that says "Validation." If you haven't done that by the time the free-access period ends, you will be prompted to enter the number in order to continue using the software.

You must run the software on a computer running either Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Vista. You must have access to installing plug-ins on your computer to run the software. (Adobe Acrobat and Flash and you must enable your browser to use pop-up windows.) Probably this means you will not be able to run it on a computer in a public library, since you can't install plug-ins on their computers and change the settings to allow pop-up windows. At ACC, the software is available on the computers in the Learning Labs. You must have purchased the new book/package in order to be able to use that (although it is freely available in the Learning Labs for the first few days of the semester.)

It is possible that the software will also run on a Mac computer. Previous versions of the software did not run on a Mac, but they were on CDs and had to be installed. Now that it is all web-based, it seems more likely to work on any computer. While the publisher does not yet claim that it works on Macs, in fact one of our faculty members tested it last spring and had no trouble using it on his Mac.

Beginning in Summer 2008, we are using a new version of the software. The content is still the same as in previous semesters but there are some differences in how you use the software and the books look different from the previous semesters' books. If you bought the materials for this same course using the Plato Interactive Mathematics book/software in the previous two semesters, please read here to avoid having to spend more money.

Information about using the software.